The article considers the perceived prevalence of special educational needs in English primary schools and changes in this prevalence over two decades and relates these to issues in education policy, teacher practice and the concept of special educational needs. The studies considered are two major surveys of schools and teachers, the first conducted in 1981 and the second conducted in the same schools in 1998. Important features of both studies were their scale and the exceptionally high response rates achieved. Two central findings were the perception of teachers that special educational needs were widespread and of an increase in special educational needs over time: perceived levels of special educational needs were one in five children in 1981, which had risen to one in four children in 1998. Learning difficulties were by far the most common aspects of special educational needs but many children had multiple difficulties, and behavioural difficulties were seen by teachers as the main barriers to inclusion. The very high figures for prevalence raise questions about the continued usefulness of the concept of special educational need distinct from broader issues of achievement.
A major theme of recent debate and policy development in the area of special education is that of inclusion: the placement of all pupils in mainstream schools and the development of curriculum and pedagogy to meet the needs of all. Analysis of national statistical data shows some movement in this direction, but of a slow and very uneven kind. An exploration of the concepts of pragmatism to describe an important aspect of LEA decision making and of ideology to describe an important aspect of pressures for inclusion helps to explain this pattern of development. The paper concludes that both approaches require further systematic empirical data on the outcomes of different patterns of educational provision.
The article considers aspects of local authority policy‐making with regard to segregated special school provision for children with special educational needs and the resilience of a separate special school sector, despite a policy climate favouring inclusion. Statistical evidence shows a small but steady trend to more inclusive provsion but very considerable variation between local education authorities (LEAs). The notion of ‘the dominance of structure over ideology’ is used to explore LEA decision‐making processes but is shown to have limited explanatory power. The data suggest that the use of incremental policy development has not resulted in significant long‐term change and that a fundamental policy initiative has been a necessary, though not sufficient, condition of reform. Other factors facilitating reform included a small size of LEA and a preparedness to confront opposition. Strong commitment by key individuals was more important than an overall climate of opinion in securing greater inclusion.
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