Experiencing Integration

This book deals with the experience of integration of children with special educational needs into the mainstream system. Its purpose is to make accessible one account of how policy for integration was put into practice in one school - the Sunnyside School, Cleveland - during 1983. It looks at various factors which influence the quality of learning within schools - co-operation between various partners within the educational service, bridging gaps between theory and practice and using the products of educational research to inform decision making. The Sunnyside Action Inquiry Project occupied the whole staff of the school for a year and brought together four major institutions - an LEA, a national curriculum development agency, a research organization and a polytechnic as well as practising teachers.