Geoff sits down with Margaret Mulholland, SEND and Inclusion Policy Specialist at ASCL, as she shares her perspective on how the education system can better support learners with special educational needs. She discusses the importance of equity, the challenges of education, health and care plans (EHCPs), and the need for systemic reform that removes barriers rather than reinforces them. 

Geoff Barton talks to Katie Ghose — vice-chair of the Disabled Children’s Partnership and chief executive of KIDS (motto: “Disabled children say ‘we can’!”) — for a dose of optimism about what genuine inclusion could look like.

Together they explore how the narrative around special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can move away from deficit and barriers toward joy, belonging, and opportunity.

Geoff sits down with Dr Nic Crossley, CEO of Liberty Academy Trust - a partnership of three specialist schools established in 2022 to support the educational experience of autistic young people - as they explore how schools and the state can better support children with special educational needs. The conversation highlights the need for autism-affirming practice, the importance of high-quality teaching for every child, and why real change requires courage and partnership rather than endless reviews.

In this episode, Geoff Barton speaks with Chamika Hand - a lawyer, parent, and SEND campaigner - about her fight against reduced school hours for children in specialist settings.

In this episode, Geoff Barton talks with Jane Harris, chief executive officer of Speech and Language UK. They explore how language development sits at the heart of learning, behaviour, and mental health. Drawing on her professional expertise and personal experience as a parent, Harris highlights the urgent need for early identification and intervention, explaining how 1 in 5 children struggle with speech and language, often due to socioeconomic disadvantage, neurodivergence, or developmental language disorder.

Read Speech and Language UK's Alternative White Paper: here

In this latest episode Geoff Barton talks to Sarah Johnson, president of PRUsAP - the organisation that represents pupil referral units and alternative provision - about the important role these places play in helping children and young people to feel a sense of achievement and belonging.

With over 20 years’ experience working with excluded children, Sarah explains how PRUs and AP settings can transform lives by providing belonging, achievement, and specialist support for young people too often pushed to the margins of education. She highlights examples of good practice, the importance of early intervention, and the need for stability and joined-up working between schools, health, and social care.

In this episode, Geoff Barton talks to broadcaster and vocal coach Carrie Grant. She is also the parent of four children with special education needs and talks about her personal experience of navigating a complicated system, including feeling she had to go into battle to gain an education, health & care plan (EHCP) to unlock further support.

In this episode, Geoff Barton talks to Professor Mel Ainscow, a global expert on inclusion, and long-standing adviser to UNESCO. Drawing on insights from his latest book, Reforming Education Systems for Inclusion and Equity (Routledge), he explores what England can learn from international examples to create a truly inclusive education system.

In this episode, Geoff Barton speaks with Jolanta Lasota, Chief Executive of Ambitious about Autism, about what true inclusion for autistic children and young people really means. Jolanta shares her lived experience as a parent and leader, explaining why awareness of autism has grown but understanding and support have not kept pace. She highlights the urgent need for acceptance, early support, and better planning.

In this episode, Geoff Barton speaks with Tania Tirraoro and Sharon Smith of Special Needs Jungle about the lived realities behind SEND policy. They share powerful personal stories of advocating for their children, the systemic barriers families face, and why EHCPs aren’t the problem—underfunding, poor training, and lack of accountability are.

In this episode, Margaret Mulholland is joined by Dr. Susana Castro Kemp, Associate Professor of Psychology at UCL and Director of UCL's Centre for Inclusive Education. Drawing on international research to explore how early intervention, family partnerships, and cross-sector collaboration can transform SEND provision from Finland’s universal early-childhood screening to rethinking workforce training and professional development.

In this episode, Geoff Barton talks with Georgina Ellis, executive director of SEND at the Unity Schools Partnership - a family of 40 schools across Suffolk, Essex, and Norfolk. Sharing how Unity is integrating mainstream and specialist provision through SEND units, specialist schools, and shared best practice across the trust.

Georgina emphasises one simple principle: inclusion works best when schools, families, and local authorities work together to put children first.

In this episode, Geoff Barton speaks with Dr Sami Timimi - consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and author of Searching for Normal. Together, they explore the controversial question: are we over-diagnosing and over-medicalising children?

In this episode, Margaret Mulholland speaks with Stephen Kingdom, campaign manager from the Disabled Children’s Partnership and former Deputy Director for SEND at the Department for Education. Drawing on decades of experience, Stephen argues that the question isn’t simply how to “fix” the SEND system, but how to build an education, health, and social care system that works for all children.

In this episode of Talking Inclusion, Geoff Barton talks with Ellie Costello, executive director of Square Peg, an organisation representing families of children who struggle to access or remain in education. Reflecting in part on her lived parental experience of what inclusion does and doesn’t feel like for too many young people.

They discuss why the current system too often fails young people who don’t 'fit' the model of mainstream schooling, and the urgent need for an education system that builds equity in by design, not as an add-on.

In this episode, Geoff Barton speaks with Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, about her bold new Children’s Plan. Based on conversations with over a million children and responses from 90% of headteachers across the country, the plan lays out a vision for tackling some of the hardest issues in education: from SEND provision and waiting times to mental health, attendance, poverty, and the collapse of wider services.