Editorial

Support for Learning has attempted, over many years, to retain an eclectic content. Successive Editors of the journal have sought to convey the diversity which has always characterised the field of special education, disability and educational inclusion in their choice of either thematic content for whole issues or the range of articles within each issue. At the present time, given the continued discussions about wide-ranging policy initiatives which will directly impact on the lives and learning of children and young people experiencing special educational needs, the complexities and contested territories in the field are ever-increasing. Thus, the recommendations from the Green Paper –The Next Steps, the role of SENCos and their funding, as well as the obvious tensions surrounding the growth in numbers of academy schools, free schools and a host of other generic education policy matters are just some of the issues which those working in the field have to consider as potential new developments that will affect their practice. My recent visits to Turkey are indicative of a similar policy flux in SEN in diverse international settings. Support for Learning has been characterised by a conscious effort to provide authors from different professional backgrounds or cultures with opportunities to communicate their thinking or research. And it is most certainly the case that, in terms of the written ‘style’ of its articles, Support for Learning has established a secure place as a professional journal which encourages both more formal, academic accounts of research alongside those which allow contributors to adopt a highly personalised, sometimes polemical, account. The latter include reports of projects, methodologies and orientations which are unusual or innovative.