This article considers the impact of recent policy designed to define the roles and responsibilities of special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCos). The international drive towards the inclusion of children with special educational needs within the mainstream has led many schools to reconsider their structures and practices. In the UK, the SENCo role lies at the heart of these structures and the Government has sought to define this role both within a revised Code of Practice for special educational needs and in a set of national standards. In this article, Christine Szwed, Director of Studies for Initial Teacher Education at the University of Birmingham, reports the findings of a survey examining the context of SENCo role management within a group of primary schools. The findings indicate that the role cannot be generalisd and that SENCos are operating in increasingly complex contexts within very different management structures. Christine Szwed argues that, to be effective, SENCos must be enabled to work at a whole-school level and that the co-ordination of special needs is a development issue for the whole staff.