Education, training and social competence: special education in Glasgow since 1945

In the period from 1945 to the early 1970s, special education in Glasgow expanded as part of general developments in education born out of a post-war concern for the health of the nation. The Education (Scotland) Act of 1945 made it the duty of education authorities to ascertain which children might require 'special educational treatment' and to provide this. However, the ascertainment of handicap was, until the Education (Mentally Handicapped) (Scotland) Act of 1974, also used to discover those with 'severe' learning disabilities who were excluded from educational provision because of their perceived lack of 'educability'. The publication of the Warnock Report in 1978 heralded a new era of special educational policy in the whole of the UK. Its publication and the passing of subsequent education acts sought to promote integration and inclusion. Furthermore they stressed the need for structuring understanding of handicap around the idea of a continuum of needs and the movement away from designated categories of impairment.