Implementing the 1981 Education Act

This article examines factors affecting the development and implementation of Education Policy with special reference to the 1981 Education Act for England and Wales. Research is reported about professional practice and administrative behaviour in special education assessment. Six professional and administrative factors are identified which may affect the implementation of the new special education legislation:

1. The nature of the professional domain of special education assessment;
2. The emergence of competing definitions of special educational need and good practice;
3. The concern for professional and administrative accountability;
4. The concern for the rights of users of special education provision;
5. The politicisation of special education through the development of interest groups;
6. The market relations between supply and demand in special education provision.