ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on research in the education of children and young people with mental handicap. Prospects for research are always conditioned by available funding and available researchers. Given the fact that policy-making is complex, may have a short timescale, and is dependent on many factors other than research findings, it is not surprising that there is little evidence of the influence of research on national policy. Additionally, policy-oriented commissioned research may lead the researcher into work which is part of an agenda over which the researcher has no control. Unlike policy-oriented research, where the routes for influence are difficult, practice-oriented research has had well established routes through teacher training and through even more direct methods. A focus of research on policy can be anticipated, with the likelihood that research will concentrate on the implications of the 1988 Education Act.
