Mandatory accreditation for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators: biopolitics, neoliberal managerialism and the Deleuzo–Guattarian ‘war machine’

Abstract

Recent changes to policy directives now require newly appointed Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) in UK mainstream schools to be qualified teachers. Training and accreditation through a nationally approved postgraduate award is now mandatory. Concepts drawn from poststructuralist biopolitics and critiques of neoliberal educational managerialism are mobilized in an analysis of recent inclusion policy and award requirements. Resistance to the positioning of SENCOs and pupils within a political narrative of economic priority and productivity is conceptualized as a Deleuzo–Guattarian ‘war machine’. The implications of biopolitical orientations for practitioner research are explored with reference to teacher action research.

Keywords:

• poststructuralism
• inclusion
• professional development
• practitioner research