ABSTRACT
The legal trail which leads to the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) starts with section 313 of the Education Act 1996. That section says that in discharging their functions under the Act, local educational authorities (LEA), governing bodies and anyone else exercising functions for the purpose of LEAs' or governing bodies' functions, must have regard to the Code of Practice. The SENCO for a small rural aided primary school and the SENCO in a large inner-city comprehensive face different problems, not just in terms of numbers and scale. The SENCO is contractually obliged to work within the operational procedures lawfully thus set by the LEA, the governing body and the head teacher. Irrespective of legal considerations, however, most teachers will wish to avoid putting themselves into a position of being sued in the first place. In common law an employee is obliged to comply with any lawful requirements the employer makes within the terms of the contract of employment.
