ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on papers delivered at the International Special Education Congress held in Cardiff in the summer of 1990. It explores this apparent enigma by raising basic questions about staff training and provides a framework for the other contributions. The book elucidates this indifference to staff training and explores reasons for its relatively low status as a topic for debate. It explores some of the key issues affecting the delivery of training, and speculates about the importance of specialist training in the process of educational development. The book provides a model on which others may wish to base more positive attempts to cater for it within their courses. It outlines framework for planning school-focused post-experience training. The book looks at the potential of distance learning as a solution to the provision of specialised teacher training.
