Premium
Disabled Children and Residential Schools: The Implications for Local Education Professionals
Author(s) -
Morris Jenny,
Abbott David,
Ward Linda
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
british journal of special education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.349
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8578
pISSN - 0952-3383
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8527.00286
Subject(s) - legislation , context (archaeology) , inclusion (mineral) , special educational needs , sociology , pedagogy , special education , residential care , social research , medical education , public relations , psychology , political science , medicine , gerontology , social science , law , paleontology , biology
Jenny Morris, freelance researcher, David Abbott, research associate at the Norah Fry Research Centre at the University of Bristol, and Linda Ward, Director of the Norah Fry Research Centre at the University of Bristol, carried out research to look at whether the current system of legislation and regulation is adequately protecting and promoting the interests of disabled children placed at residential schools. This article summarises some findings from the research which investigated the decision‐making processes leading to residential special school placements and explored the involvement of education and social services authorities after placements have been made. The research found that the needs of individual children are not central to these decision‐making processes; and that the local authorities who make such placements do not pay sufficient attention to protecting and promoting children's educational or care needs once they have gone away to school. Jenny Morris, David Abbott and Linda Ward indicate some of the ways in which current practice could be improved; make recommendations for future developments; and call for further research into the role of special residential schools in the context of policy on educational and social inclusion.