Improving the Opportunities of Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs: Strengthening Inclusive Systems

BackgroundAddressing the needs of children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) poses many challenges to the education system. The nature of the education system and the making of provision for SEN may vary between countries, regions, and at the level of schools and other education services. Unlike private education systems, state education systems are typically subject to government involvement, including implementing statutory requirements.This Research Topic focuses on the improvement of the education system for children and young people with SEN. There is dissatisfaction with SEN systems, not least in England. This includes the nature and implementation of systems for assessment of SEN, and the provision to address the children’s special needs. Countries may have a national framework. For example, the first national SEN system in England followed the UK Government Warnock Report in 1978. This led to the comprehensive Education Act 1981, which subsequently governed the framework for provision for children and young people with SEN.In the following period the UK Government undertook other reviews and made changes to elements in the SEN system, most recently the Children and Families Act 2014. These were designed to address problems and limitations in the SEN system: in particular, the statutory system for making additional provision for children and young people with more complex SEN.In 2020, a Frontiers Research Topic explored the development of making provision for SEN since that time: Warnock 40 Years on: The Development of Special Educational Needs Since the Warnock Report and Implications for the Future (Lindsay, Dockrell & Wedell). This proposed Research Topic follows on from Warnock 40 Years On, as Volume 2 of the Frontiers Research Topic in this theme.GoalThis Research Topic will accept two types of research into the nature and development of SEN systems:· International research on the improvement of SEN provision, with the aim of improving the development and opportunities of children and young people, in different countries.· Specifically focus on England, where the UK Government published a White Paper in February 2026: Every Child Achieving and Thriving. This set out the Government’s plans for reforms to the SEN system, with the aim of improving the development and life opportunities of children and young people with SEN.ScopeWe invite researchers of a wide range of research topics, within both the International and the England categories, that examine aspects of systems of provision for children and young people with SEN. Topics of interest include the development and implementation of provision for children and young people with SEN by governments, but are not limited to:· Inclusion and its conceptual analysis· Inclusion and practice· Academic and social-emotional progress· Special educational needs, additional needs and disability· Policy implementation and practices· Parents as partners, advocates, support, and critics· Financial analyses· Ethics and provision· Accountability to be aligned with policy developments· Curriculum and assessment reform· The prevalence of children with SEN with respect to demographic factors· Models of teaching; adaptive, inclusive and collaborative teaching· New methodological techniques· Community engagement· Roles of support services including educational psychologists· School inclusive bases, units· Multi-professional collaboration and teams. Topic editors: Geoff Lindsay, Susana Castro-Kemp, Brahm Norwich Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80222/improving-the-opportunities-of-children-and-young-people-with-special-educational-needs-strengthening-inclusive-systems