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Warnock (1978) Notes on the text
Appendices Appendix 1 List of contributors
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The Warnock Report (1978)
Special educational needs Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the education of handicapped children and young people London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1978
ISBN 0 10 172120 X
Summary of recommendations
CHAPTER 3: THE SCOPE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION 1. The planning of services for children and young people should be based on the assumption that about one in six children at any time and up to one in five children at some time during their school career will require some form of special educational provision (paragraph 3.17). 2. Statutory categorisation of handicapped pupils should be abolished (paragraph 3.25). 3. The term 'children with learning difficulties' should be used in future to describe both those children who are currently categorised as educationally sub-normal and those with educational difficulties who are often at present the concern of remedial services (paragraph 3.26). 4. In order to safeguard the interests of children with severe, complex and long-term disabilities, there should be a system of recording as in need of special educational provision those children who, on the basis of a detailed profile of their needs prepared by a multi-professional team, are judged by their local education authority to require special educational provision not generally available in ordinary schools (paragraph 3.31). 5. Section 8(2)(c) of the Education Act 1944 and Section 5(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1962 (as amended), which define the duties of local education authorities in relation to the provision of special educational treatment and special education respectively, should be amended to embody a broader concept of special education related to a child's individual needs as distinct from his disability and a wider description of children which includes those with significant difficulties in learning, or with emotional or behavioural disorders, as well as those with disabilities of mind or body (paragraph 3.42).
CHAPTER 4: DISCOVERY, ASSESSMENT AND RECORDING Discovery 1. Information about child development and sources of expert advice on this subject should be still more widely disseminated to parents and prospective parents, fathers as well as mothers (paragraph 4.4). 2. A basic programme of health surveillance should be provided for all children as recommended in the Court Report (paragraph 4.6). 3. The practice of giving health visitors additional training to enable them to add an understanding of young children with special needs to their existing knowledge of child development and to make the best possible use of the developmental information acquired in the course of their visits should be extended (paragraph 4.10). 4. Area health authorities should seek to ensure that all paediatricians and other hospital consultants send copy letters about handicapped children, exercising their discretion over content, to appropriate community physicians as a matter of course (paragraph 4.15). Record keeping 5. A personal folder, containing records of his progress and other factual information about him, should be maintained in school for every pupil and should be readily available for consultation (paragraph 4.19). 6. The results of professional consultations and sensitive information given in confidence about a child's social background or family relationships should be recorded in a separate, confidential folder. The folder should be kept in the school and access to it controlled by the head teacher (paragraph 4.23). Monitoring of whole age groups 7. Local education authorities should operate procedures for monitoring whole age groups of children at least three or four times during their school life (paragraph 4.24). Assessment 8. Section 34 of the Education Act 1944 and Section 63 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1962 (as amended) should be amended to give local education authorities the power to require the multi-professional assessment of children of any age (after due notice to parents) and to impose on them a duty to comply with a parental request for such assessment (paragraph 4.28). 9. There should be five stages of assessment and a child's special needs should be assessed at one or more of these stages as appropriate (paragraph 4.35). 10. Where a district handicap team exists, it should be augmented as necessary so that it can carry out among its functions the assessment of children with special educational needs (paragraph 4.43). 11. Multi-professional assessment at Stage 5 should usually take place at a centre within the community other than a hospital (paragraph 4.48). 12. Regional multi-professional centres for children with relatively rare or particularly complex disabilities should be established in university hospitals and the education service should be fully represented in these centres (paragraph 4.48). Review of progress 13. The progress of a child with special educational needs should be reviewed at least annually and the head teacher of his school, whether an ordinary or a special school, should be responsible for initiating the review (paragraph 4.53). 14. Responsibility for the oversight of reviews of progress should rest with the special education advisory and support service (paragraph 4.53). 15. Arrangements for any change of placement should always be carefully planned and the change subject to confirmation after a period during which the child's progress should be carefully watched by the head teacher, in consultation with the head teacher of the child's former school where the new placement involves a change of school (paragraph 4.56). SE Forms procedure 16. The SE Forms procedure should be initiated when a child is referred for multi-professional assessment at Stage 4 or 5 (paragraph 4.57). 17. The person who refers the child for multi-professional assessment should inform the parents as soon as the SE procedure is initiated and should give them a form on which to make their own statement about their child's needs (paragraph 4.60). 18. The completed SE Form which initiates the SE procedure should be sent to the education officer of the local education authority with responsibility for special education. Responsibility for the SE procedure should normally be delegated to a member of the special education advisory and support service (paragraph 4.62). 19. Forms SE2 and SE3 should be revised, after due consultation with the appropriate professionals (paragraph 4.65). 20. A document on lines similar to the revised Forms SE2 and SE3 should be drawn up for completion by professionals in social services departments (paragraph 4.65). 21. The Specialist in Community Medicine (Child Health) or a medical colleague designated by him should be responsible for coordinating contributions to Form SE2 by members of the health service (paragraph 4.64). 22. Form SE4 should be introduced in Scotland (paragraph 4.66). 23. Completion of Form SE4 should remain the responsibility of an officer of the local education authority, either an adviser in special education or an educational psychologist (paragraph 4.66). 24. The completed Form SE4 should be forwarded to the officer of the local education authority with responsibility for the SE Forms procedure, who should ensure that copies are sent to the local authority social services department, the area health authority and, where the child is of school age or attending a nursery school, the head teacher of his school (paragraph 4.66). 