Although the National Standards for special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) (TTA, 1998) emphasised, as essential, their preparation for leadership, the extent to which SENCOs are formally recognised as leaders varies significantly. In this article, Lyn Layton provides perspectives on the SENCO role, collected through a small-scale study, that include suggestions from SENCOs themselves that they should be part of senior leadership teams in order to work strategically. At the same time the article relates one view of leadership to the SENCO role, in order to consider how systemic changes in schools can promote the inclusion of pupils with diverse learning needs.