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The irresistible rise of the SEN industry

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 38; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03054985.2012.692055

1465-3915

Sally Tomlinson,

Disability Rights and Representation

Abstract This article offers some explanations for the simultaneous expansion of special educational services and personnel, with the increasing inclusion in mainstream education of more young people with disabilities and learning difficulties. Following discussions with some 70 professionals, administrators and others in a study in four countries, it suggests that underpinning mass education systems in developed and developing countries is an expanded and expensive ‘SEN industry’. Governments have acquiesced in the development of this industry, conceding its importance in dealing with groups who may be increasingly surplus to labour requirements in ‘knowledge economies’ and also in need of social control measures. It is unlikely that special education will disappear despite commitments to inclusive education. The article notes that those defined as in need of special educational attention vary at different historical times and between different professions, but a majority of those regarded as having learning and/or behaviour problems were always largely from the lower social classes. Although historically middle-class parents usually denied they had ‘defective’ children, and avoided stigmatised categorisation or schooling, now the middle classes and aspirant parents increasing claim classification, funding and resourcing for children who are unlikely to achieve in competitive market-driven school systems. The needs of parents, for their children to be resourced on the basis of medical or therapeutic ‘diagnosis’, the continuing needs of teachers encouraged or coerced to ‘raise standards’ to be free of troublesome and disruptive pupils, and the needs of an expanding number of professionals and practitioners, including neuroscientists and ‘brain’ experts, to expand their clientele are further explanations offered for the rise of the SEN industry. Keywords: special educationinclusive educationlower attainersknowledge economies Acknowledgement I would like to thank the Leverhulme Trust for awarding me an Emeritus Professorial Grant to study low achievers and special needs in the global economy, on which the above article is based. Notes 1. The term ‘SEN industry’ was used ironically by several administrators of special education services in a study discussing with headteachers, College principals, local administrators and others their definitions of lower attainers and special educational needs in England, New York, Los Angeles, Germany (North-Rhine Westphalia) and Malta (Tomlinson, 2010 Tomlinson, S. 2010. NEETS, yobs and kripples: low attainment in a global knowledge economy. a report for the Leverhulme Trust, London: The Leverhulme Trust. [Google Scholar]). 2. Current classification in the USA includes speech and language impairment, emotionally disturbed, gifted and talented, specific learning disabilities, mental retardation, developmental delay, autism, visual impairment, deaf-blindness, hearing impairments, orthopaedic and other health impairments, multiple disabilities and traumatic brain disability. 3. Currently non-statutory categories in England include severe, profound and multiple learning difficulty, visual, hearing and multi-sensory impairment, moderate learning difficulty, behavioural, social and emotional difficulty/attention deficit disorder, physical disability, speech, language and communication needs, specific learning difficulty/dyslexia, autistic spectrum disorder and also gifted and talented. The Additional Educational Needs category includes those learning English as an additional language (Price Waterhouse Cooper, 2002 Price Waterhouse Cooper. 2002. A study of additional education needs (for the DfES), London: Department for Education and Skills. [Google Scholar]). The Common Assessment Framework (DfES, 2006 DfES. 2006. Common assessment framework for children and young children. Managers’ guide, London: Department for Education and Skills. [Google Scholar]) includes young people with disruptive or anti-social behaviour, parental conflict or lack of support, risk of offending, school exclusion or poor attendance, experience of bullying, special educational needs, disabilities, disengagement from education or training post-16, poor nutrition, ill-health, substance misuse, anxiety or depression, housing issues and teenage pregnancy. This framework also includes a variety of other ‘vulnerable groups’ considered to be in need of professional help. 4. Rose (2005 Rose, S. 2005. The twenty-first century brain, London: Vintage Books. [Google Scholar], p. 258) has documented the use of the drug methylphenidate (Ritalin) prescribed for millions of children in the USA, UK and other countries. The patenting company, now Novartis, made $464 million in 2010 selling Ritalin. 5. Parzych (1997) claimed that Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Leonardo Da Vinci, August Rodin, Stevie Wonder, Tom Cruise and Whoopi Goldberg were all dyslexic.