25. Use of the SE Forms by local education authorities in England, Wales and Scotland in a form to be determined jointly by the Secretaries of State should be mandatory (paragraph 4.67). Recording as in need of special educational provision 26. A duty should be imposed on local education authorities to maintain a record of children whom they judge to require special educational provision not normally available in the ordinary school, subject to the proviso that no child should be recorded without prior assessment by a multi-professional team (paragraph 4.69). 27. The Secretaries of State should be required to make regulations as to the resources deemed to be not generally available in county and voluntary schools, as to the composition of the multi-professional teams and as to the form of the record (paragraph 4.69). 28. Parents should have ready access to the documents comprising the record of their own child, namely the completed Form SE4 with a profile of the child's needs and a recommendation for the provision of special help, as well as a separate note on how that recommendation is being met in practice and the name of their Named Person who will provide a point of contact for them (paragraph 4.70). 29. On the introduction of the new system, all children currently ascertained as requiring special educational treatment and also those who, though not so ascertained, are attending special schools or designated special classes or units should be recorded as requiring special educational provision (paragraph 4.71). 30. A copy of the documents comprising the record of a child who has been recorded as requiring special educational provision by one local education authority and who moves to another area should be passed to the new authority and he should be automatically recorded by that authority (paragraph 4.71). 31. Parents should have the right of appeal to the appropriate Secretary of State against a decision by a local education authority to record or not to record their child as in need of special educational provision (paragraph 4.74). Statistical returns 32. A feasibility study on the use of a grid for the purpose of statistical returns should be carried out in a sample of local education authorities and, if it is found to be practicable, a grid should be introduced as a basis in future for such returns. The statistical returns to government departments based on the grid should be of those children recorded as in need of special educational provision (paragraphs 4.76-77). 33. Local education authorities should devise their own framework, which might be a simplified version of the grid, for collecting information from schools about pupils assessed at Stage 1, 2 or 3 as being in need of special educational provision (paragraph 4.78).
CHAPTER 5: CHILDREN UNDER FIVE 1. The education of children with disabilities or significant difficulties must start as early as possible without any minimum age limit. In the earliest years parents rather than teachers should be regarded, wherever possible, as the main educators of their children (paragraphs 5.2-3). Information for parents about available facilities 2. At the time of disclosure of their child's handicapping condition to them, parents should be given information about available facilities and supporting services (paragraph 5.9). 3. A handbook should be available for each area giving information about local facilities for children with special needs and their parents, and where such a handbook is not already available it should be produced under the aegis of the appropriate Joint Consultative Committee (or in Scotland the appropriate Joint Liaison Committee) (paragraph 5.10). A Named Person for parents 4. One person should be designated as Named Person to provide a point of contact for the parents of every child who has been discovered to have a disability or who is showing signs of special needs or problems. In most cases the health visitor should be the Named Person in the early years (paragraphs 5.13-14). 5. Where a child's special needs have been assessed by a multi-professional team, the team should designate someone to serve as Named Person for the parents. This might be the health visitor or it might be a social worker, educationist or other professional with particular expertise or interest in the area of the child's disability. The parents should be given the office telephone number of an officer of the local education authority who will have been provided with information about their child and, if the arrangement for their Named Person proves unsatisfactory, will put them in touch with another professional better placed to help them (paragraph 5.15). 6. Parents of children with disabilities or significant difficulties should be informed at an early stage about voluntary organisations and associations of parents similarly place (paragraph 5.19). 7. Reinforcement and skilled support should be provided for parents of children with disabilities or significant difficulties in the earliest years. A range of different forms of such support should be available in every area (paragraphs 5.31-32). Peripatetic teaching service 8. There should be a comprehensive peripatetic teaching service which would cater, wherever possible, exclusively for children with disabilities or significant difficulties below school age and cover every type of disability or disorder. There should be scope for specialisation within the service; in particular, in view of the specific skills required for their teaching, children with sensory disabilities should be visited by teachers with related expertise (paragraph 5.37). 9. Training for peripatetic teachers should be organised on an in-service basis. Training programmes should include inter-professional courses (paragraph 5.42). Nursery education 10. Nursery education provision for all children should be substantially increased as soon as possible, since this would have the consequence that opportunities for nursery education for young children with special needs could be correspondingly extended (paragraph 5.51). 11. Special nursery classes and units should be provided for young children with more severe or complex disabilities (paragraph 5.55). 12. Parents should be involved as closely as possible in the work of nursery schools and classes (paragraph 5.58). Playgroups and opportunity groups 13. Playgroups should be prepared to accept young children with disabilities or significant difficulties wherever possible and much greater use should be made of opportunity groups as a form of provision for such children. Their staff should receive suitable training in helping to meet the special needs of such children (paragraphs 5.62-66). 14. Professional help and advice from members of the various supporting services should be readily available to playgroups and opportunity groups, and members of the proposed special education advisory and support service, including peripatetic advisory teachers, should be in close touch with the groups and help their staff to devise suitable programmes for those children with special educational needs (paragraph 5.66). Day nurseries 15. The provision of combined day nurseries and nursery schools should be increased (paragraph 5.70). 16. More educational opportunities should be provided for children attending day nurseries, particularly those with special needs, and the staff should have opportunities to attend in-service courses organised on an inter-professional basis at which they would learn to recognise in children signs of special need and know when and where to refer for special help (paragraphs 5.69-71).
