SEN responses came into existences with charity initiatives; which began in 1760. A school opened in 1841 which was the first church controlled special school ‘’The Catholic Blind Asylum’’. As betrayed by the name of the school, the terminology and the treatment of a person with SEN it is perceptible that during this time they were segregated rather than included. In the course of the 19th century children were assessed and categorised under terms of handicap, idiots, retarded, moron (which was used to replace the term feeble-minded) and Mongol. The few schools open during the early period of identifying special educational needs were protective places, in which the children had very little contact with the outside – only accessed by the wealthy families. Children from a lower-class background were often placed into a workhouse. Following the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act intentionally designed as punishment institutions to discourage people from ‘idleness’. Following the implication of the Education Act, 1921. it became compulsory for children who suffered with disabilities (blind, deaf, defective and epileptic) to attend school. ‘’For the purposes of this Act the period of compulsory education shall,in the case of a blind,deaf,defectice, or epileptic boy or girl. Extend to thw time when such boy or girl attains the age of sixteen years, and the attendance of such boy or girl at school may be enforced as it were required by byelaws made under Part IV of this Act.’’ (Government, 1921). Although this was an improvement to what a child with special needs faced before the Education Act, 1921. but like earlier enactments children which were referred to handicapped over this period were treated as an entirely separate category of provision. The 1921 Act made it compulsory for children to be educated, although this would only be in special schools or special classes. In the Education Act 1953, options were extended. Local education authorities determine which children required special education treatment. Up until the 1953 Act it was confined to defective and epileptic children the Act extended to children with all types of disability. In the Education Act, 1953. children with special educational needs were describe in the Act as ‘’pupils who suffer from any disability of mind or body’’. A child which is consider to educable would have access to schooling in the future as of a right, any child that is consider not capable of being educated within a school were reported to the local authority for the purpose of the Mental Deficiency Act 1913. The intention of the Education Act, 1944. satisfied by regulations made by the Minister in 1945, authorities are now obliged to make specific provision in the greatly extended children’s special needs. ‘’The Handicapped Pupils and School Health Service Regulations 1945 defined 11 categories of pupils: blind, partially sighted, deaf, partially deaf, delicate, diabetic, educationally subnormal, epileptic, maladjusted, physically handicapped and those with speech defects. Maladjustment and speech defects were entirely new categories. Partial blindness and partial deafness were extensions of existing categories, whilst delicate and diabetic children had previously been treated as physically handicapped. The categories (though not the detailed definitions) have remained unchanged since 1944 except that in 1953 diabetic children ceased to form a separate category and have since then been included with the delicate.’’ (Secetary of State for Education and Science, 1978). The framework of the new defined 11 categories entailed the development of present and recent forms of special educational provision. The Education of Handicapped Pupils: The Reports of the Advisory Council (21 March 1955); the title of the reports follow: Pupils WHO ARE Defective in hearing (Cmd 7866), Pupils who are Defective in Vision (Cmd 7885), Visual and Aunt Aids (Cmd 8102), Pupils with Physical Disabilities (Cmd 8211), Pupils with Mental or Educational Disabilities (Cmd 8401), Pupils Handicapped by speech disorders (Cmd 8426) and Pupils who are Maladjusted because of Social Handicap (Cmd 8428) Circular 347. (Ministery of Education Circular 347, 10 March 1959) The committee’s report was accepted on the basis for the organisation and future development of child guidance. This report is what encouraged the start of multi-agency working. ‘’The Committee had urged that there should be a comprehensive child guidance service available for the area of every local education authority, involving a school psychological service, the school health service and child guidance clinics, all of which should work in close co-operation’’ (Secetary of State for Education and Science, 1978). The responsibility of the school health service to area health authorities was transferred in 1974, the organisation and provision of child guidance was the topic greater advice, jointly from the Departments of Education and Science and Health and Social Security. (Welsh Office Circular WHSC(IS)5, 1974) it was recommended the child guidance service should be based on a multi-professional team; providing assessment, diagnosis, consultation, treatment and help needed by the child, the child’s parents and/or other people in regular contact with said child. The available help from the local and health authorities was asked to be made available for children with behavioural, emotional, learning difficulties and their families through