Description

Over the past two decades there have been frequent revisions to the law and official guidance on the assessment of special educational needs (SEN). Now there is a single, authoritative “Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of SEN (DFE, 1994). Like its predecessors, that document pays little attention specifically to children from linguistic minorities. This guide is intended to supoort those working with bilingual pupils when they are placed in a situation covered by the Code of Practice. The law now says that LEAs, governing bodies and all who work with children with SEN must “have regard to provisions of the Code” whenever its guidance might apply to their actions (Education Act 1993, sect. 157). Noone in schools and related services can afford to be ignorant of it. The Code itself is unusally readable for such a document. There are also short and authoritative summaries produced by organisations like the National Children’s Bureau (Russell, 1995). But none of them focuses specifically on bilingual pupils, and few of them refer to bilingual pupils at all. In commisioning this guide the editor of NALDIC News aimed to fill that gap.