35 YEARS OF BJSE: Personal reflections on 35 years of BJSE

Abstract

Christina Tilstone was, for many years, the editor of BJSE and subsequently became the chair of the Editorial Board for the nasen journals. She is therefore in an excellent position to reflect upon the contribution the journal has made to the field over the past 35 years. In this article, she traces the origins of the journal back over 100 years. She notes the launch of BJSE's ancestor, Special Education: Forward Trends, and shares the contents of the issue of this journal that marked the publication of Mary Warnock's seminal report in 1978 and the development of the notion of inclusion. She goes on to describe the metamorphosis of Special Education: Forward Trends into BJSE in 1985 and soon after that, in 1992, the formation of nasen -still BJSE's sponsoring organisation. Christina Tilstone records the origins of BJSE's valued 'Research Section', now building a substantial archive of educational research papers, and the popular 'Focus on Practice' feature that enables practitioners to share reports of their work. She also notes the role that BJSE's other regular features, 'Book Reviews', 'Politics Page UK' and 'Notes from the SENCo-Forum' (itself now ten years old) have played in the journal's recent national and international success.