ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how – against the backdrop of some particular contemporary challenges – the education system in England might successfully educate, and not just accommodate, pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). While the free school model might serve the needs of some parents – whose children may or may not have SEND – it is poorly aligned to the reality of planning and providing local special education. In an appearance at an Education Committee hearing in July 2018, Baroness Warnock observed that Ofsted’s focus on ‘academic excellence’ meant that it had a ‘contradictory role’ with respect to inclusion. Special education must be seen as a form of educational activity no less important, no less demanding and no less rewarding than any other, and teachers, administrators and other professionals engaged in it must have the same commitment to children with special needs as they have to all other children.
