ABSTRACT
The most significant event in drawing attention to children's learning difficulties was the establishment of a system of compulsory education. In the later decades of the nineteenth century, in most developed countries, schools and teachers met for the first time with the full range of reluctant learners. A meeting which focused attention on learning difficulties. Probably the biggest changes ushered in by the 1981 Act have resulted from the emphasis it placed on integration, or educating children with special needs in the ordinary school. The issues underlying this change are discussed in; the intention here is to examine the way in which it has affected the delivery of special education to children with learning difficulties. This was the reason for the priority accorded to teacher education in the Warnock Report and the reason why so many commentators saw teacher education as the keystone of the Warnock recommendations.