CHAPTER 6: SCHOOL CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: AN INTRODUCTION 1. The lists of special schools published by the Department of Education and Science and Scottish Education Department should, at least in the case of residential special schools, in future include details of the types of special educational need catered for (paragraph 6.14). 2. Each local education authority should produce and keep up to date a handbook containing details of special educational provision in its area for children recorded as requiring such provision. This handbook should include information about the types of special educational need catered for in individual schools as well as the names, office addresses and telephone numbers of officers of the local education authority concerned with the provision of special education (paragraph 6.15).
CHAPTER 7: SPECIAL EDUCATION IN ORDINARY SCHOOLS The staff 1. Before a child with a disability or severe difficulty enters an ordinary school the teaching staff should discuss among themselves and agree a plan for securing the maximum educational and social interaction between him and others in the school, and should strive collectively thereafter to implement the plan (paragraph 7.21). The governing body 2. Where a special class or unit established by a local education authority is attached to an ordinary school, a member of the managing or governing body should be specifically concerned with that class or unit (paragraph 7.25). Organisation of the school 3. The head teacher should normally delegate day to day responsibility for making arrangements for children with special needs to a designated specialist teacher or head of department (paragraph 7.28). School-based resource centres 4. Where one does not already exist, some form of resource centre or other supporting base should be established in large schools to promote the effectiveness of special educational provision (paragraph 7.32). 5. Where a resource centre, special class or base is organised internally by the head teacher, the local education authority should arrange for the necessary staff and other resources to be made available to the school and should ensure that they are used for that purpose (paragraph 7.33). Designated special classes and units 6. Special classes and units should wherever possible be attached to and function as part of ordinary schools rather than be organised separately or attached to another kind of establishment such as a child guidance centre (paragraph 7.35). 7. Local education authorities should ensure that a school with a special class or unit is allotted an extra specialist teacher to its staffing complement (paragraph 7.36). 8. Children in special classes or units, whether attending full or part-time, should not form such a high proportion of the school roll or present such a range of needs as would substantially change the nature of the school (paragraph 7.38). Future planning 9. Each local education authority should have a comprehensive and long-term plan for special educational provision within which the arrangements for individual schools will take their place (paragraph 7.48). 10. Before Section 10 of the Education Act 1976 comes into force, the Secretary of State for Education and Science should issue comprehensive guidance to local education authorities on the framing of their future arrangements for special educational provision (paragraph 7.59).
CHAPTER 8: SPECIAL EDUCATION IN SPECIAL SCHOOLS Role of special schools 1. The facilities and expertise of special schools should be more widely available to provide intensive specialised help on a short-term basis and sometimes at short notice (paragraph 8.9). 2. Firm links should be established between special and ordinary schools in the same vicinity (paragraph 8.10). 3. Within each local authority area some special schools should be designated and developed as resource centres, that is centres of specialist expertise and of research in special education (paragraph 8.13). 4. A number of special schools should be designated as specialist centres for relatively rare or particularly complex disabilities and should be developed as such by groups of local education authorities (paragraph 8.14). Residential special schools 5. A range of different types of boarding special school should be available, which would include not only residential special schools of the traditional type but also schools which cater for children with varying needs for residential accommodation and education on or off the premises, including schools of the hostel type (paragraph 8.17). 6. Boarding special schools should be prepared to accept children and young people with disabilities or significant difficulties for short periods wherever this meets a need (paragraph 8.18). Non-maintained special schools 7. The standards of educational provision in non-maintained special schools should be closely monitored both by Her Majesty's Inspectorate and increasingly by the proposed special education advisory and support service (paragraph 8.25). 8. Much closer links should be established, to the benefit of both sides, between non-maintained special schools and local education authorities (paragraph 8.25). 9. Every non-maintained special school should have its own governing body and this should include at least one representative of the local education authority in whose area it is situated, or of one of the authorities making particular use of it (paragraph 8.26). Organisation of special schools 10. Separate special schools should be provided, wherever possible, for senior and junior pupils or, failing that, an all-age school should be organised in separate departments, with a clear difference in the approach to children of secondary school age (paragraphs 8.33-34). 11. So far as is possible, the length of the school day in special schools should be the same as that in ordinary schools, with scope for variation according to the age and needs of the pupils (paragraph 8.35). 12. Residential special schools should be organised on as flexible a basis as possible, and should retain the capacity to remain open at weekends so that there is a genuine choice as to whether or not the children return home at weekends (paragraph 8.39). 13. Where the multi-professional team which assesses a child's needs at Stage 4 or 5 of our proposed assessment procedure concludes that he should return home or that his parents should visit him at weekends or other regular intervals, the local education authority should meet all or a substantial part of the cost. Even where no such recommendation has been made by the multi-professional team, the local education authority should be prepared to meet all or part of the cost if subsequent review of a child's progress suggests that he would benefit from weekend visits home or visits by his parents (paragraph 8.40). 