Policies for diversity

The emphasis in this book shifts to the coordination of practice into schools, regional and national policies and the power and interest groups concerned with educational difficulties and disability. In the opening section the authors review the location of power in the systems; the impact of Local Management of Schools, case studies of Union policy, the National Curriculum Council and voluntary societies. They then look at one threatened element of the power structure - the local education authorities. They examine the features of local authority policy and attempt to systematise local policy. The experience of families is examined in their relationships with professionals, particularly during the preparation of Statements of Special Educational Need.
This is followed by sections on services for under-fives, integrating education and the authors provide examples of changing school policies and the practices that have arisen from them; supporting the learning of all pupils in primary and secondary schools, changing the role of special schools, ensuring that girls and boys are provided with equal opportunities, writing a development plan and the experience of a teacher with a disability. They then examine policies and practices in education after school and finish with theories of integration and disability.