Special Education 2000 (SE2000), New Zealand's first official special education policy, declared the aim of achieving a "world class inclusive education system". It would seem that, by implication at least, the intention of the policy was to achieve full inclusion of all disabled children in mainstream educational settings and thus,…

This article, by Karen Broomhead of Liverpool John Moores University, discusses an exploration of the clashing norms, values and expectations of parenting behaviours between parents of children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) and practitioners. Semi-structured interviews with 15 education professionals, employed in both…

This study, by Emma Corrigan of the Plymouth Excellence Cluster and Community Psychology Service, explores the use of person centred planning (PCP) in supporting young people who have experienced school exclusion, in their transition and re-integration to mainstream settings. Young people of different ages participated in the PCP process and…

This study uses the "Index for Inclusion", developed by Booth and Ainscow, as a framework for investigating inclusive provision in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), introduced through the "School for All" initiative. The study, by Nadera Emran Alborno of the American University in Dubai and Eman Gaad of the British University in…

This article, by Anthony Maher of the University of Central Lancashire, explores, from the perspective of SENCos and learning support assistants (LSAs) in north-west England, the perceived adequacy of Statements of special educational needs as they relate to physical education (PE). The findings, generated via online surveys, suggest that most…

This study, carried out by Bernadette Cairns, principal officer for Additional Support Needs and Early Education in the Highland Council Additional Support Needs Team, and Kirstie McClatchey, a research assistant in the Highland Council Psychological Service, explores children's attitudes towards disability, making a comparison between a…

This article, written by Leda Kamenopoulou of Roehampton University, reports a research project on deafblindness and inclusion in education. Deafblindness is a rare and therefore significantly under-explored disability. Even less systematic research has focused on deafblind young people enrolled in mainstream schools. The study presented here used…

This article, written by Meng Deng of Beijing Normal University and Kim Fong Poon-McBrayer of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, reviews and analyses the reform of special education in China, the challenges confronting Chinese special education provisions, and how the Chinese inclusive education model, namely "Learning in Regular Classrooms",…

The UK coalition Government's call to end the "bias" towards inclusion represents a shift in "policy speak" as the new administration attempts to re-narrate special education by putting forward a "reasonable and sensible" solution to the "problem of inclusion". However, implicit in the call is the assumption that there has, in fact, been a "bias…

This article by Gordon Stan White, who is SENCo and Head of the Foundation Stage Resourced Provision at Lowerhouses CE School in Huddersfield, considers the role of resourced provisions or "units" within the present school system. Issues discussed include transition, the impact of children being transported out of their local communities, the…

Nurture groups have contributed to inclusive practices in primary schools in the UK for some time now and have frequently been the subject of articles in this journal. This large-scale, controlled study of nurture groups across 32 schools in the City of Glasgow provides further evidence for their effectiveness in addressing the emotional…

This article is based on empirical research undertaken by John Baker, headteacher of the largest day special school for pupils with a range of learning difficulties in Essex, as part of his EdD studies at the Institute of Education, University of London. Its focus is on the perceived challenges and opportunities which headteachers of special…

This study concentrates on the work of special education teachers in mainstream education in Finland, where these professionals work with children from various classes, usually in a separate room. The research reported in this article by Marjatta Takala of the University of Helsinki, Raija Pirttimaa of the University of Oulu and Minna Tormanen,…

Around 80% of pupils with attention deficit disorders are educated in mainstream schools. The difficulties relating to inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity experienced by such pupils present mainstream educators with a unique set of challenges and opportunities. In this article, Neil Humphrey, Senior Lecturer in the Psychology of Education…

The authors of this article, Garry Hornby and Chrystal Witte, conducted a follow-up study with adult graduates of a residential special school for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties in New Zealand. Twenty-one graduates were located and interviewed ten to 14 years after they had left the residential school. The interviews focused…