Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in Mainstream Schools (International Perspectives on...

I N T E R N A T I O N A L P E R S P E C T I V E S O N I N C L U S I V E E D U C A T I O N

V O L U M E 1

EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL

DIFFICULTIES IN MAINSTREAM

SCHOOLS E D I T E D B Y

JOHN VISSER School of Education, The University of Birmingham, UK

HARRY DANIELS School of Education, The University of Birmingham, UK

TED COLE School of Education, The University of Birmingham, UK

2001

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Emotional and behavioural difficulties in mainstream schools/edited by Ted Cole, Harry Daniels, John Visser. p. em. - (International perspectives on inclusive education; v. 1)

Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-7623-0722-6

1. Mainstreaming in education. 2. Behaviour disorders in children. 3. Classroom management. I. Cole, Ted. 1I. Daniels, Harry. HI. Visser, John, 1946- IV. Series.

LC1200.E46 2001 371.9'046~dc21 2001029468

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record from the British Library has been applied for.

ISBN: 0-7623-0722-6

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND DROPPING OUT OF EDUCATION

Markku Jahnukainen

2. INGREDIENTS OF EFFECTIVE PRACTICE WITH PUPILS WHO HAVE EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES

Paul Greenhalgh

3. NUTURE GROUPS Marion Bennathan

4. 'DIFFICULT-TO-TEACH' CHILDREN: CONSULTATIVE STAFF SUPPORT AS AN ASPECT OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: SHARING EXPERTISE ACROSS NATIONAL AND CULTURAL BOUNDARIES

Gerda Hanko

5. MEETING THE NEEDS OF BEHAVIOURALLY CHALLENGING PUPILS - ASSESSING SCHOOL LIFE AS EXPERIENCED BY PUPILS WITH EMOTIONAL/BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES

Matti Kuorelahti

6. THE PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT OF BEHAVIOUR DIFFICULTIES IN SCHOOL. RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Terje Ogden

vii

13

29

47

63

75

vi

7. VALUES EDUCATION: A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS FACING BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS IN SCHOOLS

Angeles Parrilla 91

8. SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND EXCLUSION FROM SCHOOL IN ENGLAND

Carol Hayden 113

9. THE EDUCATION OF STUDENTS WITH EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES: ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Egide Royer 129

10. MEDICAL CON-TRICK ON NEW PARADIGM FOR EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES? THE CASE OF ATTENTION DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (AD/HD)

Paul Cooper 143

11. THE INTEGRATION OF CHILDREN WITH BEHAVIOUR DISORDERS: AN AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVE

Keith Bradshaw 165

12. INCLUSIVE PRACTICE FOR PUPILS WITH EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES IN MAINSTREAM SCHOOLS

Ted Cole, John Visser and Harry Daniels 183

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 195

SUBJECT INDEX 199

INTRODUCTION

Contributions to this volume are drawn from a range of professionals from a number of countries with each chapter focusing upon aspects of policy, practice, or provision. Authors describe advances in working with pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD). It is difficult to set all these advances in a common world-wide context as work with pupils with EBD has developed in various ways in different cultures and countries. Indeed there is no universally accepted definition of emotional and behavioural difficulties. Even within the United Kingdom, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland adopt slightly different definitions.

In the absence of a common definition this volume adopts the current English description of EBD which may be revised shortly to include an increased emphasis upon social issues. This definition (DfEE 1994) indicates that EBD is a descriptor of those pupils who exhibit behaviours which challenge schools and teachers within normal, albeit unacceptable bounds. The definition goes on to say:

Children with EBD are on a continuum. Their problems are clearer and greater than sporadic naughtiness or moodiness and yet not so great as to be classified as mental illness (p. 4).

Thus the focus in this volume is upon children and young people whose needs are being addressed within education. The reader, however should be aware that meeting the needs of these pupils may also involve social (welfare), health and juvenile justice professionals. Space precludes the consideration of these agencies' contributions and the importance of interdisciplinary working to meeting the wider needs of these pupils and their families (Cole, Visser & Upton, 1998).

The advances described have a common emphasis upon the need to ensure that interventions promote the social inclusion of pupils with EBD so that they become re-engaged in education and become life-long learners. Contributors demonstrate that systems and practices can be developed which lessen the marginalisation of pupils with EBD. A reading of the contributions suggests that there is an increasing dialogue between researchers and practitioners, contributing to a possible evidence base which could inform future policy, practice and provision.

vii

viii JOHN VISSER, HARRY DANIELS AND TED COLE

The opening chapter explores the notion of social exclusion and argues for greater precision in the use of terminology with respect to pupils with EBD. Jahnukainen suggests that social exclusion is a process which is hierarchical and developmental. He indicates that this process is dynamic and not a simple 'arithmetic' progression. In this he reflects the debate on causation of EBD, is it nature or nurture? In the process of describing a continuum of social exclusion, he puts forward different levels of intervention and suggests that, the later the intervention the less its efficacy, a sentiment echoed in later contributions.

Greenhalgh, in chapter two, explores inclusion at the classroom and whole- school level. He sets out aims for intervention strategies which centre upon raising pupils' achievements as well as their personal and social development. He urges teachers to develop an awareness of 'emotional literacy', asserting its importance for pupils in the wider social and economic changes which are a part of all societies in the twenty-first century.

The third chaPter describes an approach which focuses upon the early years of education, though as Bennathan indicates it is being used with secondary aged pupils as well. Known as 'Nurture Groups' this form of intervention provides pupils with opportunities to experience nurturing experiences they may have missed in early childhood. Bennathan suggests how this may be achieved within mainstream schools. The work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the development of provision is highlighted. The development of Nurture Groups within the United Kingdom has benefited from NGO involvement in promoting courses, publications and lobbying for funding.

In chapter four Hanko addresses the challenges teachers face in developing their understanding, skills and knowledge of pupils with EBD. She argues cogently (as do others, for example, Creese, Daniels & Norwich, 1997) for interventions which are teacher-based. She notes the isolating nature of working with pupils with EBD. Teachers are often reluctant to admit to difficulties in teaching these pupils, particularly in mainstream schools They may feel personally de-skilled and unable to meet the pupils' needs. She suggests that by working together with colleagues and when necessary an outside consultant, a more coherent approach can be developed. This, she indicates, should be based upon problem solving, which can provide teachers with both a greater understanding of the issues and a wider range of strategies to meet pupils' needs.

Pupils involvement in the identification, assessment of and provision for, their emotional and behavioural difficulties has been raised frequently in the past twenty years. The rise of the disability movement particularly in Western Europe has impacted on the assessment of EBD (see for example, Wise, 2000; Davie & Galloway, 1996). It is increasingly recognised that the greater investment

Introduction ix

that the pupil has in the formulation of interventions, the more likely it is that the outcomes will be positive. Kuorelahti's chapter explores the perceptions of pupils with EBD of their schooling. Using a 'quality of life' measure he examines how pupils view the efficacy of provision. The relationships pupils build with adults he sees as a key factor in successful interventions. The centrality of this factor in successful interventions cannot be over-emphasised. Kuorelahti's findings resonate with the factors emerging from studies of teaching and learning (for example see Harris, 1999) and on school improvement (for example see, McGilchrist, Myers & Reed, 1997).

Ogden's chapter draws upon research in Norway. He provides evidence to show that without an educationally based intervention, pupils with EBD are at risk of further marginalisation. He draws upon a range of literature indicating that schools can and do make a positive contribution to the lives of pupils with EBD, a theme revisited in the last chapter of this volume. Ogden believes that schools should have a range of evidence-based strategies. To achieve this he suggests schools should be pro-actively testing out approaches, reflecting upon their practice and provision. He argues that there is a body of knowledge concerning systems and processes which schools can address and he suggests that research should examine in greater detail how these systems and processes are put into practice by schools. His central question addresses the nature of the relationship between pupils and teachers and seeks to understand the effect of teachers' values, beliefs and attitudes upon these relationships.

Values education within the curriculum in Spanish schools is explored by Parrilla. She describes a school's search for institutional and pedagogic answers to meeting the needs of pupils with EBD. Her chapter develops some of the themes explored in earlier chapters such as early intervention, problem solving and building positive relationships with pupils. The chapter gives some practical exemplars of values education in action.

Hayden, in chapter eight, gives a detailed analysis of social and school exclusion within the English system. She make strong links to social factors, particularly poverty, which impact upon children and young people's ability to engage in education. She suggests that pupil experiences, social skills and perceptions of the relevance of schooling can contribute to their perceived emotional and behavioural difficulties, and subsequent exclusion from school. She argues that greater flexibility in types of provision and curriculum in the later stages of schooling are required.

This need for greater flexibility and range of differing interventions lies at the heart of the argument Royer puts forward in his chapter. He raises six central questions which need to be addressed by service providers in education. His message that one size does not fit all is particularly pertinent for those

JOHN VISSER, HARRY DANIELS AND TED COLE

policy makers who wish to pursue simple, neat solutions to the complex challenges that pupils with EBD present.

The chapter by Cooper highlights the need to approach issues within EBD with an open questioning spirit. He claims that the predominant paradigm in the discourse of EBD in the latter part of the last century has moved from 'within-child' medical explanations of EBD to ones which lay emphasis upon the ecosystemic explanation (see Cooper, Smith & Upton, 1994; Daniels, Visser, Cole & de Reybekill, 1998). His contribution focuses upon AD/I-ID which he recognises as a contentious issue. However, as he points out, many professionals use the label. This widespread use alone (although he argues for other reasons as well) highlights the importance for all workers to be involved in the debate which surrounds AD/HD. It also makes it important to reassess the balance in any EBD discourse of 'within child' versus 'contextual/societal' factors as the basis both of perceptions of causation and subsequent formulation of interventions.

Bradshaw examines the procedures and systems which impact upon matching assessed needs to the form of provision and intervention achieved. He points out that the notion of inclusion frequently lacks clarity of definition. As a result he argues that inclusive practice in relation to pupils with EBD is made more difficult. Centring his comments around five guiding principles adopted by the Board of Education in Victoria, Australia and research based upon case studies, he argues that inclusive practice in mainstream schools needs 'a co-operative model' linked to specialist provision if it is to be successful for pupils with EBD.

The final chapter describes the factors and features of mainstream schools which demonstrate good practice in meeting the needs of pupils with EBD. Throughout the previous chapters there has been the implication that some mainstream schools appear more effective in meeting the needs of these pupils than other schools. The EBD Research Team at the University of Birmingham, U.K., was funded to explore this. The model they developed resonates with many of the themes which have occurred in the preceding chapters, namely that interventions and provision for pupils with EBD need to:

• have an explicit values base; • be centred upon meeting educational needs while addressing social and

emotional needs; • be flexible, ensuring a match between provision and individual need; • be led by high quality head teachers and skilled staff with an empathy for

pupils with EBD; • collaboratively involve pupils, teachers, and senior staff in all aspects of

identification, assessment and provision.

Introduction xi

If there is a common strand in the international literature on educational provision for pupils with EBD, it is that interventions should raise the child's or young person's self-esteem and confidence as a learner. We hope that this volume is a further contribution to professionals' ability to achieve this.

John Visser, Harry Daniels, Ted Cole. School of Education

The University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

R E F E R E N C E S

Cooper, P., Smith, C., & Upton, G. (1994). Emotional and BehaviouraI Difficulties: Theories into Practice. London: David Fulton.

Creese, A., Daniels, H., & Norwich, B. (1997). Teacher Support Teams in Primary and Secondary Schools. London: David Fulton.

Daniels, H., Visser, J., Cole, T., & de Reybekitl, N. (1998). Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in Mainstream Schools. Research Report RR90. London. Department for Education and Employment.

Davie, R., & Galloway, D. (1996). Listening to Children in Education. London: David Fulton. DfE (1994). The Education of Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. Circular 9/94.

London: Department for Education. Harris, A. (1999). Teaching and Learning in the Effective School. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. McGilchrist, B., Myers, K., & Reed, J. (1997). The Intelligent School. London: Paul Chapman. Wise, S. (2000). Listen to Me? The Voices of Pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties.

Bristol. Lucky Duck Publishing.

1. SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND

DROPPING OUT OF EDUCATION

Markku Jahnukainen

INTRODUCTION: TALKING ABOUT SOCIAL E X C L U S I O N . . .

The concepts of social exclusion and marginalisation have been used in numerous contexts during the last decade in scholarly as well as everyday discussions. However, it seems that despite the quantity of talk our general understanding of the process and origin of exclusion or of effective intervention models has not really increased. On the contrary, it seems that the everyday use of these concepts has somehow "watered down" their real meanings. For example, living in a world of computers and Internet, one might be accused of being socially excluded for not having an e-mail address. This shows that in a way the definition of social exclusion has grown beyond its original background, one of genuine disadvantage and poverty where be the key concepts and the real target of our concern in both social science and in special education.

However, the problems of definition have not only been generated only by everyday discussion but also by vague administrative and scholarly usage. In many contexts social exclusion is defined using easily measured indicators like unemployment or lack of formal vocational education. These indicators say something about the situation individuals in the labour market; however, they say very little about other important aspects of an individual's life including family and social life. For example, Kortteinen and Tuomikoski (1998) studied long-term unemployed people in Finland using autobiographies and representative statistical

Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in Mainstream Schools, Volume 1, pages 1-12. Copyright © 2001 by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISBN: 0-7623-0722-6

MARKKU JAHNUKAINEN

information. The key finding was that unemployment itself is not the most important indicator in measuring life satisfaction and actual social exclusion. Unemployed people who had a supportive social relationship with their family and friends coped well despite their lack of work. When indicators such as unemployment, are used all that is measured is a part of social exclusion, namely exclusion from paid employment which is only part of social exclusion.

T H E P R O C E S S O F S O C I A L E X C L U S I O N

The process of social exclusion could be described as a hierarchical, developmental model (Fig. 1). At the first stage, one has problems at school, at home or within the community. If these problems are not resolved this leads to the second stage failing at school and perhaps dropping out. This could be called the educational exclusion stage. Further, the lack of education might lead to the third stage, of unemployed and thus excluded from working life. The fourth stage is the deprived subgroup of uneducated, unemployed poor people which might then lead to the final stage, which involves criminality, problems with drugs and alcohol, resulting in placement in prison, mental health institution or addiction clinic. This final stage is total social exclusion.

This hierarchical model gives an idea of the process at the theoretical level. Looking at individual life-courses it is evident that for some children born in a poor family in a poor suburb, the process might happen quickly and different stages might be activated at the same time because circumstances and culture might not offer any other possibility. It should be noted that while there is always the chance that a person may proceed down the hierarchy, it is more difficult at the more advanced stages, where one has problems in almost all important areas of life.

It is also important to note that this hierarchy is only an external interpretation of social exclusion made from the point of view of mainstream culture. Whether people at these various stages feel excluded or not, is a different question. For example, (Jahnukainen, 1997, 1999) one young woman defined as socially excluded said she was used to living in a subgroup of alcoholics, because she had been used to bringing her father home from the pub since she was 4 years old and she felt part of that culture. It is, thus, important to consider social exclusion from a more internal point of view. Social exclusion might then approach the concept of alienation, which refers to the inner state of feeling powerless and perhaps unwilling to participate and accept the means and goals of mainstream society (Merton, 1938). Using only external indicators leads to over simplified conclusions about the situation of people considered as socially excluded.

Social Exclusion and Dropping Out of Education

1. Stage Problems at school and/or at home

2. Stage Failure at school and dropping out of school (Educational exclusion)

3. Stage Poor status on the labour market (Exclusion from work)

4. Stage Being part of a deprived sub-culture (Uneducated, unemployed, poor)

5. Stage Being part of a deviant sub-culture (Criminals, alcoholics, drug addicts:

Officially placed to prison or other institutions)

Fig. 1.

SOCIAL EXCLUDED OR MARGINALISED?

Two concepts, social exclusion and marginalisation are normally used in speaking about being outside the mainstream. It might be useful to discriminate between the their meanings.

As shown earlier it seems that the definition of social exclusion applies to the process of deepening disadvantage. It might also be that this process is more influenced by external social factors than the individual's own choice to exclude themselves. The concept of marginalisation does not necessarily describe a state of disadvantage or poverty. There may be people who have decided to choose a

4 MARKKU JAHNUKAINEN

high

status in society

low

Fig. 2.

being marginal

lifestyle other than the mainstream people for religious, ideological or other cultural reasons. Some of those may be very healthy people living on welfare, but of course there are those whose life suffers from the same problems as others who are socially excluded. However, it may possible to be marginal without being socially excluded, but there is a partial overlap with these people and these concepts (see Fig. 2). Being marginal may take different forms.

The important question is, whether these people are willing and able to participate in the basic functions of society. Do they want to be educated or have a job, and have they the right or are they willing to exercise their vote in elections? Being marginal means that people are not as willing to participate although it is possible. In this sense the 1999 Europarliament election showed that in many EU countries people wanted to consider themselves as marginal because being part of that process did not feel important or meaningful to them. For example in Finland those who voted were mainly urban, educated people to whom participation in the decision-making process of the European Union seemed more important than rural people.

Marginalisation could be defined as being outside the mainstream and also outside the decision-making process in society. The contrary state is being at the centre, where it seems important to participate and exercise power.

WHO ARE THE SOCIALLY EXCLUDED?

In special education one basic function should be preventive work. It is important to be able to recognise the first signs or symptoms of social exclusion. To


create a preventive program instead of correction or rehabilitation, what are the factors associated with successful projects with socially excluded or youth at risk? Preventive work needs to predict who from a school or class might be at risk of social exclusion or disadvantaged in the future. This is difficult to predict because there are so many intermediate factors which could change the predicted trajectory.

Longitudinal studies provide an opportunity to discover pathways from childhood to being disadvantaged as well as more a advantaged adulthood. For example, (Jahnukainen, 1997, 1999) reveals that problems at school do not necessarily mean being maladjusted or socially excluded in adult life. It could be said that the only way from "the shadow of the school", as Kivirauma (1995) calls placement in EBD class, is not the "way to nowhere". Only three of 23 former EBD students interviewed in a ten-year follow-up could be defined as socially excluded. However, most of them have had difficulties in further education.

There is a circle from disadvantaged childhood to a disadvantaged adulthood. One way to express this to speak of an accumulation of problems, meaning that there are certain subgroups which are at a high risk of problems of social function in young adulthood. The risk factors mentioned in numerous studies (e.g. R6nk~, 1999; Jessor, 1998; Rutter & Rutter, 1992) may be internal or external characteristics. Internal risk factors include low self-control of emotions, negative school experiences (R6nkfi, 1999) and low self-esteem (Jessor, 1998); external factors include low socio-economic status of parents, lack of education, family violation and a family history of alcoholism. The usual finding is that the multiplicity of risk factors is most often associated with the later problems (Loeber et al, 1998, p. 136). However, only using independent risk factors makes it difficult to predict the outcome.

R6nk~ has analysed the co-occurrence and accumulation of several risk factors from childhood to adulthood (R6nkfi, 1999). It seems that problems do not exist in isolation, but tend to interact. R6nk~i (1999) has identified three main strands involved in the accumulation of problems from childhood to adulthood.

1. The outer strand, where the main point is that risk factors may set in motion a train of events that predispose the person to the experience of poor social circumstances and lack of support. The individual's chances of managing in life in socially acceptable ways may diminish as a consequence.

2. The inner strand where these is an increase in inner vulnerability as a consequence of exposure to risk factors and indicates maladaptive conceptions of self.

MARKKU JAHNUKAINEN

3. Behavioral vulnerability, which means individual dispositions such as aggressiveness which may cause harm in various contexts.

These strands had different origins, behavioral and social patterns in childhood and at school, and the conclusion is that these pupils also need different kinds of intervention. Early intervention during the school years could be preventive in terms of the later exclusion process, because it seems that the previous consequences could be the causes of new problems in later life. Educational intervention designed to prevent failure at school and dropping out of education could thus be useful and may have long-term effects on real social exclusion.

F A I L U R E A T S C H O O L A N D D R O P P I N G O U T O F E D U C A T I O N

As shown earlier (Fig. 1) failure at school could be seen as one dimension of the exclusion process. It may also be one manifestation of disadvantage or a problematic life-course at school age associated with other risk behaviors such as drug use, delinquency and drink-driving (Jessor, 1998). However, it has also been claimed (Silbereisen, 1998) that different developmental trajectories may lead to similar adolescent behaviors, but entail different outlooks later in adulthood. It is then possible to distinguish adolescence-limited from life-course- persistent problem behaviors (Moffitt, 1993). This is one explanation of the finding that not all pupils considered as EBD at school are EBD in their later life (Jahnukainen, 1999). Loeber, Farrington, Stouthamer-Loeber and Van Kammen (1998) point out that because "many youth show problem behavior at some time during childhood or adolescence, researchers need to shift their attention away from these "normal" forms of deviancy to focus, instead, on persisting problem behaviors".

From the point of view of schooling and special education it is important to understand what the significance of education in preventing social exclusion and problems in later life is. What is the role of special education; does it help the children at risk or does it only help to transfer their problems to the future?

Failure at school could be defined in many ways, but the general idea is that it exists as low-achievement; does not attain a minimum standard of performance at a given level at school (OECD, 1998). From a more individual point of view failure at school means that one falls far short of one's potential performance level. The failure may also be manifested in early school leaving, dropping out of school before the end of compulsory schooling, or leaving school with poor or no qualifications (OECD, 1998).


From this point of view it could be claimed that the purpose of special education is to help children to avoid the manifestations of failure at school, and is thus preventing social exclusion if failure at school is defined as part of the process of exclusion (Fig. 1).

Special education is successful when judged against the completion of compulsory schooling. The attrition rate is very low (less than 0.3% of the age group in Finland: Lankkanen & Lindstr6m, 1996); however, it is difficult to estimate how many have finished schooling with poor qualifications. One way to do this is to examine entrance to further education. This is very important, because it is evident that compulsory education has nowadays broadened to a certain extent to post-compulsory schooling. The fact is that without vocational qualification students are in a weak position in the labour market.

The transition from compulsory school to further education seems to be very risky especially for those who have had special educational needs previously. Numerous studies have recently shown that dropping out of further education is very typical for former special education students (e.g. Blackorby & Wagner, 1996; Halpern et al., 1995; Neel et al., 1988). A meta-analysis of Finnish follow- up studies from 1981-1993 (Jahnukainen, 1996) has calculated a crude estimate of the possible risk of attrition for former special class students in different phases of the process compared to the graduates from regular education.

The process has been examined in four phases:

1. How many former special class students have applied for further education? 2. How many of those who sent applied have been accepted? 3. How many of those accepted have dropped out? 4. How many have obtained a vocational qualification?

Jahnukainen's (1996) data was gathered from 16 Finnish studies, in which the transition of former special class students for the mildly mentally retarded (EMR) and emotionally and behaviorally disordered (EBD) were examined. The data in Table 1 is comparable to that found by Kivinen and Rinne (1989), and Nummenmaa (1996).

Using the differences shown in Table 1 it is possible to calculate odds ratios for the probability of remaining outside further education. Since odds ratios are sometimes called "estimated relative risk" and read like "5 times higher risk than some other group" (Thompson, 1999), a ratio of 1 means that there is no association, the two, groups under comparison being identical (Abramson, 1994).

The odds ratios (Table 2) show that the risk of not sending an application for further education was four to five times higher for the former special education students than former regular education students. Between special education

MARKKU JAHNUKAINEN

Table 1. The Transition to Further Education as a Process in Groups of Former

EBD, EMR and Regular Class Pupils (Percentages Adjusted by the Number of Participants).

EBD % EMR % Regular %

1. Sent in an application 73 68 92 2. Accepted* 95 96 96 3. Dropped out** 47 22 21 4. Vocational qualification 30 42 93

*Proportion of those who sent application. **Proportion of those accepted.

Table 2. The Odds Ratios of the Risk of Former EBD and EMR Pupils Being Educationally Excluded Compared to Regular Class Pupils.

4.

Did not send application EBD to regular 4.3 EMR to regular 5.4 EBD to EMR 1.1

Not accepted EBD to regular 1.3 EMR to regular- 1.0 EBD to EMR 1.1

Dropped out EBD to regular 3.8 EMR to regular 1.2 EBD to EMR 3.1

Did not obtain vocational qualification EBD to regular 31.0 EMR to regular 9.6 EBD to EMR 18.3

Sources: Jahnukainen, 1996; Kivinen & Rinne, 1989; Nummenmaa, 1996.

groups there was no real difference. However, the former special education stu-

dents were freely accepted by further education. There was no difference between EMR and regular class group and the EBD group was accepted only slightly less than the other groups. This is because in Finland once a pupil has completed compulsory schooling then a further education placement is guaranteed.


Dropping out of further education was more typical of the EBD group, EMR students. One possible reason for this is that EMR pupils more often study in vocational special schools or in special class in vocational school than EBD students.

In Finland over 80% of students will obtain at least secondary level vocational education. For the former special education groups this is much less typical. The rate of vocational qualification for the EBD group was only 32% and for EMR 40%. It is evident that there is a higher risk for a former special education student, in particular for an EBD-student, of entering an educationally excluded subgroup after finishing compulsory schooling. This is of concern in a number of countries (Btackorby & Wagner, 1996; Neel et al., 1988; Ward et al., 1994). However, Jahnukainen's (1996) using the qualitative life-course approach, that educational exclusion does not necessarily mean in any other areas of adult life one is doomed to exclusion or that one should be considered as socially excluded in its broadest sense. This is important when considering the relationship between special education and social exclusion.

A case study (adapted and translated from Jahnukainen, 1997) shows the advantages and disadvantages of Finnish school system. Special education works well, but after compulsory school problems may appear. However, despite lack of education and long-term unemployment, it is not possible to define a person as socially excluded in other areas of adult life.

C A S E S T U D Y

Petri, an unskilled worker

"When nothing seems to work out fight ..."

Petri's parents divorced when he was 12 years old. At the same time he was transferred from a small elementary school to a larger lower secondary school. According to Petri, he had already had some difficulties in the last year of elementary school, but at lower secondary school, absenteeism and shoplifting came into the picture. Petri himself is quite convinced that his parents' divorce and the period of disruption at home which preceded it were responsible for the troubles at school. Both parents had blue-collar jobs, his mother with no vocational education and his father with an apprenticeship behind him. Attention was paid to Petri's difficulties at school quite late, and initially the problems were tackled with part-time, clinic-type special education, through which Petri was able to repeat the first year of lower secondary school. Because of continuing truancy, however, the next step was a full-time EBD class in the next year, which amelio- rated the situation, enabling Petri to complete his comprehensive school.


After this, Petri was accepted at a vocational school in another locality, but dropped out after less than one term. The problem was both the hectic life in the student dormitory, from which Petri was expelled along with one of his old school-mates, as well as financial difficulties which Petri tried to alleviate by taking an evening job. In general, studying in another locality was too demanding, while the prospect of going directly into working life seemed more attractive. Unfortunately Petri was unable to work more than a maximum of eight months before the beginning of a financial recession. His jobs ranged from cleaning to construction work.

In addition to the recession, Petri was clearly the victim of bad luck in his education as well. In 1990 he began a nine-month vocational course with high hopes, but it turned out to be so poorly run that he left it after the first stage. "All we did was play ping-pong while the teacher told fishing stories. We knew more about the subject than the teacher!"

Petri has been employed only for short periods over the past five years, with the exception of a six-month internship for the unemployed arranged by the city. In 1995 Petri had accepted the idea of leaving his hometown either to take a job or to apply for a course in an institution which used personal curriculums. Despite everything, the desire to get into working life and a belief in the future were still there.

It seems that Finnish school system and special education as its support organisation works quite satisfactorily until the end of compulsory schooling. After that, when you are more on your own. Problems arise without access to supportive networks. There is obvious need f o r special provision after compulsory school for certain risk groups.

C O N C L U S I O N

Social exclusion is high on the political agenda in European Countries within the European Union. Millions of ECU have become available for projects intended for prevention every year. However, it seems that understanding of the nature of this phenomenon has remained poor. Despite the number of projects, it has not been possible to create simple, transferable remedies for this universal social problem. One reason is that in real life the concept of social exclusion includes many kinds of life situation, which may have deeply hetero- geneous roots. More exact indicators of exclusion and its stages, and more specifically targeted projects are needed instead of general discussions about rising unemployment.

From the point of view of special education and the education system, it seems fruitful to concentrate on failure at school, preventing attrition and thus

Social Exclusion and Dropping Out o f Education 11

trying to in tervene to prevent social exclus ion increasing educat ional exclusion.

It is also impor tant to put more efforts into those phases of life, which seem to be most at risk. Transi t ions, and in part icular that f rom compulsory school

to the further education, should be more supervised and p lanned beforehand for pupils with special needs.

Final ly, it should be pointed out that m a n y studies have analysed turn ing-poin t effects (see Rutter, 1996), which can come through quite suddenly. It seems that

there are cont inui t ies but also discont inui t ies in individual life-courses. This

means that there are opportunit ies to change one ' s life trajectory for the better.

Case studies of such changes (e.g. Jahnukainen, 1999: Kivirauma, 1997:

Kiv i rauma & Jahnukainen, 2001) give valuable informat ion about the pre- requisites for successful t ransi t ion to adulthood. It seems that work with those

children who often seem to be hopeless cases is one of the most important areas for in tervent ion in the social exclusion process - relat ively minor things

may well lead to a more posit ive outlook.

REFERENCES

Abramson, J. H. (1994). Making Sense of Data. A Self-instruction Manual of Interpretation of Epidemiological Data (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Blackorby, J., & Wagner, M. (1996). Longitudinal outcomes of youth with disabilities:findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study. Exceptional Children, 62(5), 399-413.

Brown, R. A., & Swanson Beck, J. (1994). Medical statistics on personal computers (2nd ed.). Plymouth: BMJ Publishing.

Halpern, A. S., Yovanoff, P, Doren, B., & Benz, M. R. (1995). Predicting participation in post- secondary education for school leavers with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 62(2), 151-164.

Jahnukainen, M. (1996). Mukautetun ja sopeutumattomien erityisopetuksen jatkokoulutusvirrat (The Flow of Students from Special Classes for Pupils with Mild Mental Retardation and for Pupils with Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties to Further Education). In: H. Blom et al. (Eds), Erityisopetuksen TiIa (The Current State of Special Education) (pp. 239-249). Helsinki: National Board of Education.

Jahnukainen, M. (1997). Koulun varjosta aikuisuuteen. Entisten tarkkailuoppilaiden peruskoulun jiilkeiset eliimiinvaiheet (From the shadow of the school to adulthood. The post-school life- course of former students of special classes for the behaviorally and emotionally disordered). University of Helsinki, Department of Teacher Education. Research Reports 182.

Jahnukainen, M. (1999). Winners or Losers? A ten-year follow-up of twenty-three former students from special classes for the maladjusted in Finland. Young - Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 7(1), 36-49.

