ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to apply critiques of developmental psychological discourse to explore how discourses of deficit are extended through policy texts informing special educational needs (SEN). In particular, we explore and evaluate the deployment of developmental “norms” in conceptualizing the “involvement” of children in their own educational planning and decision-making. Through Foucauldian discourse analysis, the chapter seeks to interrogate applications of power in maintaining discourses of deficit and development. The chapter focuses specifically on the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2015 produced by the Department for Education and Department for Health, which is a policy text that outlines current guidance and statutory processes for England. For children and young people with special educational needs and disability and results from broader legislative reforms set out in the Children and Families Act 2014. The chapter identifies how discourses are constituted and deployed through the policy to consider how discourses of deficit are formulated within and reproduced through educational policy discourse and practice.