14. The staff-pupil ratios suggested in DES Circular 4/73 (Welsh Office Circular 47/73) and the Consultative Document issued by the Scottish Education Department in 1973 should be regarded as a minimum requirement (paragraph 8.41). 15. Guidance should be issued in a Circular on the numbers of ancillary staff in special schools that should be regarded as adequate (paragraph 8.42). Specialist support 16. Local education and area health authorities should provide the necessary space, equipment, nursing and secretarial help to enable medical specialists to hold their clinics in special schools (paragraph 8.46). 17. Area health authorities should ensure that continuity of treatment and, where necessary, nursing support is provided for children during the school holidays (paragraphs 8.47-48). Governing bodies 18. As a general rule, every special school should have its own governing body (paragraph 8.50). 19. Special arrangements should be made to ensure that the governing bodies of those special schools which have catchment areas extending beyond the locality reflect the wider communities that they serve (paragraph 8.51). 20. Wherever appropriate, the governing body of a special school should include a handicapped person (paragraph 8.52). Independent schools catering wholly or mainly for handicapped pupils 21. Where special school provision in the maintained sector is inadequate, as it is particularly for children with emotional or behavioural disorders and those with severe learning difficulties, it should be increased to the point of sufficiency (paragraph 8.58). 22. The Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office should maintain and publish a list of independent schools which are accepted by the Secretaries of State for the purposes of Section 33(2) of the Education Act 1944 as it will be amended by Section 10 of the Education Act 1976 (paragraph 8.61). 23. Responsibility for following up the placement of a child in an independent school catering for handicapped pupils and, where necessary, for initiating a new placement should rest with the person designated by the multi-professional team which assessed the child's needs to act as Named Person for his parents (paragraph 8.62). 24. Part of the conditions for acceptance of the use of an independent school catering for handicapped pupils under Section 33(2) of the 1944 Act as it will be amended should be that the Secretary of State is satisfied that the school will offer access to officers of both the sending authority and the authority in whose area the school is situated (paragraph 8.63). 25. All independent schools which cater for handicapped pupils and are accepted by the Secretaries of State for the purposes of Section 33(2) of the Education Act 1944 (as it will be amended) should have governing bodies and the membership of those bodies should include a representative of the authority in whose area they are situated (paragraph 8.64). 26. The Secretary of State for Scotland should make the inclusion in List G of independent schools catering for handicapped pupils conditional on their proprietors agreeing to allow officers of both the sending authority and the authority in whose area the school is situated access to the school (paragraph 8.65). 27. No child with special educational needs who is in care should be placed in an independent school without agreement between the local education authority and the social services department (paragraph 8.66). Community homes 28. As a first and major step in improving the quality of educational provision in community homes with education on the premises and observation and assessment centres, teachers in those establishments should be in the service of local education authorities (paragraph 8.71). 29. Opportunities for teachers in community homes to undertake courses of in-service training should be improved and regular support provided for them by members of the proposed special education advisory and support service (paragraph 8.72). 30. The educational representation should be strengthened on the managing bodies of community homes with education on the premises and observation and assessment centres, where such bodies exist (paragraph 8.73). Education in hospital 31. For administrative purposes all education in hospital should be regarded as special educational provision (paragraph 8.78). 32. Arrangements should be made for all children to receive education as soon as possible after their admission to hospital (paragraph 8.80). 33. Wherever possible, educational premises should be specially provided in hospital for children who are unable to leave the hospital to attend school (paragraph 8.82). 34. A comprehensive review of a child's need for services should take place as soon as it becomes clear that he needs long-term hospital treatment, without waiting for any fixed period of time (paragraph 8.83). 35. Within the special education advisory and support service there should be advisers who specialise in education in hospital (paragraph 8.87). 36. The arrangements which currently exist for joint financing of health and personal social services should apply also to health and education services (paragraph 8.88). Home tuition 37. Home teachers should have close links with individual schools, particularly special schools designated as resource centres, and with centres such as tuition and diagnostic centres (paragraph 8.90). 38. Within the special education advisory and support service there should be advisers who specialise in home tuition (paragraph 8.90).
CHAPTER 9: PARENTS AS PARTNERS* *See also the recommendations of Chapter 5. A Named Person for parents 1. The head teacher of the child's current school should be the Named Person for most parents of school children with special educational needs (paragraph 9.27). 2. Parents of children with special educational needs should have direct access to the special education advisory and support service to discuss the suitability of the provision being made by the school for their child (paragraph 9.29). 3. The Named Person for the parents of a child recorded as requiring special educational provision should be someone designated by the multi-professional team which assessed the child's needs (paragraph 9.31). 4. Parents of children recorded as requiring special educational provision should be given the office telephone number and address of the officer who completed their child's Form SE4, that is either the adviser in special education or the educational psychologist so that they can contact him if the arrangements for a Named Person prove unsatisfactory (paragraph 9.33). Relief for the family 5. A variety of forms of short-term relief should be available for parents of children with severe disabilities who are living at home (paragraph 9.35). 6. Ways of enabling the premises of some special schools to remain open during the school holidays should be further considered by the local authorities' and teachers' associations and, where appropriate, school governors (paragraph 9.38).
