ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the various ways in which schools have endeavoured to educate pupils identified as having greater difficulty in learning than their peers. Inevitably, the methods developed at different times reflect changes in understandings of the underlying causes of problems in learning. The chapter focuses on the UK context, contrasting experiences in Scotland and England, and draws attention to the various ways in which policies enacted in the wider educational arena have particular, if sometimes unintended, consequences for children with learning difficulties. The structure of the chapter is as follows. I begin by looking at the teaching of children with learning difficulties prior to the publication of the Report of Scottish HMI (SED, 1978) and the Warnock Report (DES, 1978). Subsequently I explore the changes brought about by these two reports. An account is then given of the impact of the marketisation of education in Scotland and England and divergences between the two systems which have emerged. One of the provisions of the 1993 Education Act for England was the implementation of a Code of Practice governing the identification and assessment of special educational needs. The effects of the Code of Practice, which came into force in 1994 (DfE, 1994a), are considered and comparisons are made with the delivery of learning support in Scotland, where the Code of Practice does not apply. Finally, a number of wider issues are considered, including gender and social class differences in the identification of learning difficulties and the provision of additional support. Ongoing tensions are identified, including the boundary between those receiving a Record of Needs (Scotland) and a Statement of Needs (England) and those deemed as requiring learning support but not the additional protection of a Record or Statement of Needs. In addition, I discuss the nature of the boundary between pupils who are identified as in particular need of learning support and those who are judged to be making reasonable progress without additional support. As I shall demonstrate, understandings of learning difficulties inevitably touch on much wider issues to do with beliefs about pupil ability, how children learn and the nature of teaching.
