How the rights of all school students and teachers are affected by special educational needs or disability (SEND) services: Teaching, psychology, policy

Abstract

This paper considers how teachers, psychologists and policymakers can respect the rights of all school students, through methods that are principled, humane, cost-effective and democratic. It examines how special educational needs and disability (SEND) services affect all school students and teachers, and their rights. The paper considers the history of rights, their meaning and purpose, and how and why they are important. Respect for rights can grow in several ways: in understanding the social and medical models of disability; in choices about SEND services; in educational psychology services; in the way 'normal' and 'special needs' students learn to live and work together, or else to live separate lives when it is then harder for disabled people to join in mainstream society as children and adults. The conclusion relates inclusive and special school policies to larger political concerns.