Education

Education is defined as, ‘the process of giving or receiving systematic instructions’ (Soanes and
Stevenson, 2003), and to educate someone is to provide, intellectual, moral and social
instruction’ (ibid.). It can be seen that education concerns not just intellectual progress but also
social and personal development. Also, instruction is only one way of teaching, and other aspects
of pedagogy include: modeling, questioning, and task structuring (Tharp, 1993, pp. 271–272).

Education implies that ‘something worthwhile is being or has been intentionally transmitted in a
morally acceptable manner’ (Peters, 1966).

A general statement of what might be ‘worthwhile’ could be that it is the skills, knowledge,
attitudes and values that a society endorses (Farrell et al., 1995,p. 70).

Special Education
The United States Department of Education has defined special education as, ‘specially designed
instructions to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability’ (United States Department of
Education, 1999, pp. 124–125).
Special education refers to distinctive provision, including education, for pupils with
disability/disorder. It is informed by a range of foundational disciplines, and encourages
academic progress and personal and social development. Special education has identifiable aims
and methods. (Foundations of Special Education: An Introduction Michael Farrell 2009)

Latest Definition of special education

A comprehensive definition of special education is provided by Salend (2011, p. 7) as follows:

Special education involves delivering and monitoring a specially designed and coordinated
set of comprehensive, research-based instructional and assessment practices and related
Services to students with learning, behavioral, emotional, physical, health or sensory
Disabilities. These instructional practices and services are tailored to identify and address
The individual strengths and challenges of students; to enhance their educational, social,
Behavioral and physical development; and to foster equity and access to all aspects of
Schooling, the community and society.
This indicates that special education is characterized by:
– Individual assessment and planning
– Specialized instruction
– Intensive instruction
– Goal-directed instruction
– Research-based instructional practices
– Collaborative partnerships
– Student performance evaluation

Special educational needs

Special educational needs is a legal definition and refers to children with learning problems or
disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age.
The term ‘special educational needs’ is part of the legal definition of special education in the
United Kingdom, where there is much talk of the ‘needs’ of pupils with disability/disorder and
pupils having their ‘needs met’. In Australia, the expression ‘additional needs ‘maybe used as an
alternative to special educational needs.

A school can usually provide help and sometimes uses specialists. If your child has special
educational needs, they may need extra help:

• with schoolwork
• reading, writing, number work or understanding information
• expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying
• making friends or interacting with adults
• behaving properly in school
• organising themselves

They might have sensory or physical needs that affect them in school.

Why is it important to understand special educational needs?

Without suitable support, some learners may find it difficult to access the learning taking place.
It is therefore important that teachers have an understanding and awareness of SEN so that they
do not make error judgments about the intelligence of the learner and are able to implement
suitable strategies to assist them and ensure equality of access.

Different Forms of Special Education Needs.

Students with visual impairments may: need seating accommodations to help them see you or
whiteboards, blackboards, overhead displays, etc. need to wear glasses, use magnifiers, or use
extra lighting for class work. require large printed handout materials or audio books for reading.

Hearing Impaired Children is to provide heads and teachers of special schools and special classes
and all other professionals working for the education of hearing impaired children with a better
insight into curriculum development in general and the curriculum for hearing impaired children
in particular. It is hoped that this will enable them to look at curriculum development for these
children in a proper perspective; thereby, be more alert to their learning difficulties and needs
and better equipped to initiate adaptations to the curriculum and to develop suitable curriculum
materials to meet these difficulties and needs.
Children with deafness and Hearing Impairment may be facilitated with audiology, speech
assessment, speech therapy, sign language, hearing aids, required AV aids and necessary
modifications in curriculum.
Children with physical disabilities could be accommodated with assessment services,
physiotherapy, medication, mobility aids, need based software etc.
Children with intellectual disabilities could be provided assessment services, psychotherapy,
physiotherapy, behavioral therapy, curriculum adaptations and occupational therapy.

Access arrangements/accommodations: learners with special educational needs may benefit

from specific access arrangements that take the learner’s difficulty into account when
assessments or learning tasks are performed. Providing access arrangements does not lower the
learning standards.
Examples of access arrangements include:
• allowing extended time for tests, exams, or assignments
• allowing for intermittent breaks during the test or exam
• providing a quiet or separate testing area so there are fewer distractions and less noise
• use of a computer instead of handwriting for exams or assignments
• use of a scribe or voice recognition software program which writes a candidate’s responses and
can then read them back to the candidate
• use of a reader or reading software
• modified test papers – for example, large print or braille.