PRE-SCHOOL PRACTICE

Pre-school Practice

Pre-school Practice

P1 Legislations Overview

Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SNEDA 2001)

All students enrolled in U.K. public schools follow one of two educational tracks. They are either enrolled in general education programs or special education programs. The vast majority of public-school students in the U.K., nearly 85%, are on a general education track. The rest are in special education programs of two kinds: those designed for intellectually advanced students - such students are often described as being gifted - and those designed for students with one or more physical, mental or emotional disabilities. Disabled students receiving special education have been the focus of a fierce debate within the educational community since the late 1960s (HMG, 2005). Before that era, most disabled students (also referred to as “special needs students”) were educated separately from general education students, either in special classrooms or special schools.

The debate over mainstreaming special needs students soon spilled over into the national media. By 1970, the inadequate state of most special needs schools had been widely publicized, and the issue of mainstreaming disabled students was soon debated in the House of Lords. The SNEDA was passed in the 2001 by the House of Lords which assured that any special needs student between the ages three and 21 would receive an education in the “least restrictive environment appropriate” to that student's “unique needs (HMG, 2005).” 

Disability Act 1995

The number of students being placed in programs for the learning disabled has risen to what some analysts have called “epidemic” levels. According to the Education Department, 1.5 million children, or approximately 6% of the nation's students in kindergarten through 12th grade, were identified as learning disabled in 1995 and enrolled in federally supported programs that give such students specialized help in learning to read, write and do math.

Despite the surge in the number of student's labelled learning disabled, there is little agreement over how to diagnose, treat and accommodate such students. In fact, even the definition of “learning disability” is debated among psychologists, biologists and educators who study or deal with the disorder (DOH, 1998). Under federal laws, a learning disability is broadly and somewhat vaguely defined as “a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written.”

Debate over diagnosing learning disabilities has become more vocal in recent years as a result of the Disabilities Act (DA), a 1995 law that bars discrimination against the disabled in both the private and public sectors. The law requires schools, including colleges and universities, to provide “reasonable accommodation” to students who are diagnosed with learning disabilities (DOH, 1998). In some cases, that clause has been interpreted to mean that the school must provide the learning-disabled student with a tutor or allow him to use a tape recorder in class.

Children Act 1989

The Children Act 1989 is a vital part of the 'refocusing' initiative aimed to engineer a conceptual and organizational shift from a narrow focus on child protection to a broader preventative approach to policy and practice, implemented through support for the ...