Support for Special Needs: changing roles in an advisory service

Special education is increasingly concerned with attaining a greater congruence between the knowledge and skills of mainstream teachers and the special needs of pupils whose progress in school is hindered by difficulties in learning. This study illustrates how one group of advisory teachers are adapting to new roles within a service moving from a traditional remedial approach based on withdrawal teaching towards a system providing more support for teachers in ordinary classes through advice and consultancy. Illuminative evaluation techniques are used to explore how this group of teachers define their role.