ABSTRACT
We have seen the legal definition and we have briefly considered how difficult it is to actually define what a special educational need really is. There are clearly some learners whose needs are so great and complex that few would disagree that they have special needs. However, there are others who thrive in one learning environment but not another, pupils whose behaviour causes concern in one situation but who behave acceptably in another, and so on. In the last chapter, we questioned whether such learners who are failing to make progress have special educational needs or if the difficulty is rooted in the learning environment in which they find themselves. Once again there will be a continuum with, for some, it being a question of both having SEN and being in a learning environment that does not suit them.
