Author: Gillian Doherty

Director of SNJ, Co-founder of SEND Action and SEND Community Alliance. My professional background is in children’s publishing. I have three sons, the youngest of whom has Down syndrome. We have recently returned to the UK after spending most of the last ten years living in Africa. I campaign on disabled children’s rights to inform and influence policies and strategies. SEND Action coordinates strategic group legal action on key SEND issues, including a judicial review against the government regarding SEND funding. I represent SEND Community Alliance on the Special Education Consortium and on the SEND Strategic Oversight Board. I’m passionate about social justice and have a research background in international development, focusing on children and education. I’m now developing research partnerships to explore and evidence the experiences of disabled children and young people and their families, particularly in relation to access to justice.

Inclusion Base, learning disability, mainstream units, special needs

The DfE’s URGENT survey for data on its new obsession: Mainstream SEND units

By Gillian Doherty July 23, 2025 June 24, 2026

** Update: The DfE research team has decided to close this survey early on 30th July, because they fundamentally misunderstood how the link would be disseminated in our post, thinking …

Columnists, Inclusion, Inclusion Base, special needs, Teaching

SEN Resource Bases and Unit Provision in Secondary—what are they and do they count as inclusion?

By Gillian Doherty January 10, 2025 June 24, 2026

It’s over 14 years since David Cameron pledged to end the bias towards the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream schools. Now the policy pendulum seems to be …

Guest Posts, Inclusion, special needs

“Every learner matters and matters equally”. But in England’s education system, do they really?

By Gillian Doherty July 3, 2024 March 19, 2026

with Mel Ainscow, Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Manchester Gill’s introduction: This year marks the 30th anniversary of the World Conference on Special Needs Education and the …

Guest Posts, SEND funding, SEND Politics, special needs

The DfE wants to stop LAs filling SEND funding gaps

By Gillian Doherty October 14, 2019 December 22, 2025

Last week, the High Court found against campaign group, SEND Action in their judicial review into SEND funding against the Government. You can read about the decision here. Today, the …