Thousands of potential students with disabilities or learning difficulties are missing out on education and job training because colleges lack the resources to provide for them. A study of provision for students with special needs in 460 further education colleges in England claimed their numbers could be double the 1996 figure of 126,000 if all demand was met.
The Mapping Provision study, by the Institute of Employment Studies, also found almost a third of colleges admitted they could not cater for all the special needs of existing students. Lack of trained staff and inadequate resources again took most of the blame.
Mapping Provision, pounds 13.95, the Stationery Office, PO Box 276, London, SW8 5DT. Tel: 0171-873 9090. Lucy Ward
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