Special educational needs and disabilities in schools : a critical introduction

Abstract

This book has been designed as a key resource in supporting student teachers during and beyond their teaching training, as well as others interested in education, to begin to understand how, and to be able, to address the special educational, and/or additional support, needs of children and young people within schools and colleges. Legislation across the United Kingdom and in Northern Ireland has established the legal requirement to ensure the availability of provision for special educational needs, or additional support, needs and disabilities in schools and, as in England for the first time, in further education colleges. In England, for example, the Children and Families Act, introduced in September 2014, has strengthened and extended this legislation. Under the terms of Section 19(d) of Part 3 of this Act, simply to ensure that young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND) have access to an appropriate education is no longer sufficient. Instead, it specifies access that enables young people to ‘achieve the best possible’ educational and other outcomes. This reflects a new and higher level of outcome required by law. Codes of Practice to ensure that education law in this area is implemented in schools and colleges have been developed in each of the four countries. These Codes have the status of statutory guidance. Teachers in schools (and, in England, colleges) continue to be expected to provide effective learning opportunities for all their pupils, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Schools, colleges and other settings have clear duties under the statutory guidance of the Code that applies in their own geographical area. Current legislation promotes the inclusion of (almost) all young people in mainstream schools and colleges. However this often has to be implemented within a national context of school and college ‘improvement’ and competition and market-oriented practices where, in some (but not all!) places, young people who experience difficulties may not be welcomed. Such challenges are not necessarily insurmountable however and the book discusses the debates and dilemmas and offers practical suggestions to address these. It is essential that all involved understand what ‘having’ a special educational, or additional support, need or disability means for the young person and his/her family, and what addressing such needs and/or disabilities entails in schools.