ve what is really within their interests and capabilities.Another area in which young people are not given the chance to fully develop their potential is that of Special Educational Needs (SEN), defined by the 1988 Education Act as a 'learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made'. The definition obviously requires some comparison with a 'norm', although this norm is not specified and different education authorities have different averages. Although the move now is away from labelling, since the Warnock Report (1983) many SEN pupils are still educated in separate units or in special schools, which can cause isolation and become a self-fulfilling prophecy (Lewis and Vuillamy, 1981). Unfortunately, it is implicit in current attitudes that problems are psychological rather than social, and pupils are rated in categories such as 'expressive language' and 'current intellectual functioning' - which can sometimes say more about teacher attitudes than they do about the pupils. Barton and Tomlinson (1981) ask, 'at which point does caring become controlling?'. The Educational Psychologist (EP) who statements a pupil as SEN has a great effect on the life of that child and his/her family; many EPs still believe in intelligence tests, which have been shown to be unfair. There is, as yet, only provision in the National Curriculum for children with special needs to be 'disapplied' - will they simply be classified as failures, or will schools refuse to take them as they will lower the school's average examination marks? Local financial management (1988 Reform Act) means that many authorities will not have the money to spend on Eps, so many children with such needs will go undetected and unprovided for. In order for special needs pupils to develop fully, it will be necessary to improve professional training, and alter perceptions of SEN children, so that their abilities, rather than their disabilities, form the basis of th...
