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Secondary SENCo leadership: a universal or specialist role?

Oldham, J; Radford, J; (2011) Secondary SENCo leadership: a universal or specialist role? British Journal of Special Education , 38 (3) pp. 126-134. 10.1111/j.1467-8578.2011.00513.x. Green open access

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Abstract

In this qualitative study, James Oldham, assistant head of the Inclusion Advisory Service, Cambridge Education, and Julie Radford, senior lecturer in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, investigate the tension in the role of mainstream secondary school SENCos. A review of legislation and literature concerning SENCo leadership has suggested that divergent forces are acting on the role, and in-depth interviews with SENCos in two local authorities were undertaken to gather data on this. It was found that SENCos consider leadership to be highly relevant to their role for reasons dominated by the team that they lead and the influence of more senior staff. Combined with little influence at a whole-school, universal level, it is suggested that this finding is evidence of divergent forces in operation. The distribution of leadership in schools and pressures regarding the achievement of pupils with special educational needs are proposed as causes and this is presented in a model. Potential problems emanating from this tension are explored and solutions are proposed for future consideration in theory and policy.

Type: Article
Title: Secondary SENCo leadership: a universal or specialist role?
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8578.2011.00513.x
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8578.2011.00513.x
Language: English
Additional information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Oldham, J; Radford, J; (2011) Secondary SENCo leadership: a universal or specialist role? British Journal of Special Education, 38 (3) pp. 126-134., which has been published in final form at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8578.2011.00513.x. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-820227.html#terms).
Keywords: SENCo;leadership;mainstream secondary school
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1476338
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