This article illustrates, through the story of one mainstream primary school, the tensions between the inclusion agenda and the standards agenda. The school is situated in an area of social deprivation and nearly half of the school population have been identified as having special educational needs. The story presented in this article illustrates…

This article presents a case study of a child aged 12 years with a cochlear implant who is attending a mainstream educational setting in Skopje, FYR Macedonia. The study, which uses both qualitative and quantitative data, took place over a period of 12 months. It illustrates the importance of professional development and training of teachers and a…

Some recent attention has been directed towards the role that post-16 colleges can play in providing young people at risk of exclusion from school with opportunities to experience "alternative" curricula and ways of learning. In this article the case of "Darren" is considered, a boy for whom education in a mainstream secondary school setting…

Providing children with special educational needs with individual education plans (IEPs) was advocated in the 1994 code of practice for SEN, and retained in the 2000 code. Specifically as it relates to mainstream secondary schools, this has proved highly controversial: many SENCos report that the writing and implementing of IEPs is a bureaucratic…

In this article Teresa Whitehurst and Amy Howells describe how pupils and staff from mainstream and special settings worked together on a project, resulting in a musical performance. They demonstrate at the outset that, even after several decades of integration and then inclusion, there remains an attitudinal hurdle to overcome. Mainstream pupils…