ABSTRACT
This chapter considers some of the dilemmas of in-service training (INSET) in special educational needs (SEN) and suggests an agenda by which teachers can develop a personal approach to advocacy in a number of interdependent areas. The SEN coordinator and individual subject teachers, having been allocated specific responsibilities for SEN, have had to come to terms with the increasingly procedural nature of their work. Teachers who may themselves feel under threat, for any of the reasons outlined above, may be ill-prepared or unwilling to promote advocacy and self-advocacy. The opportunities to generate points for empowerment within the curriculum and the wider social life of the classroom may, therefore, be overshadowed by other demands, an issue emphasised by C. Gains. The chapter argues that teachers and training providers need to move away from an unquestioning allegiance to this recent style of INSET. It suggests that individual teachers have to make painful choices in respect of the INSET they undertake.