Jessor, R. (1998). New perspectives on adolescent risk behavior. In: R. Jessor (Ed.), New Perspectives on Adolescent Risk Behavior (pp. 1-12). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jyrk~n~i, J. (1986). Nuoret sivuraiteelle? (Youth side-tracked?). In: A. Mikkola (Ed.), Suomalaista Nuorisotutkimusta (Finnish Youth Research Collection). Tutkimuksia ja selvityksi~i 1/86. Kansalaiskasvatuksen keskus.


Kivirauma, J. (1995). Koulun va~ossa. Entiset tarkkailuoppilaat kertovat koulukokemuksistaan. (In the Shadow of School), Un&ersity of Jyviiskylii, Department of Special Education, Research Reports, 53.

Kiviraurna, J. (1997). Special education students in the labour market: four case Studies. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 12, 148-156.

Kivirauma, J., & Jahnukainen, M. (2001). Ten years after special education. Socially Maladjusted Boys in the Labour Market. Behavioral Disorders, 27(1), (in press).

Kivinen, O., & Rinne, R. (1989). Koulutettuna tyth6n: tutldntojen ja ty6markkina-asemien kohtaaminen (Qualifivated for work: degrees and labour market positions). In: O. Kivinen, R. Rinne, S. Ahola & A. Kankaanp~i~i, Tyteliimii, Koulutus ja Ennusteet (Working life, Education and Prognosis). Helsinki: Ministry of Education.

Kortteinen, M., & Tuomikoski, H. (1998). Miten tyttttm~it selviytyv~it? (How do the unemployed survive?), Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 63(1), 5-13.

Laukkanen, R., & Lindstrtm, A. (Eds) (1996). A Comprehensive Evaluation of Special Education in Finland. Helsinki: National Board of Education.

Loeber, R., Farrington, D. P., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & VanKammen, W. B. (1998). Multiple risk factors for mnltiproblem boys: co-occurrence of delinquency, substance use, attention deficit, conduct problems, physical aggression, covert behavior, depressed mood, and shy/withdrawn behavior. In: R. Jessor (Ed.), New Perspectives on Adolescent Risk Behavior (pp. 90-149). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Merton, R. (1938). Social structure and anomie. American Sociological Review, 3(5), 672-682. Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course persistent antisocial behavior: a devel-

opmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674-701. Neel, R. S., Meadows, N., Levine, P., & Edgar, E. B. (1988). What happens after special education:

a statewide follow-up study of secondary students who have behavioral disorders', Behavioral Disorders, 13, 209-216.

Nummenmaa, A. R. (1996). Konlutus, sukupuoli ja elamankulku. Nuoruudesta aikuisuuteen yhteiskunnallisessa muutoksessa (Education, gender and life course). Studies in Labour Policy, 149. Helsinki: Ministry of Labour.

OECD (1998). Overcoming Failure at School. OECD: Paris. Rutter, M., & Rutter, M. (1992). Developing Minds. Challenge and Continuity accross the Life

Span. London: Penguin. Rtnk~i, A. (1999). The accumulation of problems of social functioning. Jvy~iskyl~t. Studies in

Education. Psychology and Social Research, 148. Rutter, M. (1996). Transition and turning points in developmental psychopathology: as applied to

the age span between childhood and mid-adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 19, 603-626.

Silbereiseu, R. K. (1998). Lessons we learned - problems still to be solved. In: R. Jessor (Ed.), New Perspectives on Adolescent Risk Behavior (pp. 518-543). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Takala, M. (1992). "'Kouluallergia'" - yksilOn ja yhteiskunnan ongelma ("School allergy" - A problem for an individual and society). University of Tampere, Department of Education, Acta Universitatis Tamperensis, Set A vol 335.

Thompson, B. (1999). Improving research clarity and usefulness with effect size indices as supple- ments to statistical significance tests. Exceptional Children, 65(3), 329-337.

Ward, K., Thomson, G. O. B., & Riddell, S. (1994). Transition, adulthood and special educational needs: an unresolved paradox. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 9, 125-144.

20 INGREDIENTS OF EFFECTIVE

PRACTICE WITH PUPILS WHO

HAVE EMOTIONAL AND

BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES

Paul Greenhalgh

INTRODUCTION

This chapter explores the inclusion of pupils with EBD through both classroom interventions and whole-school management strategies. The dual aim of interventions must be to promote pupils' achievement and their personal/social development. The chapter focuses first on classroom level interventions: managing behaviour, providing support and guidance, the curriculum and its assessment and the quality of teaching. Whole school issues relating to partnership with parents and support for staff are then considered, along with management and leadership issues. This is expressed diagrammatically in Table 1.

The chapter then considers the growing need for emotional literacy and the need to focus support for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties given the wider social and economic changes which are taking place in western societies.


13

14 PAUL GREENHALGH

Table 1. Ingredients of Effective Practice.

Pupil attainment and progress ~ Pupils' personal development and behaviour

Quality of teaching Curriculum & assessment Support & Guidance Behaviour management

Staff support systems Partnership with parents

Whole school policy and practice

CLASSROOM LEVEL INTERVENTIONS: MANAGING PUPILS' BEHAVIOUR

It is important for children, and so much more those with emotional and

behavioural difficulties, to have their behaviour well-managed by adults. Children need to feel containable within boundaries to provide the necessary

sense of security for their development. As Casement writes, 'A child who is

not given appropriate limits goes in search of them' (1990). A code of conduct helps to provide a well-boundaried container in the classroom by providing an

affirmative framework for potentially chaotic behaviour. The adult provides a boundary for the 'boundaryless' individual so as to provide a meaningful space for both of them. Wills (1971) stated the importance of boundaries as a means

of creating the necessary conditions for development. Boundaries, as Wills (1971) stated, should provide clear communication of the non-acceptance of inappropriate behaviour. Recognising that both boundaries and adults can be severely tested, he stressed that boundaries need to be made very clear:

boundaries in space, in time, in behaviour - (the adult) intervening when there is an illicit attempt to cross these boundaries, or better when such an attempt is contemplated, and within those boundaries creating an atmosphere of concern and safety. A child who knows for sure what the boundaries are, who feels that his adults are concerned about him and respect him, who is rebuked when the need arises without equivocation but without animosity - such a child feels secure, and the impulse to misbehave is so much the less Wills (1971, p. 41).

Effective Practice with Pupils who have Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties 15

As Winnicott (1965) argues, a mature social sense comes from a balance between boundary and space within the individual, which means that there has already been a working through of the conflict between impulse and control.

The key features of effective strategies for managing pupil behaviour with the classroom are:

• The setting of high expectations, reinforced by teaching the behaviours which are expected and by explicitly linking these to the learning objectives.

• The boundaries are agreed and communicated, for example through a code of conduct which pupils have been involved in drawing up.

• There is clarity about rewards and sanctions, with a hierarchical range of sanctions in place to minimise the need to use the most extreme sanctions.

• There is an emphasis on praise and achievement. Praise is more effective when the adult specifies precisely what the praise is for; and when it is given often. As Skinner (1973) argues, small and frequent 'wins' are better than occasional big ones. The emphasis on praise and achievement is echoed in the points systems of some relatively formalised systems of behaviour management, such as assertive discipline.

• There is an emphasis on pupil responsibility, for example by giving warnings about consequences and emphasising that it is the choice of the pupil whether or not these will need to be brought into effect.

• There is a positive use of peer pressure, for example the teacher congratulates the whole group when the behaviours of some individuals are conforming to expectations.

• Some pupils have specific behavioural targets which are closely monitored and reflected back to the pupil.

These strategies are an important part of a teacher's tool-kit and can be learned and applied. However, for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties, effectiveness does not solely depend on the application of management strategies. These pupils present issues which require teachers to make judgements about a range of tensions (Greenhalgh, 1994):

• On the one hand there is the need to help the children feel safe, but also to encourage pupil responsibility and autonomy to the extent to which the pupils are capable. This requires the adult to be in charge of the agenda, but also to provide appropriate opportunities for negotiation.

• Because of the way in which pupils can act out feelings unconsciously there is on the one hand the need to reflect back accurately to the child what he or she is doing, and on the other hand the need to enhance the child's self esteem and so demonstrate that one continues to value the child.

16 PAUL GREENHALGH

• On the one hand there will sometimes be a need to confront the child, but on the other to avoid doing so in a way which will reinforce resistance to change and so to operate within the child's frame of reference. Wills (1971) wrote about the dual task of care and control. In arguing that children must be confronted with their delinquency and shown that delinquent behaviour is wrong and totally unacceptable, he articulated the subtlety required in order for adults to also communicate that their feelings, care and solicitude for the child will remain unchanged.

Teachers constantly walk on these tightropes and make judgements about the sort of responses which will be effective for particular pupils in particular situations. Effective management of these tensions comes from an understanding of the children and the reasons for their behaviour. It also provides the context for appropriate opportunities for reparation to be given to the children. Where children make reparation of their own volition, rather than as a response to pressure, this is more likely to reflect growth and change in their internal constructs. This point begins to illustrate that 'There are dangers in over- emphasis on managing the behaviour without attempts to understand the child's feelings' (National Curriculum Council, 1989). The next section explores further the affective dimension.

C L A S S R O O M L E V E L I N T E R V E N T I O N S : SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE

Support for the personal development of pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties is enhanced when teachers understand the difficult behaviours of the children as the acting out of disturbed feelings which cannot yet be communicated in any other way. A task for the teacher is to facilitate other forms of communication. The development of trust is the essential foundation for developing these other routes of communication. Paradoxically, some would argue that whilst pupils' behaviour tests out adults' willingness to continue to respond affirmatively, there is still hope that the pupil will change. There is a Chinese proverb which says, ' I f you can't control the emotion, it will control you'. The teacher's challenge is to help pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties to control their emotion. Wills (1971) recognised that however hard and fierce the front presented by children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, 'they are behind that front frightened, wounded, damaged (and) inadequate'. He considered that

If they seem to be - as they often are - without feeling for others, it is because they have experienced in the early years of their young lives so little (positive) feeling from others.


A large proportion of them are neglected or rejected by one parent or the other - sometimes both (1971, pp. 18-19).

In the context of increasing inclusion the culture of valuing difference needs strengthening. Issues relating to difference are at the heart of the inclusion debate. But human beings find difference difficult and so Local Education Authorities and schools have to overcompensate in promoting a culture of the acceptance and celebration of difference. By learning from the therapeutic world about our unconscious fears of difference, we can learn how to become better managers of difference, and to no longer need scapegoats.

The emotional processes which underpin the provision of support and guidance are now summarised. This will be followed by a summary of the strategies through which support and guidance can be delivered.

To learn effectively pupils need particular forms of emotional support:

• Children need to feel safe and accepted. This requires some 'relative dependency' on the part of the children upon their teacher(s). In theoretical terms, the children's task is to move from the early omnipotence of what Melanie Klein (1959) called the 'paranoid-schizoid' position, to be able to trust key adults, to be able to show some 'relative independence' upon them, as a precondition for independence.

• Children need to be able to symbolise in order to learn. Symbols are the foundation of imaginative play and of the development of literacy and numeracy. The first indication of symbolisation is the very young child's use of cuddly toys, of what Winnicott (1964) called transitional objects. He argued that these are the first symbols as they represent for the very young child something of the quality of the relationship with parenting figures, and so help the child to keep this in mind when the adult is not present. In schools records of achievement provide transitional objects, as they help to symbolise something of the good which was known in one setting and help the individual to keep this quality in mind after transferring to another class or school.

• Children need to be able to manage difficult feelings in order to be able to learn, to tolerate frustration and not give up when something is difficult or when it goes wrong. In psychological terms, we need to develop sufficiency of ego-strength to enable us to manage difficult feelings, ego being the part of the personality which brings conscious awareness.

• Children need to feel secure and able to explore in order to learn. According to Bowlby's (1980 and 1988) work, we learn this through developing attachments to key figures in our lives. These provide a secure base from which to explore and to which to return; the provision of such a secure base is a fundamental emotional task of the teacher.

18 PAUL GREENHALGH

The provision for children of these emotional needs for learning depends very much upon the quality of relationships offered by the adult. This partly involves, in the words of David Wills,

the ability never to lose sight of the potentialities of any (person), and to respect him for them. • . . it means.., real felt respect in everyday contacts with other people. It means for.., staff, listening with interest and attention to what a (child) has to say, and so conducting oneself and one's attitude to (the child) that he feels free to say (what he needs to) . . . . It means accepting what he has to say, discussing it with him on frank and equal terms and, where the occasion calls for it, taking action on the basis of that discussion . . . . It is an approach which can only arise from an attitude of true humility and concern, and this is something which. • . . does not grow overnight, nor to order (1971, pp. 38-39).

Wills (1971) believed that ideas, methods, concepts and theories are valuable and essential, but rightly said that these 'are all useless without the genuine loving concern for the child'. Children with EBD need to experience the genuine trust offered by adults if they are to risk self-awareness and change• But, if it is to be effective, such loving concern has to be based on an understanding of the child's needs and translated into the provision of 'emotional holding'. This is provided where the adult is able to contain the disturbing feelings aroused in him/herself and where she/he demonstrates that the disturbing feelings can be tolerated, thought about and have some understanding. The process of emotional holding enables the child to experience reflection upon his/her state of mind and to gradually internalise the container, producing a mind that can hold thought. As a bright ten year-old realised when he was leaving specialist provision and returning full time to his mainstream class, ' I ' m leaving because I 've found the key to the place where I can think better' (Greenhalgh, 1994). The provision of emotional holding is not a discrete activity, but something which the good teacher provides whenever he/she is with children.

The provision of an effective emotional climate in the classroom needs to be backed up by practical strategies for providing support and guidance to pupils. These include the following:

• Support for managing transitions. Pupils whose attachments to adults remain fragile find it difficult to manage the transitions from periods spent with a key teacher, i.e. the transitions of break times, lunch-times, ends of weeks, ends of terms. Support across these transitions can be provided through the small ways in which the teacher might remind the pupils that' she/he is thinking of them during the lunch time, or by giving the pupils something to look after from school during a holiday period.

° Support for discussion of feelings. The personal and social education curriculum provides opportunities for children to develop awareness of


themselves and others. In particular, activities such as circle time, circle of friends and peer mediation encourage this.

• Support can be provided for individual pupils by agreeing with them targets for change, which might be expressed in individual education plans. In addition to behavioural targets, it is important to include targets for feelings. Children who are finding it difficult to acknowledge their feelings and who are acting out their ~xoubled feelings through difficult behaviour need to go through a process of recognising feelings, acknowledging feelings, managing their feelings and thinking about feelings. This is an important, developmental sequence. Individual targets can be set to help children through this sequence. For example, 'if I get angry I'll say so in circle time' is a target about acknowledging feelings; 'when I feel upset I will tell the teacher instead of losing my temper' is a target to help a child both acknowledge and manage feelings. Teachers can encourage pupils to become involved in self- assessment by providing attractive proformas upon which pupils can record how many times they achieve particular targets.

• Support can be provided when schools take the responsibility for using their budgets proactively and establishing some part-time specialist support for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties. For example, nurture groups for younger pupils, in-school centres providing specialist support for pupils and teachers in secondary schools, short-term groups working on issues such as anger management and assertiveness and counselling for individual pupils.

• Support will be provided effectively where the school's pastoral, curricular and special educational needs systems work together and where these systems jointly take responsibility for making appropriate adaptations to the learning environment. Such adaptations might include making sure the environment enables pupils to feel safe, secure and supported to manage difficult feelings. Therapeutic thinking enables staff to be more aware of what Menzies-Lyth (1970) called social defence systems. With this sort of understanding, staff are more likely to be able to navigate and manage the systems with the interests of each child foremost in mind. At a time when inclusion calls for more adaptability in the learning environment, social defence mechanisms are likely to become increasingly activated, hence the importance of what we know about organisational dynamics. This understanding helps to manage the anxiety of staff and to support change in school systems. Managers will be better able to help staff to feel comfortable with a wider identity and to develop greater confidence in taking the necessary risks involved in teaching more diverse groups of pupils.

20 PAUL GREENHALGH

A school's capacity to put in place adaptive learning environments is at the heart of its capacity for inclusion. The extent to which a school makes adaptations to the learning environment begs questions about models of assessment.

C L A S S R O O M L E V E L I N T E R V E N T I O N S : T H E C U R R I C U L U M A N D A S S E S S M E N T

Assessment is the vital mechanism for understanding pupils and being able to teach them based on what they already know, understand and can do. But assessment methodologies may point in various directions. Cline (1990) argues that the various assessment methodologies can orient the teacher towards the learner, the teaching programme, the zone of potential development and the learning environment. The danger for policy, practice and provision is that teachers and other professionals are encouraged to focus on the individual learner. A well- functioning inclusive school will focus on assessing the effectiveness of the learning environment and make appropriate adaptations to that environment and to the curriculum.

A curriculum which meets the needs of pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties has the following features:

First, it is relevant to the pupils. Both the overall course offer is relevant, and the short-term schemes of work are relevant to local circumstances and teach the curriculum objectives by tapping into the interests of the pupils.

Secondly, personal and social education is planned and intentional. It teaches and provides opportunities for pupils to develop social skills, so that pupils come to understand the various facets of behaviour not simply just good or bad, but as the development of a set of transferable skills. The skills comment given by a mainstream secondary school as part of a report to parents of 14 year-old pupils (Merton LEA, 1994) is shown in Table 2.

This schema provides a framework of expectations which provides for progression, it provides a set of expectations for skill development to be supported by the teaching programme and it provides an easily completed feedback mechanism for pupils and parents.

Thirdly, the curriculum makes use of aspects of the English and Arts programmes to support personal development. The personal and social needs of pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties 'should be supported through activities such as drama, role-play, music and stories' (National Curriculum Council, 1989, p. 35). This is because pupils with EBD often have an imagination which, as a result of their emotional defences, has become stuck, fixed. Yet these pupils need to be able to imagine other possibilities. It can sometimes be the case that such imagination does not come easily through conscious will. This point,

Effective Practice with Pupils who have Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

Table 2. Personal and Social Skills - An E x a m p l e Assessment and

Repor t ing Format .

21

AREA OF BEHAVIOUR PUPIL'S PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOUR

INTEREST AND Always works Normally shows Reasonably Does not show ENTHUSIASM with interest interest interested much interest

LISTENING Shows tolerance Usually listens Defends own Has short and offers and responds position; will attention span alternative views question others'

views

DISCUSSION Contributes Makes relevant Makes some Rarely contributes regularly with and intelligible contributions; confidence and comments not always conviction relevant or clear

ABILITY TO Sensitive; helps Works well to Can work well Sometimes WORK WITH and encourages achieve a with guidance tends to display OTHERS others common aim difficulty in

co-operating

LEADERSHIP Active, confident Capable of Contributes but Prefers to follow leader leading others lacks confidence

if encouraged

ATTITUDE TO Relates well Usually Co-operates well Attitude/ VISITORS co-operates well sometimes needs behaviour is poor

prompting

and the va lue o f the Engl i sh and Arts curr icula in support ing pupi ls ' personal

deve lopment , is e laborated in the sect ion be low on emot iona l literacy.

CLASSROOM LEVEL INTERVENTIONS: THE QUALITY OF TEACHING

The teacher ' s expectat ions have a significant impact on pupi ls ' achievements .

Pupi ls ' personal deve lopmen t is encouraged by their improved academic

achievement . W h e r e schools emphas i se and support achievement , this has a

considerable impact on pupi l se l f -conf idence and mot ivat ion. Teacher expecta-

tions are nurtured where the school sets aims and objec t ives which emphas i se

pupi l ach i evemen t as wel l as personal deve lopment .

22 PAUL GREENHALGH

The delivery of high expectations is closely linked with teachers' subject knowledge. Knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, the subject is indeed important: so is enthusiasm for the diversity of pupils found within the classroom. For pupils with EBD, the teacher's skill in engaging pupils in the psychological contract of high expectations and agreed goals is significant. This presents a challenge for classroom relationships to be affectively creative. Where the quality of teacher-pupil relationships is good, teachers are able to make use of this to help pupils feel confident enough to accept appropriately challenging targets. The target-setting process combines the lessons from educational research about the importance of high expectations and lessons from therapeutic research about the significance of reflecting back non-judgementally a current picture as a bais for further development. The process of supportive reflection- back to the 'client', allied with high expectations, helps to strengthen self-image. The recognition of the therapeutic potential in tools such as target-setting, individual education plans and records of achievement and their skillful use, these tools will support not only raised achievement, but also personal and emotional development.

The positive impact of a curriculum planned for progression and continuity and of assessment practices which inform teaching is known. School managers, whether in special or mainstream settings, also have a significant impact on these areas of provision through the leadership, expectations, frameworks for development and monitoring and evaluation they provide.

With regard to the use of methods which match curriculum objectives to the individual needs of pupils, it is particularly important for pupils with EBD that teacher planning takes account of pupils' so-called 'anxiety-risk ratio' (Greenhalgh, 1994). Pupils need to be able to risk to really learn, but those with EBD can become particularly anxious if they are unable to cope with a particular degree of risk. Teachers' knowledge of their pupils is precise and used to plan activities which present a degree of risk which will not push the child's anxiety too far, the child will be able to engage in the task.

The management of pupils was considered in the section on behaviour management above. It is noteworthy that the most effective teachers integrate into their lessons the strategies noted in the section above in a way which keeps the focus on learning. Effective teachers give quick, quiet reminders about behaviour management, providing not only the boundaries but the emotional holding and the emotional climate which sustains the development of troubled children, whilst emphasising the promotion of learning.

With regard to teachers' day-to-day assessment of pupils' attainments, it is important for pupils with EBD for teachers to give feedback using tangible methods. Where pupils' self-esteem is very damaged, a seemingly occasional


piece of verbal praise will not make much of an impact upon incessantly critical 'internal voices' within the child. So it is important for positive achievements to be reflected back in tangible ways, such as displays and photographs, which help the child to sustain the memory of his/her own goodness.

The overall impact of the quality of teaching will be to provide an adaptable learning environment, one which provides support which matches the pupils' changing needs for attachment and autonomy.

What happens for pupils with EBD in the classroom is affected by the school's mechanisms for partnership with parents, for supporting staff, and by its whole school policies for behaviour and special educational needs.

PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS

Home-school contracts with parents are perceived to be so important that in Britain they have become a statutory requirement. They can. be helpful in clarifying mutual expectations. But in the busy lives of schools, there is the danger that schools may focus on what is in the contract, rather than how the contract is negotiated and supported. Yet how something is done can have as much, or more, impact than what is done. In focusing on the 'how' of partnership with parents, schools need to recognise that parents of pupils with EBD may themselves feel anxious or guilty about having such a troublesome child. In these circumstances there may be no blame, EBD is not always or solely the result of poor parenting. The task of the school is first to demonstrate to the child that the adults can collaborate in the child's best interests (an important step in itself for some children) and then to work to develop the trust of the parents. This will gradually facilitate the joint agreement of a collaborative programme where school and home are each clear about how they are supporting the learning of the child. Parents of pupils with EBD can tend to pressurise, rather than support, the child's learning and may need help from the school to recognise the difference between pressure and support.

STAFF SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Teachers of pupils with EBD are often on the receiving end of the pupils' unconscious projections of their disturbing feelings. Freud (1933) explained that given a disturbing feeling, a psychologically logical response is to unconsciously make the other person feel this feeling. Being on the receiving end of the projections of pupils with EBD has an impact on teachers' capacities to remain

24 PAUL GREENHALGH

reflective practitioners. Wills (1971) recognised that successful work with troubled children requires 'subtle, patient and learned skills'. Effective staff training and support should recognise that staff development will be facilitated where there are structures and relationships to alay staff anxiety. This might be provided, for example, where there is a regular opportunity for staff to share concerns about particular pupils and to pool their joint expertise. Such a strategy supports reflective practice and helps teachers to understand the importance of the impact of their interaction on the pupils' emotional development. It provides opportunities for joint problem-solving (Hanko, 1995) and sustains a learning and mutually supportive culture.

There is a danger where staff are not appropriately supported when working with pupils with EBD that they will not be able to contain their anxiety and may become drawn into defence mechanisms which decrease the capacity of the school for emotional holding. The complexity of the links between whole-school, classroom and child level issues are better managed where staff themselves are 'emotionally held' by managers and where staff have an understanding of organisational dynamics. This includes some of the unconscious issues in these dynamics, for example those formulated by Menzies-Lyth (1988, 1989), Hirschhorn (1988) and Obholzer and Roberts (1994). As part of wider local strategies to increase inclusion, local networks between staff in mainstream and specialist provision need to be encouraged to provide flexible support for pupils' integration. As special school teachers increasingly fulfil an outreach function, they take on the complex role of enskilling mainstream staff. Outreach staff need an understanding of the complexity of organisational dynamics if they are to successfully negotiate organisational defences in mainstream schools as well as develop and sustain partnerships with mainstream staff.

A W H O L E S C H O O L P O L I C Y A N D P R A C T I C E

Whole school policy has a significant impact on the ethos and systems in the school promoting the attainment and personal development of pupils with EBD. Of crucial importance here is the school's capacity to tolerate pupils with EBD, not to tolerate their poor behaviour, but to tolerate their needs for additional support. School managers face the challenge of making public their support for inclusion and of providing the ethos and management systems to sustain both these values and to secure effective practice.

A whole school SEN policy also has a significant impact on provision for pupils with EBD. It is important that school SEN systems recognise the special educational needs of pupils with EBD. One way of ensuring this is to have


robust mechanisms for considering the proportion of pupils with EBD, the provision made for them, its effectiveness and its value-for-money, in comparison with what is provided for pupils with other types of special educational need.

Hitherto this chapter has explored both classroom and whole-school strategies to support the inclusion of pupils with EBD. It now sets this thinking in the context of wider social change in western societies.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY: THE CAPACITY FOR CHANGE AND FOR EMOTIONAL RENEWAL

The 21st Century is a time of rapid technological and social change. Globalisation is having an increasing impact. So is the rapid movement of western countries towards being what Will Hutton (1995) has called the 30/30/40 society. (In such societies about 30% of adults are economically disadvantaged e.g. in unemployment or training; about 30% have part-time or self-employed work and only about 40% are in what we have traditionally regarded as 'proper ' , full-time, tenured jobs). The increasingly essential skills for participation in this sort of working world are adaptability to constant change, and the capacity to become an autonomous lifelong learner. In this era in which stress is a by-word, a growing number of people may find it increasingly difficult to participate: those who are aleady vulnerable will be particularly at risk.

Furthermore, as we try to adapt to rapid change our sense of meaning is questioned. As we face challenges to meaning in our lives and as we collectively search for new meanings, one of our most important resources is the strength of our inner lives. We all need ways to sustain ourselves in this uncertain world and to be able to sustain enough reflection to hold the opposites in our experience. Such a challenge is greater for pupils with EBD, who struggle to overcome blocks in their imagination so they can fantasise about new possibilities. Jungian analyst, Shorter (1996, p. 85), comments that

without a sense of personally recognised Truth we have no sense of history beyond case history. We do not enter it; (we) remain . . . spectators rather than participants (p. 85).

Pupils will need to be emotionally resilient to meet the demands which they face. Teachers face the task of enabling troubled children to recognise their 'personal sense of Truth' , so as to give meaning to their learning and support their participation in society, to help them to become able to creatively embrace change.

Practically, teachers can give greater priority to helping children become aware of adapting to change, in a range of ways. This theme should become an integral part of programmes for personal and social education. There are

26 PAUL GREENHALGH

many other opportunities for exploring the issue of human response to change across the curriculum, in the humanities and Arts in particular. As part of the provision of emotional holding by teachers, pupils' awareness of their growing capacities for change can be stimulated by teachers reflecting back to pupils how they respond to changes in life at school.

In addition to working with the overt, the path to touching the lives of pupils with EBD is elliptical. As Donnington (1963) says, 'it is not within the direct power of the ego to bring about transformation and renewal; the most ego can do is open itself to the process'. As well as the bright light of logos, reason, intellect, rationality, emotional renewal is dependent upon a relationship with the realms of symbol, image, metaphor and myth. Hoffman, who spent her childhood in Poland, reflects upon the buildings of her adolescence in 1950s Vancouver, saying:

to me these interiors seem oddly flat, devoid of imagination, ingenious. The spaces are so

plain, low-ceil inged, obvious; there are no curves, niches, odd angles, nooks or crannies -

nothing that gathers a house into itself, g iving it a sense of privacy, or of depth - of

interiority (1991, p. 102).

Despite much progress in provision for personal and social education, too much of our provision is flat, plain and obvious. To enrich children's interiority we need to add more curves, niches, odd angles, nooks and crannies to the emotional curriculum and the emotional landscape of the classroom and the school.

C. G. Jung and his followers showed that image and symbols summon deeper inner awareness and that the path of the imaginal is stimulated through literature, play, music, art, drama and ritual. These are important sources for the renewal of inner lives. When truly playing pupils have access to what Winnicott called 'potential space'. (1974) But not only do pupils with EBD find it difficult to imagine and to enter such space, also teachers in their uncertain world, need to develop new sources of sustenance. Campbell (1973) indicates the importance of ritual in this regard, since its prime function, he says, is to give form to human life. Through mythology we express our collective wisdom. Mythology is also a powerful tool for supporting the human sense of meaning. According to Campbell,

The first c o n d i t i o n . . , that any mythology must fulfil if it is to render life to modern lives is that of cleansing the doors of perception to the wonder, at once terrible and fascinating,

of ourselves and of the universe (1973, p. 266).

When he asks, 'What is - or what is to be - the new mythology?', Campbell answers,

It is . . . the old, everlasting, perennial mythology . . . poetically renewed in terms neither of a remembered past nor of a projected future, but of now: addressed . . . to the waking of individuals in the knowledge of themselves, not s imply as egos fighting for place on the


surface of this beautiful planet, but equally.., each in his own way at one with all (1973, p. 275, my emphasis).

The capacities of children with EBD to feel, resonate, relate, imagine, think and be drawn onward are in jeopardy. It is one of the tasks of education to help these children to develop a sense of their own way, of who they are, who they might be, what they might become. In her novel, Michaels (1998) suggests that given a foreign landscape, a man discovers the old songs; that he calls out for water from his own well, for apples from his own orchard, for muscat grapes from his own vine. Our task is to enable children with EBD to discover the songs which will sustain them in the future foreign landscape of change. Art, literature, play, ritual and mythology are important vehicles for such exploration and for the nurturing of meaning in our schools.

Schools have many opportunities to provide for such experience. They can nurture a love of story and encourage pupils to learn to imagine the story onward; provide nourishing rituals in which the expression of individual experience finds echoes in others. For example, I was privileged to be in a mixed, secondary-phase day EBD school when whole-school assembly included an older girl singing a song about friendship and in so-doing moving a number in the school community to tears. The music and arts curricula can be used to provide the raw material for school ritual, giving life to human form. Yes, many schools provide these things already: their importance is such, however, that they should be planned more consciously and with a heightened sense of priority, especially for pupils with EBD.

