ABSTRACT
The report of the Special Educational Needs Training Consortium – Professional Development to Meet Special Educational Needs – was submitted to the Secretary of State for Education. It also reaffirmed the role of parents as partners in this process as well as recognising the expectation held by parents that children with special educational needs (SEN) should have appropriate support from teachers appropriately skilled and knowledgeable in this area. Even in the early 1990s no nationally recognised programmes of training existed for special needs coordinators (SENCos) in mainstream schools, and opportunities varied widely between LEAs. Thus it was that in 1993 they agreed to form a consortium, under the aegis of the Council for Disabled Children, which is itself an umbrella body for parents, professionals and others working on behalf of children with SEN. They were concerned not only with the numbers of trainees, but also with monitoring the quality of specialist courses nationally and trying to ensure their consistency.