use of pliable specific collaborating service. Current day parents are able to say where their child receives their education whether that is mainstream or a school specialising in appropriate disabilities. The parents of children with special needs in 1959 were able to appeal against to the Minister against the local education authority’s decision in which their child was incapable of being educated in school and the child would be reviewed after one year; this came when The Act replaced Section 57 of the Education Act 1944 (amended) with less inflexible arrangements. The implementation of the Education (Handicapped Children) Act 1970 has seen all handicapped children, however severe their disability included within framework of special education. Section 10 of the Education Act, 1976. was to significantly emphasise the special education provision within the framework of England and Wales to encourage greater integration and improved provision in mainstream schools. The framework provided the settings for people to work together in the interests of the children but the education of the children depended upon the practitioners’ skill and insight. In 1978 the Warnock Report profoundly altered the concept of Special Education, this encouraged the Education Act 1981. Rather than the primary issue being the disability or impairment a child is suffering, the Education Act 1981 focused on the individual child’s educational needs. The Warnock Report presented the expression ‘special educational need’; to identify a child who required extra or different support. Additionally, the report introduced new terms to identify groups, away from the medical labelling that was previously used, these were – ‘visual disability and hearing disability’ ‘emotional and behavioural disorders’ ‘speech and language disorders’ and ‘learning disabilities: specific, mild, moderate and severe’. The Report suggested the children with the most complex and multiple disabilities which were long term should be attending segregated ‘special’ schools, whereas mainstream schools should be established and work to meet the needs of each child. There was criteria attached to the recommendation for mainstreaming children; parents should be in agreement with the placement, the child’s educational needs were able to be met in mainstream school, the local authority was using its resources effectively and the ed
ucation of others were not impacted. (Wallace, 2009)
The aforementioned frameworks and legislations demonstrates how inclusion is incorporated into current educational practice. ‘’The steps involved in meeting the needs of disabled persons that are different from the needs of persons who are not disabled include, in particular, steps to take account of disabled persons' disabilities.
(5)Having due regard to the need to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it involves having due regard, in particular, to the need to—
(a)tackle prejudice, and
(b)promote understanding.
(6)Compliance with the duties in this section may involve treating some persons more favourably than others; but that is not to be taken as permitting conduct that would otherwise be prohibited by or under this Act.’’ (Goverment Equalities Office and Equality and Human Rights Comission , 2010, p. s149). Within every educational setting there is a designated Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (Department for Education and Department of Health, 2015) who is a fully qualified teacher employed by the school. The SENCo must hold the relevant award (National Award in Special Educational Needs Co-ordination) which is accredited at a post-graduate level by a recognised higher education provider. The SENCo within the school should have direct access to the leadership team along with the full support of the head teacher, responsible for the daily enforcement of the SEN policy and specific provisions to support children with special educational needs – including those with Education Health Care Plans, ensure the school keeps a record of all children with SEN within the setting. The SENCo works with the head teacher and governing body to guarantee the educational setting’s responsibilities are met under the Equality Act 2010, they advise how to delegate the budget to benefit SEN children, resources needed and providing the needs of support the pupils require. The SENCo work closely with parents, educational psychologists, health and social care professionals, other educational establishments ad independent and voluntary bodies and liaise with the next step of education to come up with the future of the pupils’ educational plan. The role of a SENCo is to support inclusion with other agencies when supporting with special educational needs within mainstream schools. There is confusion over the term ‘inclusion’. In the 1978 Warnock Report the term integration was used, which was referring to the concept of integrating children with SEN into a common educational framework. This has since developed to inclusion of all children; education as a whole should be fully inclusive of all children. A practitioner must ensure that each child’s learning and development needs are supported, practitioners provision must include everyone. (Neaum, 2016). Inclusion within education entails acknowledging students have a right of an education within their local area where the schools’ policies, practices and cultures meet all pupils needs which limit exclusion. (Tony Booth and Mel Ainscow, 2002)