ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses special needs 'awareness' courses in initial teacher training (ITT) and the place on these of an introduction to the roles of support agencies. Since most existing staff employed in initial teacher training will probably not have the necessary expertise, the report recommends that tutors in training institutions should follow appropriate staff development programmes. The chapter provides the nature of collaboration between the teacher and the support agencies and the perspective on this which is relevant for ITT. Whole curriculum planning is something to which all teachers can make a contribution, and for which all of them should be prepared in initial teacher education. Awareness courses that begin with an emphasis on the alleged characteristics of children with special needs, with discovery and identification, are clearly suspect because they easily lead to an historical, reified view of special needs which is precisely what teachers want to avoid.
