There has been an overall decrease in exclusion rates and numbers in recent years across the UK. This change has often been heralded as evidence that national inclusion policies are "working" and that schools themselves are becoming increasingly inclusive. This article examines findings from a recent study on school exclusion in Wales,…

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 boosted the rights of parents of children with additional support needs (ASN) by improving access to information, instituting a Code of Practice and establishing new redress mechanisms such as the ASN Tribunal and independent mediation. More than a decade later, Scottish…

Since the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, successive administrations have reaffirmed their commitment to social justice. However, despite high-level equality policies, social-class inequality is a major feature of Scottish society, affecting all social policy domains, including education. In this article, we provide a brief…

This paper focuses on Scottish policy on additional support needs and its material outcomes. The central question addressed is the extent to which the Scottish additional support needs system undermines or reinforces existing social and economic inequalities. Administrative data highlight the inflation of the additional support needs category,…

This article, by Sheila Riddell and Elisabet Weedon of the Centre for Research in Education Inclusion and Diversity, University of Edinburgh, analyses recent policy developments and outcomes in the field of additional support needs in Scotland in the context of devolution and austerity, drawing on a critical analysis of policy and administrative…

Partnerships with parents, particularly in the field of education, have featured prominently in policy rhetoric for many years, but routes of redress have not had much attention until relatively recently. The development of Alternative Dispute Resolution in the UK reflects the situation in several jurisdictions (e.g. Norway, Germany, the…

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 aimed, among other things, to increase parents' rights in relation to the education of their children. In addition to the creation of the Additional Supports Needs Tribunals for Scotland, parents were given new rights to challenge local authority decisions through mediation and…

Social justice, equality and inclusion are complex and inter-linked concepts and feature prominently in Scottish social policy rhetoric. This paper begins with an overview of the discourses surrounding these concepts and the ways in which they are used in Scottish education policy, which, in general, is founded on principles of universalism. The…

Explores varied special-education policy frameworks currently implemented in England and Scotland and their relationship with procedural fairness and substantive justice. Drawing on post-1993 policy documents, identifies dominant special-education policy needs. Unfortunately, legal and bureaucratic policy frameworks are supplanting traditional…

This paper critically examines the array of policy approaches that have been adopted in the field of special needs education in Scotland over recent years. These are characterized in the following ways: (1) supporting or changing the child--an individualized approach; (2) making schools inclusive for all--a systems approach; (3) challenging the…

Interviews with 17 key informants and surveys of 278 schools in Scotland explored policy and practices related to parent and student participation in the development and implementation of individualized educational programs (IEPs). While finding such participation desirable, education professionals did not agree on what constitutes participation,…

Summarizes the pressures for including disabled students in Scottish high education and assesses the extent to which the expansion of higher education has included disabled students. Highlights the experiences of disabled students and the attempts of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council in managing the higher education market. (CMK)

This article focuses on the construction of dyslexia in higher education and explores the nature of negotiations between students, lecturers and academic institutions over diagnosis, support and assessment. Disabled students are now entitled, under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), to reasonable adjustments in assessment.…

Asserts that research on parents of children with special needs often reveals their lack of power and difficulty in establishing partnerships with professionals. Reports on a study of parents of 114 special needs students. Finds that parents of mild/moderate learning difficulties do not have powerful advocacy groups to promote their cause. (CFR)

This paper summarizes a 1990 Scottish study exploring the views of parents, professionals, and voluntary organizations concerning services for children with specific learning difficulties (SLD). It specifically addressed the questions of: (1) to what degree pupils with SLD are a group with distinctive difficulties and needs; (2) how learning…