The education of children with special educational needs: Evidence or value driven?

Evidence-based practice is a particularly important issue at the moment for educational psychologists. Other professional groups, particularly within the health service, are being asked to justify their professional practice by the research evidence on which it is based. The aim of this paper is to explore how evidence-based practice highlights issues surrounding the education of children with special educational needs in the UK, and in particular how the reasons for change and variance within the system represent the values and beliefs of professionals rather than being founded on an evidence base. The importance of inclusive practice being based on research, professional experience and clients’ values is proposed as a model to endorse the credibility of educational psychologists in this evidence-based world.