ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests a series of barriers to the easy implementation in mainstream schools of changes in people thinking about special needs. It argues that the solution for co-ordinators is not to abandon their development but: to take responsibility for their own development, to formulate an institutional special needs development plan and to link this to a personal development plan based on self-evaluation. Self-development involves the acceptance of a behavioural component in the co-ordinator's role. The special needs co-ordinator's planning involves getting externally-generated values and policies on the school's agenda for action. This was the starting point for a joint Cheshire Local Authority Technical and Vocational Education Initiative training initiative for special needs co-ordinators. As change within the educational system continues at an unabated pace, the need for special needs co-ordinators to review and develop their role becomes acute.
