Special Educational Needs a (very) Brief History

Pre 1960’s – People with disabilities are considered defective and ineducable, labels like imbecile are official medical terms.

1967 – Plowden report recognised that disabled children should be educated alongside able bodied children.

1978 – Warnock Report recommended Inclusive education should happen wherever possible, parents of children with S.E.N should be involved with their children’s education, the broader term ‘special educational needs’ should be used.

1981 – Education Act incorporated most of the recommendations of Warnock report.

1983 – Above mentioned Education Act came into effect.

1989 – UN Convention on the rights of the child treaty was adopted by the UN general assembly.

1993 – Education Act revised previous legislation. S.E.N code of practice was published and was mandatory for schools and LEA’s.

1994 – Salamanca conference in Spain produced the Salamanca statement which made a commitment to ‘education for all’. Britain agreed to make inclusion a priority in educational policy.

2001 – ‘Special Educational Needs and Disability Act.’

2002 – Revised S.E.N code of practice came into effect.

2004 – Welsh government made UN convention on the rights of the child treaty part of all its planning and policy making.

2011 – Wales was the first place in the UK to make the UN convention on the rights of the child treaty law.

2012 – Welsh government proposals currently under review include: Increasing S.E.N support up until the age of 25, replace the term S.E.N with A.N (additional needs), bring together services provided by health, social and educational services and have an individual development plan for a child which can cover all areas.