Not fit for purpose: a call for separate and distinct pedagogies as part of a national framework for those with severe and profound learning difficulties

Abstract

The introduction of the National Curriculum in 1988 caused much discussion (some of it angst‐ridden) among both academics and practitioners working with pupils with severe and profound learning difficulties, and much of the meat (and the angst) of these discussions is still going on today. We argue that 24 years is a long experiment; that despite the best intentions of many, the experiment has failed; it is therefore well past time for separate and distinct pedagogies to be formulated for both severe and profound learning difficulties. Such pedagogies can only exist as part of the current National Curriculum if they are recognised as distinct curriculum models for those with severe and profound learning difficulties.