Historical perspectives

The 1990s

Throughout the 1980s other significant education legislation was passed, but the next significant Education Act was passed in 1993 (section 160), and was consolidated in the Education Act of 1996 (section 316) when:

the general principle that children with special educational needs should where this is what parents wanted normally be educated at mainstream schools was enshrined into law. (DfES, 2001a)

Also it was in 1994 that the Salamanca Statement was drawn up at a United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world conference in Spain. It called upon all governments, including the supportive United Kingdom government ‘[to] adopt as a matter of law or policy the principle of inclusive education, enrolling all children in regular schools, unless there are compelling reasons for doing otherwise’ (DfES, 2001b).

This appears to have been the catalyst for the evolving changes that have been, and are continuing to be, introduced to practitioners and schools through government legislation and guidance. A Green Paper, Excellence for All Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs (DEE, 1997) set out a strategy to improve standards for children with special educational needs and promoted greater inclusion. This Green Paper indicates support both for inclusion and for special schools:

There are strong educational, as well as social and moral grounds for educating children with special educational needs with their peers. We aim to increase the level and quality of inclusion within the mainstream schools, while protecting and enhancing specialist provision for those who need it.

(Croll and Moses, 2000: 1)