70 Educational & Child Psychology Vol. 34 No. 4 The SEN label and its effect on special education Hatim Algraigray & Christopher Boyle Aim: This article aims to explore whether labelling children and young people with Special Educational Needs and disabilities is still helpful or whether this leads to more discrimination, exclusion and stigmatisation, according to Becker’s labelling theory. Method: Based on reviewing Special Educational Needs literature, this study begins with an exploration of advantages of assigning labels to children and young people with Special Educational Needs, such as determining appropriate provision and extra support. Also, it investigates the tendency of Special Educational Needs labels to negatively affect individuals in various ways such as their educational and employment futures. By considering labelling theory, this paper considers a crucial question in just who has the power to establish and assign labels to children and young people with Special Educational Needs or disabilities? Findings: In a succinct way, fndings indicate that conceptualising disability and impairment according to medical and social models allows professionals to classify people with SEN according to normalising judgements of diagnosis and identifcation. Conclusion: The paper concludes that the drawbacks of SEN labelling seem to outweigh its advantages. Thus, it suggests to change the current label to be more alleviated and harmless. Keywords: Labelling theory; Classifcation; Stigmatisation; Discrimination; Labelling; Special educational needs, Educational Psychology. Introduction T HE PRIMARY AIM OF THIS ARTICLE is to explore whether it remains useful or indeed appropriate to label children and young people as having special educa- tional needs (SEN) or whether this leads to exclusion and stigmatisation. The arguments for and against will be placed in the context of labelling theory. To avoid any contradic- tions, in the English educational system, the term ‘children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities’ is used off- cially as defned in the latest Code of Prac- tice (DfE & DoH, 2014, p.11). Therefore, the term ‘children and young people with SEN or disabilities’ will be used throughout this article, since SEN is an educational term and has no particular meaning outside the domain as it tends to only apply to schooling. In the context of SEN, it has been claimed that assigning labels to children and young people with SEN helps with the provision of appropriate learning opportunities, extra support and increased awareness and under- standing of certain disabilities (Gillman et al., 2000; Lauchlan & Boyle, 2007). Educational purposes are thus one of the main reasons why children of school age and young people may be labelled as having a disability. However, as Boyle (2014) points out, the real- ity may be that it is well intended but can be harmful if it is done in a sporadic way. However, the counterargument holds that labelling children and young people with SEN may be harmful, since it can have a major impact on their own lives, as well as that of their family, and can also negatively impact on educational and employment futures (c.f. Arishi & Boyle, 2017, in this issue). Stigmati- sation, exclusion and discrimination are all potential negative consequences of labelling