CONCLUSION

This chapter has elaborated strategies to support the inclusion of pupils with EBD at classroom and whole-school levels. It has also indicated the need to extend practice to better enable pupils with EBD to participate in a rapidly changing society. As well as helping children with EBD to achieve within the curriculum, they need to be provided with an experience which helps them construct and reaffirm meaning in their lives, to develop meaning through which the story of their lives can be lived. Deprived and troubled children are more dependent than others upon their teachers to show them, and lead them into, the terrain of possibility upon which they might lead their lives.

If managers are going to facilitate these processes, then they must learn to live with a paradox of our era. On the one hand to live with the rightful demands of detailed task definition such as the success criteria of plans, quantifiable targets to be achieved, and clear evidence of outcomes. On the other hand, given what we know about therapeutic process, we need to be open to the

28 P A U L G R E E N H A L G H

mysteries of the emergence of meaning for children. Living with this paradox, the creative manager provides the structures and frameworks to facilitate those approaches which we know will work, breathes into them leadership, nurtures the skill of others, and then lets go, so that in the interaction between teachers and pupils, new life may emerge.

REFERENCES

Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and Loss. London. Hogarth. Bowlby, J. (1988). A Secure Base: Clincial Applications of Attachment Theory. London. Routledge. Campbell, J. (1973). Myths to life. New York: Bantom. Casement, P. (1990). Further learning from the Patient: the Analytic Space and Process. London:

Tavistock Routledge. Cline, T. (1990). Developments in the identification and assessment of SEN: a review, paper given

at the International Special Education Congress, Cardiff. Donnington, R. (1963). Wagner's Ring and its Symbols, London: Faber and Faber. Freud, S (1933). New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. London: Hogarth. Press mad Institute

of Psychoanalysis. Greenhalgh, P. (1994). Emotional Growth and Learning. London: Routledge. Hanko, G. (1995). Special Needs in Ordinary Classrooms 2nd edition. Oxford: Blackwell. Hirschhorn, L. (1988). The workplace within: pyschodynamics of organizational life. Cambridge,

Massachusetts and London: MIT Press. Hoffman, E. (1991). Lost in Translation. London: Minerva. Hutton, W. (1995). The 30-30-40 society. Regional Studies, 29(8), 719-721. Klein, M. (1959). Our Adult World and its Roots in Infancy. Human Relations, 12, 291-303. Menzies-Lyth, I. E. P. (1970). The Functioning of Social Systems as a Defence against Anxiety.

London: Centre of Applied Social Research and Tavistock. Menzies-Lyth, I. E. P. (1988). Containing Anxiety in Institutions. London: Free Association. Menzies-Lyth, I. E. P. (1989). The Dynamics of the Social. London: Free Association. Merton Local Education Authority (1994). Personal and Social Education Across the Curriculum:

Guidelines. London: Merton LEA. Michaels, A. (1998). Fugitive pieces. London: Bloomsbury. National Curriculum Council (1989). Curriculum Guidance 2 - Curriculum for All; Special

Educational Needs in the National Curriculum, York: NCC. Obholzer, A., & Roberts, V. Z. (1994). The Unconscious at Work: Individual and Organizational

Stress in the Human Services. London: Routledge. OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) (1993). Achieving Good Behaviour in Schools.

London: HMSO. Shorter, B. (1996). Susceptible to the Sacred. London: Routledge. Skinner, B. F. (1973). Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Wills, W. D. (1971). Spare the Child. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Winnicott, D. W. (1964). The Child, The Family and the Outside World. London and

Harmondsworth: Penguin. Winnicott, D. W. (1965). The Family and Individual development. London: Tavistock: New York:

Basic Books. Winnicott, D. W. (1974). Playing and Reality. London: Pelican.

3. NURTURE GROUPS

Marion Bennathan

The purpose of nurture groups is to help children to learn. They provide the circumstances in which children starting school from damaging or disadvantaged backgrounds can achieve good educational standards. Experience has shown that many children who enter formal education showing all the signs of needing special educational placement can be helped by the groups not only to survive but to flourish in mainstream.

GOVERNMENT POLICY

Government educational policy in the United Kingdom has two central aims; to achieve the highest possible attainments for all children (DfEE, 1997a) and to assure that as many children as possible with disabilities should be educated 'inclusively', that is in mainstream school (DfEE, 1997b). Children with the disability of 'emotional and behavioural difficulties' (EBD) pose a greater threat to these policies than children with other disabilities. First, their behaviour makes an orderly and positive atmosphere in the classroom difficult to achieve, distracting other children from their work and consuming a disproportionate share of teacher time and energy. Secondly, they are the group which is most problematic of definition and hence of management. What is 'EBD' and how is it to be distinguished from commonplace naughtiness? Is the surface behaviour to be managed, perhaps punitively, or is the child to be regarded as being disturbed at a deeper level which needs specialist treatment? This special status is acknowledged in the government policy paper on special educational needs where pupils with EBD are described as the 'one group which presents schools with special challenges'. Moreover, ~the number of children


29

30 MARION BENNATHAN

perceived as falling within this group is increasing. We need to find ways of tackling their difficulties early, before they lead to under-achievement, disaffection and, in too many cases, exclusion from mainstream education' (DfEE, 1997b, p. 77).

The continuum between educational failure and social exclusion is by now widely recognised. The Department for Education and Employment's guidance to schools, for example, Social Inclusion: Pupil Support (DfEE, 1999) makes clear that efforts to help pupils to progress in mainstream school 'should be seen in the context of wider action, nationally and locally, to prevent social exclusion - supporting local communities, encouraging employment and reducing crime'. Clearly, therefore, since nurture groups are shown to be effective in engaging children positively in school life, they are relevant to policies of social inclusion.

HOW NURTURE GROUPS BEGAN

The groups were started in response to the pressures on primary schools in the Inner London district of Hackney in the late 1960s. Schools there, as in other areas of high social stress, found themselves unable to manage an ever increasing number of young children. Rates of referral to child guidance and educational psychology services rose sharply, with the expectation that children would receive psychiatric or psychotherapeutic treatment, or be placed in special schools for the 'educationally subnormal' or the 'maladjusted'. It was concern about this trend that led in 1978 to the setting up of the Warnock Committee whose Report (DES, 1978) noted that 'the number of children in special schools had nearly doubled between 1947 and 1955 (from 12,060 to 22,639) yet the number of children awaiting placement remained high at over 12,000. . . Indeed, a special enquiry in 1956 showed that . . . as many as 27,000 were considered to need special educational placement. These were children who were not being satisfactorily helped in ordinary schools'.

The background to this was twofold. First, there was rapid social change in Inner London, with old-established communities moving out to the new 'overspill' towns, set up to stop the spread of London, and being replaced by immigrants either from other parts of the U.K. or from the Commonwealth. Many of these families endured considerable hardship and stress on arriving in an unwelcoming 'mother country'. Second, there were radical changes in teaching styles. The arrangement of classrooms with rows of desks facing the front, with well-understood if not enjoyed systems of control, gave way to 'child-centred' organisation, where the children sat round tables in groups with the teacher managing the class in a less authoritarian style. This exacerbated the difficulties of control since it made considerable demands on

Nurture Groups 31

self-management skills which many children whose backgrounds had not prepared them adequately for school life did not possess.

Marjorie Boxall, an educational psychologist employed by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) in Hackney, had 19 children referred to her from one small primary school in one half term because of their unmanageable or distressed behaviour and their lack of progress. She found most of these children well able to respond to her individually but not in a way appropriate to their age. It was known that 'many of these children lived under conditions of hardship and stress, in overburdened and fragmented families where relationships were eroded arid strained, sometimes destructive and even violent' (Bennathan & Boxall, 2000, p. 19).

Accepting that such circumstances had not provided the learning opportunities that prepare children for school, it followed that if schools could provide such experiences much progress could be expected. This explanation made sense to teachers, often bewildered and exhausted by children who did not respond to their teaching, children who were unable to settle, to listen, to concentrate, to share, to make friends, who were either seriously disruptive or withdrawn, failing to learn and often spoiling the class for others. The belief that most teachers bring from their training is that they if they are teaching properly children will respond well. That there are children who cannot respond because they have not reached the levels of competence which are taken as given, yet who are not 'educationally subnormal' or 'maladjusted' and can be helped by ordinary good teaching appropriately offered was a new idea in the 1960s. It was, however, agreed that the level of need of such children could not be met by a class teacher who was also expected to educate twenty or thirty normally functioning children, and so in 1969 the first nurture groups were set up by Marjorie Boxall with the support of child guidance colleagues and with active participation at all stages of the planning by whole school staffs.

WHAT IS A NURTURE GROUP?

In ILEA a nurture group was a class in a primary or infant school with a teacher and a helper who worked with 10 to 12 children, all unable to respond in a normal class and often at risk of exclusion or special educational placement.

In a nurture group

the teacher and helper attempt to relive with the child the missed nurturing experience of the early years. They take as their model the mother and her young child and the method is correspondingly intuitive: teacher and helper.., interact with the child as a mother would

32 MARION BENNATHAN

within a relationship of continuing care and support, in an environment that is carefully managed and protective. The setting is a domestic one, and there is scope for unhurried experiences at a baby and toddler level. The teacher and helper allow the child to be and help him to do; they keep him close emotionally and gradually let him go as he becomes increasingly able to manage on his own' (Bennathan & Boxall, 2000, p. 21).

The nurture group room was usually near the centre of the school, to avoid any suggestion of exclusion. There was soft furniture, carpets, a kitchen area where food was prepared, a play area with nursery and infant level equipment, and a work area. After the children had registered with their base class, they were collected by the group teacher or helper and taken to the group room where they spent most of the day, usually returning to their class for the last session.

In the group, routines were always explained and frequently reiterated. All activities were carefully talked through, with the adult ensuring that each child was paying attention and understanding. The social skills needed to manage in a group - taking turns, waiting, choosing, finishing something, putting things away - were carefully rehearsed.

Sharing food at some point in the day was a feature of nurture group life. Buns might have been baked by the children, with opportunities taken for weighing, measuring, timing and co-operating. Plates and glasses would be counted and arranged, developing numeracy; serving others, holding back, explicitly taught social skills. The teacher and assistant modelled co-operative behaviour, sharing, discussing, responsible; often very different from the adult interaction many of the children had previously witnessed.

Children were also helped to know themselves, where their bodies began and ended, lessons normally learnt in the arms of a loving carer in the first few months of life. The games that fascinate babies, counting fingers, identifying eyes, nose and mouth, exploring faces were endlessly popular. A full length mirror was important. An eight-year old boy, notorious for knocking over other children in the playground apparently unaware of how much space he and they needed to co-exist, stood in front of the mirror. He tried on a hat from the dressing up box, looked at his reflection, then looked around to see if it really was himself. Teacher and helper became highly skilled at understanding these clues to the child's perceptions of his or her world, and at giving help precisely focused to help the child move from confusion to understanding.

It was emphasised that the child must feel accepted and valued, however inappropriate their behaviour. Tantrums would be lovingly controlled, with discussion afterwards of how the child might manage better next time. In this reliable and predictable structure, the children developed greater trust. They began to feel safe, to explore, to ask questions, to make sense of their experiences and to put them into words.

Nurture Groups 33

L e a r n i n g expe r i ences were o f fe red in m a n a g e a b l e stages, w i th m u c h pra i se

at e ach success . Th e abi l i ty to l ea rn deve loped , o f ten ve ry rapid ly , and ch i ld ren

b e g a n to m a n a g e w i th less suppor t and cont ro l , unt i l even tua l ly the great

ma jo r i t y af ter a b o u t a yea r in the g roup were ab le to re turn ful l t ime to the i r

b a s e class.

THE SUCCESS OF NURTURE GROUPS IN ILEA

Nur tu r e g roups we re en thus ias t i ca l ly t a k e n up b y m a n y p r i m a r y schools in

I L E A : b y the la te 1970s m o r e t han 50 h a d b e e n set up. H e a d teachers f o r m e d

a w o r k i n g par ty w h i c h r epo r t ed that the i r nu r tu re g roups kep t m a n y ch i ld ren

in the i r schools w h o w o u l d o t h e r w i s e h a v e had to b e p l aced e l sewhere . T h e

ef fec ts on s ta f f m o r a l e we re sa id to be s ignif icant ; the n u m b e r of t eachers

c h a n g i n g j o b s or l e av i ng t e ach ing a l toge the r d ropped , as d id the n u m b e r t ak ing

seda t ives to r e l i eve w or k - r e l a t ed stress. O t h e r ch i ld ren , as wel l as those p l a c e d

in the group, also benef i ted . H e a d t eacher s f o u n d tha t the g roups h e l p e d the

w h o l e s ta f f g roup to l ook pos i t i ve ly at ch i ld ren in dif f icul t ies and to p lan for

e f fec t ive in te rven t ion . O n e h e a d wrote :

All the teachers in the school are encouraged to look at children as individuals and speculate on what they are really making of their education, what strategies can be tried to help them to do better. Instead of the stereotypical, somewhat dismissive judgmental remarks we had all grown up with - "nice little girl, no trouble, doesn't read very wel l" . . , they would use different words, would turn things round sharply.. . "I wonder why this child is no trouble". It took a couple of years for that question to come up. They were so used to categorising children as "trouble" or "no trouble" that the question of whether that child was benefiting at all from school was ignored. One of our great successes as a staff was identifying one or two children in every class, usually little girls, who were no trouble, who were gaining nothing at all from school. They were probably living in fear. They didn't tear the books up. Teachers just wrote "them off as not academic, "A nice little girl but not very bright". Quite often they could have been very clever. One wonders about the dozens of wasted school lives. Nurture groups began to build up great confidence in teachers: they knew they could effect change in children. Anyone with eyes to see and prepared to listen must have found, going into schools where nurture theory was being discussed that teachers were more articulate and confident and with a better vocabulary for talking about children positively (Bennathan & Boxall, 2000, p. 90).

Paren t s too w e l c o m e d nur tu re groups . T h e h e a d t eache r s ' g roup repor ted :

For parents they are acceptable provision. Some have refused other forms of special help and have requested group placement. Many have dally contact with the group, value the teacher and welcome advice. Many parents, in discussing their child with the nurture group teacher, became more positive towards him or her. They began to identify success in their child's world and behaviour and somehow seemed to view their child as more worthwhile (Bennathan & Boxall, 2000, p. 92).

34 MARION BENNATHAN

OFFICIAL APPROVAL

As well as the support of teachers, the groups began to attract official approval. The Warnock Report (DES, 1978) stated:

We have been impressed by the "nurture groups" which have been started in a number of primary schools in London for children approaching or over the age of five who are socially and emotionally affected by severe deprivation in early childhood (para. 5.30).

The Fish Committee, set up by the Inner London Education Authority in 1985, with the remit of promoting integrated education, drew extensively on the views of the head teachers ' group:

The concept of nurture work . . . for children who have not experienced many common domestic.., learning experiences, or whose stressful experiences have prevented them from profiting from them, is an important one. Much has been learnt from this form of provision which could inform other special educational arrangements. Because it is based in schools, when the teachers work closely with others in the school it can help teachers of other classes gain insight and provide for children who might have special educational needs. As an approach with a clear rationale aimed at preventing many difficulties becoming special educational needs, it is to be endorsed (Inner London Education Authority, 1985, para. 2.8.20).

The concepts behind nurture group work

Although nurture groups were set up as an empirical response to difficult circumstances rather than as a demonstration of a particular school of thought, they draw heavily on concepts of child development which arose from the work of Bowlby, whose work was highly influential in child care practice (Bowlby, 1951). He developed the concepts of maternal bonding and infantile attachment which focused attention on the vital importance to later development of the early interactions between caret and child. Babies are born with the capacity to elicit a response from their carers, without which they would not survive. As the response is given, as physical needs are affectionately met, they experience a sense of well-being which becomes part of the interactive process between adult and chitd. I f this is largely positive, babies quickly develop trust and outgoing interest in their world, and it is this which lays the foundation for good cognitive, emotional and social education.

The baby quickly shows interest in people, focuses on faces, begins to smile, to initiate as well as respond to contact; reaching out to touch, to grasp, to suck, to move towards objects and people; faces fascinate, mother ' s nose and hair is pulled. There is interest in fingers and toes, in how they move, in how to control them. Throughout all this the child is co-ordinating experiences, learning to manage him or herself physical ly and doing so with the interest and encouragement of the carets which is shown in loving physical contact and in

Nurture Groups 35

much talking, universally delivered with exaggerated emphasis and at intervals that allow the baby to respond. By the end of the first year, a well-cared for baby will have developed many competencies. Importantly, the child is inter- nalising an idea of him or herself and responding to further interactions in the light of the perceptions this brings about. This means that the child brings to each new event what has been learnt from earlier experiences. Earlier ideas of the child as a passive recipient of parental care is replaced by that of the child as a vigorous partner. To quote Rutter (1999):

We realise that even very young children actively process what happens to them. They think about it, they make inferences, they draw conclusions. They may do so in ways that are adaptive or they may do so in ways that make things worse (p. 5).

As the child grows physically and reaches out for new experiences, good parents provide a setting which is stimulating yet protective so that the child is not exposed to more stress than can be managed and the task of providing a positive environment for the child makes greater demands on parents as growth proceeds and mobility increases.

Most parents can provide the almost instinctual caring response to a baby although some mothers, sadly, 'may have been too preoccupied or depressed to respond to the baby's mood and needs, and involve herself in his interest in the world' (Bennathan & Boxall, 2000, p. 19). A larger number find the demanding toddler stage beyond them, because this is when, as Boxall noted, many parents are under too much stress either from their social circumstances or for reasons in their own history to provide good parenting.

They became over-controlling, punitive or erratic in their behaviour, and what they said and did might be more relevant to their own feelings and mood than to those of the child. The crucial loss to the child is likely to be the continuing and constructive interaction through which he feels secure, gains a cohesive identity and internalised concepts, skills and controls as he is helped to explore relationships and to control his own behaviour. Not surprisingly, children deprived in these ways are likely to grow up with a confused impression of themselves and the world, little sense of stability and sequence, a fragile identity and poor self-control. Where life is damaging and frustrating, aggression is frequently a major problem, though some children become inhibited, while others barely function (Bennathan & Boxall, 2000, p. 20).

Yet these years, the second and third, are those in which child should be moving out into new relationships, developing the capacity for empathising with others, for responding to their need. To do this well the child needs the focused and affectionate help of his or her carers. If this is not available, the capacity for making positive relationships will be severely impaired, the ability to learn affected, since school requires children both to be able to share the teacher's attention and to empathise with the needs of others.

36 MARION BENNATHAN

This is also the time when language skills, key components in emotional and social as well as intellectual development, should be developing fast. Language is used by parents not only to pass on information but to express feelings, to moderate behaviour, to comfort, to mediate between the demands of the outside world and the child's stage of understanding. The child absorbs all these many facets of language and, in a supportive family, develops skills of self-expression which further good development. If the prevailing atmosphere in the family is one of anger, of verbal or physical violence, of a lack of attentiveness to the child's developing understanding, then the child will be affected in many aspects of development. A group of developmental psychologists, (Blank et al., 1964) usefully distinguish between the 'what' stage and the 'why' stage of language development. Socially deprived children will probably get enough stimulation as they mature to name objects, the 'what' stage, but the important concepts of sequence, of time, of causality, require a verbally friendly environment which many 'deprived' families do not provide. Not having had such experiences children will almost certainly come into school lacking vital skills. They are also likely to lack self-confidence and self-esteem, and to see the world as frightening or hostile. Unless teachers understand the origins of the resultant behaviour they may well by unconfident or uncomprehending responses reinforce the child's negative attitudes. It is the understanding of these early developmental processes which is essential to nurture group work and which, it may be thought, should form a part of the professional armoury of all teachers.

RAISING AWARENESS OF NURTURE GROUPS THE AWCEBD

Knowledge of nurture groups was widespread both in the U.K. and abroad but the only written account of them was Boxall's pamphlet The Nurture Group in the Primary School. This was published in 1976 by the ILEA and therefore became unobtainable when that Authority was abolished in 1989.

A new publication by Bennathan and Boxall appeared in 1996 incorporating the 1976 pamphlet, putting nurture groups in the context of rapidly changing special education policies and in changes in the understanding of 'emotional and behavioural difficulties'. For this, much up to date material was made available to the authors by the London Borough of Enfield. Nurture groups were started in Enfield in 1982 on the initiative of Eva Holmes, Principal Educational Psychologist there. She had already demonstrated that teaching focused precisely, reliably and supportively at the developmental stage of each child resulted in significant gains in their measured intelligence and in their later progress at school (Holmes, 1980).

Nurture Groups 37

Nurture groups in Enfield are based on those in ILEA, several of the staff

having trained there with Boxall in ILEA. The ethos and ways of working with the children have remained essentially the same, groups adapting with no great difficulty to new legislation. The important difference from ILEA is that

the groups, funded directly by the LEA, are a recognised part of its special educational needs provision, and are set up and run to accepted criteria which

include the regular publication of outcomes and costs.

C O S T S A N D O U T C O M E S O F N U R T U R E G R O U P S

The groups in Enfield are demonstrably cost-effective. Table 1, below, shows

that the average cost of placement in a nurture group in 1996 was somewhat less than £3,000 which not only compares extremely favourably with other

means of helping a child, but is also less than the cost (usually estimated to

be about £5,000) of preparing a Statement of Special Educational Need which

Enfield criteria for nurture group placement does not require. It was therefore possible to draw government attention to an intervention which treats a child

effectively while costing less than the process of describing the child's needs

and identifying appropriate help.

Table 1. Cost of Nurture Groups in Enfield Compared with Other Special

Provision for Pupils with EBD.

1. Placement at EBD residential school

2. Tuition for a statemented child from the EBD support service:

(a) 2.5 hours weekly @ £27 an hour for 39 weeks (b) 5 hours Classroom Assistant (established post) @ £9 an hour for

39 weeks (or CRA sessional post)

Annual cost per annum approx.

Average period of tuition is 3 years so average cost per child (which does not include the cost of the necessary Statement of Special Educational Need)

3. Nurture group placement: on average, the child returns to mainstream class in less than a year, so 13 children are supported annually. Staffing costs of group are £36,992 so average cost per child is

(Provision is at Stage 3 of Code of Practice, so no Statement of Special Educational Need is required). From Report to Education Committee, Enfield, June 1996.

£20,000 to £60,000 per a n n u m

£2632.50 per annum

£1,755 per annum £1267.50 per annum

£4,000

£12,000

£2845 .53

38 MARION BENNATHAN

COMPARISON OF OUTCOMES

Enfield has also recorded outcomes of placement in the groups since they were first introduced. These are impressive in themselves with more than 80% of children remaining in mainstream school - as was also the case in ILEA -

many without further support. The success rate is made even more impressive by a telling comparison of the progress of two groups of children shown in Table 2. It is very rare in education that controlled experiments on children 's progress are possible, but one such occurred in 1986 when two nurture groups

were planned, with 24 children identified for placement by Enfield 's agreed procedures, which then had to be cancelled because of financial cuts. Ten years later 20 of the children in what may be called the 'control ' group were traced and their progress compared with the 'experimental ' group, the 308 children placed in nurture groups in Enfield since their inception in 1982. This showed that the proportion of children in the control group requiring formal assessment and special provision was 3 times greater than in those children placed in groups. The proportion of children requiring special EBD school provision is almost 7 times greater.

Table 2. Outcomes.

A. Placement of children assessed for but not placed in nurture groups. B. Subsequent placement of children having been in nurture groups.

No. of Kept in Kept in Kept in Moved to Moved to Moved to children mainstream mainstream mainstream EBD day Residential Other followed up Stage 3 with school EBD special

support Statemented school school support

A 20 10 (50%) 1 (5%) 2 (10%) 2 (10%) 3 (15%) 2 (10%) B 308 255 (82.8%) 12 (3.9%) 8 (2.6%) 9 (2.9%) 2 (0.7%) 22 (7.1%)

(This Table is amalgamated from Appendix 6 and 7 in the 1996 Report to Enfield Education Committee).

Recognition for nurture groups

These findings were brought to the attention of the DfEE which led to nurture groups being recommended as effective early intervention in subsequent pol icy papers on special educational needs (DfEE, 1997b, 1998, 1999). This led to a demand from LEAs for training in nurture group work and for the monitoring of their effectiveness which was facilitated by the setting up of the Nurture

Nurture Groups 39

Group Project at the University of Cambridge, supported by the DfEE, by the Association of Workers for Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (AWCEBD) and by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The Project's first Report has been issued (Cooper et al., 1999) and further funding secured.

The research continues but the training functions of the Project is now in the hands of the Nurture GroUp Network, a division of the AWCEBD who organise certificated courses in nurture group work at the Universities of Cambridge, Leicester and London as well as other training.*

ASSESSING NEED, MONITORING PROGRESS: THE BOXALL PROFILE

A valuable product of the ILEA nurture group movement is the Boxall Profile, an assessment schedule developed over many years by Marjorie Boxall and her teacher and learning assistant colleagues in the ILEA where it was known as the Diagnostic Developmental Profile. Staff in nurture group work came to understand the origins of their pupils' difficulties, rapidly became skilled and confident in distinguishing the child's areas of positive development from areas of weakness to which they then directed help. (The emphasis was always on moving the child forward, the slogan 'growth not pathology'). They felt there was a need for a systematic way of analysing and recording children's difficulties and measuring changes over time. This was the origin of the Profile (Bennathan & Boxall, 1998) which enables teachers to score descriptions of behaviour and record the results on histograms which give a pictorial measure of the child's areas of strength and of weakness. Intervention is then planned and the Profile repeated after a suitable interval, usually of one school term.

Effect of the Boxall Profile

The Profile makes possible reasonably precise monitoring of progress. It also promotes staff discussion of the child's difficulties which helps to build up a consistently supportive environment. It was originally developed for use with children in the earlier years, the material on which the standardisation of scores was carried out being gathered from children between the ages of 3.5 and 8.5 years. In spite of this, it has been found to be useful for understanding pupils

* For information contact website:www.nurturegroups.org)

40 MARION BENNATHAN

across the whole age range, teachers automatically adjusting their scoring using their knowledge of what is age appropriate.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

With the rapid development of nurture groups and the changing educational scene many possibilities and questions occur, to which the Nurture Group Network is directing attention.

Multi-agency work

Government policies repeatedly call for 'joined-up' or multi-agency services. It is apparent that many children in nurture groups come from families in difficulties. So far, the groups have been set up as an educational resource, but because it is part of the nurture group ethos to be supportive to parents close relationships often build up with social workers involved with the families, so that inter-agency co-operation often grows informally. As the effect of nurture groups, including their potential for supporting children in public care, becomes more widely known, multi-agency initiatives are growing. A project in Staffordshire (U.K.), for example, brings together all the local agencies working with children in the catchment area of a secondary school. The project sponsored the setting up of six groups in the school's feeder primary schools with funding from central government given for urban regeneration.

Nurture groups at Secondary level

At first sight, the replicating of early mother-child relationships central to nurture group thinking does not easily translate to work with adolescents. Yet the senior staff of the secondary school, having seen the rapid improvement in children attending the primary age groups, set up a group of 12-13 year old pupils, all at serious risk of exclusion. This meets for only one morning a week and does not claim to be a nurture group. But as one of the staff said, 'We have a nurture group in our heads, and that supplies the inspiration' (Bennathan, 1999). Results are already promising.

Staff at other secondary schools are reporting that completion of Boxall Profile on pupils who are causing serious concern and comparing these with pupils who are succeeding, is having the effect of changing staff perceptions. Teachers step back from their personal response to challenging behaviour, discuss as a group the possible underlying causes and the help that might be

Nurture Groups 41

effective. This is an empowering process and contributes to a high staff morale, an essential ingredient in the good management of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties as numerous studies have pointed out, most recently Daniels et al. (1999). These are early days but there is growing interest in the application of nurture group principles to work at secondary level, to which the Nurture Group Network is giving attention.

Organisation of groups

Groups traditionally accepted only pupils from the host school, but other patterns, useful when a school does not have the level of need to justify a group, are possible. The City of Derby has for many years run a well-evaluated and successful nurture group based on the LEA Behaviour Support Service, where on four days a week children are brought in from several schools, have their midday meal together and spend the rest of the day in the group. Some residential special schools have nurture groups. Increasingly Pupil Referral Units, off-site provision for children excluded from mainstream school, are using nurture group approaches.

Changing ideas of how children learn

The idea that the child's innate endowment, its intelligence quotient, is the most important determinant of progress has considerably faded in the U.K., but an alternative, agreed and precise explanation of why children learn or fail to learn is largely conspicuous by its absence. Teachers in training tend to be taught that children will progress if the curriculum offered is relevant and well presented. Nobody would deny that this last is important, but it is over- simple.

An important influence in teacher education has been the work of Piaget, who no doubt forwarded the understanding of learning as an interactive process, that children are not miniature adults but go through stages of intellectual development related to their physical maturing. What he took for given and did not study was a facilitating social and family setting which is precisely what children who need nurture group placement usually lack. Vygotsky, the Russian psychologist, who is now arousing great interest in learning theorists, looked at the vital interaction between a child's learning and the social circumstances. He also stressed the great importance of language:

Through speech children free themselves of many of the constraints of their environment. They prepare themselves for future activity; they plan, order and control their own behaviour as well as that of others. (p. 126)

42 MARION BENNATHAN

The influence of neuropsychology

There are also important new developments in neuropsychology which will eventually have their effect on the way we think of pupils whose learning is

affected by their EBD. Briefly, the ability to observe the reaction of the human

brain to social circumstances is growing rapidly. Research reported in the Times

(Martin, 1999) showed that brain scans can now precisely measure changes in

areas of the brain relevant to emotional well-being while the patient is receiving psychotherapy and/or drug treatment.

Balbernie (1999), studying infant mental health teams in the USA, writes:

Trauma, chronically stressful or neglectful environments, will alter brain development so that the child becomes prone to emotional disturbance and less able to learn... It has been found that children . . . where the parent is emotionally unavailable, have a permanently higher level of [the hormone] cortisol, as do children who have been abused or those who have had depressed mothers in the first year of life . . . A response pattern that can be activated by fearful situations is the dissociative continuum. This is the freeze or surrender response, which is common in abused children, where signalling distress can lead to further threat. Such "switching off" can be mislabelled as oppositional-defiant behaviour, so that more pressure is exerted, unaware that the child is feeling telvofised again, making it impossible for the child to produce the activity needed to comply with some demand.

Robertson (1999) neuro-psychologist, charmingly asserts:

• Talking to babies builds their intelligence;

• Teaching children to read properly physically builds their brains; • Severe fear and stress can cause brain cells to shrink and even die;

• Love grows the brain.

If inclusive educational policies are to succeed for children with EBD it is evident

that a wider view of what facilitates learning is needed. As Dunn (1988) wrote:

The prevailing concentration on cognitive mechanisms as independent of emotional and motivational factors may not be providing the most useful framework for thinking about the development of social understanding (p. 1 I).

