Background:
As the educational landscape rapidly transforms in response to the promotion of inclusive education agendas, it has brought challenges to the management and leadership of provision for students with Special Educational Needs (SEN). The role of the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO), the person responsible for managing and leading SEN in the primary school setting is not defined in Ireland and research relevant to the role is scarce.

Research Aim:
This research applied Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory to explore SENCOs’ and principals’ perspectives on the role, and to identify the current profile and practices of SENCOs and the implications for their professional learning in primary schools in Ireland.

Methods and Data Sources:
A two-phase mixed methods sequential explanatory research design (quan + QUAL) was adopted for the study and this abstract presents findings from aspects of Phase One which relate to whether or not these SENCOs held a post of responsibility and thus a management position within the school. The questionnaire was developed in line with relevant research and gathered information related to the SENCOs’ experience, role, and qualifications. Following piloting of the questionnaire, all primary school SENCOs in Ireland (n = 3,104) were invited to participate and 371 questionnaires were completed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data.

Key Findings:
Findings indicate that the majority of SENCOs (72.8%, n=270) held a post of responsibility within their school related to the leadership of special education provision. Of these 270 SENCOs who held a post of responsibility for the SENCO role, only 17 % reported that this post was a full post related to the SENCO duties. The remaining 83% of SENCOs said that their SENCO duties form part of a post of responsibility with other responsibilities. The most common post of responsibility held by these SENCOs was Deputy Principal (45.2%). Over half of the SENCOs (56.7%) with a post of responsibility were senior leaders, i.e. Principals or Deputy Principals, which indicates that the SENCO role is occupied in the main by those in senior leadership positions.

Conclusions:
It could be concluded that the SENCOs in Irish primary schools are part of the management structures in the school microsystem. The majority of SENCOs hold a post of responsibilities related to the SENCO role and many occupy senior leadership positions. This differs from previous research and indicates that the role has moved from one that is operational in nature. This is an important finding as research has shown that having a place within the management structures of the school is necessary for SENCOs to enact their role and influence school-wide inclusive practices and policies.

Keywords: SENCO Role, SENCO Leadership, Post of Responsibility, Leadership of SEN.