ABSTRACT
In this chapter Robin Attfield draws on a range of contrasting case studies to show different stages of development within mainstream schools for working with support services. Attfield emphasises the role of the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator in ensuring that the school is capable of harnessing and taking ownership of the expertise on offer. He suggests some common features of schools that promote inclusion and stresses that support for schools is as important as support for individuals and that measures of value-added should take into account social outcomes as well as academic results. Attfield discusses the importance of leadership in developing a shared ownership of inclusion across the school, rather than ‘seclusion’ where responsibility for ‘special educational needs’ remains with the SENCO and teaching assistants.
