Education is special
Our new project, which has been made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, will work with five special schools to look at how education has developed over the last 50 years for people with Learning Disabilities in Birmingham.
This exciting project will bring together current and former pupils at the schools to record their experiences of what it’s like to go to a special school, as well as interviewing teachers and parents.
Up until the end of the 1960s, if a child was assessed to have an IQ of under 50, their family could receive a devastating letter from the Local Education Authority. This would state that they were officially classified as ‘ineducable’, and had no entitlement to a state education. However, after much campaigning, a new Education Act (Handicapped Children) was passed in 1970, which removed the category ‘ineducable’ and ensured rights for all children to an education.
As an advocacy organisation, we only work with adults not children, but all of our citizens speak of their school days as a time that really shaped their lives. It was a period when they felt a part of a community and were able to spend time with other people with similar issues learning about the world. It’s time to celebrate the role that special schools play and recognise the fantastic work that goes on in them. We can’t wait to get started and learn more, so check back for more on the project soon. We have set up a tumblr blog to document progress here.
This exciting project will bring together current and former pupils at the schools to record their experiences of what it’s like to go to a special school, as well as interviewing teachers and parents.
Up until the end of the 1960s, if a child was assessed to have an IQ of under 50, their family could receive a devastating letter from the Local Education Authority. This would state that they were officially classified as ‘ineducable’, and had no entitlement to a state education. However, after much campaigning, a new Education Act (Handicapped Children) was passed in 1970, which removed the category ‘ineducable’ and ensured rights for all children to an education.
As an advocacy organisation, we only work with adults not children, but all of our citizens speak of their school days as a time that really shaped their lives. It was a period when they felt a part of a community and were able to spend time with other people with similar issues learning about the world. It’s time to celebrate the role that special schools play and recognise the fantastic work that goes on in them. We can’t wait to get started and learn more, so check back for more on the project soon. We have set up a tumblr blog to document progress here.
