ABSTRACT
Writers in the tradition of dialectical analysis use the notion of 'totality' to indicate that organisations are to be understood along with the context in which they are embedded. This chapter discusses case studies of a number of secondary schools. It looks that it would be possible to delineate, within each school, a set of coherent structures, and commonly held understandings and practices with regard to special educational needs. These would provide a means whereby people could begin the process of understanding each school's innovative 'approach'. On such a view, the 'approaches' to special needs adopted by particular schools, and perspectives within schools, constitute such attempted resolutions. Internal inconsistencies appear less as the result of particular contingencies than as an endemic feature of perspectives. The actions that people take, the views they express, the 'social paradigms' they adopt, thus constitute attempted resolutions of those dilemmas – resolutions which, are provisional and inherently unstable.
