ABSTRACT
During the nineteenth century the provision of schooling for young people with physical or sensory disabilities developed gradually, and may have been influenced by the system of ‘payment by results’ also introduced by the 1870 Act. This was a system which used the testing of children in reading, writing and arithmetic to determine teachers’ pay. Naturally, it was a disincentive to having children with disabilities in school if their presence was likely to have an adverse impact on test results and, consequently, on teachers’ pay. Thus, a need for provision for these children outside the ‘normal’ school setting was created, and these needs were met through the establishment of ‘special schools’. While children who were considered to be ‘feeble-minded’ received a basic education in a
To provide an overview of the key historical legislation relating to the development of provision for special needs
To provide an understanding of the two main models of disability: ‘medical’ and ‘social’
To explore the meaning of inclusion and the implications for practitioners
To outline the main aspects of the Code of Practice
To provide an overview of recent legislation in early years settings
To consider the implications for children and their families as part of the multi-agency process
special school, those who were labelled as ‘idiots’ or ‘imbeciles’ were not thought to have the ability to benefit from any form of schooling and were either admitted to asylums or cared for by family. From the early twentieth century, local education authorities (LEAs) had a duty to provide an education for ‘defective’ children, yet it was the middle of the century before responsibility for all such children was transferred from medical care into education. And, not until 1970 were children who had previously been considered ‘uneducable’ given the right to an education.