Disordered Attachment

The understanding of the effects of damaging early life experiences, of impaired early attachments, has grown in recent years. In 1982 the prestigious American Psychiatric Association (1982) in its third Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM III) first listed Reactive Attachment Disorder oflnfancy as a diagnostic category. At this point the criteria focused on babies in their first seven months who were showing 'a lack of developmentally appropriate signs of social responsivity', such symptoms as excessive sleep, poor muscle

Nurture Groups 43

tone, failure to gain weight - which was already recognised in the U.K. and called 'failure to thrive'. By 1994, the entry in the Manual (DSM IV), (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) had greatly expanded. The condition was noted as starting before the age of 5, its essential feature being 'markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate social relatedness' and its cause 'grossly pathological care'. It takes two forms, the Inhibited Type in which the child 'persistently fails to initiate and to respond to most social interactions', and shows 'frozen watchfulness, resistance to comfort, or a mixture of approach and avoidance'. In the Disinhibited Type there is 'a pattern of diffuse attachments. The child exhibits indiscriminate sociability or a lack of selectivity in the choice of attachment figures.' The condition 'is associated with grossly pathological care that may take the form of persistent disregard of the child's basic emotional needs for comfort, stimulation or affection, persistent disregard of the child's basic physical needs; or repeated changes of primary caregiver that prevent formation of stable attachments.'

It may be thought that Boxall having watched the progress of many children in ILEA nurture groups had already in 1976 described the educational results of disordered attachment. She wrote:

Satisfactory emotional, social and cognitive development in the earliest years is the product of adequate and attentive early nurturing care. It is a many-stranded, intermeshing, forward moving unitary learning process that centres on attachment and trust and has its foundations in the close identification of parent and child, and the interaction and shared experiences that stem from this. The child who has not experienced satisfactorily this early nurture based stage of learning will not be able to engage with normal age appropriate school provision and will fail if the loss is not quickly made good. The task of the nurture group is to give the child the opportunity to go through these missed experiences by creating a setting conducive to early developmental learning (quoted in Bennatban & Boxall, 2000, p. 21).

What nurture groups have demonstrated is that much early damage can be reversed by the effective early intervention that nurture groups provide. When this happens, the benefits to children both in their school progress and later in their adult lives are considerable. We should allow a boy of seven to speak for the change that nurture groups can achieve:

When Darren was six and a half, his school reported "he cannot share and cannot play with the others without fighting. He swears, kicks, bites, refuses to co-operate and disrupts everybody's work He seems to feel that nobody likes him and everyone is against him. At home, the children witness violent fights. His mother is concerned about her children but her control is punitive. If Darren misbehaves, his clothes are taken away and he is kept in all weekend. He is made to sit in the bath for an hour at a time. He has almost no toys".

Darren was quickly placed in the school's nurture group, without which he would certainly have had to be excluded. At first there were episodes of violent and dangerous behaviour and tantrums often followed by periods of calm in which he did some work. After about

44 M A R I O N B E N N A T H A N

two months, his silly and rude behaviour began to be mixed with concern and thoughtfulness for his teacher, but trust in people was still limited and he still had wild fits when his work was praised. After one term he was greatly improved and only had three or four tantrums in half a term. At this time his mother was in hospital, and after a violent tantrum because he was asked to give another child a turn on the scooter he sobbed, put his arms round the teacher and for the first time she felt that he believed that she cared for him. Following this he steadily improved in his behaviour and work and in his interest in the world around him. He took on a lot more responsibility at school and at home and two terms after admission to the group was helpful and polite.

After three terms a new and very aggressive boy came into the group. Darren commented, "I used to be a bit like that" and did not seem to like what he saw. He was put back into his ordinary class as it was feared he might be disturbed by the aggressive behaviour, and was said to be 'marvellous'. He remained in the infant school for one more term and transferred without difficulty to the junior school. Five terms after leaving the nurture group, he was described as charming and well-liked by his teacher who found him very helpful and cooperative, 'thoroughly nice'.

REFERENCES

American Psychiatric Association (APA) (1982). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM III). Washington DC: APA.

American Psychiatric Association (APA) (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV). Washington DC: APA.

Balberrlie, R. (1999). Infant Mental Health Teams. Young Minds Magazine, 38. Bennathan, M. (1999). Nurture Groups are Spreading Fast. Summer, 1999 Newsletter. Maidstone:

AWCEBD. Bennathan, M., & Boxall, M. (2000). Effective Intervention in Primary Schools: Nurture Groups

(2nd ed.). London: David Fulton. Bennathan, M., & Boxall, M. (1998). The Boxall Profile: Handbook for Teachers. Maidstone:

AWCEBD. Blank, M., et al. (1969). How shall the disadvantaged child be taught? Child Development, 40,

47-61. Bowlby, J. (1951). Maternal Care and Child Health. Geneva: World Health Organisation. Cooper, P., Arnold, R., & Boyd, E. (1999). The Nature and Distribution of Nurture Groups in

England and Wales. University of Cambridge, School of Education. DfEE. (1997a). Excellence in schools. ISBN 0-10-136812-7. London: The Stationery Office. DfEE. (1997b). Excellence for all children: Meeting Special Educational Needs. London: The

Stationery Office. DfEE. (1998). MeetingSpecial Educational Needs: A programme of action. London: DfEE

Publications. DfEE. (1999). Social Inclusion: Pupil Support. Circular No.10/99. London: DfEE Publications. Department of Education and Science (1978). Special Educational Needs. Report of the Committee

of Enquiry into the education of handicapped children and young people (The Warnock Report). London: HMSO.

Dunn, J. (1988). The Beginnings of Social Understanding. Oxford: Blackwell. Holmes, E. (1980). Educational intervention for pre-school children in day or residential care.

Therapeutic Education, 8(2), 7.

Nurture Groups 45

Inner London Education Authority (1985). Educational Opportunities for All? Report of the Fish Committee. ILEA.

Martin, S. D., et al. (Date?). Brain function normalisation on SPECT scanning. Royal College of Psychiatrists' research presentation. Times, 1.7.99.

Robertson, I. (1999). Brain Sculpture. London: Bantam Press. Rutter, M. (1999). Interview with R.C.Tamhne. In: British Association for Community Child Health

News, 18(1), 5. London. Vygotsky, L. S. (Cole, M., et al., Eds) (1978). Mind in Society. New York: Harvard University

Press.

4Q 'DIFFICULT-TO-TEACH' CHILDREN:

CONSULTATIVE STAFF SUPPORT

AS AN ASPECT OF INCLUSIVE

EDUCATION: SHARING EXPERTISE

ACROSS NATIONAL AND

CULTURAL BOUNDARIES

Gerda Hanko

INTRODUCTION

There is now a wealth of information about education systems across both Eastern and Western Europe. Awareness of different policies and strengths in different countries may not, however, be matched by awareness of how much can in fact be learnt from such differences as well as from the similarities. Hence the need not only for dissemination of good practice but also for dialogue about it, which, as Mittler (1995) concludes, can sharpen awareness as professionals learn to develop their support, consultancy and negotiating skills through the sharing process, and become resources to each other. As European conference delegates report (Parilla Latas, 1995, 1997), to develop such enabling practices and skills across national boundaries means to be able to take account of the rich field of established educational practices and of knowledge developing further in reflective and exploratory teaching . . . "to work with the variability that diversity in schools implies".


47

48 GERDA HANKO

H I S T O R Y A N D D E V E L O P M E N T O F T H E C O N C E P T O F C O N S U L T A T I V E S T A F F S U P P O R T AS AN A S P E C T O F

I N C L U S I V E E D U C A T I O N : P R O M O T I N G I N S I G H T I N T O P R O B L E M - B E H A V I O U R AND F A I L U R E T O L E A R N

Much of the British experience of collaborative consultative staff development for workers with troubled children is based on the Caplan model of consultation which is itself of international provenance. After the Second World war, when Gerald Caplan, the American pioneer of group consultation, worked with his British colleagues in Israel, they were confronted with thousands of displaced, traumatised war orphans all of whom could not possibly be helped individually. Caplan found that these children's distressing experiences almost incapacitated the staff who seemed to internalise the powerful unmanageable feelings the children displayed. Only when the staff were helped to understand this transference and were themselves provided with support in containing their own distress, were they able to help these unhappy children (Caplan, 1961, 1970).

On their return to Britain, his co-workers joined other pioneers in child development at the Tavistock Clinic. Irvine (1979), encouraged by Bowlby (1953, 1969, 1979, 1988), developed the consultative approach for the training of psychiatric social workers. Others, working in a range of institutions, incorporated their multi-professional and systemic understanding into psychodynamic approaches to children's emotional, cognitive and social learning, (Bion, 1961; Caspari, 1962, 1975, 1976; Erikson, 1950/65; Morris, 1965, 1972, 1991; Osborne et al., 1994, 1998; Vygotsky, 1978; Winnicott, 1957, 1965, 1971), which drew attention to the relevance of their findings to the work of teachers. Uncertain how to respond in their role as teachers to the special emotional and learning needs of some of their pupils, they clearly needed support in understanding the needs of these children and the dynamics of the school system - the many relationship factors involved - within and beyond which problems were displayed, added to, or 'solved'.

Although translated into German, writings on psychodynamic issues like these were published in West Germany only, and were complemented there by others (e.g. Dreikurs, 1967; Winkel, 1991, 1993; Miller, 1993). None of them (apart from Vygotsky) was allowed entry into the, by then, separated East of the country. Like their British colleagues, German teachers were at a loss how best to deal with the increasing challenges posed by their pupils. However, in the two parts of the country now firmly divided by irreconcilable political belief systems, teachers had very different experiences in dealing with such challenges.

In the East, teachers and their pupils were living under a regime designed to control every move and thought, from kindergarten to vocational and

'Difficult to Teach' Children 49

university education. As documentation has since confirmed (Richie, 1998), the Minister of Education (the powerful wife of the Head of State) was not only personally responsible for indoctrinating the young and for crushing dissent in schools, but was also instrumental in programmes of removing over twelve thousand children from 'politically unreliable' parents, to be brought up by party members, and in transferring to young offenders' institutions children with 'learning refusing' problem behaviour which teachers were expected to report as a pointer to such parents. Teachers were thus in no position to try and meet the needs of pupils burdened with problems which the regime was forbidding to surface, nor did they have any training opportunities for acquiring the professional skills with which to address such problems (see later for implications).

In contrast, West German pedagogical training centres began to incorporate international work on the dynamics of group in their professional development programmes (Spangenberg, 1969) for teachers to better understand both the children's and their own needs as teachers. A 460 page study of the extent to which teachers were actually afraid of their pupils makes absorbing reading (Brfick, 1978).

Thus, in West Germany as in Britain, awareness was growing that to meet the special emotional, behavioural and learning needs of children whom teachers found difficult, the professional needs of their teachers also should be recognised and met. In Britain, this led for instance to the application of the psychodynamically informed systemic consultative approach to the work of teachers. Designed to sharpen teachers' recognition and deepen their understanding of emotional and behavioural needs and to augment their ability to respond to them more appropriately within the ordinary teaching day, as an integral part of a teacher's professional task (Dowling & Osborne, 1994; Hanko, 1985, 1995), the approach demonstrated how such joint problem-solving not only helped teachers to understand better what made children behave as they do, but could elicit their hidden 'therapeutic' skills of providing children with profoundly re-educative challenges; teachers also felt better about themselves as more self-confident, .autonomous, yet supported, professionals.

A crucial additional 'bonus' was thus the teachers' gradual awareness that such collaborative assistance in meeting the needs of their more 'difficult-to teach pupils' was helping them to increase their overall competence in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom as a whole (Hanko, 1999a, b). This agrees with detailed analyses like Hart's (1996) and Mongon and Hart, (1989) that 'learning to respond more appropriately to the neediest children can improve the quality of teaching and learning for all'. This was again confirmed by Daniels et al. (1999) in their research report for the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) on addressing the needs of children with emotional

50 GERDA HANKO

and behavioural difficulties in mainstream schools. They concluded that ' the characteristics required of a good teacher of pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties are the same as those for good teaching general ly ' .

P S Y C H O D Y N A M I C A L L Y B A S E D S Y S T E M C O N S U L T A T I O N AS ' I N C L U S I V E ' OF O T H E R

A P P R O A C H E S TO I N S T I T U T I O N A L A R R A N G E M E N T S

A rich field of established practice, based on a range of theoretical perspectives, is now available to teachers, on how to meet most chi ldren 's emotional, social and learning needs. However, these perspectives are often presented in hazardously rivalrous juxtaposition. Behavioural models are for instance frequently perceived as focusing exclusively on here and now behaviour and psychodynamic ones on past relationships experiences. Thus confused, many teachers are insufficiently aware

•.. of the extent to which emotional factors, whatever their provenance, influence learning and failure to learn, - of the extent to which academic progress depends on teachers attending to what Elton (1989) referred to as an affective curriculum, and - of the support they could receive to maximise their existing expertise for creating a genuinely inclusive learning ethos.

As has been pointed out, (Warnock, 1996), however, a mainly results-centred academic emphasis which prevents teachers from attending to the affective dimension of learning, spells failure for some - and underachievement and disaffection for many - pupils and teachers. Clearly, this needs to be addressed so as not to undermine the government 's call for a 'more inclusive curriculum framework ' (DfEE/QCA, 1999) through which to achieve the aimed for

excellence for all. Current curriculum reviews suggest that ' the school curriculum should promote

pupils ' self-esteem and emotional well being ' (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, 1999), and Education and Health Ministers joint ly put emphasis on the importance of teachers ' emotional competence (DfEE/DoH, 1999). Other official documentation, such as behaviour support plans concerning children with problem behaviour, has however been criticised for being 'centred on children who misbehave rather than on the wider range of children who have a range of difficulties which contribute to atypical behaviour ' (Marshall, 1998). There is equal concern that other U.K. documents, such as the Social Inclusion: Pupil Support guidelines (DfEE, 1999) appear to place emphasis more on controlling children than on encouragement and understanding (Bennathan, 1999).

The quest is then how to create a truly inclusive learning environment by disseminating to all teachers - who have their own distinctive needs in face of dysfunctional political, organisational and attitudinal pressures - the most


essential knowledge we have about what makes children want to learn, and what can make teachers, often despondent and disaffected, want to teach effectively those who seem unresponsive to their seemingly best efforts. The complexities of a teacher's professional task suggest that no single approach among those available can possibly be the whole answer to addressing the needs of those whom teachers experience as 'difficult to teach'.

Thus, while we may well favour one approach over others, there is a need, as Norwich (1996) points out, to learn to work with 'multiple concepts'. It is the virtue of a psychodynamically informed systemic consultation approach that it is geared to exploring problems in their interactional context, and that different perspectives - offered as 'interactional', 'managerial', 'relational' or 'therapeutic' vis-fi-vis children with emotional and behavioural difficulties (Cooper, 1999; Greenhalgh, 1999) can be shown as complementary and applicable, with different emphases, according to the context in which a difficulty is displayed.

Such an approach is thus particularly appropriate to understanding, and informing about, the 'inclusivity' of the educational process - what Daniels (1996), interestingly in ,Continental parlance, refers to as 'responsive pedagogy': the 'teaching and learning which should inform, and be informed by, events in the classroom' (1996), and to what others (see Mittler, 1995; Parilla Latas, 1997) commend about it: its wide potential for enhancing existing expertise by exploratory reflection about changing individual needs in changing societies, and about the influence on such needs of those directly involved with the development of children in and out of school, who are themselves affected by those changes.

U S I N G C O L L E G I A L SUPPORT SKILLS FOR A N I N C L U S I V E L E A R N I N G C U L T U R E

'Informed by and informing about' the creation of an inclusive learning culture, a psychodynamically based systemic consultative approach to continuing staff development aims to ensure a collaborative staff ethos, with teachers being committed as col leagues to applying best available knowledge to pedagogical practice. Applied to children who seem to make it difficult to be thus included, the staff's problem-solving skills are geared, with the help of a collegially trained facilitator (Hanko, 1999a), to focus jointly on understanding the context in which the difficulty occurs with a specific child. This will include understanding

• the child's current patterns of relationships (seen as partly related to prior relationship experiences including unconscious wishes, conflicts and habitual patterns of thinking and feeling which may impede learning),

52 GERDA HANKO

and possible attempts

• to replace these with new superseding experiences of cognitive/affective interaction in the learning task.

Thus, a child's violent reaction to a teacher's demand or reprimand may point to some present fear about imagined or real consequences, but may also be linked to past relationships. What new experience might a teacher with this insight be able to offer such a child, to help supersede such fear or past experiences, and so begin to feel himself or herself valued differently in his or her relation to others?

Having reminded each other in a support group's meetings how important it is for children to feel 'safe' (Bowlby's emphasis of their need for a 'secure base to learn without fear'), to feel 'thought about and valued', but that children are unlikely to feel so when they experience feelings they find difficult to bear (those 'unbearable feelings', as Winnicott (1957, 1965, 1971) showed, such as fear, hurt, despondency, rejection, defiance or hatred), this is how one teacher managed to respond to one of her ten-year-old's violent verbal attack (of the 'I hate you, I hate you' kind). She understood the child's anger as a facade probably masking hidden despair (Graham & Hughes, 1995), and knew that any display of anger of her own would have made things worse for both of them, in time consuming and stressful antagonism merely confirming the child's previous experiences of adults. Instead, she told him how sorry she was that he was feeling so bad, and asked him (without insisting on an answer) whether there was perhaps something that was making him very sad, whereupon the boy burst into tears.

The group consultative experience with her colleagues - who were taking her own feelings as seriously as those of the children - had helped to enable her to use her insights into here-and-now behaviour (a behaviourist emphasis) and into possible past experiences (psychodynamic awareness) at the moment of actual interaction, when it mattered most. She had understood that attacks like these come from unhappy children, and are directed less at her personally than at all the adults who may have contributed to the child's unhappy background relationships. By responding in the way she did she was 'containing' the child's anger, something which he still had to learn to do for himself. She was also attending to the affective/cognitive dimension of emotional wellbeing, helping him to understand his feelings (the link between anger and anxiety) a little better. This was both an indirect invitation to reflect on emotional experience so important for personal development, and an indication to him that his 'mental pain' was being recognised, but without intrusion; and there was hope that, experiencing his teacher as somebody who saw him as worth


caring about, he might feel that he was, after all, capable of enlisting an important person's concern for him, in fellowship with all others.

In a similar situation, teachers in an East German primary school could offer enabling support to a colleague in shock at one of her pupil' s sudden despairing outburst that 'nobody liked him', in which he explicitly included his teacher, although she had always felt special concern for this clearly needy seemingly friendless child from a background of worsening stressful family circumstances. The other children had been making life even more difficult for him by name- calling him "Trabi" (the despised and by then discarded two-stroke-engine car that had become a laughing stock symbol of past GDR affluence). The staff, who had been introduced only briefly to the basics of consultative joint problem- solving with teachers in Britain through an article published in one of their educational journals (Hanko, 1993a) and through an introductory in-selwice session at their school, managed to help her 'contain' her sense of shock as well as explore the wider parameters of this one case. This included, for instance, the importance of friendship for a depressed child acting out his depression in this way (Graham & Hughes, 1995), better contact with the family, and how such children might be helped to succeed socially as well as academically by fostering inclusive attitudes in the class as a whole, so that every child would feel being valued as an actively contributing member of the school community.

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR TEACHERS: TEACHERS AS LEARNERS

Findings about excluded pupils show many children cannot recall such school experience of emotional wellbeing, social belonging, or recognition of academic effort (McKeever, 1999; de Pfir, 1997). Thus failing to learn, they 'learned to fail' (Decker, 1999) when they could in fact have been helped to succeed if only their teachers had not convinced themselves, in an ironically parallel process of 'learned helplessness', of their irremediable inability to do so (the "we are not trained that way . . . are not social workers or psychologists" syndrome).

In line with pleas to get rid of the mystique that understanding behaviour is the prerogative of the psychologist (Bennathan, 1994), and findings like those referred to above (Daniels et al., 1999, that "the characteristics required of a good teacher of pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties are the same as those for good teaching generally"), campaigners for school improvement through in-service education have come to advocate the effectiveness of

54 GERDA HANKO

collaboration that uses expertise collectively to improve practice by learning from it (Fullan & Hargreaves, 1992).

The concepts used both in English (Osborne, 1998) and German terminology (Schratz, 1998) are those of a 'learning culture' and the 'learning school', and refer to professionals being engaged in 'understanding themselves as learners while developing insights into their students as learners' (Johnstone & Johnstone, 1998). In the psychodynamic field, Bion (1961, 1962) had already written about both difference and complementarity between 'learning about' things (such as educational theory) and 'being able to learn from' the experience of the self in the group, as happens when professionals work collaboratively. Simlarly applicable are Vygotsky's writings (1978) (see also Bennett, 1991; Daniels, 1993; Feldman et al., 1998) on learning through small group social interaction, the transformation of the interpersonal into intrapersonal competence, and on collaborative language as a tool for thought; while the two cases described earlier exemplify Schrn's (1983) complementary terms of 'reflection-in-action' and 'reflection-on-action' arrived at by consultative collaboration.

Such collaboration contrasts with - and sets out to remedy - staff cultures where dynamics work against a sense of belonging and professional achievement (Miller, 1994). It also differs from mere 'getting on with each other'. It requires the assistance of a consultatively trained (i.e. non-prescriptive yet authoritative) facilitator (e.g. from the school's in-service co-ordinating staff or local psychological or education support services; for details see Hanko, 1995, 1999a) who knows how to support and develop fellow professionals in the schools to achieve for difficult to teach/difficult to relate-to children a sense of being included in an ongoing learning process, and does so in such a way that the teachers have a parallel experience of collegial 'inclusivity'.

Thus assisted to offer each other creative professional support as their expertise is being enhanced in a non-judgmental sharing process, as untapped resources are tapped, as strengths are discovered and built on, they experience themselves as contributors to their colleagues' and their own professional competence. Having their endeavours recognised in at a time overwhelmingly difficult work settings, also stimulates a new sense of professional worth and worthwhileness. Last, but not least, they also feel cared about.

When attempting to share such an enabling consultative staff development structure with others within and across institutions and cultures, especially at times of social upheaval and individual stress, we need to remain aware of the aims, the communication skills and problem awareness required to achieve such collegial development.


AMBIGUITY ABOUT 'PROBLEM-SOLVING' ACROSS CULTURAL BOUNDARIES AT TIMES OF RAPID

CHANGE

In Britain (Campbell et al., 1989; Dowling & Osborne, 1994; Steinberg, 1989), the United States (Conoley & Conoley, 1982) and Canada (Jordan, 1994), consultation has become a well-defined concept in contexts like mental health, as well as other public and private sector organisations, in which it is useful to 'engage with colleagues in a joint problem-clarification and problem- solving process' which enhances the professional competence of those engaged in the process as well as helping them to learn how to consult with others (Steinberg, 1989). The consultant has no sanction for 'telling' nor instructing others what to do, and no mandate for directly counselling a client about personal problems.

Descriptions of a similar paradigm are offered by German providers of professional development programmes for teachers (Marsolek & Zielke, 1991; H6rmann, 1998; Nestmann, 1998). There is, however, a linguistic ambiguity in the vocabulary used - 'Beratung' for the process, and 'Berater' for the facilitating trainer, have both consultative and advisory connotations - which continues to demand clarification. H6rmann (1998) and Nestmann, (1998) defining the process as a psychodynamically informed 'pedagogical resource' but independent both of psychotherapeutic methods on the one hand, and information-centred advice-giving on the other, regret and warn against the continuing confusion with these approaches to professional development. This echoes Caplan's (1961, 1970) earlier warning to English speaking practitioners.

One may be permitted to hypothesise that at the time of the momentous sudden change in the German political scene in 1989, when East and West rushed into each other's arms, it may have seemed tempting to the Westerners to offer quick solutions for an underdeveloped education system, rather than 'reflect' about the needs of those who had been part of it. Speed was at a premium, and across the whole field of social/economic organisation top-down transmissional modes - the 'telling' aspect of giving 'advice' used by the West German training providers - ruled the day. This, however, was soon perceived in the East as the West simply wanting to import and impose its own practices, and led to resentment and resistance. Such resistance was not encountered when introducing school staffs to a collaborative problem-solving staff development approach, which has implications for 'consultants' from the economically developed countries working with colleagues in the economically emerging ones.

56 GERDA HANKO

PROBLEM AWARENESS ACROSS HITHERTO OPPOSING SYSTEMS

Of what problems - social, cultural, individual - would one have to be aware if one wanted to act as a genuinely enabling facilitator who had only been able to watch from the outside those dramatic political changes?

Two parts of a country which, up to the early forties, had shared a chequered history of dissonant values ranging from democratic to irreconcilably totalitarian ones, had been split asunder and, for 45 years, had experienced different and equally irreconcilable approaches to culture, education and interpretations of their history. East Germany had the almost unimaginable fate of experiencing two exceptionally inhuman totalitarian systems following each other in debilitating sequence while West Germany was helped to flourish in freedom.

Initial euphoria on both sides about being reunited, and the Easterners' rejoicing at being able at last, as they thought, to take control over their own circumstances, was soon giving way to disappointment and the discovery of a 'divide of the mind'. Resentment grew at being patronised as poor relations, at being treated like 'children who haven't yet learned to read' (Richie, 1998), and expected to be grateful for being 'allowed' to join the West in exchange for the system they had risked their lives to oust. A leading psychoanalyst (Richter, 1999) expects social tensions to grow further, with people in the East, ten years after unification, still feeling treated as 'second-class citizens' and withdrawing into their private lives, as they had done in the GDR. Political analysts comment on a growing indifference towards Western values which the East had so yearned to share (Simon, 1999; Staud, 1999). These analysts blame the haste with which the West, totally unprepared for the demise of the GDR, had rushed the process of unification which the East had instigated, but not allowed for the time necessary to get used to life in a democratic society and the liberal values which it had taken the West several decades to incorporate in the political-social framework.

East German teachers in particular were distressed at the apparent lack of awareness amongst many of their West German colleagues of what it had meant to live and teach in a police state. However, as any 'responsive pedagogue' knows, one needs to start from the learner's perspective, and build on what he or she has to offer. It required, in this case, at least some awareness of details such as the following:

Not only was any form of dissent forbidden but, as described elsewhere (Hanko, 1993b), teachers were literally trapped in mindless reiteration of a repressive party doctrine, knowing that failure to do so would lead to being reported by undercover 'unofficial Stasi informers' on the staff or amongst their


pupils. As a consequence, their own children might be barred from university study. Likewise, teachers are known to have lost their jobs for any child of theirs having left for the 'capitalist West'. Teachers were themselves expected to report on 'politically unreliable' colleagues and pupils with problem behaviour. Since such behaviour would be interpreted as pointing to a 'politically dubious' home, teachers, with their pupils' best interests at heart, could thus not risk attending to such problems as professionals. The early parts of this chapter referred to the systemic effects of any of these features on the teacher- pupil relationship.

Every textbook was geared to indoctrination. (For instance, children knew from page 1 of their first reader at infant school that Stalinist Th~lmann was one of the GDR's heroes). To crush any suspicion of dissent about the texts used - or even ironic questions about the sudden withdrawal of the more tolerant texts imported from the milder Gorbatchev regime, the Minister herself would step in. Richie (1998) names an East Berlin school as example, where the Minister deemed such staff to be 'unqualified to lead the school politically', and sent three of her senior officials to take charge.

Thus disarmed, many teachers survived as resigned apparent conformists or as undercover dissidents (having learned from their predecessors who had exercised the subtle art of 'creative subversion' under the national-socialist dictatorship, Williams, 1999). Clearly, teachers surfacing from such endurance had something to offer their Western colleagues, to proceed along the lines of the systemic principle of first enlisting the healthiest part of a system in collaboration.

Those still in post during the early nineties, (active supporters of the previous regime having been removed), still trying to recover from the after-effects of the educational and personal havoc caused by the ousted regime, were now facing the task of addressing new problems of adjustment and identity crises. Coping as best they could, and initially welcoming what help was being offered by their colleagues from the West, they did not feel they needed to be told 'what a child was like', they did not want to be taken over by 'patronising colonialists' who, they felt, were wanting to 'retrain' them merely to fit in with Western ways, they did not feel they had to learn everything from scratch as if their past experience had no value. What they did want was to do what had previously been forbidden, to work in their pupils' best interests. Unsure how best to do so under such overwhelmingly changed circumstances - changed for both them and their pupils - they accepted as 'tailor made' ('this is exactly what we need!') a consultative collaborative framework, geared to enabling them to find their own workable alternatives and 'avoiding all semblance of arrogance' (Stand, 1999).

58 GERDA HANKO

INCLUSIVE TRAINING FRAMEWORK AS A BASIS FOR TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

The question has been asked to what extent 'experience of inclusive education can be a powerful basis for teacher development' (Sebba & Sachdev, 1997). It is the essence of a consultative problem-solving staff development framework that, under the authoritative guidance of a consultatively trained facilitator, it presents its participants with the experience of inclusive enablement vis-5-vis the difficulties they encounter. Such a facilitator (e.g. from the school's own inservice staff or local psychological/education support services) can be trained to share his or her expertise in such a way that, in the process, fellow professionals are trained to do likewise with theirs and thereby extend it. It amounts to 'learning from experiencing oneself in the group' in the Vygotskian sense of acquiring a collaborative language as a tool for both inter-and intrapersonal learning, as participants experience themselves as contributors to their colleagues' and their own competence.

What such jointly facilitated training implies for promoting a learning environment capable of including the difficult to teach, has been set out in detail elsewhere (Hanko, 1999a). For the purposes of this chapter it will be sufficient to emphasise it as a learning enhancing case exploration approach that broadens discussions of specific cases by highlighting underlying issues (like those referred to in this chapter) in such a way that the child' s teacher(s) as well as the whole group - whether or not they all know the chi ld- learn a problem-solving approach which they can apply to meeting other and future problems or needs as they may arise.

The consultative enablement skills, being first and foremost language communication skills, are calculated to widen awareness of how communication processes become effective, how they can be prevented from becoming counter-productive or from remaining ineffective. They are shown as the art of discovering and building on existing strengths, supplementing - rather than wanting to supplant - existing expertise, and avoiding at all costs colleagues feeling worse by seeming to imply that others can handle things better.

Geared in this way to creating an inclusive learning environment, respecting, and responding supportively to, the other(s) experience in collaboration, the approach would appear to be applicable within and across the diversity of institutions and systems, within and across cultures and national boundaries.

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Bennett, N. (1991). Co-operative learning in classroom processes and outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32 (4pp. 581-94).

