ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a consideration of the implications of the 1988 Education Act for the education of children with special needs. The Act has set out a legislative framework requiring that all pupils with special needs should be educated in ordinary schools, subject to certain exclusion principles. Not only should they attend, but they should participate in the normal activities of the school to the greatest extent possible. One of the major reservations of the 1987 select committee report was that although the Warnock Report had identified 20 per cent of children as having special educational needs, only those children with a statement receive additional help as a right under the provisions of the 1981 Act. The 1988 Education Act will bring about many changes in the basic structure of education, and a number of the proposals will have a direct bearing on the education of children with special needs.
