ABSTRACTThis paper draws upon wider research examining the impact of the Education (Scotland) Act 1981 to explore how education policies relating to pupils with special educational needs are worked out at local level. Qualitative data are the major source of this information. Additionally, however, data from a demographic survey, conducted in the period 1986‐88, of pupils recorded as having special educational needs in terms of the Act (n = 2 861) are used to compile a detailed picture of policy and practice in this area. The paper concludes that education professionals play a disproportionately large role in shaping local provision and that there is an absence of clearly articulated policies arrived at in consultation with parents, elected representatives and voluntary organizations. This results in ad hoc policy‐making, where young people with special educational needs and their parents often remain uninformed on the nature of services, monitoring and evaluation processes and ignorant of the professionals’ agendas.