ABSTRACT
This chapter provides details and preliminary evaluation of a joint Local Education Authority and higher education (HE) initiative designed to develop whole school approaches to meeting special educational needs. It focuses on the rationale and historical context for the initiative, together with details of its structure and an analysis of the findings of a small scale evaluation project. A course team normally consists of five people: two Local Education Authorities (LEA) area coordinators for special educational needs two external support teachers who have direct involvement with the schools selected for the course, and a tutor from Cambridge Institute of Education. Government imposed changes in funding for In-Service Education for Teachers (INSET) have led to the belief that courses which involve the collaboration of schools, LEA and HE may well be central to INSET provision during the 1990s. Widely documented in the literature is the development of advice about the nature of effective INSET.
