Special needs in the twenty-first century: where we've been and where we're going

Alan Dyson, who last year gave the Gulliford lecture on which this article is based, takes a critical look at the relationship between 'inclusion' and 'social inclusion'. He bases his analysis on a review of the history of special needs education and on some of the thinking which emerges from his work on a current research project, Understanding and developing inclusive practices in schools . This project is funded by ESRC (L 1392 51005) as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme and has been undertaken in collaboration with colleagues at Newcastle, Christchurch University College Canterbury and the University of Manchester. The later parts of this article refer to this project, although the views expressed are Alan Dyson's rather than those of the research team as a whole.