CHAPTER 10: THE TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO ADULT LIFE Reassessment of special needs 1. A pupil's special needs should be reassessed with future prospects in mind at least two years before he is due to leave school. The process of reassessment at this stage should always involve a careers officer and should usually include other professionals in the education, health and social services (paragraph 10.7). Careers guidance 2. A teacher with special responsibility for careers guidance should be appointed in every special school which caters for older pupils. In every ordinary secondary school there should be at least one careers teacher with additional training or expertise in understanding the careers implications of different types of disability or disorder (paragraph 10.14). 3. As a general guide and on the understanding that adequate support will be provided, at least one full-time specialist careers officer should be appointed for every 50,000 of the school population (or for a substantial proportion of 50,000) (paragraph 10.15). Preparation at school for the transition to adult life 4. Both ordinary and special schools should give pupils with special educational needs more help to acquire the basic skills and to develop social competence and vocational interests (paragraph 10.19). Provision in school for young people over 16 5. Where it is in their interests, pupils with special educational needs should be enabled to stay at school beyond the statutory school leaving age (paragraph 10.30). 6. Where it is in their interests and possible to arrange, pupils with special educational needs should have access to sixth forms or sixth form colleges (paragraph 10.32). Further education 7. Wherever possible young people with special needs should be given the necessary support to enable them to attend ordinary courses of further education (paragraph 10.37). 8. Some establishments of further education should experiment with modified versions of ordinary further education courses for young people with special needs (paragraph 10.38). 9. Some establishments of further education should provide special vocational courses at operative level for students with special needs and special courses of training in social competence and independence (paragraph 10.39). 10. Within each region there should be at least one special unit providing special courses for young people with more severe disabilities or difficulties which would be based in an establishment of further education (paragraph 10.40). 11. Every establishment of further education should designate a member of staff as responsible for the welfare of students with special needs in the college and for briefing other members of staff on their special needs (paragraph 10.42). 12. A coordinated approach to further education provision for young people with special needs should be adopted and publicised by the local education authorities within each region against a long-term plan within which arrangements for individual institutions will take their place. The institutions themselves should publicise their policy on the admission of students with special needs as well as the courses and special facilities which they provide for them (paragraph 10.43). 13. The national colleges which currently provide further education or training for young people with disabilities should in time all become part of their regional patterns of further education for students with special needs (paragraph 10.44). Higher education 14. All universities and polytechnics as well as other establishments of higher education should formulate and publicise a policy on the admission of students with disabilities or significant difficulties and should make systematic arrangements to meet the welfare and special needs, including careers counselling, of those who are admitted (paragraph 10.49). Adult training centres and day centres 15. There should be a specifically educational element in every adult training centre and day centre and the education service should be responsible for its provision (paragraph 10.53). Hospitals 16. Local education authorities should provide programmes of continuing education to meet the individual needs of young people who require long-term hospital care (paragraph 10.55). Training and preparation for employment 17. Industrial Training Boards should play a much greater part in encouraging employers to provide employment and training opportunities for people with disabilities or significant difficulties (paragraph 10.61). 18. More opportunities should be provided for young people with disabilities or significant difficulties to take locally-based TSA courses suited to their needs (paragraph 10.67). 19. The extension of young persons' work preparation courses to all ERCs over the next few years should be brought about as quickly as possible (paragraph 10.75). Employment 20. The public service and nationalised industries should urgently review their employment policies with a view to opening their doors more widely to and providing more imaginative opportunities for work for people with disabilities (paragraph 10.77). 21. The ESA's strategy of alerting employers to the employment needs of the disabled should be further developed and there should be more contact at local level between employers or, where the management of large companies is decentralised, local managers and both ESA officers and careers officers (paragraph 10.79). 22. Local education authorities and their careers services should play a greater part in promoting discussions with employers' and employees' organisations about how best to persuade employers to take on young people with disabilities, in conjunction with the MSC and, where necessary, the social services (paragraph 10.82). Sheltered workshops 23. Sheltered workshops should introduce progressive programmes of activities designed to enable as many people with disabilities as possible to enter open employment (paragraph 10.86). Named Person 24. The careers officer or, in the case of young people with more severe or complex disabilities, the specialist careers officer should act as Named Person for young people with special needs and their parents or should ensure that another professional takes on the function of providing a single point of contact for them during the transition from school to adult life (paragraph 10.94). Personal counselling 25. Better counselling on personal relationships should be available to young people with special needs and their parents from a variety of sources, including the health and social services and voluntary groups (paragraph 10.96). 26. More research should be carried out into how sexual counselling can best be provided for young people with special needs, including the training of counsellors and other staff (paragraph 10.97). Financial support 27. Local education authorities should use their discretionary powers generously in making supplementary grants to students with disabilities who are receiving mandatory awards (paragraph 10.105). 28. Local education authorities should use their discretionary powers far more generously in making discretionary awards to students with disabilities or significant difficulties who enter further education (paragraph 10.106). Aids and equipment 29. A more rational and uniform approach to the provision of aids for handicapped people throughout the country should be developed (paragraph 10.116). 30. More research should be carried out into the design of aids and equipment for handicapped people (paragraph 10.117). Mobility 31. Further consideration should be given urgently to the needs of young people with disabilities for help with mobility, particularly those aged 16-17 and those who need special help to travel to and from work (paragraph 10.124).
CHAPTER 11: SOME CURRICULAR CONSIDERATIONS 1. There should be at least one centre in every region to support students in further and higher education who have impaired hearing and to train those who work with them (paragraph 11.36). 2. Particular attention should be given to curriculum development for children with moderate learning difficulties and further research should be carried out into the causes of such difficulties (paragraph 11.52). 3. Resources should be made available to the Schools Council, the Consultative Committee on the Curriculum and to local teachers' centres so that curriculum projects can be translated into forms useful to special schools, units and classes (paragraph 11.68). 4. Funds should be allocated to subsidise the production of curriculum materials for particular small groups of children whose special needs are not commonly met by the normal process of curriculum development (paragraph 11.69). 5. A special section of the Schools Council should be formed and given separate resources to set up projects concerned with the curriculum for particular small groups of children with special needs and the dissemination of current special education projects within the special education service (paragraph 11.70).