Bion, W. (1961). Experiences in Groups. London: Tavistock. Bion, W. (1962). Learning from Experience. London: Heinemann. Bowlby, J. (1953). Child Care and the Growth of Love. London: Penguin. Bowlby, J. (1969/73/80). Attachment and Loss, Vols. I, I1, lII. New York: Basic Books. Bowlby, J. (1979). On knowing what you are not supposed to know and feeling what you are not

supposed to feel. Forum for the Advancement of Educational Therapy, Supplement 14. Bowlby, J. (1988). A Secure Base. Clinical Applications of Attachment Theory. London: Routledge. Briick, H. (1978). Die Angst des Lehrers vor seinem Schiiler. Hamburg: Rowohlt. Campbell, D., Draper R., & Huffington, C. (t989). A Systemic Approach to Consultation. London:

D. C. Associates. Caplan, G. (1961). An Approach to Community Mental Health. London: Tavistock. Caplan, G. (1970). The Theory and Practice of Mental Health Consultation. New York: BasicBooks. Caspari, I. (1962). The Problems of School Consultation. The New Era, April. Caspari, I. (1975). A psychodynamic view of the therapeutic opportunities of special education. In:

K. Wedell (Ed), Orientations in Special Education. Chichester: Wiley. Caspari, I. (1976). Learning and teaching. The collected papers of Irene Caspari. London. Forum

for The Advancement of Educational Therapy. Conoley, J. C., & Conoley, C. W. (1982). School Consultation. A Guide to Practice and Training.

New York and Oxford: Pergamon. Cooper, P. (1999). Changing Perceptions of EBD. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 4(1),

3-11. Daniels, H. (1993). Charting the Agenda. Educational Activity after Vygotsky. London: Routledge. Daniels, H. (1966). Back to basics. British Journal of Special Education, 23(4), 155-161. Daniels, H., Visser, J., Cole., T., & de Reybekill, N. (1999). Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

in Mainstream Schools. Research Report, 90. London: Department for Education and Employment.

Decker, S. (1999). Failing to learn or learning to fail? In: S. Decker, S. Kirby, A. Greenwood, D. Moore, Taking Children Seriously. London: Cassell.

Department for Education and Employment/Department of Health (1999). Healthy Schools Healthy Teachers. London: DfEE/DoH.

Department for Education and Employment/Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (1999). The Review of the National Curriculum in England. London: DfEE/QCA.

De Pear, S. (1997). Excluded pupils' views of their educational needs and experiences, Support for Learning, 12(1), 19-22.

Dowling, E., & Osborne, E. (1994). The Family and the School. A Joint Systems Approach (2rid ed.). London: Routledge.

Dreikurs, R. (1967). Psychologie des Klassenzimmers. Stuttgart: Klett. Elton Report (1989). Discipline in Schools. London: Department of Education and Science (DES). Erikson, E. H. (1950/65). Childhood and Society. London, Harraondsworth: Hogarth with Pelican. Feldman, R., Guttfreund, D., & Yernshalmi, H. (1998). Parental care and intrusiveness as predictors

of the abilities/achievement gap in adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39(5), 721-730.

Fullan, M., & Hargreaves, A. (1992). What's Worth Fighting for in Your School? Buckingham: Open University Press.

Graham, P., & Hughes, C. (1995). So Young So Sad So Listen. Gaskell/West London Health Promotion Agency.

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Green, A., Wolf, A., & Leney, T. (1999). Convergence and Divergence in European Education and Training Systems. Bedford Way Papers, Institute of Education, University of London.

Greenhalgh, P. (1999). Integrating the Legacy of David Wills in an Era of Behaviour Support Plans, Inclusion and Target setting. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 4(1), 46-53.

Hanko, G. (1985). Special Needs in Ordinary Classrooms. Oxford: Blackwell. Hanko, G. (1993a). Zur Erziehung 'schwieriger Kinder' in britischen Normalschulklassen.

Grundschule, 7(8), 75-77. Hanko, G. (1993b). Staff development and support. A German response to consultative staff support

developments. Support for Learning, 8(4), 174-177. Hanko, G. (1995). Special Needs in Ordinary Classrooms: From Staff Support to Staff Development

(3rd ed.). London: David Fulton. Hanko, G. (1999a). Increasing Competence through Collaborative Problem-solving: Using Insight

into Social and Emotional Factors in Children's Learning. London: David Fulton. Hanko, G. (1999b). 'Schwierige Kinder' in der Schulklasse, ein Leitfaden zur Probleml6sung.

Wuppertal: Deimling. Hart, S. (1996). Beyond Special Needs. London: Paul Chapman. H6rmann, G. (1998). Beratung: Eine p~idagogische Ressource. PJ~D Forum, 11(5), 417. Irvine, E. E. (1979). Social Work and Human Problems. Oxford: Pergamon. Johnson, C. A., & Johnston, J. Q. (1998). Achieving Staff Development through understanding the

Learner. Journal of ln Service Education, 24(1), 31-45. Jordan, A. (1994). Skills in Collaborative Classroom Consultation. London: Routledge. Marshall, C. (1998). Ready for Inspection. Special!. Autumn, 16-19. Marsolek, T., & Zielke, G. (1991). VerhaltensauffiiUigkeiten bei Kindern. Berlin: Integration

Konkret. McKeever, P. (1999). When learning is a dangerous thing. In: S. Decker, S. Kirby, et al. Taking

Children Seriously. London: Cassell. Miller, A. (1994). Staff Culture, Boundary Maintenance and Successful 'Behavioural Interventions'

in Primary Schools. Research Papers in Education, 9(1). Miller, R. (1993). Lehrer lernen (5th ed.). Basel: Weinheim. Mittler, P. (1995). Professional Development for Special Needs Education in England and Wales.

In: P. Mittler & P. Daunt (Eds) Teacher Education for Special Needs in Europe. London: Cassell.

Mittler, P., & Daunt, P. (1995). Teacher Education for Special Needs in Europe. London: Cassell. Mongon, D., & Hart, S. (1989). Improving Classroom Behaviour. London: Cassell. Morris, B. (1965). How does a group learn to work together? In: W. R. Niblett (Ed.), How and

Why do we learn? London: Faber and Faber. Morris, B. (1972). Objectives and Perspectives in Education. London: Routledge Kegan Paul. Morris, B. (1991). The Nature and Role of Educational Therapy. Journal of Educational Therapy,

3(3), 5-14. Nestmann, F. (1998). Beratung als Ressource. PAD Forum, 11(5), 419-424. Norwich, B. (1996). Special needs education or education for all? Connective specialisation and

ideological impurity. British Journal of Special Education, 23(3), 100-103. Osborne, E. (1994). The teacher's view. Working with teachers out of the school setting. In:

E. Dowling & E. Osborne (Eds), The Family and the School. A Joint Systems Approach (2nd ed.). London: Routlege.

Osborne, E. (1998). Learning cultures. In: B. Davou & F. Zenakis (Eds), Feeling, Communicating and Thinking. Athens: Papazissis Publishers.


Parilla Latas, A. (1995). Teacher Education for Special Needs in Spain. In: P. Mittler & P. Daunt (Eds), Teacher Education for Special Needs in Europe. London: Cassell.

Parilla Latas, A. (1997). Developing a shared approach to support. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 12(3), 209-224.

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (1999). The Review of the National Curriculum in England. London: QCA/DfEE.

Richie, A. (1998). Faust's Metropolis. London: Harper Collins. Richter, H. E. (1999). Interview. Hamburger Abendblatt, 28(05). Schi3n, P. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner. London: Temple Smith. Schratz, M. (1998). DieLernende Schule. Weinheim: Beltz. Sebba, J., & Sachdev, D. (1997). What Works in Inclusive Education? Ilford: Barnardo's Child

Care Publications. Simon, A. (1999). Fremd im eigenen Land. DIE ZEIT, Nr.25, 17.06. Spangenberg, K. (1969). Chancen der Gruppenpiidagogik. BerlinfBasel: Beltz. Staud, T. (1999). Die importierte Moral. DIE ZEIT, Nr.15, 08.04. Steinberg, D. (1989). Interprofessional Consultation. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific. Taylor, D. (1994). Schools as a target for change. Intervening in the school system. In E. Dowling

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Hogarth. Winnicott, D. (1971). Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock.

5 • MEETING THE NEEDS OF

BEHAVIOURALLY CHALLENGING

PUPILS - ASSESSING SCHOOL

LIFE AS EXPERIENCED BY PUPILS

WITH EMOTIONAL/BEHAVIOURAL

DIFFICULTIES

Matti Kuorelahti

INTRODUCTION

The evaluation of education is a very multidimensional task. To assess the outcome of education you have first to define what do you mean by outcome. The outcome might be student's mastering of those skills that were intended. It could also be his/her succeeding in the labour market after schooling or coping with the next educational level. (see Norris, 1990; Vaherva & Juva, 1985; Raivola, 1992).

One approach to this kind of evaluation is to try to understand how the pupils themselves experience school. The affective field of education raises a number of interesting questions. (Williams & Roey, 1997). Do pupils feel supported? Does the school increase the motivation to study? One concept in this sense is to use the concept 'the quality of school life'.


63

64 MATTI KUORELAHTI

Pupils with emotional/behavioural difficulties (EBD) are usually the most troublesome in the school. They challenge their environment daily with antisocial behaviour and they are unmotivated about schooling. How can a successful school cope with them? To let them drop out? Or to try to find individual solutions? What is the quality of school life the pupil's point of view?

And finally, how should their education be organized? The question where it should be provided has become a passionate issue. Arguments regarding place have proliferated and 'concern for appropriate education has often taken a second place' (Kauffman, 1997b). According to inclusionists the education of EBD pupils should take place in mainstream classrooms as far as it is possible. The limitations of this approach will soon be apparent: on the one hand the pupils will easily exclude themselves with discourteous and unkind behaviour and on the other hand, teachers don't want them in their classrooms (Moberg, 1998). It would be useful to know, what really happens around the special pupil during the lessons in schools.

WHO ARE THE CHILDREN WITH EBD?

The estimates of the number of students with EBD has varied depending on the criterion that is used. The variation is dependent on the definition used and the time when the surveys were made. Kanffman (1997a) deliberates upon 'reasonable estimates' of students who would need special educational treatment due to their persistently troublesome behaviour. He concludes that reasonable estimate would range from 3 to 6% of the population. Further he cites Rubin and Balow's study, who showed that about 20-30% of students were considered by at least one teacher to show a problem.

In practice most of those pupils labelled with emotional/behavioural difficulties attend normal, regular education classes.

The decision as to which side of the thin and indistinct line of EBD definition a pupil is to be categorized is open to various interpretations. Several contextual factors must be taken into consideration. The relevant contexts are for example the historical situation of a certain society, nationality, race, gender, socio- economic status, factors connected with the family and individual's developmental psychological level and so on. A universal definition for the EBD is impossible to create (Kivirauma, 1995).

One possibility in trying to understand the nature of EBD is to analyze the causal factors of disturbed behaviour. The explanations can be divided into several groups. Rosenberg, Wilson, Maheady and Sindelar (1997) present them in six categories. Biophysical explanations are based on individual's characteristics, which are mainly biological (genetic, brains, neurological,

Meeting the Needs of Behaviourally Challenging Pupils 65

biochemical). They even count temperament in this category. Psychodynamic models are mainly built on psychoanalytic theories. Talks of denial, reaction formation, sublimation, panics are typical psychoanalytic terms. Erikson's theory of psycho-social development is an interesting application of psychoanalytic theory. Behavioural explanations have had success in the 'golden era' of behaviourism. Cognitive-behavioural explanations raised the individual's consciousness more into the limelight. Sociological explanations put weight on the social context. There are at least four sub-groups within sociological perspectives like rule breaking, anomie, socialization failure, and labelling. Ecological explanations have gained approval since the 1980s by Apter and others. The advantages of this approach are that a 'disturbed' child is not seen separately from his/her environment. We might call the surroundings 'disturbed' as well.

UNDERSTANDING EBD

There are two possible ways to approach the issue. One is more sociological: EBD is created by society. It's connected with the sorting and selecting task of the educational system. To expose it roughly: schools have to label the winners and the losers (see Kivirauma, 1995; Naukkarinen, 1999).

The other way to interpret the divergence is more psychological. SEN EBD is characterised by a pupil's neurological or psychological factors. Emanuelsson and Persson (1997) write that teachers usually don't question the contribution of environment to the difficulties. They are responsible for the teaching of individuals, and that's why it's understandable to put the attention on the individual. The other side of the coin is that perceiving problems to be caused by others rather than oneself is very human. In this case the others are usually pupils!

MEETING THE NEEDS OF EBD PUPILS: FINLAND AS AN EXAMPLE

In 1998 about 17.9% of Finnish pupils attended special education. They were taught in special schools (2.0%), special classes in regular schools (1.4%)and in regular classes (14.2%). The last proportion represents pupils gaining special education due to their difficulties mostly in reading/writing/speech or temporary or milder difficulties in learning or behaviour. Their participation in special education in most cases is less than 20% of their weekly lessons. The typical amount of participation is 2 or 3 lessons a week. That's why these pupils are not seen as 'real special students' by their peers. This type of special education is the so called part-time SE.

66 MATTI KUORELAHTI

The proportion of segregated special education is 3.4%, by which is meant those pupils who attend their education in special classes or special schools. Despite strong drives to increase the proportion of pupils included in mainstream schools the figures between integrated and segregated education have stayed at about the same level.

The great school reform in the 1970s meant one school for all - except special pupils. Special classes and schools were founded all over the country. The new educational system couldn't manage with special educational needs without creating new services - special classes especially for the emotionally/behaviourally disordered. The number of pupils in special classes grew rapidly during the 1970s. Yet even the largest number (in 1987) was less than 1% of all pupils.

What happened during the 1990s, when the number of EBD pupils decreased about one third? There are two possible explanations.

One - and maybe the strongest - is the economic depression, which affected the country in 1991-93. At the state level it meant budget cuts in the public

°°°° I 1D .0oo.,.o.oo, I 4000

3 0 0 0

2000

1000

0

75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 87 94 98*

"98 - includes special cI~ss upper ~evet and ~ower mevel put ~ogether

Fig. 1. Number of Pupils Attending Special Education Due to Emotional/Behavioural Difficulties in 1975-1998 in Finland.


funding. Local educational authorities were forced to close special classes, because they weren't able to fund them.

The second explanation is connected with the inclusive ideas that have made some progress also in practice. There exist a lot of different 'unofficial' EBD classes in the form of special groups. This means that pupils are not officially moved into the special education, but they are placed 'temporarily' in small groups. These groups are taught by a regular or special teacher. Unfortunately these groups are also quite often led by unqualified personnel. There are no official statistics about the number of these groups and pupils.

LEAVING THE EBD STUDENTS ON THEIR OWN?

Moving a child into a special setting (i.e. class or school) often also has negative consequences. The child will be labelled as 'different' in the eyes of society as well as in their own perception of themselves. When the problems are milder special setting may not needed. The question is: what is mild and what is not?

Judgments vary when it comes to the severity of emotional/behavionral difficulties. It can be illuminated by Table 1.

The number of EBD pupils grew until 1987 especially in part-time special education. In the 1990s their portion in part-time SE decreased strongly. In the 1990s special education teachers (in part-time) more often ascribed the reason for SEN as special learning problems instead of behavioural difficulties. They said that pupils participated in special services due to reading/writing difficulties or difficulties in mathematics. One might ask whether the special needs of EBD pupils are forgotten?

On the other hand, the special services for behavioural difficulties were stressed mainly in the secondary level (classes 7-9, ages 13-16). In 1994 about 5% of all special pupils at grades 1-6 participated in special education due to behavioural difficulties. At secondary level about 25-30% of all SEN pupils

Table 1. Number of EBD Pupils in Different Special Educational Settings in 1979-99 in Finland.

79/80 80/81 83184 87/88 94/95 98/99

PaN-time 1395 4474 5499 7636 1327 I467 Sp. Class 2434 2699 2783 3381 2382 2135 Sp. School t170 1006 807 934 504 741

Total 5078 8259 9172 12038 4307 4441

68 MATT1 KUORELAHTI

came to special education due to his/her behavioural difficulties (Ihatsu, Ruoho & Happonen, 1996).

In Finland the formal exclusion of pupils with serious behavioural difficulties happens very seldom. It is possible according the Education Act of 1998 as a punishment. These actions have become extremely rare in 1990s whereas they were in use a bit more often in 1980s.

It can be argued with students with EBD were not forgotten. In 1996 about 93% of young people continued their education after finishing the obligatory comprehensive school at the age of sixteen (Hav6n, 1998, p. 50). In 1998 there were 262 pupils (0.04% out of all pupils), who interrupted their education. The reasons were truancy or passing the age of 17 after which schooling cannot be compelled however much it has been interrupted previously.

The number of special education teachers also have an effect on these low figures. In Finland in comprehensive schools (in 1995) there were about 38,300 teachers, out of which about 3,500 (9%) were trained, special education teachers (Hav6n, 1998, p. 130).

QUALITY O F S C H O O L L I F E

The concept 'quality of life' is usually understood as the individual's general well-being in the society. The well-being is based on the judgment of the individual him/herself, not of an outsider. Williams and Roey (1997), Gerson (1976) and especially Burt, Wiley, Minor and Murray (1978) summarised the models used to explain quality of life in four dimensions, which were general, positive, n~gative and domain (like housing, family etc.) affect.

This dimensional model was developed and transferred to school (Williams & Batten, 1981). It was used in the International Association for the Education of Educational Achievement reading study in 1990s. Linnakyl~ (1996) defines the quality of school life (QSL) as students' general well-being and satisfaction, and from the point of view of their positive and negative experiences, particularly in activities typical of school. Furthermore, she defines, the typical activities set by individual or society as competence, personal development, social integration and social responsibility.

The model was developed as an instrument to measure QSL. It has been presented and validated in 30 countries, including Finland. Theoretically six dimensions were classified which were also empirically verified in factor analysis. The six dimensions of QSL were the following ones:

• general satisfaction (G) • teacher relations (T)


• student's status in class (S) • identity formation (I) • achievement and opportunity (A) • negative affect (N)

The questionnaire as a whole consists of 29 items or statements concerning school life from the point of view of the above dimensions (see Linnakyt~, 1996) The statements were presented under the rubric 'School is a place, where'. The statements then followed like for example 'people have confidence in me' , 'teachers listen to me' , 'I feel important'. The students had to respond to the statements by using scale I definitely agree (4), mostly agree (3), mostly disagree (2) and definitely disagree (1). It is meant for 14 year old children. In Finland they are mainly 8th graders.

MEASURING QSL OF PUPILS WITH EBD

A study conducted by the author used 14 items representing all six dimensions of QSL were used. The questionnaire had to be shorter because it was presented to the pupils as a part of a larger questionnaire and it was obvious that they would not have responded to a longer version. However, it provided sufficient data, to enable a comparison to be made between regular education students and those with special educational needs.

The first sentence of the questionnaire for the regular students was 'School is a place, where'. For the students with EBD it was formulated as 'Special class is a place, where'. It means that in this research the students' experiences were evaluated from the perspective of being in a special class rather than from the being generally in school.

One hundred schools were selected where there were special classes (EBD) among the others. There were about 250 in Finland with such special classes. Altogether 61 schools participated the study and 35 of them represented the upper level of the comprehensive school. Total of 220 pupils from 7th to 9th grades (ages 13-16) of these special classes responded the questionnaire. The population of the study represents mainstreamed pupils, who go to school in regular school but in special class.

The socio-economic status of the pupils is mainly working class: 75% of the fathers and 50% of the mothers were workers. This compares to among the 53% men and 25% of women classified as workers within the 'regular' population. The parents of students with EBD were also more poorly educated compared with the main population in the same age group.

70 MATTI KUORELAHTI

The results will be compared with the corresponding study of Linnakyl/i (1996), where she studied 1379 regular 8th graders from Finnish comprehensive schools (see Fig. 2).

General satisfaction appeared to be higher for students with EBD compared with regular education eighth-graders. The result is very remarkable because students with EBD were earlier regarded as the most troublesome students in the classes. In their earlier school-history can be found truancy, underachievement and antisocial behaviour in school. All these problems diminished when they started to study in special classes. This was confirmed by parents, who had also seen the positive changes in their children.

Teacher-student relations were more positive in the special classes than in regular education. Special students felt that teachers helped them to do their best. This might be the most important factor in tuming school life to a more positive direction.

However, not all the dimensions in the quality of school life had turned from negative to positive. For example the pupil-pupil relations were more often negative in the special classes compared with regular classes. Social status in the class was perceived to be lower and special students felt that they didn't obtain any respect or confidence from their peers. And the feelings of

How Many Finnish Students (%) Agree to Statements? School / special class is a place where...

***p<.001 **p<.01 *p<.05

I get enjoyment from being at school (G) *** Teachers give me the marks I deserve (T) *

Teachers help me ~o do my best (T) ***

Teachers are fair and just (T) Teachers listen to what I say (T) **

People have confidence in me (S) *** I feel important (S) ***

People look up to me (S) **

I learn to get along with other people (I) *** I know I can do v~ll enough if I try (A) ***

I knowthe sorts of lhings I can do well (A)

I sometimes get upset (N) *** I feel restless (N) ***

I feel depressed (N) **

0 20 40 60 80 100 I I J I i

I

I ,qm

- - ]

Fig. 2.

J

J

i

7

Regalar (N=1379)/Study l - - 1 • EBD(N= 220) / Study 2

Quality of School Life Experienced by Pupils.


achievement were about the same rate as in regular classes, or maybe even lower. It reveals that the long negative experiences have conditioned them to think: I cannot work in school, it represents a strange world to me.

CONCLUSIONS

Teachers often ask what to do, how to manage with emotional and behavioural difficulties in school. Teachers would like to know some kind of 'tricks' that they think special educational professionals use. Of course, it's not a question of tricks, it 's a question of attitudes, knowledge about behavioural disturbances and acceptance of him/herself as a teacher in his/her personal way.

Moving into a special unit might open a new chance for a child, who has earlier been seen as a trouble-maker in his/her environment. Moving should based on a careful consideration and close co-operation and agreement with parents. The evidence above shows that special classes for children with EBD can be a very effective and efficient solution. They have positive consequences for the lives of children with EBD and their families. About 80% of the parents reported positive changes in their children after they had transferred into the special class.

This form of education extends its positive consequences into adulthood (see Kivirauma, 1995; Jahnukainen, 1997). Former special class with EBD students reported later that time spent in special educational setting was of great value in their later life. The negative vicious circle of the school and its demands had been cut and replaced by a more positive relationship with the teachers.

A further consideration is that such special classes could be seen in terms of 'value for money' as giving a high return on investment. Although there are economic reasons or reasons argued by inclusive ideology to justify the cancel- lation of special classes, there are parents who would long for them and students who would benefit from them.

WHAT MIGHT BE GOOD PRACTICE IN EBD S T U D E N T S ' E D U C A T I O N A N D S C H O O L I N G ?

The problems of emotional/behavioural difficulties always have their own indi- vidualistic form. As Tolstoi wrote in the first words of Anna Karenina: 'All happy families are alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own particular way'. From this point of view rigid and one-sided solutions wouldn't represent good practice at all. The 'right' students with EBD should be in the 'right' places in the 'right' time and taught with the 'right' methods by the 'right' teachers. However all these 'rights' are not easily achievable.

72 MATTI K U O R E L A H T I

Good practice means variety of services. It means that we need more inclusive settings and more tolerant teachers in regular education supported by special educational professionals. But also needed are special classes or special schools for pupils with EBD. Their roles as consultative resources in the educational organisation might be worth reconsidering.

There are two important estimates by which to evaluate the efficiency of the educational system in each country. One is the number of those pupils who will not continue their education after compulsory education. It represents to a certain extent the ability of schooling to motivate all - not only the higher socio-economic class - to get a suitable education for labour markets. The other number is the proportion of those who drop out of education. This figure represents the ability of the educational system to take care of the at-risk students.

As already presented earlier both of these figures were relatively low in Finland. They reflect the tendency to handle emotional and behavioural difficulties in school quite well. The pupils with EBD are provided with sufficient special individual arrangements and hopefully early enough. The low estimate of drop outs might also be a sign of having successfully met the supply and demand of the special services for EBD children. The variety of services is most important when you are considering the appropriate form of education for individuals. It 's most necessary to have alternatives to choose from more inclusive settings to more separate settings in special classes or schools.

In all this range of provision the role of the teacher is the most important factor in meeting the needs of EBD pupils. Teaching and learning are basically processes based on human interaction. If it doesn't work, the processes will fail. If it works, individuals' lives might get a new, fresh direction in spite of vulnerable circumstances. And pupils won't be excluded, but included.

REFERENCES

Borg, W. R., & Gall, M. D. (1989). Educational Research. An introduction (5th ed.). New York & London: Longman.

Butt, R. S., Wiley, J. A., Minor, M. J., & Murray, J. R. (1978). Structure of well-being: Form, content and stability over time. Sociological Methods and Research, 8, 111-120.

Cole, T., Visser, J., & Upton, G. (1998). Effective Schooling for Pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. London: David Fulton Publishers.

DfEE (Department for Education and Employment) (1997). Green Paper. Excellence for All Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs. [Ref. 26th May 1999]. In www-format <http://www.dfee.gov.uk/sengp/

Emanuelsson, I., & Persson, B. (1997). Who is considered to be in need of special education: why, how and by whom? European Journal of Special Needs Education, 12(2), 127-136.


Farrell, M. (1998). Notes on the Green Paper: an initial response. British Journal of Special Education, 25(1), 13-15.

Gerson, E. (1976). On 'quality of life'. American Sociological Review, 41, 793-806. Goldstein, S. (1995). Understanding and Managing Children's Classroom Behavior. New York:

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hav6n, H. (Ed.) (1998). Koulutus Suomessa [Education in Finland]. Koulutus 1:1998 [Education].

Helsinki: Tilastokeskus [Statistics of Finland]. Jahnukainen, M. (1997). Koulun varjosta aikuisuuteen. Entisten tarkkailuoppilaiden peruskoulun

j~ilkeiset elam~invaiheet [From the shadow of the school to adulthood. Postschool adjustment and life-course of students who have attended special classes for the emotionally and behaviottrally disordered]. University of Helsinki. Research Reports 182.

Ihatsu, M., Ruoho, K., & Happonen, H. (t996). Osa-aikaisen erityisopetuksen tila ja muutos.[The State and Change of the Part-time Special Education.] In: H. Blom, R. Laukkanen, A. Lindstr6m, U. Saresma & P. Virtanen (Eds), Erityisopetuksen tila. [The State of Special Education in Finland] (pp. 208-229). Opetushallitus. Arviointi 2/96. [The Board of Education. Evaluation 2/96]. Helsinki: Yliopistopaino.

Kauffman, J. (1997a). Characteristics of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders of Children and Youth (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Kauffman, J. (1997b). Today's Special Education and Its Messages for Tomorrow. Paper based on presentation at the annual convention of the Council for Exceptional Cbfildren, Salt Lake City, April 11, 1997.

Kivirauma, J. (1995). Koulun varjossa. Entiset tarkkailuoppilaat kertovat koulukokemuksiaan.[In the Shadow of the School. Former special education pupils tell about their school experiences.] University of Jyv~iskyla. Department of Special Education. Research reports, 53. Jyv~iskyl~i.

Linnakyl~,i, P. (1996). Quality of School Life in the Finnish Comprehensive School: a comparative view. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 40(1), 69-85.

Moberg, S. (1998). Erityisopetuksen ja yleisopetuksen integraatio opettajien silmin [The integration of Special Education and Regular Education as seen by the teachers]. In: T. Ladonlahti, A. Naukkarinen & S. Vehmas (Eds), Poikkeava vai erityinen? Erityispedagogiikan monet ulottuvuudet. [Deviant or Special? The Several Dimensions of Special Education.] (pp. 136-161). Juva: Atena-kustannus.

NASEN (1999). Exclusion from School: The Policy Context. [Ref. 29th June 1999]. In www-format <http://www.nasen.org.uk/policy/08/home.htm>

Naukkarinen, A. (1999). Balancing Rigor and Relevance. Developing Problem-solving Associated with Students' Challenging Behaviour in the Light of a Study of an Upper Comprehensive School. Jyv~iskyl~i Studies in Education, Psychology and Social Research, 149, Jyv~iskyl~i: University of Jyv~iskyl~i.

Norris, N. (1990). Understanding educational evaluation. London: Kogan Page Ltd. OECD (1999). Education at a Glance - OECD Education Indicators 1998 [Ref. 26th May 1999].

In www-format <www.oecd.org/els/edu/EAG98/eag98_3c.htm> Raivola, R. (1992). Koulutuksen vaikuttavuuden problematiikasta. [About the problemacy of

evaluating the effectiveness of education]. In: L. Lehtisalo (Ed.), Vaikuttaako koulutus? [Is Schooling effective?]. Helsinki: Valtion painatuskeskus.

Rosenberg, M. S., Wilson, R., Maheady, L., & Sindelar, P. T. (1997). Educating Students with Behavior Disorders. (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Statistics Finland. Education (1976-1985). The Publications in the series 'Koulutus' [Education] nrs 76: 15, 78: 3, 79: 1, 80: 3, 81: 2, 82: 11, 83: 2, 84: 5, 85: 7. Statistics of special education

74 MATTI KUORELAHTI

1979/80, 83/84, 87/88, 94/95 and 98/99. Also in www-form <http://www.stat.fi/tld tp_tied/ tiedotteet/v99/078kous.html>. Publications in the series 'Koulntus ja tutkimus' [Education and research] 1981: 7, 1985: 4, 1989: 16. Helsinki: Tilastokeskus.

Vaherva, T., & Juva, S. (1985). Koulutuksen talons [The economy of education]. Helsinki: Tammi. Williams, T., & Batten, M. (1981). The quality of school life. Hawthorn, Victoria: Australian Council

for Educational Research. Williams, T., & Roey, S. (1997). Consistencies in the Quality of School life. In: M. Binkley, K.

Rust & T. Williams (Eds), Reading Literacy in an International Perspective. Collected Papers from the lEA Reading Literacy Study (pp. 193-202). National Center for Eduation Statistics 97-875. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

6D THE PREVENTION AND

MANAGEMENT OF BEHAVIOUR

DIFFICULTIES IN SCHOOL.

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Terje Ogden

Behaviour difficulties are one of the main challenges facing today's teachers and school administrators, and individual differences in behaviour are among the main barriers for making the principle of "the inclusive school" work. Most teachers will point to pupils with difficult behaviour when they are asked what makes their job so difficult (Gray, Miller & Noakes, 1994). At the same time, it is important to view these problems in a wider context. Problems like truancy, "drop-out" and exclusion from school are not only an educational issue, but also relate to the students' future careers in society. Problem behaviour in school has proved to be a valid predictors of future risk of marginalisation and problem development of a more enduring and serious kind. A variety of adolescent and adult problems have common antecedents in early educational difficulties, including poor school attendance, deviant behaviour and low academic performance.

