ABSTRACT
Enabling Access, the title of this book, challenges us all to go beyond the original debates that emerged in 1989 from the introduction of the National Curriculum in relation to pupils with special educational needs (SEN). The dialogue then was about entitlement, and the challenge then was how, through creative and innovative teaching, pupils with a whole range of SEN could receive their entitlement to the statutory curriculum. These debates were not without their merits. They enabled the teaching profession to recognize that there were common curriculum principles for all and that the aims of education could relate broadly to pupils of all ages and abilities. In the conversations that took place between all members of the teaching profession, much clarification of a variety of issues was given and, in many ways, a deeper understanding of the learning needs of children with SEN was reached.
