Introduction

The history of special education is for the most part a hidden history. Rarely are the voices of those who were schooled in this system heard. Yet throughout the twentieth century a significant number of children were identified as having learning difficulties and placed in segregated special schools. The 1944 Education Act introduced compulsory secondary education for all children with the exception (until 1970) of children with severe learning difficulties. The 1981 Education Act saw a development of this ‘inclusive’ philosophy with the abolition of categories of special educational need and an assessment policy based explicitly upon the idea of a continuum of educational need. There are important continuities in special educational policy in this period as well as some significant divergences, yet little is known about the experiences and perspectives of those who were ‘included’ within the special education sector as a result of these policy shifts. The proposition put forward in this book is that these ‘insider’ perspectives are of central importance for an understanding of special education policy during this period.