Even though behaviour difficulties have been, and always will be a part of the reality schools face, school also has a potential for promoting positive behaviour among all students. Schools are potential powerfully places for intervention in order to reduce the risk of behaviour difficulties (Gottfredson, 1990). The optimistic slogan from school effectiveness research that "schools can make a difference" builds on statements like "schools can do much to foster good


75

76 TERJE OGDEN

behaviour and attainments, and even in a disadvantaged area, schools can be the force for the good" (Rutter et al., 1979). With reference to the increasing demands for special provisions for disaffected and disruptive students, some commentators conclude that "nothing works". For my part, I tend to agree with Lane (1994) who optimistically states that "some things do work, sometimes". Like me, he believes in "the careful evaluation of ideas and the selection of interventions which can draw upon research reports" (p.7).

In this chapter, a recent Norwegian survey of teachers in primary and secondary school is used as the empirical basis for discussing best practice in the prevention and treatment of behaviour difficulties in school. I propose a three level intervention model based on current research on the prevention and remediation of problem behaviour in school. The model is referred to as a multimodal approach, since it contains different intervention modalities at different social levels in school. The three levels are: the school level, the classroom level and the individual level. It is also a competence-based approach emphasizing classroom management skills for teachers, and social skills training for students. Vital parts of the plan are planned interventions, proactive school leadership, classroom management, social skills learning and parent-school collaboration. A selection of international evaluation studies are used to illustrate the principles of school-wide intervention plans

THE NORWEGIAN SURVEY

A large scale Norwegian survey study (Ogden, 1998) measured teachers' perceptions of problem behavionr, focusing on both the most frequent and the most difficult problems they face. The survey was conducted with a representative sample of 10% of the Norwegian schools at the primary and lower secondary (junior high) school level. A total number of 340 schools and 3660 teachers participated in the study. The teachers reported their experiences with students' problem behaviour in the classroom and generally in the school setting. They were also asked about their strategies and reactions when they were confronted with problem students. In addition, the study surveyed the teachers' ideas about effective strategies in preventing and confronting such behaviour.

Different Perspectives on Behaviour Difficulties

The Norwegian study reflects the teachers' perspective, but there are of course other perspectives on students' social behaviour in school. Teachers, parents, peers and the students themselves have different values and hence, sometimes

The Prevention and Management of Behaviour Difficulties in School 77

different standards and expectations. From the teacher's perspective, most classroom conflicts are caused by students' 'non-compliant' behaviour. Students who don't comply with school and classroom rules, who actively refuse to co-operate with other students or follow teacher directions, cause a lot of distress. The teachers' social behavioural standards and tolerance for problem behaviour are the two most important dimensions that predict the teachers' reactions and responses in relation to problem behaviour (Gresham et al., 1996). Among the least tolerated behaviours are those that challenge the teachers' authority and control of the classroom. An important distinction should be made between 'non-compliant' and 'assertive behaviour', meaning that sometimes it should be expected and even appreciated that students protest against unreasonable demands and unjust actions in school. Consistent 'non-compliant' behaviour, however, should be regarded as a risk factor for the individual student. Although most of the problem students adapt well in the long run (Maughan, 1988), more serious and persistent problem behaviour in school is predictive of later problems (Sarnecki, 1987).

From the students' perspective, their behaviour is a way of coping with the school as a social situation. Some of the students lack abilities, competence or motivation to succeed in school. In order to protect their interests and self- esteem in the crossfire of expectations from teachers, parents and peers, they develop survival skills (Woods, 1985). Oppositional strategies are used by students to challenge, protest or withdraw. Their behaviour may, at least in the short run, give them a certain amount of status and prestige in the eyes of their class peers, as they demonstrate their independence and dare to challenge the authority system of the school. The older students are especially concerned with their social status, and one of their dominant goals might be to gain recognition and respect from their peers.

From an interactional perspective, behaviour difficulties are tied to problematic transactions between the students and persons in their environment. Behaviour difficulties may be caused by dyadic conflicts or confrontations, but they may also result from group processes including any number of students and teachers. More generally, the understanding of problem behaviour in school as solely individual problems is increasingly challenged by the contextual or institutional perspective, which focuses on the teachers' and schools' contribution to the development of such problems. Schools with comparable intakes of students succeed differentially in the prevention and handling of problem behaviour (Rutter et al., 1979). And in a wider sense, behaviour difficulties may indicate that a school system is ill suited to some of its students, and in need of reform. Still, in the present state of affairs, it is urgent that the best possible ways to help the students at risk to adapt to the school situation are found.

78 TERJE OGDEN

Although difficult students might be considered indicators of a troubled school system, these students should not be expected to be instrumental in bringing about educational reform. In order for them to succeed, teachers must be able to create a learning context that stimulates positive and reduces negative behaviour.

Subgroups of Problems

In the Norwegian study the teacher ratings of problem behaviour in class during the school year were factor analysed. As expected, the analysis produced three factors. The first factor, externalizing behaviour consisted of figthing, arguing, threatening or bullying, and getting easily angered. This factor is well known from other studies as well and can generally be seen as externalizing consisting of aggressive and other forms of acting out behaviour (Stoff, Breiling & Maser, 1997; Patterson et al., 1992). The second factor, internalizing problem behaviour consisted of loneliness, sadness and depression, low self-esteem, and lack of social contact or good friends in the class. The third factor was called disruptive or non-compliant behaviour and consisted of passivity, lack of attention, noisiness, talking back to the teacher, or other behaviours that disrupted or interfered with the teaching. The three factors or dimensions of behaviour are often intercorrelated, but more so at the lower grades than in secondary and high school (Ogden, 1995).

Among all student age groups disruptive and non-compliant behaviour was the dominant problem, according to the teachers. The teachers also reported more internalizing than externalizing behaviour, and thus disconfirmed the often cited claim that teachers are insensitive to this kind of behaviour in children and youth. Externalizing behaviour was more common at the primary than at the secondary level, while internalizing behaviour was more common at the secondary level.

The reason for making these distinctions between different subtypes or dimensions of problem behaviour in school is that they have important implications for policy and practice. First, acting out students who are aggressive and destructive should not be treated in groups with other aggressive students (Dishion et al., 1996), as this usually results in escalation of acting out behaviour, and negative networking (referred to as 'deviancy training'). Children and especially adolescents do negative things in groups (or gangs) that they would never do if they were alone. Secondly, students with internalizing behaviour difficulties (or students with emotional difficulties) should not be in special groups or classes with acting out students. These students have very little to gain from the company of their more aggressive class- or school peers, and are easily


frightened, dominated or intimidated. Both groups should ideally be placed in mainstream classes with adequate help, support or control. The rationale for singling out 'non-compliant and disruptive behaviour ' is that this behaviour had the strongest associations with measures of the learning environment. This means that this kind of behaviour is more sensitive to variations in the school climate than externalizing and internalizing behaviour. Improvements in the learning climate of the class or school should therefore be expected to result in reduction of non-compliant and disruptive behaviour. This is well in line with Rutter 's (1983) statement that the principle of situation specificity may apply to much of the behaviour difficulties in school. That is, most of the problem behaviour is a reaction or direct response to the environment that the students encounter in school.

Teachers' Coping Strategies and Seriousness of Problems

In the Norwegian study the teachers were asked what strategies and sanctions they used when they dealt with difficult students or classes. The teachers were also asked to assess the effectiveness of these reactions. In the following table, the teachers ' answers are ranked in the order of how often the strategies were used. The numbers in the second column gives the ranking order of how effective each reaction were considered to be.

Praise and reprimands were the most common teacher reactions when the students behaved inappropriately. It is interesting to note that although reprimands were used almost as often as praise, scolding was not considered very

Table 1. Ranking of Teacher Reactions According to how Often they were used, and their Perceived Effectiveness in the Norwegian Study.

How often the teachers used the strategy or reaction How effective the strategy or reaction

was considered to be

1. Praise the student's positive behaviour 2. Reprimands 3. Extra support and encouragement 4. Reasoning with a student or students outside the classroom setting 5. Discussing with the whole class why things are going wrong 6. Humor 7. Reasoning with a student or students in the classroom setting 8. Deliberately ignoring minor disruptions and infringements 9. Extra academic support

10. Redirect or distract the student

2 8 4 1 3 6 7

11 10 9

80 TERJE OGDEN

effective. More generally, teachers tended to react to misbehaviour in a positive and supportive way. Praise, humor, extra help and support were among the reactions most often reported, together with problem-solving and negotiation with the students. Negative consequences like removal of privileges or assigning extra work, and formal sanctions involving a third person (for example the headteacher, the parents or other teachers) was used less often. Teacher priorities indicate identification with a humanistic and democratic teacher role, but might also, according to principles of learning lead to an increase in the very behaviour they tried to eliminate.

When the teachers were asked what kind of student problem they considered to be the most serious in school, they mentioned lack of motivation, discipline problems and bullying most often. In all, 15% of the teachers perceived discipline problems to be a serious or very serious problem, which is the same percentage as in a comparative study from England and Wales (Grey & Simes, 1988). In an effort to determine which factors could best explain differences in the teachers' perception of the seriousness of the situation at their school, multivariate analyses were used. Externalizing behaviour was the best predictor at the primary level, and disruptive and non-compliant behaviour was the best predictor at the secondary level. This means that in primary school with a high level of externalizing behaviour, there was a tendency for the teachers to perceive the situation as more of a problem than in schools with low level of acting out behaviour. Other important predictors at the primary level were the size of the school as measured by the number of students and the amount of truancy. At the secondary level, other predictors were the number of students who did not attend lessons and the number of students who demonstrated internalizing behaviour.

A Three Level Model for Schools

Based on experiences from Norwegian as well as English and American schools, a three level plan for school based prevention and problem-solving is proposed (Ogden, 1990; Walker et al., 1995; Elias et al., 1994; Gray & Noakes, 1994; Galvin & Costa, 1994).

(1) The school level. In efforts to prevent and remediate problem behaviour, the school is considered as the main locus of change. There is evidence that the whole school constitutes a meaningful entity (Rutter, 1983) and the overall institutional effect found in different studies strongly suggests that it is meaningful to speak of the "ethos" of the school as a whole (Rutter


et al., 1979; Brookover et al., 1979). The school's contribution to positive student behaviour is mediated through the social structure that is established and enforced by the staff and students. The structure consists of enduring rules, norms, expectations and consequences. A schoolwide intervention plan might be helpful in efforts to establish an explicit social structure with clear norms and values within school. The most important factors at the school level seem to be the style of leadership together with the amount and quality of teacher collaboration.

(2) The classroom level. As mentioned earlier, there are marked variations among teachers and among classrooms within any single school (Rutter, 1983). At the classroom level positive student behaviour is associated with the teachers' skills in classroom management, and effective teaching, and with students' social skills and competence. The teacher's competence in classroom management is crucial in order to keep disruptive behaviour at bay, or at least at a minimum, and to stimulate the students' involvement in the school work. Effective classroom management is closely related to good teaching, and to the teachers' ability to motivate students. But it is also a question of teacher's skills in influencing group processes in the classroom and of their skills in crisis intervention. Emphasizing social learning is another way of influencing the students' behaviour in class,. and teaching students social skills has shown some promising results, particularly when involving the whole class in the learning process (Elias & Clabby, 1989; Elias et al., 1994; Schneider, 1993).

(3) The individual level. Although some writers warn against a preoccupation with interventions aimed at individual students, the more serious behaviour difficulties in school are best handled at the individual level. Consistent norm- and rule breaking behaviour together with physical attacks, threatening with weapons, vandalism and theft, have serious consequences for those involved, and sometimes call for immediate crisis intervention. The core individual problem is interpersonal aggression, and many school interventions aim to prevent or control such aggression. An additional problem is the counter aggression that some students evoke from adults and peers. Dealing with serious problem behaviour depends on well- functioning collaboration with services for children and youth, with parents, and with students themselves (Ogden & Backe-Hansen, 1997). Efforts to involve and engage parents in the process of controlling acting out behaviour and promoting positive behaviour are crucial. Interventions resulting in increased contact and successful involvment of parents in school activities, have led to a better match between values at home and in school and to more positive student behaviour (Walker et al., 1995).

82 TERJE OGDEN

A SCHOOL WIDE PLAN AND INTERVENTIONS TO PREVENT AND M A N A G E BEHAVIOUR DIFFICULTIES

The effectiveness of a school-wide plan depends on the interventions at each of the levels being consistent with interventions at the other levels (Galvin & Costa, 1994). The interventions at the classroom level should be consistent with the interventions at the school level, and individual intervention should be planned within the framework of school and classroom goals. The key elements in the school's three level intervention plans should be:

• Develop and strengthen the school leadership and collaboration between teachers with the purpose of promoting positive behaviour and preventing behaviour difficulties.

• Develop teaching strategies and learning activities that are effective, student centred and individualised.

• Promote and stimulate the students' social skills and competence. • Strengthen the teachers' competence in classroom management and making

individual learning plans. • Develop positive relations with all students and solve any relationship

problems between students and teachers in order to facilitate "social bonding" within the school.

• Build alliances with parents and promote the home school collaboration to stimulate positive behaviour.

• Strengthen the support system of the school and its families by establishing community based integrated services tailored to individual students with special needs.

The School Level

Each school should have a plan based on its values, norms and expectations. There are no universal plans that will work everywhere, only situated ones that take account of particular circumstances. The effect of the school plan depends on the social context created by the school as a social organisation. The successful implementation of promising interventions also depends on the wider system surrounding the school. Modification of the organisational structure is often necessary in order to make plans work in a particular school. Much of what happens in the classrooms is influenced, directly or indirectly by the characteristics of the school as a social institution:

Competent teachers are contextual experts. They've become adept at identifying particular cues - the procedural discipline of the science laboratory, the impromptu incident in the


playground - and at, almost effortlessly, it seems, taking the appropriate course of action (Stephens, 1996, p. 30).

The school is also the teachers' closest and most important support system, and it influences the social structure that surrounds the students. In the Norwegian survey, the teachers were asked to rate preferred interventions. The five most important interventions according to the teachers were:

(1) Strengthen the contact and collaboration with the students' parents. (2) More emphasis on systematic praise of the students' involvement and efforts. (3) More time set aside for teachers to talk with students in private. (4) Strengthen the collaboration between teachers. (5) More active use of the students' interests in the class.

The teachers' priorities were clearly both student, parents and teacher oriented and reflect the multiply-determined nature of problem behaviour in school. In addition the teachers working in classes with 30 students or more gave high priority to smaller classes, and teachers at the secondary level wanted curriculum changes.

It is also important at the school level to focus on the quality of the head teacher's or principal's leadership. Effective leadership seems to be associated with clear standards and norms for positive behaviour, but also clear lines of responsibility and routines for cooperation and problem-solving. At the teacher level, agreement on central values and norms that are consistently practised is vital. But above all, successful implementation of the school wide intervention plan seems to depend on a wholehearted committment and involvement of the entire staff (Walker et aL, 1995) Consensus based messages to the students from the school as an institution have more impact than one coming from individual teachers (Galvin & Costa, 1994).

The Classroom Level

The results of the Norwegian survey indicated that much of the problem behaviour could be described as undramatic - namely frequent episodes of student conflicts, minor disruptions, passivity and refusal to work. Between 65 and 90% of the teachers had to deal with these kind of behaviour on a regular basis in their classes. These persistent but moderately serious episodes are each managed well by most teachers, but they might still have a cumulative and negative influence on the learning environment, best described as a continuous 'drip, drip', wearing down effect. We might put it this way: "many small problems add up to one large problem" for the teachers.

84 TERJE OGDEN

The pattern of problem behaviour in Norwegian classes was almost the same as that described in a similar study in England and Wales (Grey & Simes, 1988). The ranking of problems (based on their frequency) in the Norwegian study was almost identical to the ranking of the same problems in the English and Welsh study. In both studies, and also in a Danish study (Egelund & Foss- Hansen, 1998) serious and persistent acting out behaviour was reported by very few of the teachers.

Classroom Management

Classroom management is a set of skills that the teacher applies in the class in order to create a positive learning atmosphere devoid of disruption, interference and conflicts. The teaching and learning processes in the classroom are protected from external and internal disruptive influences in such a way that students' engagement, motivation and work-orientation are maintained. The aim of classroom management is to keep as many students as possible attentive, engaged and focused on the learning activities at any time. The teacher's classroom or group management skills are often referred to as one of the basic requirements for creating a positive learning environment. The Elton Committee (Elton, 1988) reviewed the literature on discipline in schools and concluded:

First, that teachers' group management skills are probably the single most important factor in achieving good standards of classroom behaviour. Second, that those skills can be taught and learned. Third, that practical training provisions in this area is inadequate.

Increasing teachers' competence in classroom management seems to be one of the most effective ways of restructuring the students' social environment in order to alter their behaviour. Main elements of classroom management are: (1) support and encouragement of student learning behaviour, (2) effective negative consequences, (3) clear rules and directions, (4) effective monitoring and (5) effective problem solving and crisis intervention. Positive student behaviour is promoted through the consistent and contingent use of attention, praise and social rewards. Students who comply, follow rules, and are prosocial and co-operative are rewarded with privileges and rewards that are acceptable and applicable in the classroom. Negative consequences can be effective in terminating or reducing unwanted behaviour, but should not be aggressive, exaggerated or some sort of "retaliation". The most effective negative consequences are those that function as "deterrents", so they seldom have to be applied. Loss of privileges and ~time out~ are most often used in well structured interventions. Clear rules inform the students about what kind of behaviour is acceptable and what is not, and are formulated so that they are


both acceptable and easily understandable for the students. Effective monitoring - so called 'withitness' - is a question of conveying to the student that the teacher is aware of what is going on in the class at any time, and also if necessary, what is going on in the hallways and in the school yard.

Behaviour Difficulties and Social Competence

Behaviour difficulties are positively correlated with learning problems, but negatively correlated with social competence (Ogden, 1995). Socially competent students are less engaged in problem behaviour, are better at making and keeping friends, have more effective ways of dealing with authority and are better at problem solving and conflict resolution, than their more disruptive Class peers.

In the Norwegian study, 33% of the teachers reported that their school had established programs for teaching and learning social skills. Such programs were more common at the primary (37%) than at the secondary (24%) level. Teachers working in schools with such programs reported significantly less problem behaviour compared to teachers working in schools that did not have such programs. However, the programs were not associated with less serious behaviour difficulties, and this is consistent with what others report. Walker et al. (1995) for instance concluded their review of the research by saying that while social skills training is effective in preventing problem behaviour by pointing to more acceptable alternatives, it is not effective in stopping or modyfing serious and complex behaviour difficulties.

Several studies have confirmed that there is a systematic relationship between behaviour difficulties and social competence in children (Schneider, 1993; Ogden, 1995). A dual perspective on childrens' social behaviour is therefore proposed, one focusing on problem behaviour and one on social competence. School based social skills programs do have an impact on behaviour, but mostly in school and mostly registered by observers. Researchers in the field recommend more comprehensive and enduring programs, and they emphasize that teaching and training must be supplemented by interventions aimed at making the school values more consistent with the values promoted in the program. Although there are some critical remarks on the effectiveness of programs for learning social skills, there is a generally positive atmosphere surrounding such programs in school (Elias et al., 1994; Schneider, 1993). There seems to be professional agreement that positive behaviour can be stimulated through social skills training. Two kind of programs are available, the social skills approach (Spence, 1995) and the cognitive problem solving skills approach (Shure, 1992; Kazdin, 1997). The important dimensions in the social skills approach are empathy, responsibility, self-control, assertion and co-operation (Gresham &

86 TERJE OGDEN

Elliott, 1990). Positive outcomes depend on the social validity of the program, that is, giving priority to skills that children need in order to be socially accepted, and included in prosocial peer groups.

The Individual Level

Serious behaviour difficulties are related to norm- and rule-breaking behaviour, and even law-violating. Examples are "bullying", "vandalism", "threatening or using weapons" and even "attacks on teachers". Most of these behaviour difficulties were associated with a small number of students in the Norwegian study. These problems are, to a larger extent than disruptive and non-compliant behaviour related to the student's social background and individual development, and less influenced by school contextual factors. The school environment may, however, play an important part in the efforts to prevent and manage violent incidents, or to alter the student's behaviour on a more permanent basis. Serious norm- and rule-breaking behaviour did not vary with characteristics of school classes and schools, but were proportionally more common in the six largest municipalities of Norway.

Positive Relations and Social Bonding

According to the research literature, successful prevention and treatment of individual behaviour difficulties in school depend on good social relations between teacher and students and on positive social bonding to the school. The student must like the teacher, or at least respect and trust the person that is going to teach him or her. Many of the confrontations and conflicts between students and teachers are motivated by the student's dislike of the teacher (Goldstein, 1995). Effective intervention is further a question of striking a good balance between internal and external behaviour control. Students' behaviour is regulated both by their cognitions and by influences from the environment. Internal control refers to bringing emotions under intellectual control and using language as a behaviour regulating mechanism. Students capable of reflecting on their own behaviour, may profit from interventions aimed at creating insight and afterthought. But students' behaviour can also be modified by altering the consequences or determinants of behaviour. External control is a question of regulating student behaviour through the effective use of determinants (antecedents) or the contingent use of consequences.

Social bonding is assumed to regulate the student's social behaviour. Through the motivation for following the norms and standards of the group one is attached to. Social bonding is stimulated through involvement and the development of

The Prevention and Management o f Behaviour Difficulties in School 87

necessary skills for effective participation in the classroom and in the peer group. Bonding is the result of three factors, namely: (a) possibilities for active participation in the social unit, (b) necessary individual skills needed for effective participation, and (c) the participation is acknowledged and rewarded (Hawkins et al., 1992). Students who don ' t succeed academically may have alternative possibilities of accomplishment through social and cultural activities.

CLOSING REMARKS

The knowledge presented here represents no exotic or radical strategies, nor does it imply that any revolution in the school system is called for. The main message is that we know a lot about 'what ' to do about behavioural difficulties in school, but we still have great problems sorting out 'how' we should implement this knowledge in order to succeed. In order to succeed we probably need more holistic perspectives, approaches and interventions so as to be able to integrate methods and strategies of different kinds. Interventions are often too fragmented or atomistic, and what is done at one level, for instance the municipal level, is seldom consistent with what is done at the school or classroom level. School-wide plans for prevention and treatment of behaviour difficulties could be one important contribution in this regard. Such plans should be based on 'wholehearted commitment ' in the school staff, and should develop social structures in schools, families and social networks that systematically and consistently influence student behaviour in positive ways.

REFERENCES

Brookover, W. B., Schweitzer, J., Schneider, J., Beady, C. et al. (1979). School social systems and student achievement: Schools can make a difference. New York: Praeger.

Dishion, T. J., Andrews, D. W., Kavanagh, K., & Soberman, L. H. (1996). Preventive interventions for high-risk youth. The Adolescent transition program. In: R. D. Peters & R. J. McMahon (Eds), Preventing Childhood Disorders, Substance Abuse, and Delinquency. Thousand Oaks: Sage publications, Banff International Behavioural sciences series.

Egelund, N., & Foss-Hansen, K. (1998). Urolige elever i folkeskolens almindelige klasser. KCbehavn, Undervisningsministeriet (Disruptive students in regular classes in compulsory school in Denmark).

Elias, M. J., & Clabby, J. F. (1989). Building social problem-solving skills. Guidelines from a school-based program. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Elias, M. J., Weissberg, R. P. re.ft. (1994). The school-based promotion of social competence: theory, research, practice, and policy. The consortium on the school-based promotion of social competence. In: R. J. Haggerty, L. R. Sherrod, N. Garmezy & M. Rutter (Eds), Stress, Risk and Resilience in Children and Adolescents. Processes, Mechanisms and Interventions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Galvin, P., & Costa, P. (1994). Building better behaved schools: effective support at the whole school level. In: P. Gray, A. Miller & J. Noakes (Eds), Challenging Behaviour in Schools. London, Routledge.

Goldstein, S. (1995). Understanding and managing children's classroom behaviour. New York: John Wiley.

Gray, P., & Noakes, J. (1994). Providing effective support to mainstream schools: issues and strategies. In: P. Gray, A. Miller & J. Noakes (Eds), Challenging Behaviour in Schools. London: Routledge.

Grey, J., & Simes, N. (1989). Findings from the national survey of teachers in England and Wales. In: Elton (1989), Discipline in schools. Report of the committee of enquiry chaired by Lord Elton. Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

Gresham, F. & Elliott (1990). Social skills rating system. Manual. Circle Pines: American Guidance Service.

Gresham, F., MacMillan, D. L., & Bocian, K. (1996). Behavioural earthquakes: "Low frequency, salient behavionral events that differentiate students at-risk for behavioural disorders. Behavioural Disorders, 21, 277-292.

Gottfredson, D. C. (1990). Changing school structures to benefit high-risk youth. In: P. E. Leone (Ed.), Understanding Troubled and Troubling Youth. New York: Sage.

Hawkins, J. D., Catalano, R. F., Morrison, D. M., O'Donnell, J., Abbott, R. D., & Day, L. E. (1992). The Seattle social development project: Effects of the first four years on protective factors and problem beahviors. In: J. McCord & R. Tremblay (Eds), The Prevention of Antisocial Behaviour: Interventions from Birth Through Adolescence. New York: Guilford Press.

HMSO (1989). Discipline in Schools. Report of the committee of enquiry chaired by Lord Elton. Department of education and science and the Welsh office. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

Kazdin, A. E. (1997). Practitioner review: Psychosocial treatments for conduct disorder in children. Journal of Child Psychology Psychiatry, 38, 161-178.

Lane, D. (1994). Supporting effective responses to challenging behaviour: from theory to practice. In: P. Gray, A. Miller & J. Noakes (Eds). Challenging Behaviour in Schools. London: Routledge.

Maughan, B. (1988): School experiences as risk/protective factors. In: M. Rutter (Ed.), Studies of Psychosocial Risk: the Power of Longitudinal Data. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ogden, T. (1998). Elevatferd og lceringsmiljO. En undersOkelse om lcereres erfaringer reed og syn p~t elevafferd i grunnskolen. (Student behaviour and the learning context. Teachers' experiences and perceptions of students' behaviour in primary and lower secondary school) Oslo, Kirke-, ntdannings-og forskningsdepartementet.

Ogden, T., & Backe-Hansen, E. (1997). Collaboration in services for children in a Scandinavian context. In: B. Cohen & U. Hagen (Eds), Childrens' Services: Shaping up for the Millennium. Supporting children and families in U.K. and Scandinavia. Edinburgh: The Stationery Office.

Ogden, T. (1995). Kompetanse i kontekst. En studie av risiko og kompetanse hos 10- og 13 &ringer (Competence in context. A study of risk and competence in 10- and 13 year olds~ Rapport ur. 3. Oslo: Barnevernets Utvildingssenter (Norwegian Institute of Child Welfare Research).

Ogden, T. (1990). Kvalitetsbevissthet i skolen. (Quality assurance in school) Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

Patterson, G., Reid, J. B., & Dishion, T. J. (1992). A Social Learning Approach: Antisocial Boys. Eugene OR: Castalia.

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Rutter, M. (1983). School effects on pupil progress: Research findings and policy implications. Child Development, 54, 1-29.

Rutter, M., Maughan, B., Mortimore, P., & Ouston, J. (1979). Fifteen Thousand Hours. Secondary Schools and Their Effects on Children. London: Open books.

Sarnecki, J. (1987). Skolan och brottsligheten. Stockholm: Carlssons Bokf6rlag. Schneider, B. H. (1993). Children's Social Competence in Context. The Contributions of Family,

School and Culture. International series in experimental social psychology. New York: Pergamon.

Shure, M. B. (1992). I Can Problem Solve: An Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-solving Program for Children. Champaign IL: Research Press.

Spence, S. H. (1995). Social Skills Training: Enhancing Social Competence with Children and Adolescents. London: NFER-Nelson.

Stephens, P. (1996). Essential Mentoring Skills. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes. Stoff, D. M., Breiling, J., & Maser, J. D. (1997). Handbook of Antisocial Behaviour, New York:

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Walker, H. M., Colvin, G., & Ramsey, E. (1995). Antisocial Behaviour in School: Strategies and

Best Practices. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. Woods, P. (1985). Pupil strategies. In: N. Bennet & C. Deforges (Eds), Recent Advances in

Classroom Research. The British Journal of educational psychology. Monograph series no. 2. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.

7 D VALUES EDUCATION:

A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS

FACING BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS

IN SCHOOLS

Angeles Parrilla

INTRODUCTION

This paper attempts to clarify what is meant by values education (VE) within a curriculum for inclusion. More specifically it hopes to shed light on the significance and contributions of values education (VE) to the solution of behaviour, discipline and inter-personal relationship problems that can present themselves in schools.

The internal structure of this analysis hinges on five successive concretion planes or concentric rings that begin with a general overview of the educational and curricular situation in Spain before the Education Reform of 1990. A detailed examination of existing gaps in that education as they reflect on VE and socio-personal development follows, to conclude with a case study of a values education project in an Andalusian school. The levels explored throughout this journey serve as a frame for what will be the focal point of this paper: the search for institutional and educational answers to behaviour problems in schools.

Emotional and Behaviourai Difficulties in Mainstream Schools, Volume 1, pages 91-111. Copyright © 2001 by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISBN: 0-7623-0722-6

91

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The first level of analysis is a brief critical tour through the curricular situation in schools, denoting the sparse curricular and institutional attention given to the social and personal education of students. Next, on a second level of analysis, the general stance taken within the Spanish education system towards values education is reviewed and VE's relevancy in the solving of behaviour and interpersonal relationship problems in schools. Theoretically and politically framing the topic in this way, subsequent concretion levels analyse three proposals which exemplify the practical development of values education, and its link to socio-personal education on three levels: autonomous community, county and school. Three VE projects, each one representing one of the aforementioned levels, are reviewed: the Andalusian Community-wide socio-personal education programme, "Living Together"; "Inter-Personal Relationships and Prevention of Bullying Among Classmates in Seville Area Schools", of a provincial character; and the primary school programme, "Affective Education in Colegio Pfiblico Cervantes".

Thus, the paper moves from a panoramic view to adopt a more intensive focus (not unlike the one we might obtain by looking through a camera zoom) on values education in the area of socio-personal development.

Concluding the study are a number of deductions and ideas that seek to reflect the difficulties and foiled goals encountered along the way, as well as acknowledge values education contributions to the construction of an inclusive school curriculum.

1. CURRICULUM FOR INCLUSION: CURRICULUM FOR ALL

One of the issues for which countries and educational systems, immersed in the task of creating a school for all, most urgently demand a resolution is, without a doubt, the design and development of a curriculum for inclusion. Such a curriculum, striving to be comprehensive towards the diversity of scholastic demands and needs, calls not only for standardisation but also for the creation of a culture and processes prone to the revision, adaptation and modification of some curricular elements or dimensions as well as the inclusion of some elements normally absent or omitted.

