ABSTRACT
Introduction Warnock (2005) suggests accurately that there is (and always has been) a ‘crucial lack of clarity in the concept of a statement’, and a similar lack of clarity in the concept of ‘special educational needs’ (SEN). This lack of clarity has become increasingly problematic, as a result of the changes that have taken place over the 25 or so years after the Warnock Report of 1978 (DES, 1978). This report led to a sea change in the way that children’s learning difficulties and disabilities are conceptualised, including a move away from categorisation of children based on a notion of handicap, to a ‘continuum of special educational need’, a commitment to ‘integrate’ most children in mainstream schools, and the introduction of ‘statements’ for the small minority of children with severe, long-term and complex needs. The force of these changes and the subsequent legislation should not be underestimated. Coming at a time of international and worldwide interest in equal opportunities, human rights, ‘mainstreaming’ and the growth of the ‘disability movement’, the report encouraged changes in attitudes to disability, a growth of provision to support pupils in mainstream schools, and an acknowledgement of all pupils’ entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum (and, from 1988, the National Curriculum). The report also aimed to ensure that children’s special needs were identified and met.
