What is the legal definition of Special Educational Needs?
The 1996 Education Act defines a child as having Special Educational Needs “if they have a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for them”.
Children have a learning difficulty if they:
- have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age; OR
- have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for children of the same age in schools within the area of the local authority; OR
- are under compulsory school age and fall within the definition at a. or b. above or would do so if special educational provision was not made for them.
(Sec. 312 Education Act 1996)
Special Educational Provision means:
“…educational provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children of their age in schools maintained by the Local Authority…”
For more information, please see the
Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001.