Abstract:
The nature of the right to education and the extentto which it is judicially enforceable has recently been atissue before the New Zealand High Court and the Court of Appeal, in the case of Daniels v. Ihe Attorney-General' In Septemberrooo a parent ofLinda Daniels, a child with special educational needs, applied to the High Court for judicial review ofthe special education policy known as Special Education 2000 (SE2000) which had been introduced in 1998 by the then Minister of Education In the period before the hearing in the High Court in December 2 001 the plaintiffwas joined by 14 other parents of children with special educational needs. Essentially the plaintiffs wanted their children to have the choice of attending special education facilities where mainstreaming was.inappropriate or ineffective The plaintiffs alleged that the policy of SE2000, pursuantto which these facilities were disestablished, infringed the right to equal education ofchildren with special educational needs as provided by the Education Act 1989 (NZ)