CHAPTER 12: TEACHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING Initial teacher training 1. The teaching of child development in initial teacher training should always take account of different patterns and rates of individual development, particularly as they affect learning, and should include the effects of common disabilities and other factors which influence development (paragraph 12.6). A special education element 2. A special education element should be included in all courses of initial teacher training, including those leading to a postgraduate certificate in education. It should be taught within the general context of child development (paragraph 12.7). 3. Those responsible for validating teacher training courses should make the inclusion of a special education element a condition of their approval of all initial teacher training courses (paragraph 12.11). 4. A determined effort should be made to ensure that short in-service courses which cover the same ground as the proposed special education element are provided as a matter of urgency and that the great majority of serving teachers take one of these courses within the next few years (paragraph 12.12). Special education options 5. Wherever possible, students should have the opportunity in their initial teacher training to take an option that enables them to pursue their interest in children with special educational needs in more depth than will be possible in the proposed special education element (paragraph 12.15). Specialist initial teacher training 6. The training provided through the existing initial teacher training courses directed to work with children currently described as severely educationally sub-normal should be closely monitored by Her Majesty's Inspectorate and its effectiveness in preparing teachers to work with such children evaluated (paragraph 12.23). A recognised qualification for teachers with responsibility for children with special educational needs 7. There should be a range of recognised qualifications in special education, to be obtained at the end of a one-year full-time course or its equivalent (paragraph 12.27). 8. The list of qualifications which at present entitle a qualified teacher to obtain extra payment under the terms of the Burnham Salaries Document should be extended to cover all recognised qualifications in special education in the range proposed in 7 above (paragraph 12.28). 9. This extra payment for a recognised qualification in special education should continue to be made after a teacher reaches the maximum of his salary scale, whether he is teaching in an ordinary or a special school (paragraph 12.28). 10. From a date to be announced well in advance, the extra allowance payable to teachers in special schools and special classes in England and Wales should be abolished (paragraph 12.29). 11. The present arrangements for enhanced salaries for teachers in special schools and special classes in Scotland should be discontinued from a date to be announced well in advance and an increased qualification payment should be made to a teacher who holds a recognised qualification in special education, whether he is teaching in an ordinary or a special school (paragraph 12.30). 12. Training facilities and local education authority support for teachers to take in-service courses should be so increased that possession of an additional recognised qualification can be made a requirement on all teachers with a defined responsibility for children with special educational needs as soon as possible (paragraph 12.31). 13. The exception of teachers of craft, domestic or trade subjects from the present requirement on other teachers of blind, deaf or partially hearing pupils in England and Wales to have an additional recognised qualification should be removed as soon as possible (paragraph 12.33). 14. The present requirement on teachers of blind or deaf pupils in special schools to have an additional recognised qualification should be extended to teachers of blind or deaf pupils in special classes or units (paragraph 12.33). 15. A requirement should be imposed on teachers of the partially sighted in special schools and special classes and units, like teachers of the partially hearing, to obtain an additional recognised qualification (paragraph 12.34). In-service training 16. All in-service courses designed for teachers who are specialising in the teaching of children with special educational needs should include consideration of working with parents and non-teaching assistants, peripatetic teaching and work with children below school age who require special help, as well as the principles of guidance and counselling (paragraph 12.36). One-year full-time courses or their equivalent leading to the proposed qualification in special education 17. All courses leading to the recognised qualification should include a general component, which would aim to give teachers knowledge of the characteristics and signs of different types of disability and to equip them with a basic core of teaching skills appropriate to the teaching of children with a range of special educational needs (paragraph 12.39). 18. The Department of Education and Science should grant-aid the preparation by the Open University of a course leading to the proposed recognised qualification in special education (paragraph 12.50). Other courses 19. A range of advanced short courses specifically directed to the teaching methods and techniques appropriate to children with different kinds of disability or disorder and involving study in depth of their special educational needs should be provided for teachers who have a professional commitment to teaching such children (paragraph 12.53). 20. Courses should be provided for head teachers and senior staff, whether in special or ordinary schools, in management and administrative skills, including aspects directed to children with special educational needs (paragraph 12.54). 21. Courses leading to higher degrees in special education should be established in universities and other establishments of higher education (paragraph 12.55). 22. Local education authorities should review the provision of short courses in their own areas and ensure that a comprehensive range of courses in special education, provided under their own auspices or through other agencies, is available (paragraph 12.56). Regional coordination of course provision 23. The deployment of college staff with training and experience in particular fields of special education should be considered on a regional (or in Scotland an inter-regional) basis (paragraph 12.61). Induction 24. Local education authorities should organise an induction programme for all teachers taking up for the first time a post with responsibility for children with special educational needs. Induction programmes should be shaped to meet each teacher's individual needs (paragraphs 12.64-65). Training for further education teaching 25. A special education element should be included in all initial training courses for further education teachers, both full and part-time courses, on the lines of that proposed for inclusion in all initial training courses for school teachers but orientated towards the needs of young people over 16 who require special help. Short part-time courses which cover the same ground as the special education element should also be provided (paragraph 12.68). 26. A one-year full-time course or its equivalent leading to a recognised qualification should be available to teachers in further education specialising in the teaching of students with special needs. Teachers who obtain the recognised qualification should receive an additional payment (paragraph 12.70). 27. Short courses should be provided in particular aspects of the teaching of young people and adults with special educational needs (paragraph 12.71). 28. Steps should be taken to ensure that teachers of young people and adults with special educational needs who teach outside establishments of further education have access to the same range of training courses as their colleagues in further education establishments (paragraph 12.74). The admission of people with disabilities to teacher training courses and their employment as teachers 29. There should be more opportunities for people with disabilities to become teachers and obtain teaching posts in both special and ordinary schools (paragraph 12.75). 30. In future there should be a recognised right of appeal to the appropriate Secretary of State against classification as medically unfit for the teaching profession at the end of a teacher training course and candidates should be told of this right when notified of their classification (paragraph 12.79).
