ABSTRACT
The Report for Advisory Committee on the Supply and Education of Teachers recommends that all teachers of the 2-19 age group need to know how to identify the special educational needs (SEN) of children and young people, what they can do themselves to meet those needs and when and how to enlist specialist help. It is generally accepted that initial training is the first of several steps towards becoming an effective practitioner. Where training institutions have members of staff who are acknowledged experts in the field of learning disabilities it will be natural for the institution's efforts in incorporating a special needs component in initial training to be focused on such staff members. As well as presenting institutions with new issues with respect to the content of SEN courses there are a number of problems on the delivery side. There are wide-spread differences in the timing of SEN courses within initial training.
