Understanding Special Educational Needs

Teachers need to be fully equipped to respond to diversity in today's classrooms now more than ever before. The Professional Standards for Qualified Teacher Status and Induction Standards are now the driving force behind initial teacher education, and students will need to demonstrate their competence against these, and in particular, their understanding of Special Educational Needs in today's inclusive classrooms. Each chapter of this indispensable text explores an important topic within SEN and directly relates it to the competencies, making it an essential course companion. Chapters on topics relating to the code of practice, school policy, literacy and numeracy, ICT, emotional and behavioural difficulties and dealing with parents all follow a similar template, which includes:

• a commentary on the relevant professional standards
• contextualising of the standards
• what teachers can do to promote effective practice.

Detailed referencing will lead students to pursue more detailed individual texts, which address many of the issues in greater depth. This is an ideal, highly accessible text for student and new qualified teachers who need a reliable introduction to today's vital issues within Special Educational Needs.

Michael Farrel is a special educational consultant with LEAs and universities. He is very well known in the field of SEN and has published widely