CHAPTER 13: ADVICE AND SUPPORT IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 1. Every local education authority should restructure and, if necessary, supplement its existing advisory staff and resources to provide effective advice and support to teachers concerned with children with special educational needs through a unified service (paragraph 13.3). 2. Every local education authority should have an education officer responsible for all arrangements for children with special educational needs, wherever these needs are being met (paragraph 13.30). 3. Every local education authority should have a separate committee or a sub-committee of the schools committee responsible for the provision for children and young people with special educational needs of all ages, that is children under five, children of school age, whether they are in ordinary schools, special schools or other establishments, and young people attending establishments of further education or other institutions (paragraph 13.31). 4. Members of the special education committee or sub-committee should represent the local education authority on the Joint Consultative Committee or in Scotland the Joint Liaison Committee (paragraph 13.31).
CHAPTER 14: OTHER STAFF EMPLOYED IN THE EDUCATION SERVICE Educational psychologists 1. Initial training arrangements for educational psychologists should be increased so as to allow local education authorities in England and Wales to attain a target of at least one psychologist to 5,000 children and young people up to the age of 19 (paragraph 14.12). 2. Course modules common to the training of educational and clinical psychologists should be developed (paragraph 14.14). 3. Existing training centres for educational psychologists and other establishments and organisations should institute a range of in-service courses for educational psychologists, varying in both length and content (paragraph 14.15). Careers officers 4. The Local Government Training Board should review the element in the initial training of careers officers which is concerned with young people with special needs and should develop in-service courses on special needs for all careers officers in post who have not already taken this element (paragraph 14.19). 5. Careers officers wishing to specialise in work with young people with disabilities or significant difficulties should undertake training on lines similar to that of Disablement Resettlement Officers (paragraph 14.20). 6. Some senior posts in local education authority careers services should be made available to careers officers specialising in work with young people with disabilities or significant difficulties (paragraph 14.21). Links between home and school 7. Local authorities should ensure, through cooperation between their education and social services departments, that adequate social work services are available to meet the needs of children who require special help in all schools in their area, that the social workers are clearly linked to individual schools or groups of schools and that, where appropriate, the social workers are school-based (paragraph 14.23). Education welfare officers 8. Further studies should be undertaken to determine the best way of providing the essential though in some respects overlapping services carried out by education welfare officers and social workers (paragraph 14.27). 9. Education welfare officers should be helped in initial and in-service training to recognise signs of special educational needs and to be aware of the ways in which the education and other services can meet such needs (paragraph 14.28). Nursery nurses 10. The possession by nursery nurses working in day nurseries, playground nursery schools or classes of the advanced certificate of the National Nursery Examination Board or the Scottish NNEB should carry an increase in salary (paragraph 14.31). Ancillary workers 11. Special classes for children of primary school age, whether in special schools or units or attached to ordinary schools, and special classes for children of secondary school age with physical disabilities, severe learning difficulties or emotional or behavioural disorders should each have at least one ancillary worker (paragraph 14.32). Child care staff 12. Special training leading to a recognised qualification should be available for child care staff in residential special schools, whatever their previous qualifications, along lines compatible with that for staff in community homes (paragraph 14.36). 13. There should be one post in boarding special schools at deputy head level, carrying responsibility for all arrangements for residential care, and this should be open to trained child care staff (paragraph 14.37). Instructors in special schools in Scotland 14. Training courses for instructors in Scotland should be extended to two years and education authorities should consider providing posts of responsibility for instructors where a number is employed in any one school (paragraph 14.38).
CHAPTER 15: THE HEALTH SERVICE AND THE SOCIAL SERVICES The health service 1. Health authorities should make adequate resources available to promote effective child health services in ordinary and special schools (paragraph 15.10). 2. As a matter of urgency high priority should be given to the recruitment and appropriate training of doctors for work related to school health in the field of community medicine (paragraph 15.12). 3. There should be a named doctor and nurse for every school (paragraph 15.17). 4. Local education authorities, in consultation with area health authorities, should satisfy themselves that adequate health care is available before placing children in non-maintained special schools or independent schools catering wholly or mainly for handicapped pupils (paragraph 15.19). 5. The Specialist in Community Medicine (Child Health) should ensure that arrangements are made for the transfer of responsibility for the medical surveillance of a young person with special educational needs to an appropriate branch of the health service when that young person leaves school or further education (paragraph 15.20). 6. Health services comparable to those provided for special schools should be made available to establishments of further or higher education which cater for students with more severe disabilities or disorders (paragraph 15.21). 7. More opportunities for post-qualification training on an inter-professional basis should be made available to members of the health service concerned with children with disabilities and significant difficulties (paragraph 15.34). The personal social services 8. Social services departments should nominate a senior social worker to act as a liaison officer with the careers service and the specialist careers officer (paragraph 15.43). 9. Separate provision and a differentiated programme of education and other activities including training should be available for handicapped young people in adult training centres and day centres or elsewhere (paragraph 15.47). 10. An element should be included in the initial training of all social workers and residential child care staff which acquaints them not only with the social work aspects of different disabilities but with the special education services available to children and parents (paragraph 15.48). Joint Consultative Committees 11. Joint Consultative Committees should be asked to advise health, education and social services authorities as soon as possible on the health and social services which will be needed by and can be provided for ordinary schools to meet the needs of children with disabilities or significant difficulties, and what priority their provision should be accorded (paragraph 15.51).
