ABSTRACT
Initial training has something of the characteristics of early socialisation; an induction into basic skills and attitudes rather than a programme which produces a final and finished product. The material is selected and rough-cut, but awaits faceting and polishing. The rhetorical support for special needs courses derives from the priority given to teacher training by the Warnock Report with its recommendation that an ‘element’ of special education be included in initial training. A brief but prestigiously packaged input which is encapsulated and divorced from the rest of the training programme may satisfy minimalist cosmetic requirements. The identification of a rationale based on an appreciation of the nature of such differences would be time-consuming. Self-contained offerings may be functionally necessary but, unless they are planned as extensions of the main course, they are likely to be perceived as disjunctive.