This attempt to build a common curriculum with room for all has been perceptible and clearly stated in Spanish educational legislation and likewise among educators and policy makers. Nevertheless, in the struggle to achieve this goal, some important biases and imbalances have surfaced which deserve consideration:

Values Education 93

• An excessively dominant academic presence in the curriculum: school curriculum exhibits a fundamentally academic focus. The school is conceived basically as a place where knowledge is transmitted, and academic success is valued as the highest indicator of school quality. Consequently a considerable amount of time and energy has been employed in the development of guides, documents and legal mandates dealing with how to adapt or modify the common curriculum to student necessities and academic demands, disregarding a more global vision of curriculum and pupil.

• The absence, or merely passive presence, of the personal and social dimension in the curriculum is yet another result of the preferred treatment given to academic issues. Values education, interpersonal relationship education, and feelings and social skills tutoring have been minimised in school (Ortega and Merchfin, 1996). Behaviour and relationship problems are approached indirectly rather than included or planned for in the school curriculum. Nevertheless, school is conceived more and more as a place where, aside from academic learning, one learns how to live with others, build relationships, show respect, express tolerance, and be a good citizen.

• The implicit presence, in the form of hidden curriculum, of values, processes and practices that are unworthy of or deny the value of participation by all, without exclusions, in the curriculum and its development (Jares, 1994). Generally speaking this educational process has developed according to action patterns which legitimate teacher determination of curricular contents, school norms and interpersonal relationship rules, organisation and management, thus alienating both students and the surrounding community. Rules are imposed and students are educated using a curriculum that promotes a hierarchical relationship system requiring that they ingest information fed to them. They are educated, clearly, under the influence of a curriculum aiming to control rather than educate behaviour, and which evidently does little to prevent the emergence of problems of this nature. Such prevailing values in the school (implicit or explicit) influence student behaviour and learning patterns, intimately linked to the structure of the educational process.

• The existence of an organisational structure and classroom learning models based more on competition, and consequently on exclusion, than on co- operation and the inclusion of all students. Frequently classrooms, even those seeking to be integrative, function within a competitive learning system which presupposes the hierarchical ranking of students' achievements, and the risk of emotional and behavioural problems. Competition inexorably leads to a neglect of the basic necessities of self-respect and identity and to the negation of all students' need to be valued.

94 ANGELES PARR1LLA

• The tendency, in the face of difficult situations, to opt for a curriculum that provides child-centred answers to school-wide problems. In such cases the school defends itself against the destabilisation of the system by centring the problem on the student (Booth & Coulby, 1987). Simply providing an individual "solution" allows the rest of the system to remain intact. Teachers and schools assume that approaching the student's individual problem (be it behavioural, learning-related, etc) is excessively difficult and tend to opt for exclusion, or fall back on the intervention of additional specialists, perpetuating traditional patterns.

2. VALUES EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM

Among the most direct implications that can be deduced from the previously outlined situation it is worthwhile to highlight the following proposal: values that make life in society possible are transmitted and exercised, while habits of interpersonal relationship and mutual respect are acquired through education (LOGSE, 1990). Thus values education first appears as one of the primordial ends to be pursued by the educational system.

Schooling, according to LOGSE (1990) guidelines, must provide both male and female students with an education that encourages the different aspects of development: intellectual, corporal, social, affecfive and ethical-moral. An antiquated, strictly disciplinary, educational system is not conclusive to the development of the student's personality as it is necessary to include up to now non-existent values, areas and educational spaces. This assumes - according to the same law - the planning and incorporation into the curriculum of a set of lessons and values that are not always acquired in a spontaneous way nor can be identified with a discrete curriculum subject. These values refer basically to areas not approached by academic disciplines, and especially include the area of socio-personal development, embracing the environment and social life at school.

In this sense, in the Common Curricular Design (MEC, 1989) (addressed to the whole Spanish state) and basic to the different stages of obligatory schooling, a series of educational elements which compose what has been denominated values education are articulated, expressed in a series of areas. They are not areas recognised explicitly in the curriculum prior to the educational reformation and which have a direct impact on values, attitudes, concepts and procedures related with personal and social education.

Between these areas and their topics we find:

Values Education 95

Socio-personal education Education for Democracy and social participation Moral and civic education

~- Education in human rights Education for Peace and Non-violence Education for Solidarity and Development Education for Co-operation and conflict resolution. Intercultural Education.

(Cross-curricula) Transversal Areas, LOGSE (1990).

Some of the basic differentiating characteristics (as opposed to traditional academic domains) of these areas and topics that mould values education are as follows:

• Areas and curricular topics that are considered complementary because they are clearly interdependent on all other curricular areas. These are areas that integrate and provide unity and globality.

• The programming of values education must be present in all learning areas and in all tracts of compulsory schooling. This inclusion is carried out in a complementary way. In other words, distributing the contents of each one of the values education topics throughout all the environments, areas or materials that compose the academic curriculum of each one of the educational stages.

• The design of the values education programme is ultimately the responsibility of schools. Each one must adapt the proposals handed down from the Education Administration to the characteristics and peculiarities of the particular school. In this way each school must develop a specific programme to include values education in the school curriculum.

• Values education must not only be implicit in all areas of the curriculum, but also be reflected in the organisational and operational policies of the school, in the relationships and even in the programming of educational activities. In the spirit of the law it is patent that Values education cannot be dissociated from school life regulations and relationship and interaction policies in the school.

As a consequence of these positions a series of mandates in Spanish Autonomous Communities have regulated the inclusion in the curriculum of the contents characteristic of these topics with the objective of gradually

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introducing values education in schools. The Andalusian Autonomous Community, as an autonomous administration with legislative capacity in the educational environment, has established the fundamental aspects concerning Values education in two consecutive mandates dated December 19, 1995 (BOJA, No. 9, 1996) and January 17, 1996 (BOJA, No. 23, 1996). As a result of these rulings, in the first place, the development of values education in Andalusian schools is initiated and programmes regarding Values education in the curriculum are organised and set in motion.

These mandates, in the hopes of favouring the development of Values education in the curriculum, establish a co-ordination and planning structure consisting of four areas within Values education and articulate a Didactic Programme for each one of them. Such programmes will serve as a base for schools to design and develop their own projects in the respective areas.

Socio-personal education: "Living Together" Environmental education: Programme "Village" Co-education: "Simultaneous programme" Health education: Programme "Life"

Areas and Programmes for Values education in the Andalusian Autonomous Community (BOJA, No. 23, 1996).

Each one of these areas can trigger Values education projects and even research and innovation programmes, either at the school or the inter-school level. Of these areas, the denominated Socio-personal Education area is of vital importance, as we have already pointed out, in the creation and development of a curriculum for inclusion.

However, despite their importance there are few VE programmes which employ the socio-personal education area in order to understand and build an education for all, an education that includes social development, the treatment of behavioural problems and the search for educational situations where behaviour and harmonious coexistence are the focus.

In order to clarify the potential of values education, a gradual analysis of the successive concretion planes is necessary. In this way some programs proposed by the Autonomous Community, the County and the school will be described.

The internal structure of the proposed analysis hinges on three successive concretion levels. First, the description of the didactic Program used to disclose and encourage developments in values education in the socio-personal area in

Values Education 97

the Andalusian Autonomous Community. Next, a county-wide project on the same topic is presented. To conclude, the exposition of a school-level project is included.

2.1 "Living Together": An Autonomous Community-wide programme

The "Living Together" programme is included in the cross-curricular area of socio-personal and affective development. It is an area that approaches socialisation and recognises that one of the fundamental tasks of education is to participate in an explicit and active way in the moulding of a human model that generates participative democracy ideals.

Origin The program was designed by the Andalusian Education Counsel (1992) to be adopted by Primary schools all over Andalusia. It has its origin in the cross- curricular area of socio-personal education and its sub-area, co-habitation education.

Objectives "Living Together" is aimed at the formation of attitudes, habits, behaviours and values of a social and personal character and seeks to foment other programs and activities of social development in Andalusian schools.

Support and Resources In its development, a series of measures are taken on the part of the education administration that should facilitate its adoption in schools. The following measures should be highlighted:

• The development and diffusion of curricular materials for interpersonal relationship education.

• Promotion and support of innovation and educational research in the area of interpersonal relationship education.

° The design and application of faculty training strategies that allow for the introduction in all schools of interpersonal relationship education.

Didactic Structure of the Programme The program is modular, consisting of 3 large work blocks that must be approached successively, either in a specific space and time, or integrating them into the different academic areas.

98 ANGELES PARR1LLA

Block I: "Who are we?: Myself and others"

This block revolves around the knowledge of people. It is derived from the idea that the knowledge of oneself arises from the interaction or dialogue between the image that others provide us of ourselves and the one that we internally elaborate as our own. For their development, two educational modules have been proposed:

Module 1: How do I see myself? : based on the knowledge of oneself. Module 2: How do they see me?: the image that others have of oneself.

Block 2: How are we related?

Here the central issue is made up of interpersonal and affective relationships and the dynamics generated between the two types. They require three educational modules in order to develop:

Module 1: What's wrong with . . . / w h a t happened to . . .? : In reference to the consideration of others' perspectives, feelings and attitudes in interpersonal communication. Module 2: Friendship: About the attitudes of trust, care and people's acceptance of friendship relationships. Module 3: Difficulties. An approach to conflict as a constant and basic element of interpersonal and social relationships.

Block 3: Group Living

Centred on the phenomenon that occur in group living.

Module 1: Where do we come from?: the family: a module that outlines an approach to seeing family groups and the diversity among them. Module 2: Things that happen in groups: designed to work on the roles, phases, and conflicts that function inside groups. Module 3: Inside and out: Group limits is the central topic, inclusion and exclusion within the group and the exclusion generated by it.

Didactic Development Each one of the blocks and modules has a common didactic structure that includes an introduction, establishment of objectives, the proposal of activities by module and the proposal for evaluation of the block. In turn, the activity

Values Education 99

proposal in each module includes two types of activities that are suggested to the schools and professors: the proposal of introductory activities (initial diagnosis, sensitisation and position of the situation); and the proposal of development activities (including a great number of strategies and didactic resources).

Advice Schools are advised and supported by area advisers from the local Teacher Centres. This translates into support for the design and development of proposals adapted to the reality of the particular school. Educational Inspectors should guarantee the pursuit of the program in schools.

Evaluation A final component of the "Living Together" programme is the evaluation proposal suggested to the schools. This includes the following evaluation activities with their corresponding materials: evaluation of the general program, of the blocks, of each module, of the teacher and of the students.

2.2. An Educational Programme of Interpersonal Relations in Schools and Prevention of Bullying among Classmates in Seville county (Ortega, 1996)

Origin This project was conceived in 1995 on the dual premise of prevention and intervention in curricular development. It is a school-focused project, open to the active participation of the different members of the school community.

After a pilot study to explore the topic, the project begins at the end of the 1994--1995 academic year in 23 Seville County primary and secondary schools, under the co-ordination of the University of Seville. As time passes, the project is assumed and adopted by the educational authorities of the Autonomous Community, and becomes a developing project in the whole Andalusian Community.

Theoretical Framework The project responds to the need for analysis and intervention, in the school arena, based on attitudes that emphasise the comprehensive and ecological nature of school social life and classrooms. Socio-cultural psychology (Vygotski, 1979) and ecological psychology (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) serve as a referential framework for the analysis and understanding of interpersonal relationships in the school.

100 ANGELES PARRILLA

Aims Generally speaking, there is one basic objective common to any school interested in the development of this project, consisting in the attempt to:

improve interpersonal relationships and the climate of life in the school with the objective of preventing the occurrence of such problems as bullying, disruption, misbehaviour and behavioural problems.

The most concrete project aims, the ways and means by which they are achieved and the sequence of activities developed in each school, are planned in the measure that the schools incorporate the project. Hence, the project is rooted in practice through a process of dialogue and adaptation to the given educational community.

Assumptions Two ideas are essential to the conception of this programme:

The inclusion in the project of the entire school community: teachers, counsellors school psychologists, students and families as well as the local educational administration related directly with the schools.

~- The linking of the project to the action research: to a process of research and intervention that contributes to increased information and educational formation on the topic.

Phases of the Programme The project hinges on two principal phases that give place to very diverse activities and extensive participation on the part of the different members of the School Community.

Phase 1: Sensitisation. This is a phase developed at the beginning of the programme consisting in a variety of sensitising activities directed towards a great number of people and professionals.

• Sensitisation Campaign: The first activity to be developed is targeted at mainstream society with the purpose of informing and making people aware of the importance of preventing certain behaviours in the school. It includes strategies and very diverse resources: a phone line for gratuitous information (specifically dedicated to the topic); periodic campaigns to facilitate informative pamphlets for the school community; and a research project on the topic.

Values Education 101

• Informational Seminars: To start, a variety of 20-hour informational seminars are held (through a Teacher Centre) aimed at making participants aware of the significance of the problem and of the need to intervene. The seminars are imparted at the outset of the project to counsellors, school psychologists, local Educational Authorities and teachers, requesting in this last case that participating schools guarantee the attendance of at least three teachers, the school principal and area school psychologists.

• On the conclusion of the seminars, schools decide whether to participate or not in the next phase of the project. At this time, interested schools are required to comply with a series of conditions that guarantee the viability and spirit of the project. A minimum of four teachers per school must be willing to get involved; the project should be approved by the school board and recognised in the school's curriculum. An institutional recognition of the work of the Teacher Centres (CEP) should also exist. In this way subscription to the project is not an individual teacher decision, nor can it be imposed from outside the school.

• In the case of those schools which embark on the experience, a new sub- phase of exploration is initiated during which there is an attempt to collect data facilitating the identification of school problems and needs related to coexistence, relationships, etc. To this end, teachers and students are given a set of questionnaires designed to reveal and diagnose the initial situation. Once the analysis has been carried out, the information is reported back to the school during a staff meeting lasting an entire morning.

• Presentation of the model: In the aforementioned meeting, once having analysed the necessities of the school, the model or general outline of intervention consisting of four sub-programmes is presented. Three are of preventive character and are to be included in the school curriculum, while the fourth sub-programme is palliative and is aimed to intervene directly in existing problematic situations, individuals or behaviours.

The four sub-programmes are:

Values and Feelings Education programme (for social/moral development); Live Together and participation management programme (for active and social life in the classroom);

~- Co-operative group task programme (for co-operative learning activities); Individual student intervention programme (for individual student problems).


Phase 2: The development of the project: Group work. The task during this phase is unique in that the project is developed in an autonomous manner within each school. Once informed about and made familiar with existing sub- programmes, each school organises, develops and adapts them to their particular context and needs.

Faculty members should undertake the responsibility for the implementation and development of the four sub-programmes. However each school takes them on at its own pace, in accordance with its own style and institutional identity and based on the singular way in which the school interprets the situation and the characteristics of the project in question. To this end the programme offers each school a so-called "toolbox" or kit of conceptual and formative instruments. Such packages consist of orientation and support resources that include readings, didactic material and advice in educational team meetings.

As a result each project is independent in its concrete objectives, in sub- programme development and in pacing. Each school team determines the work sessions they will convoke, (usually biweekly sessions of some two hours of duration), the order in which sub-programmes will be launched and executed, the activities comprised by each, etc.

The work proposals to be developed in each sub-programme are briefly summarised below:

(1) Values Education Programme

Seeks the concrete and specific incorporation of this "counterpart" in the contents and activities of the curriculum, for its possible impact on the development and improvement of quality of life and social skills in the school.

The novelty of this programme resides in that it proposes to the schools the concrete programming of Values education in the curriculum. This way the education in values has proper space, time, contents and specific resources inside the classroom and school.

The faculty should choose, and communicate to the students, which values will be worked on, to what ends, and by way of what activities.

(2) Interpersonal Relationship Management Programme

Works to establish a democratic management of participation in the school. In order to achieve this goal, the assembly is used as a basic strategy within the classroom. The programme guidelines suggest that the educational team have a weekly assembly as a forum in which to discuss and analyse interpersonal relationships, express feelings and attitudes and explore conflicts and difficulties. The assemblies can become the arenas where students


reflect on the rights and duties of participants in school life, where they auto-determine, enunciate, debate and agree upon norms that will regulate the life and the social climate of the group.

(3) Co-operative Group Learning Program

This is a program directed towards academic activities, towards instruction in the classroom. The purpose of such a is the design of a learning process based on student co-operation (co-operative learning). Co-operative work is focused following a sequence, which allows for the integration of each student's individual work, co-operation, negotiation and group work. The planning of a final group debate, to include the group/class as a whole, is intended as well.

(4) Direct Student Intervention Program

This is a programme specifically outlined for those students already demonstrating behaviour, relationship and living together problems. The school counselling team is the responsible body. Different methods and intervention strategies such as the mediation, student support groups, dramatic games and some concrete social skills development techniques.

The sub-programme expects and exacts, above all, the collaboration of parents whose help and co-operation are required at the same time that they are offered information and invited to all the meetings called by the educational and research teams on the topic.

Results

Initial results of the project development over the last few years point to a widespread impact in schools. Results could be summed up by the following ideas:

On the teacher level: A gradual modification of teachers' conceptions and attitudes concerning relationships, tolerance, etc., Many teachers began to recognise that their own behaviour was, if not actually generating violence, definitely based on intolerant or ambiguous attitudes. In this way, working on a project entails the assumption on the part of participants of their protagonism in a phenomenon for which we are all responsible to some extent.

At the school level: The need to modify the climate and the management of school life by means of more co-operative and democratic curricular work in which not only knowledge, but feelings and values are attended to as well.

On the participant level: The need to work in a climate of permanent consensus and negotiation, assuring that each sub-group (school, administration, university) takes on their part of the responsibility.


The project results have been positive with regards to improvements in the climate of school life. More time is needed in order to evaluate if indeed interpersonal violence is reduced as well.

2.3. The Affective Education Program at "Cervantes Primary School"

Last of all, the concretion program that a Spanish state-run primary school (Parrilla, 1998) has designed and set in motion, within the framework of Values education, is presented.

Program Context: The school in which this program is being developed is Cervantes Primary, one of the schools included in the "Preferential Educational Attention Schools" network (because of its population characteristics), with a long history of school integration development (since 1985).

It is located in a working-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Seville, where the unemployment index is above the city average. Students come from a low socio-cultural medium and present needs and problems usually associated with circumstances such as: unstructured family atmospheres, discipline and relationship problems at school, etc. Furthermore the school has a large group of students labelled as having special educational needs.

The school faculty, apart from the normal teachers, includes two integration support teachers. It stands out that most of the teachers are women, between the age of 40 and the 50 years old and a enjoy wide educational experience. Many have worked together since the school was founded.

Origin The origin of the affective education and values education programme lies fundamentally in the institutional need to advance in the educational response to diversity, and particularly in the need for answers to the question of how to reinforce relationships and social skill building inside the school.

The project began shortly after a small group of teachers participated in the general sensitisation activities carried out as part of the SAVE project and consequently register in the Values education sub-project.

Project Phases Two phases can be clearly distinguished in this project.

Initial phase: Exploration and Analysis of the Situation: This is the stage during which the entire school hears about the project, small group of teachers


that had previously participated (free and voluntarily) in the SAVE project civic sensitisation campaign. As a consequence of this previous activity the school participates in an informative session about the project and opens its doors as well, for an entire morning, to the exploratory study headed by SAVE project organisers consisting of student questionnaires about interpersonal relationships and interviews with teachers.

At the beginning of the 1996-97 school year, following a meeting in which the school is informed about the results of the exploratory study, it is decided to continue on with the project. In its own particular way of getting the programme running, this school decides to prioritise and sequence the implementation of the different project sub-programmes, concentrating efforts on the development of only one sub-programme in the first year: values and affective education.

During the entire first academic year the school, organised in teacher teams according to educational stages, works on the design of its own programme. An activity given the name, "get to know our students" is initiated to this end, consisting in teachers systematically observing the behaviour of their own students for a period of two months in order to create an individual profile for each.

we started with the observation of student behaviour and attitudes: who they spend time with, who they fight with, how they speak to each other and how they treat each other. In short we pay attention to the quality of their relationships and of their life ... (Primary teacher)•

• . . and we discovered their lives, environment, families, problems . . . . We met their mothers, their grandmothers and neighbours and we began to see in them people with many more problems than just coming to the school and doing their exercises• We began to understand them (Primary teacher)•

In this way, one day after another we got to know them: we observed why Miguel comes to school sad, why Jos6 Mar/a is restless, why Blanca always picks fights, why Luisa is always inhibited (Primary teacher).

Another, more situational, study is started in order to complement the individual study. Avoiding systematic registering, the teachers jotted down in a journal what behaviours presented themselves, where, when, how, why, and if students expressed their feelings in difficult situations, if they were able to face the conflicts that arose, etc.

The designing of their own project culminates at this point.

Phase 2: The development of the Values education and Feelings Education Programme: In order to develop a sub-programme specifically dedicated to Affective Education the teachers combine two levels of intervention; one institutionally oriented and another taking place in the classroom.


At the institutional level collective activities are developed, open to the school community: parents, students and teachers. This way, from an institutional point

of view, the development of "values education" is inserted in the global operation of the school.

Among these activities are information sessions for parents and the

celebration of weeks or specific days dedicated to some event related to

Affective Education. In concrete cases, for some individual students, co- operation programs with the family are programmed in order to work out serious behavioural problems.

On the classroom level each class and stage selects a value to work on along

the course of each school term, in other words three values per school year.

The development of values education is approached by way of a work

methodology centring on different activities during each stage and term with

the objective of working on each one of the three selected values during the year. Methodologically the work is structured around three didactic resources:

story, dramatisation and debate or reflection.

Inside the classroom the sequence that is followed tends to adjust significantly

to the introduction of the topic, the text or story read aloud (this varies depending on the grade in school) or dramatised accompanied by a debate and analysis

of the values and feelings aroused by the reading or dramatisation.

You must make sure that those students having difficulties with the social skills necessary to relate to their classmates as might be: the aggressive child, the child with low self-esteem or the child who is always getting rejected, participate actively (Primary teacher).

In the first term we have dealt with solidarity through a programme and activities that encourage non violence, respect, tolerance and dialogue. First, a theoretical programming is planned in which we include our goals and means to achieve them. This planning is then extended to the school and grade level so that lessons co-0rdinate in such a way that a child, having passed the different levels, will have touched on the different values, such as dialogue, solidarity, respect, friendship, etc. We select the stories and the children, besides dramatising them, make posters about them, draw drawings, etc. (Support Teacher).

Yet another application of the principles is the recess or break-time. A deeper development of social skills that enable students to work and plan together positively has been achieved by way of the introduction of non-competitive games. Parents have once again been an important element in this segment of

the programme.

Through this focus on games, it is also sought that parents participate in the development of the games so that they can transmit a certain feeling for free time as well as demonstrate respect for the norms, values that, on the institutional level, presuppose the acceptance of everybody and the concept of inclusion in the school (Primary teacher).


RESULTS AND IMPACT OF THE PROJECT

Teachers at the school believe it is still too soon to evaluate the results of an innovation like this, still in development. Hence only some initial areas and levels of analysis that in any event will be necessary to reconsider later on, once the innovation has consolidated will be mentioned.

The impact on institutional culture; collaboration. One of this project's most important contributions has been the development of an institutional culture rooted in collaborative dispositions: mutual help, co-operation, companionship, and acceptance that the project required in order to develop are now valued for the effect they have had and the thrust they have given the school.

Impact in the classroom: didactic and organisational changes. The values education project has also, for both didactic and organisational, caused changes and modifications at the classroom level. As a result of project related work, classroom materials in the classroom have been enriched while student groupings and the very physical space has also been affected. Yet possibly the most important accomplishment is the increased student participation in their learning and the greater importance currently given to achievement.

Impact on teachers. The project has undoubtedly been a learning opportunity for teachers. The values education programme has not only been a project which has impacted at school or in the classroom. It has represented a source of learning, enrichment and professional development for teachers. Teachers affirm that they have changed and that they have learned new work methods originating in the development of this kind of education.

The impact on the students and the school: the preventive and palliative character of the project. Indeed teachers admit, though timidly, fearing the uncertainty they still experience today, the positive outcome of the project. In the first place they point out that the project is positively affecting the acceptance of students on three levels: the acceptance of the students on the part of the teachers, their acceptance on the part of classmates and acceptance on the part of other parents. But disruptive behaviour at school and in the classroom has diminished. Students are gradually becoming aware of the need for solidarity and respect towards others and they have begun to respond.

Values education, they point out, is most tangible in the way classmates treat those with problems, demonstrating the preventive, not only palliative, effect the project has had in the school.

CONCLUSIONS

This has been a wide-ranging and perhaps somewhat idiosyncratic paper. It has reviewed the role of Values education and the way in which it is being


introduced in the Spanish educational system. This final section attempts to go beyond, exploring the potential that Values education might have as a new and appropriate development in inclusive education, especially in situations related to student behaviour and school life.

The appeal of the idea, of Values education in this context, clearly arises as shown from the double connotation brought out in this text: education conceived as a whole intervention concerned with people in their every dimension, and the school as an organisation which, by transmitting values, is capable of developing curriculum prepared to be educational and preventive (not just individual-centred).

However, values education must be recognised for what it is in different educational systems: as a transversal rather than fundamental area, it carries too many risks and weaknesses along with it, associated with the transversal concept.

As a cross-curriculum area values education requires planning, development and evaluation on the part of the entire educational community, especially the faculty as a whole. This fact supposedly avoids the danger that being territory of everybody it becomes nobody's land. The very idea of cross-curricular, to which teachers are not habituated by the dominant tradition of the compart- mentalisation of teaching, can hinder this institutional assumption about values education.

In turn, in schools' treatment of behaviour and living together problems in school, it is necessary to avoid the error of creating tight compartments as those that have characterised the traditional teaching of disciplines.

As Carreras et al.(1997), have pointed out, the complexity and ambiguity of topics related to social and affective education, in contrast with the clarity of traditional discipline aims, can make the adoption of social, personal and affective education difficult.

The overall educational context in which the problems arise must be considered in order to avoid a wide range of problems having to do with behavionr, and relations in schools. Bronfrenbrenner's (1979) ecological model suggests that it is possible to identify a number of systems that explain and participate in human behaviour. From an ecosystemic standpoint, behavioural problems and school relationships should be understood and described in the framework of the systems in which they develop. A person's behaviour is the result of the interactions within and among these systems. Thus, a child's behaviour is influenced by her/his own characteristics (microsystem), the relationships between that child and teachers and classmates (mesosystem), that child's relationships with the school as a whole, with the non immediate family, friends and external agencies (exosystem) and lastly, the child's relation to the cultural, social and


educational beliefs and values of the world in general (macrosystem). All these systems help us understand more why people behave the way they do.

Therefore in order to plan and understand the learning of student ability and behaviour, to prevent the appearance of behavioural and relationship problems at school as well as to develop a curriculum that takes personal and social education into consideration, teachers need to work educationally in all of these systems and consider the relationships between them.

Secondly, the ecosystemic model gives rise to the idea that social learning should be contextualised in the reality in which one lives and base itself fundamentally on models and real problems close to one's own experience. It is this unique experience which really forges and shapes learning. Social learning cannot be defined nor learned about as a body of knowledge, as a subject in the margin of school life. Rather, it must be integrated into the curriculum in each and every one of its dimensions, although it can and should be a differentiated subject and receive specific planning with regard to place, time and content. As a final resource, schools should offer educational proposals, strategies and interventions by way of the school curriculum, directed at preventing problems of interpersonal relationships and those behaviours that can put the students at risk of being excluded or alienated.

The recognition of the intersystemic nature of student behaviour (including learning), in school, also compels the recognition that the development and production of academic knowledge is not the sole responsibility of schools. The school and the classroom can be understood as the arena for personal and social interaction. The school curriculum, facing up to the interactive nature of human behaviour, should go beyond the academic framework to include social learning, the development of self-esteem, self-discipline, relationships with equals, etc. This way pupil disaffection and disruption is lessened and the personal and social development of all students and the school climate improve as well.

Lastly, perhaps the most relevant idea is that, from this perspective, the topic of behavioural problems is everyone's problem demanding education for all. It is not only a matter for students with behavioural problems. The responsibility for a solution lies as well with the present and participant classmates, those who suffer and those who cheer on when such behaviour occurs. Hence, any initiative aimed at working on behaviour should consider the frame of an educational project involving all components of the school community: from the individual student to classmates, teachers, parents, friends, educational authorities and society in general.

Taken into account the mentioned perspective, it is possible to point towards the important contribution of this area towards an inclusive curriculum, supportive with behaviour and socio-personal development. Such reflections


leads to the consideration of some proposals and insights derived from the case studies in the middle portion of this chapter.

The need to reconsider from an ecological, systemic and educational point of view topics related to student behaviour and interpersonal relationships in the school (Cooper, Smith & Upton, 1994; Garner & Gains, 1996). Whether schools have values education projects or not in their curriculum, the adoption of a similar standpoint mentioned will contribute to reduction of an emphasis on the student with behaviour problems and the school' s dependency on specialists.

The need for positive discrimination towards these topics within schools. It could be argued that topics related to coexistence, relationships, discipline and behaviour in schools deserve to be treated from a posture that discriminates in favour of them against other curricular areas which are overly protected.

There is a need to trigger a large-scale debate on the values education contribution to the field of so-called behaviour problems and to the construction of a curriculum for inclusion. It seems the analysis of the role values education plays has just begun. More discussion about innovative practices is needed in order to contrast and contribute to knowledge about the potential of values education in inclusive schools.

The need to renovate the participation of schools. It has been demonstrated that participation at the school and community level is needed in any innovative practice (Marcelo, 1996). Individual changes have little chance of survival in our schools. Moreover the participation in all phases of the process when looking for solutions in the school guarantees project development. If values education wants to serve school needs, the school itself must play an important role in the whole process.

The need to extend values education to the general population. If students form part of a system, and values education is restricted to the curriculum of primary and secondary compulsory schools, the expected result can be nothing but limited and biased (Sockett, 1992). Values education should be incorporated to every other part of the system, especially to every formal or informal educational initiative. It is important to make a distinction between the possibilities of values education when limited to the school system and its possibilities when adopted all throughout the educational systems (family, community, society, etc.).

REFERENCES

B.O.J.A. No. 9 (1996). Orden de 19 de Diciembre de 1995, por la que se establece el desarrollo de la Educaci6n en Valores en los centros docentes de Andalucfa.

B.O.J.A. No. 23 (1996). Orden de 17 de enero de 1996 por la que se establce la organizaci6n y el funcionamiento de los programas sobre Educaci6n en Valores en el Curriculo.

