Financing and implementing inclusion

Of the four underlying causes for a slower-than-acceptable move to inclusion identified by the commission, three concerned financial matters surrounding the oiganisation of the school system by the local authority. These were  

1 the LEA is legally in the position of the person representing the child s educational interests. However, it is also the provider of education through special schools. There is no separation of the role of the client, who purchases services, and the contractor, who dehvers them. Hence the LEA is in the position of monitoring itself (I992a 3I).In this situation, decisions about possible school transfer would usually be left to the special school headteacher, who would rarely advise on a transfer, due to (3), below, 

2 there is a financial disincentive for authorities to move pupils from special schools to the mainstream as they then have to fund the ordinary school place as well as an empty special school place  

3 there is no incentive for special school heads to pursue programmes of transfer of pupils to mainstream schools, since the consequence could be a loss of viability for their own schools. 

Given that it is so difficult to redirect these substantial resources, the Audit Commission/ HMI (1992b) have produced helpful guidelines on the kind of structure which will support a move to inclusion. An abbreviated version of these guidelines is given in Table 1.3. 

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