CHAPTER 16: RELATIONS BETWEEN PROFESSIONALS, CONFIDENTIALITY AND COORDINATION OF SERVICES The dissemination of information 1. Teachers' associations, in consultation with local authority associations and representatives of other professions, should draw up guidelines for teachers on the handling of confidential information as well as the sharing of information with members of other professions (paragraph 16.5). 2. Form 10bM or its equivalent (which provides an appropriate summary by school doctors of medical findings for educational use) should be used properly and consistently for all school children (paragraph 16.11). Inter-professional training 3. Establishments of further and higher education as well as the bodies responsible for the training of members of the health, psychological and social services should explore the possibility of developing initial training courses leading to a dual qualification (paragraph 16.21). 4. A limited number of initial training courses leading to a dual qualification should be introduced on an experimental basis as soon as possible (with the students receiving mandatory awards for the whole period of the course) and their benefits should be evaluated with a view to their further development if the results are favourable (paragraph 16.21). 5. There should be an expansion of the provision of short courses of inter-professional training which focus on subjects of common concern to members of different professions engaged in meeting the needs of children and young people who require special educational provision. Initiatives to develop such courses should be taken by the colleges and departments of education and the special education advisory and support service as well as by those bodies responsible for the organisation of post-experience training for professionals in the health, psychological and social services (paragraphs 16.25-26). Coordination of services 6. Working groups should be set up under the auspices of the Joint Consultative Committees (JCCs) to review the provision and operation of services for children and young people up to the age of, say, 25 with disabilities or significant difficulties, with a view to identifying deficiencies in provision and practice, developing strategies and programmes to meet those deficiencies and, as necessary, recommending policies for improving the effectiveness of the separate services and of their cooperation with each other (paragraph 16.31). 7. Local authorities should set up local machinery for the coordination of services for young people with special educational needs during and for some time after the transition from school to further or higher education, training or employment (paragraph 16.35). 8. The functions of the regional conferences for special education should be extended to include considering the annual reports of the working groups set up under the auspices of the JCCs; reviewing the existing facilities for special educational provision in the region (including those provided by voluntary organisations) and planning for the maximum degree of regional self-sufficiency; facilitating inter-authority arrangements for in-service training on an inter-professional basis; and identifying the requirements of young people with special needs for further education and promoting the provision of suitable courses for them (paragraph 16.39). 9. The composition of the regional conferences for special education should include local education authority elected members and officers, representatives of employment, health and social services, of employers' and employees' organisations and of voluntary organisations, and teachers with responsibility for children with special educational needs (paragraph 16.40). 10. The Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) should continue its responsibility for coordinating the provision of special education by local education authorities in Wales. Conferences on special education should be organised on the basis of arrangements agreed between the Welsh Office and the WJEC and these conferences should reflect the wider range of membership recommended for the regional conferences in England. The Welsh Office should consider, in consultation with the WJEC, what arrangements might be made in Wales for the receipt and review of the annual reports of the proposed working groups to be set up under the auspices of the Joint Consultative Committees (paragraph 16.42). 11. A National Advisory Committee on Children with Special Educational Needs should be established to advise the Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales on the provision of educational services for children and young people with special educational needs and their coordination with other services. A separate advisory committee should be appointed for Scotland (paragraph 16.47).
CHAPTER 17: VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS 1. The future of individual non-maintained special schools should be determined through consultation between local education authorities in the region and those voluntary organisations which provide the schools. The schools themselves should be kept informed of any local authority plans which may affect their continued existence (paragraph 17.11). 2. Collaboration between voluntary organisations and further education establishments should be developed and improved with a view to an increase in the opportunities available to young people with special needs after they have left school (paragraph 17.13). 3. Voluntary bodies and local authorities should collaborate to see that advisory and support services are available to groups of parents of young children with special needs and that no parents of such children are unaware of them (paragraph 17.25).
CHAPTER 18: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN SPECIAL EDUCATION Promotion and coordination of research in special education 1. Priority should be given within universities, polytechnics and other establishments of higher education to the allocation of senior academic posts to special education and there should be at least one university department of special education in each region of the country (paragraph 18.3). 2. Some senior academic posts in special education in universities, polytechnics and other establishments of higher education should be linked to part-time work with children with special needs from an educational, a medical, a psychological or a social standpoint (paragraph 18.4). 3. Some post-qualification courses should offer opportunities for experienced educational psychologists to develop their skills in research, and consideration should be given by validating bodies to the award of a higher degree for satisfactory completion of such a research-orientated course (paragraph 18.6). 4. A Special Education Research Group (SERG) should be set up with responsibility for indicating priorities for research in special education, for identifying programmes and projects to be initiated, for awarding some research grants and for commenting if requested to do so on applications for research central to its concerns which are submitted to other research bodies. It should have at its disposal sufficient funds to enable it at any time to support one or two large programmes or projects, together with several smaller ones (paragraph 18.11). Translation of research into practice 5. Each local education authority should have a centre where research, development and in-service training in special education are based and to which all the teachers in the area with responsibility for children with special needs can turn for help with their professional development (paragraph 18.17). 6. A body responsible for the further training of senior staff, which might be known as the Special Education Staff College, should be established (paragraph 18.18). 
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