ABSTRACT
Each chapter has generated issues that schools could debate as part of their process towards beating low attainment.
Lamb (DCSF 2009h) reminds us that ‘the education system is living with a legacy of a time when children with SEN were seen as uneducable. Too often they are still set the least demanding challenges’ (p. 2). Narrowing the attainment gap relies on knowing whether some children are wrongly labelled as SEN, or whether some learners with SEN are not even identified at all. Issues for debate:
• Should schools look more closely at assigning SEN labels? • Why do learners with SEND under-achieve? • How can we beat low attainment? • Do the characteristics of some pupils with SEND represent deficits or
differences? • Which learners with SEND can achieve age-related expectations? • Of those who cannot, how do schools recognise and set expectations for
each learner’s potential?
