Managers’ understandings of supporting teachers with specific learning disabilities: macro and micro understandings in the English Further Education sector

Abstract

The article explores the professionalism and the standards debate as it relates to teachers with specific learning difficulties in the context of Further Education in England. There is a tension between the government’s policy of defining teachers more tightly in terms of entry qualifications and standards whilst espousing a policy of creating a more inclusive profession as promoted by the Equalities and Disability Discrimination legislation. How prepared are leaders and managers in Further Education to address this policy tension and what insights might be drawn from the Further Education context? Interviews with key leaders and managers in a Further Education college and the analysis of college policy documents are used to illuminate the issues surrounding the inclusion of teachers with specific learning difficulties. Suggestions are offered which may provide a way forward to address the policy tension.

Keywords:

• professionalism policy
• teachers
• leaders and managers
• specific learning difficulties
• Further Education
• symbolic interactionism