In Northern Ireland, as in other parts of the UK, children with special educational needs have a right to access their education in a mainstream school where possible (DENI,1996). Teachers therefore need to be able to meet the needs of all pupils in their classrooms.  It is in the context of an inclusive education agenda and the establishment of two key educational policies designed to support schools and teachers in their work to raise standards and overcome barriers to learning in order to raise standards in literacy outcomes, namely the ꞌEvery School a Good Schoolꞌ and ꞌCount, Read: Succeed – A Strategy to Improve Outcomes in Literacy and Numeracy’ ꞌ policies (Department of Education, 2008; 2011); the Special Educational Needs CPD Literacy Project was a Northern Ireland wide, whole-school continuing professional development (CPD) initiative to tackle literacy underachievement and raise standards in literacy for children in participating primary schools. The CPD project involved 563 schools over its duration from 2012-2015. Approximately 30 of these schools participated in the present research examining some of the factors accounting for variance in children's progress in reading, and referral rates for educational psychology services in Northern Ireland. Research commenced when schools were in their first year of engagement with the project; and the project was in its second year.

In addition, a Department of Education report (2011) noted that the way in which information is recorded varies within the Education and Library Boards in Northern Ireland. Subsequently, this makes it difficult to ascertain underlying patterns of referrals and statements and to make ꞌlike-for-likeꞌ comparisons.

Department of Education (2008).Every school a good school: A policy for school improvement. Accessed 22/12/16 from from www.deni.gov.uk. Department of Education (2011). Needs assessment and feasibility study for the development of high level diagnostic tools in Irish for children with special educational needs in the Irish medium sector. Accessed 04/03/13 from www.deni.gov.uk. DENI (1996) Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs. Accessed 22/12/16 from www.deni.gov.uk. Department of Education (2011). Count Read: Succeed – A Strategy to Improve Outcomes in Literacy and Numeracy’. Accessed 22/12/16 from www.deni.gov.uk. Education and Training Inspectorate (2015). Understanding Difficulties in Literacy Development: Continuing Professional Development Programme 2012-2015 Report of a survey inspection. Education and Training Inspectorate: Northern Ireland.