Nursery World - Inclusion dispute over pupil autism

Aleading special needs charity wants teachers in mainstream schools to be given more training to teach children who have special needs. The call was made last week by the National Autistic Society after the NASUWT teaching union said the whole policy of inclusion needs to be 'redefined'. At its conference in Llandudno, Wales, the union said it wanted to see fully funded alternatives reinstated for SEN pupils.

The call was made last week by the National Autistic Society after the NASUWT teaching union said the whole policy of inclusion needs to be 'redefined'. At its conference in Llandudno, Wales, the union said it wanted to see fully funded alternatives reinstated for SEN pupils.

But the National Autistic Society said that what was required was 'an ongoing resource commitment to ensuring that the existing policy works'.

This, the charity added, was demonstrated by the fact that many children with autistic spectrum disorders did well in mainstream schooling provided they were given a satisfactory level of support.

Stuart Notholt, the Society's director of policy and public affairs, said, 'We broadly support the Government's policy on inclusion, which recognises that special schools have an important role to play in educating children with complex needs and sharing their skills and expertise with mainstream schools to support greater inclusion.'

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