Values Educat ion 111

Booth, T., & Coulby, D. (1987). Producing and Reducing Dissafection. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Bronfenbrener, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Carreras, L1. et al. (1997). C6mo educar en valores. Madrid: Nareea. Cooper, P., Smith, C., & Upton, G. (1994). Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. Routledge:

London. Garner, P., & Gains, C. (1996). Models of intervention for children with emotional and behavioural

difficulties. Support for Learning, 11(4), 141-145. G6mez, B., & Ortega, R. (1998). El tel6fono Amigo. Cuadernos de Pedagogfa, 270, 70-72. Jares, X. (1994). Los temas transversales en el sistema educativo. Reflexiones y Propuestas, En

VV.AA. (Eds): 1II Congreso Estatal de Educaci6n para la Paz. Valladolid: Dpto. De Did~ictica y O. Escolar de la Universidad de Valladolid.

Junta de Andalucia (1992). Aprender a Vivir Juntos en la Escuela. Un proyecto para el desarrollo socio-personal en el primer ciclo de la Educaci6n Primaria. Sevilla: Consejerfa de Educaci6n y Ciencia.

Junta de Andaluc~a (1992). ColeceiOn de Materiales Curriculares Bdsicos para la Educaci6n Primaria en Andaluc{a. Sevilla. ConsejetSa de Educaci6n y Ciencia.

Junta de Andaluc/a (1992). Temas Transversales del Curriculum, I and II. Sevilla: Consejerfa de Educaci6n y Ciencia.

LOGSE (1990). Ley Org~inica de Ordenaci6n General del Sistema Educativo de 3 de Octubre de 1990.

L6pez Y., J., & S~inchez, M. M. (1997). Para comprender las Organizaciones Escolares. Sevilla: Repiso Libros, Ed.

Marcelo, C. (1996). lnnovacidn Educativa, Asesoramiento y Desarrollo Profesional. Madrid: CIDE. MEC (1989). Disefio Curricular Base. Madrid: MEC. Ortega, P., Minguez, R., & Gil, R. (1996). La Tolerancia en la escuela, Bracelona, Ariel Educaci6n. Ortega, R. (1997). E1 Proyecto Sevilla Antiviolencia Escolar: Un modelo ecol6gico de interven-

ci6n educativa entre iguales. En F. Cerezo (1997), Conductas agresivas en la edad escolar (pp. 183-205). Madrid, Pir~imide.

Ortega, R. (1998). E1 Proyecto Sevilla Anti-Violencia Escolar. Cuadernos de Pedagog{a, 270, 6O-66.

Ortega, R., & Merchan, T. (1996). El aula como escenario de la vida afectiva y moral. Cultura y Educaci6n, 3, 5-18.

Parrilla, A. (1998). Innovaciones Educativas derivadas de la Atenci6n a la Diversidad en los Centros Escolares de Primaria y Secundaria. Memoria de Investigaci6n. Documento Policopiado, Madrid: CIDE.

Sockett, H. (1992). The moral aspects of the cun-iculum. In: P. W. Jackson (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Curriculum (pp. 543-569). New York: Macmillan Pub.

Vygotski, L. S. (1979). El desarrollo de los procesos psicol6gicos superiores.Barcelona: Grijalbo. Watkins, C., & Wagner, P. (1991). La Disciplina escolal: Propuesta de trabajo en el marco global

del centro, Madrid: Paid6s, MEC.

80 SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND

EXCLUSION FROM SCHOOL IN

ENGLAND

Carol Hayden

INTRODUCTION

'Social exclusion' as a concept has rapidly gained popularity in international debates and has become particularly prominent in social policy discourse in the U.K. since the incoming Labour government set up a Social Exclusion Unit in December 1997. The concept of poverty was more commonly used until relatively recently and many local authorities in England have anti-poverty strategies set up in the 1980s. The concept of poverty is strongly linked with that of social exclusion and the view has been expressed that the adoption of the term social exclusion in part reflects a lack of agreement and political acceptability across nations and administrations about the use of the term 'poverty'.

Room (1995: 5) has made a useful distinction between the two concepts: with poverty primarily focused upon distributional issues, that is the lack of resources at the disposal of an individual or household; and social exclusion encompassing relational issues, such as inadequate social participation, lack of social integration and lack of power. The concept of poverty has increasingly been viewed as too narrow to include the wider circumstances which may sustain or compound the experience of social exclusion.


113

114 CAROL HAYDEN

Research in the field also illustrates both the temporal and spatial aspects to the experience of poverty (University of Essex, 1996; Hills, 1999). It is recognised that although there is a strong connection between poverty and social exclusion, it is both possible to be socially excluded and not poor or poor but not socially excluded. A key issue is not just the distribution of income and wealth, which has polarized in recent decades, but also the effect of these trends on the pattern of opportunity and particularly in some communities (Pitts & Hope, 1997) as well as the length of time people live in economically deprived circumstances (Walker, 1995).

As a concept social exclusion originated in France and spread through EU policy and research channels in the 1990s. Social exclusion has two key attrac- tions as a working concept; first, it focuses on the multi-dimensional character of deprivation and secondly upon the processes, mechanisms and institutions that exclude people (de Haan, 1998). One of the institutions in England which actively and explicitly excludes people (in this case children) is school. The mechanisms (or procedures) by which exclusion from school takes place are formalised in law and underpinned by government guidance about how this should be done. The processes by which particular children come to be excluded are fairly well understood but there is limited evidence of what happens to excluded individuals in the longer term.

One small scale eighteen month follow-up study of sixty five excluded primary aged children showed that most (85%) individuals continued to have difficulties in school, further exclusions or go on to special educational facilities (Hayden, 1997a).

Whether this sort of evidence should lead to conclusions about exclusion from school as a route to social exclusion is an issue returned to at the end of this chapter. In any case, the very formality of the process makes exclusion from school a particularly relevant issue in discussions about combatting social exclusion because it appears to offer an identifiable group of children shown often to come from vulnerable circumstances (Blyth & Milner, 1996; Hayden, 1997b; Parsons, 1999).

Although other public services in Britain are known to exclude people, the mechanisms by which they do this are generally less formalised (with the exception of eviction from public housing) and not open to the same sort of recording and monitoring as official exclusion from school. For example, some doctors' surgeries are known to be reluctant to take particular clients, such as homeless people and those in temporary accommodation, furthermore these groups may sometimes be reluctant to use mainstream health services (Golby, 1994; Dobson et al., 1995).

Social Exclusion and Exclusion fi-om School in England 115

Children in residential care are often moved between placements because of what is termed 'placement breakdown' (arguably a form of exclusion); this may involve a foster carer being unwilling to carry on caring for a child, or it may involve a children's residential unit saying they cannot care for a child any longer and that they need either a placement in a secure facility or in a therapeutic environment (Hayden et al., 1999).

There is evidence within the social housing sector of an unwillingness to accept some households on waiting lists. A Shelter report concludes that this latter situation amounts to exclusion from social housing by non-acceptance and that this practice is growing. In a two year period of monitoring it is estimated that 33,000 households were excluded from access to social housing in this way (Butler, 1998). In the criminal justice field, Young (1999) views the differential application of the powers to stop and search as part of a process which excludes some groups from mainstream society.

What often links these various forms of rejection or different treatment is a perception of the individuals concerned by those in authority. In a range of ways some individuals, groups or families may be perceived to be either more troublesome or 'not suitable' in some way for a particular service.

EXCLUSION FROM SCHOOL

As already noted the formalities around exclusion from school are clearly established (if not always consistently applied) in England. Indeed exclusion from school (then referred to as expulsion) is enshrined in the 1944 Education Act. There has always been and continues to be an obvious contradiction between the requirement to attend school (with parents ultimately liable to prosecution and fine) and the ability of schools to exclude pupils. Exclusion from school was already of growing concern during the 1980s, culminating finally in official attempts to monitor the scale of the problem in the 1990s. Thus exclusion from school is not a new phenomenon and some of the earlier research clearly demonstrates the now welPknown connection between exclusion from school and children living in families with other difficulties (York et al., 1972).

Writers about exclusion usually make the distinction between official and unofficial exclusion. Official exclusions are of two main types: permanent from a particular school (subject to appeal) and fixed period which is usually a matter of days, but can last for up to 45 days in one school year in England. This latter option allows the possibility for 45 days exclusion to occur in one continuous

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period. Various attempts to tinker with the system in recent years, such as the removal of indefinite exclusions in 1994, and the target of provision of full-time and appropriate education after three weeks out of school by 2002, still do not question the fight of schools in England to permanently exclude individuals.

Parsons (1999) sees Britain as virtually alone in Europe in this willingness to officially exclude children from school. However, similar problems of underachievement, non-attendance and difficult to manage behaviour occur in all European countries (OECD, 1996; Debarbieux & Blaya, 1998) as do practices which amount to a form of exclusion. To some extent it is a question of how certain behaviours are interpreted and provided for, or not. It is also a question of what type of monitoring data is available and whether it is local or national. For example, in Finland, official figures suggest that very few children do not complete their compulsory schooling; 36 pupils out of 64,000 school leavers, however other researchers have found that there are as many as 200 children each year without schooling in Helsinki alone. Officially, exclusion from school in Finland is possible, but is only to be used in very extreme cases and the decision has to be enforced by the County Council (Iisakkila, 1997).

In France concern has centred on violence in schools (Debarbieux, 1999) but at the time of writing research on school exclusion is underway at the University of Bordeaux (ref. Blaya, C). In the United States a concern about violence in schools has resulted in zero-tolerance policies in certain states. For example, in California, school principals or superintendents are obligated by law to recommend the expulsion from the school district of any student who commits certain offences; specifically offences to do with weapons and controlled substances (Morrison et al., 1997). This latter study notes the dearth of United States research specifically on exclusion from school.

What links these studies in Finland, France and California and the research evidence in England, is the common evidence of disaffection, inappropriate curriculum, sometimes aggressive behaviours and often special educational need. Thus the bigger question which perhaps ought to occupy all nations more prominently is what education and schooling are for.

E D U C A T I O N A N D S C H O O L I N G

The main focus of this chapter is deliberately narrowed to that of schooling, rather than education in its broadest sense. Nevertheless it is perhaps worth briefly noting the difference between these two concepts and their importance in relation to social exclusion and exclusion from school. Education, it is currently popular to believe, is a 'lifelong experience' and sociologists have

Social Exclusion and Exclusion from School in England 117

long made the distinction between formal and informal education. Schooling is generally acknowledged to be an important part of childhood education and socialisation but it is only part of an individual's education in the broadest sense.

What is perhaps more important is the often noted fact that in a secular society, school is the only moral community which all children experience. Tabberer (1999: 125) observes that 'the state has few mechanisms which have as a matter of course have so much access to the young and poor'. Viewed in this light the role schools play in relation to future citizenship is crucial.

What a nation requires from its education system is often wide-ranging, contradictory and changes over time, to an extent due to political whims and priorities. Whilst schools may be 'testers rather than creators of talent' there is still a common assertion that schools are about education in the broadest sense (cited by Parsons, 1999: 11), rather than a system for dispensing the qualifications and associated cultural capital (what Parsons refers to as the 'credentialling' function) which largely reproduces existing patterns of social advantage (Bordieu & Passeron, 1977).

Parsons (1999) usefully revisits debates about what education is for in the context of his research on school exclusion. He identifies six key functions of education in the U.K. which are as follows: custodial, civilising, creating a national identity, imparting skills, credentialling and selecting, organising and transmitting public knowledge. Parsons (1999) sees an ongoing tension in the dispensing of these functions, between a more caring and nurturing position and one which emphasises control and discipline. He illustrates a move towards a more control orientated system over a thirty year period (1966-1996). Within this framework it is worth noting that, whilst the rhetoric of the 1997 Labour administration is 'Social Inclusion' the emphasis on qualifications and achievement is if anything increasingly moving in a direction of more control, not less. Increasing control over what schools do will not necessarily promote social inclusion.

In the context of the debate about tensions between the care and control continuum, Parsons (1999) views exclusion from school as a paradox, he asks 'is it a lost right or a punishment?' and offers the view that surely these children need more education not less. He argues that if education was a public good, rather than a private right we would accept a community responsibility towards children who are in difficulty in school. Government guidance on pupil attendance, behaviour, exclusion and reintegration (DfEE, t999b) begins to do this, but there are both practical issues as well as those of the 'hearts and minds' variety which need addressing to make some of the more positive aspects of this guidance a reality.

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Society suffers from wanting both too much and too little from the current school system in England. The range of public and political expectations from schools, as well as the conflicts between these expectations, are perhaps bound both to raise hopes and disappoint in turn. The strong focus upon literacy and numeracy, attainment targets and league tables, reduces the complexity of what happens in schools to what is measurable. It might be argued that the civilising function of the school has diminished in the wake of the drive to improve standards in 'the core curriculum' or 'the basics', as they are often known (Parsons, 1999).

V U L N E R A B I L I T Y , M U L T I P L E D I S A D V A N T A G E A N D P R E C A R I O U S N E S S

The increasing focus upon the credentialling function of schools has been happening at a time when evidence about the polarisation of social advantage and disadvantage in the population has been growing. Children and young people, as dependents, are particularly vulnerable to both low income and certain aspects of social exclusion. Three million children in Britain live in households with below half the average income. Research demonstrates the limits on many children's future career aspirations in these material circumstances (Shropshire & Middleton, 1999). Poorer families also tend to be larger and the geographic concentration of where poorer children live is increasing. Thus over a quarter (28%) of all residents on social housing estates in England are under the age of sixteen, compared with 21% in owner-occupied accommodation and 18% in privately rented accommodation (Coles et al., 1998). Income and social class has long been known to have an important effect on children's health and well- being, which in turn has an impact on their ability to take advantage of what is offered at school. The economic situation and prospects of young adults in Britain is often fragile, with twice as many young people under twenty five years out of work, compared with older adults (Howarth et al., 1998).

It is well known that poor people usually suffer from multiple disadvantages, related for example to precariousness of work and income, marital instability and low levels of participation in social activities (Paugam, 1995). The inadequate quality of the material and social fabric in particular urban environments is an additional disadvantage as is restricted access to public services such as good quality schooling. Low educational performance has become increasingly associated with low earnings and with unemployment, not only in the U.K. but in other advanced economies. Ill health is also linked to low income and a mother's level of education is known to be crucial to the health of both the mother and the child, to self respect and self esteem, indeed the ability to play


a full part as a citizen (Glennerster, 1998). Whilst a focus on poverty might concentrate first and foremost on income and benefit levels, a focus on social exclusion acknowledges that raising parents' income levels will not on its own be likely to improve their ability to support their children in school. This support is crucial in enabling pupils to improve their own material circumstances in time, through higher academic achievements.

The connections between material circumstances and educational achievement were well understood in England in the 1960s and 1970s. This understanding led to the development of Educational Priority Areas (EPAs) in the late 1960s, where extra resources were allocated for school buildings and teachers' salaries in low-income areas. Such a focus was by its nature placing most faith in the ability of public institutions to compensate for impoverished backgrounds. However, these experiments were to be short lived as Conservative administrations from 1979 to 1997 did not favour this sort of positive discrimination in support of poorer areas. Over this latter time period educational aims were explicitly about encouraging improvements in achievement through competition between schools, which had its sharpest impact after the 1988 Educational Reform Act and local management of schools.

It can be argued that these reforms have accentuated and made clear the inequalities of achievement between schools, whilst also increasing the spatial concentration of poverty; thus emphasising the socio-economic characteristics of individuals going to particular schools. Indeed by emphasising the concept of parental 'choice' in relation to access to schools, alongside providing information about schools in the form of league tables, the differential effects of ability to exercise 'choice' are more likely to lead to a polarisation in school intake in certain areas than previous systems of access to state schooling based on locality and 'catchment areas '(Ball et al., 1994).

Under a Labour administration Education Action Zones (EAZs) have been established within some local authorities and although some observers see them as a reinvention of EPAs, there are some important differences, not least in the involvement of the private sector. EAZs are viewed by the government as part of the Standards Agenda but the link to Social Inclusion is obvious. Many zones are providing out of school learning opportunities in breakfast and homework clubs, summer schools and play schemes, as well as family learning centres (DfEE, 1999d).

T H E S P A T I A L A S P E C T O F S O C I A L E X C L U S I O N

As the last section has already demonstrated there is a spatial aspect to accessing schools, this often (but not always) overlays other social geography. Throughout

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most of the industrial era, there has been a tendency for those on low incomes to be concentrated in particular neighbourhoods (McGregor & McConnachie, 1995). Marxist geographers have conceptualised social geography as the way that power is expressed in the monopolisation of desirable space and the relegation of the least powerful groups to the least desirable environments (Harvey, 1973). Other social geographers have utilised ideas from social anthro- pology and psychoanalysis in building up a picture of the ecological self; that is the individual as connected to their material and social worlds (Sibley, 1995). Taken together these perspectives have a great deal to say in relation to the social world and everyday circumstances of children and young people, in particular schools in specific localities.

Historically, the locations of the least desirable environments were often in the inner city but in recent decades such neighbourhoods can also be found in large social housing estates on the peripheries of towns. Although the evidence is not clear cut, there is a growing belief in the U.K. and other European countries, that the spatial concentration of disadvantage has grown over time (Green, 1994). Taken together these trends have led to a situation where the residents of particular areas are in effect excluded from many of the markets and services vital to their human development and pursuit of a decent lifestyle. Although this situation is sometimes seen as a problem specific to Britain, there is evidence of similar trends elsewhere in Europe and in North America where the issue is strongly associated with race (Power, 1997).

The spatial concentration of poverty and wealth in Britain over the last twenty years means that those who experience multiple deprivation are now more likely than ever to be in schools which have a reputation for low achievement, high truancy and exclusion (Butler, 1997). Often newspapers delight in 'naming and shaming' these schools, adding to the poor image which already puts off parents with more resources and the ability to exercise a preference for a school in a 'better area'. For example, a Demos study observed that:

.. . in many areas today, the main reason for moving house is nearness to what are now described without embarrassment as 'good schools' ... A school doing well in the league tables can add as much as 10% to purchase prices in the neighbourhood (Worpole, 1999: 8).

This latter study also notes that where parents do not (or cannot) move house to be near a particular school, some accept longer journeys to school, which is demonstrated by a measurable increase in the average length of all school trips over the last decade (from 2.1 to 2.7 miles). Another Demos study has noted that pupils who achieved no GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) results in 1994 were highly concentrated in location. A fifth (20%) of these pupils nationally were in 203 schools, or 6% of all maintained schools. More


than half (118) of these schools were located within two miles of one of the 320 large deprived social housing estates. Since 1988, both GCSE attainment and staying on rates have improved more than twice as fast in the areas of Britain where the wealthiest quarter of the population live, than in areas inhabited by the worst off (Bentley, 1997).

This spatial concentration of disadvantage and underachievement in education in schools is compounded by other related forms of disadvantage. The culture and networks available to young people in poorer area are often limited and can be extremely negative. Where the majority of adults are not in paid employment, the motivation to learn, readiness to develop the discipline and self-direction needed to achieve an appreciation of the longer term benefits of education are more likely to be absent. Indeed attitudes to education in the poorest working class communities can be deeply ambivalent and sometimes openly hostile.

Schools can have great difficulties in working effectively in such circumstances. The indicators by which institutional performance are currently measured, primarily examination success and attendance rates, also pressure institutions to focus on pupils who meet threshold conditions with more ease. The result is a growing body of disaffected underachievers and a leakage of young people from institutions through demotivation, truancy, criminal offending and exclusion (Bentley, 1997).

E X C L U S I O N F R O M S C H O O L - T H E S C A L E OF T H E P R O B L E M IN E N G L A N D

The first report from the Social Exclusion Unit focused upon truancy and exclusion (SEU, 1998) reflecting both the growing concern about these issues as well as the desire of the incoming government to make education a top priority in both its economic and welfare agenda. Education has been described as the key to tackling social exclusion and as a 'springboard out of poverty', as a key mark of citizenship and democracy (DfEE, 1999a). Indeed, education in its widest sense has long been seen as a way of equalising opportunity and as a vehicle for social mobility. A great deal of research effort has been expended upon the impact schools can have on their pupils and specifically upon a research paradigm which purports to measure school effectiveness (see Slee et al., 1998, for an overview and critique). As with other indicators of 'effectiveness', schools are known to exclude pupils at different rates, which cannot be explained by intake alone (Hayden, 1997h).

Halpern (1998) views the focus of the Social Exclusion Unit on truancy and exclusion as telling; he notes that truancy is strongly predictive of many of the

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classic problems associated with social exclusion. School exclusion, on the other hand, is seen by Halpern as largely related to the introduction of school league tables. He concludes:

Truancy and school exclusions prove to be a good starting point for the Unit as they are easy to measure and the causality is relatively well known. It also represents an obvious example of a policy problem that cuts across departments. A big part of the cause lies in the hands of the DfEE, but the consequences lie in the hands of the Home Office and DSS. If the Unit is unable to make progress with this issue, then it is unlikely to be able to succeed with more multi-layered problems (Halpern, 1998: 275).

Although Halpern (1998) is partly right on all counts he misses the complexity of what both truancy and school exclusion represent. Children and young people are out of school for a range of complex and inter-connected reasons, in which family based difficulties feature highly, as does disaffection with school, underachievement and special educational need. In other words, it is one thing reducing truancy and exclusion figures, it is another providing a truly inclusive school environment, which sets out to really provide for the full range of needs in a community.

Truancy and exclusion certainly do have clear school and LEA monitoring systems and in that sense change in official statistics is measurable. But, as with other forms of official statistics (such as crime) they are hidebound by definitional problems, reporting and recording systems. For many educational researchers 'truancy' is a narrow focus and one which does not encompass the many forms of 'unauthorised absence' from school, nor indeed the various forms of parentally condoned absence, which may include issues such as young carets or extended holidays during school term time. These latter situations are likely to have an adverse effect on academic achievement but do not amount to either truancy or exclusion. Similarly official records of exclusion are well known to be just that and do not include such situations as pupils being asked to go home at lunchtime, attend part-time, move to another school and so on.

It is important to note that some of the apparent fourfold increase in official rates of exclusion during the 1990s can be attributed to both faulty baseline data for the 1990-1992 period as well as better recording once the issue became more high profile in public debate. It should be noted that there was no national data on school exclusion before this time. Official data for the 1998-1999 school year shows a 15% decrease in records of permanent exclusion on the previous year (DfEE, 2000). The total number of official permanent exclusions for the 1998-1999 school year amounted to 10,400 nationally or 0.14% of the school population.

It is known that a larger number of children are sent home on fixed period exclusions, but this data is not available nationally. Data on fixed period exclusions has


been collected as of September 1999 but was not available at time of writing. Existing data on the scale of fixed period exclusions is known to be unreliable, but is estimated to be many times the level for records of permanent exclusion (Hayden, 1997b). Indeed unpublished research by the author has found records of exclusion for over 500 individual children or about one in fifty of all the children in state schools in one local authority, over a one year period of monitoring. The vast majority of these records were fixed period exclusions and mostly under five days in duration, which at the time of monitoring did not have to be reported to the local authority. However, as evidence of the incidence of behaviour which schools are unwilling to manage (or perhaps the level of pupil disaffection with school or particular subjects/teachers?); this latter data does illustrate a much bigger problem than official records on permanent exclusion would indicate.

EXCLUSION FROM SCHOOL AND THE GENERATION OR M A I N T E N A N C E O F S O C I A L E X C L U S I O N

As already noted, exclusion disproportionately befalls some of the most vulnerable members of society (Cohen et al., 1994; Hayden, 1997b). Indeed the over-representation of certain groups amongst those excluded mirrors the patterns found in the prison population; first and foremost males are more likely to be excluded than females; children from families in poorer socio-economic groups; African-Caribbean males; children who have spent time in the care of the local authority; children who are underachieving at school and have special educational needs (Hayden, 1997b). The overall rise in recorded exclusion has occurred alongside continuing concerns about school academic standards, children's behaviour in school and elsewhere, as well as parenting, with an increasing focus on the extent to which parents can be made responsible for their children's behaviour outside the home. The debate about the role of parents in relation to the appropriate control of children's behaviour soon spills over to concerns about so called 'neighbours from hell', 'problem estates', as well as more general concerns about the way children and young people occupy public space, especially in particular localities.

The evidence suggests that exclusion from school appears to be indicative of a whole series of inter-connected issues which together may arise out of or lead to social exclusion for some individuals. At the same time, it must be remembered that permanent exclusion from school is only one of 46 indicators devised by the New Policy Institute to monitor trends in social exclusion (Howarth et al., 1998). More broadly longitudinal research demonstrates that low educational test scores are a powerful indicator of early parenthood, living

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in social housing and low earnings (Hobcraft, 1998). These latter situations are strongly related to social exclusion.

The importance of permanent exclusion from school in the generation or maintenance of social exclusion may lie in the potential for an exclusion to be both a catalyst and result of difficulties in an individual's life.

Atkinson (1999: 68) argues that:

... although social exclusion can result from breakdowns or malfunctions in any of the social institutional systems, it seems likely that we can only genuinely talk of social exclusion when, for individuals or groups, several of these systems breakdown/malfunction either as part of a chain reaction or simultaneously.

When this argument has significance when to what is known about the situation of most children excluded from school. Parents/carers often talk of exclusion being 'the last straw' or as a punishment for them. Problems at school are known to either precede or follow placement in care for many children and it is often alleged may lead to placement breakdown (Hayden, 1997b). Indeed a strong link between family breakdown and school breakdown has been found in a study by the Society of Education Officers and the Association of Directors of Social Services (Webster, 1999). Similarly the association between criminal and delinquent activity and exclusion from school is well known, although precise sequences of events are difficult to identify (Hayden & Martin, 1998). Whatever the sequence of events it is obvious that exclusion increases the opportunity of children and young people to get into trouble, furthermore the peers available to them during the school day are likely to be excluded or disaffected non attenders.

In sum school exclusion, particularly permanent exclusion, is a fairly reliable indicator of children and families who are in need of social support and are often either socially excluded or on the fringes of this circumstance. Given the difficulties typically present in the lives of children excluded from school; it may reasonably be surmised that exclusion is likely to only exacerbate the situation. Available evidence suggests that once a child is permanently excluded, particularly in the last two years of schooling, they are unlikely to get back into full-time mainstream schooling successfully (Parsons, 1999). Indeed many of the alternative programmes, such as Include (formerly Cities in School) recognise this.

Whilst exclusion from school is an important and legitimate focus for concern in relation to combatting social exclusion there is a danger that too much focus on exclusion masks the bigger issues. These bigger issues include a need for a curriculum based on an understanding of the range and diversity of human intelligence; a recognition of the importance of emotional health as the foundation for personal achievement; the potential connections between education


and other public and social services and the place of formal education in wider communities of human learning and interaction (Bentley, 1999: 44).

As a starting point an inclusive school system would, as Glennerster (1998) argues, have to be truly comprehensive. Evidence suggests that the least able benefit most from being with their more able peers (what Glennerster refers to the 'pull up effect'), although the evidence also suggests that the more able benefit most from being with the most able. In sum if there is to be a real commitment to inclusion one would want to see the end of selective education (including public schools) in England. As it stands, it is not a small matter to include groups of very disaffected and disruptive young people in school, partly because the schools that receive more of these individuals are not evenly distributed geographically.

Many commentaries on school exclusion mention in passing that pupils are excluded because they are disruptive and are likely to effect the achievements of others, as though this is a minor issue. In one way it is a relatively minor issue, there have always been disruptive and difficult pupils in school (McManus, 1988) but a number of things have changed in recent decades which means that schools are not always exaggerating when they report that they are facing more difficult behaviour from a few individuals, whom they do not feel able to provide for adequately, within the current system. Whilst some of these perceived changes may relate to the welt known stresses and pressures of teaching, particularly in a context of rapid change and disputed system of inspection and evaluation, other perceived changes are likely to relate to the growing social and spatial polarization highlighted in this chapter. In addition the reduction in special school places and therapeutic residential schools and other forms of highly supported school placements have left some individuals poorly provided for in mainstream education, with staff who may feel lacking in suitable training for the task they face. The ability to address high levels of educational need which may manifest themselves in very disruptive behaviour is a practical and human resource issue, which includes the development of appropriate skills and professional training. Some commentators seem to assume that it is just a question of the will to change, rather than the means to change; it is clearly both. The will to change is a hearts and minds issue and it is in this respect that a great deal of work needs to be done in terms of both professional and public understanding of the reasons behind the way some children behave. The 'get tough' stance in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, as well as the pressure on schools and children to achieve more academically, sits uneasily alongside this latter need and the Social Inclusion agenda. Whilst it is clear that there is much to be gained, both for the individuals concerned and society at large, from keeping children and young people in full time education;

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there is some debate about whether this can and should always be in a mainstream school.

When one considers the size of the official problem of permanent exclusion from school one is forced to conclude that the numbers are a tiny proportion of all school children, in comparison with the much bigger group of children who are underachieving and disaffected. Primary schools in particular are generally good at 'containing' children, although sadly too many children do not cope well with the transition to secondary school. It might thus be surmised that containment is not enough, although preferable to exclusion. In many ways the problems of meaningful inclusion are probably most accute at Key Stage 3 (11-14 year olds) which accounts for nearly four in ten of all permanent exclusions (DfEE, 1999c). Pupils at Key Stage 3 still have several years of compulsory education to complete but are considered to be too young for the kinds of alternative education developing at Key Stage 4 (15 and 16 year olds).

The possibilities for alternative provision at Key Stage 4 (the last two years of compulsory schooling in England) are expanding in a range of ways; through special projects under the Standards Fund; through national charities such as Include and through the relaxation of the National Curriculum at this stage of schooling. What we need however is close monitoring in terms of the outcomes for young people on these latter programmes. We need better evidence about whether alternatives to exclusion at Key Stage 4 are a route into or out of Social Exclusion as young people make the transition to adulthood. The acqui- sition and application of skills and knowledge are fundamentally important to a nation's prosperity and social cohesion. It is obvious then that an inclusive education system and specifically inclusive schools, must be part of any strategy to combat social exclusion.

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Howarth, C., Kenway, P., Palmer, G., & Street, C. (1998). Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion: Labour's Inheritance. Joseph Rowntree Foundation/York: York Publishing Services Ltd.

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Iisakkila, A. (1997). Comparative Study about School Exclusion in Mainstream Schools (Denmark, Finland and England). University of Portsmouth, European Social Work student dissertation.

McGregor, A., & McConnachie, M. (1995). Social Exclusion, Urban Regeneration and Economic Reintegration. Urban Studies, 32(10), 1587-1600.

McManus, M. (1989). Troublesome Behaviour in the Classroom a teachers survival guide. London: Routledge.

Morrison, G. M., D'Icau, B., Couto, E., & Loose, S. (1997). Understanding Pathways to Student Expulsion: Consideration of Individual and System Indicators. The California School Psychologist, 2, 53-62.

OECD (1996). Integrating Services for Children at Risk. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Oppenheim, C. (Ed.) (1998). An Inclusive Society. Strategies for tackling poverty. London: IPPR. Parsons, C. (1999). Education, Exclusion and Citizenship. London: Routledge. Paugam, S. (1995). The spiral of precariousness: a multidimensional approach to the process of

social disqualification in France. In: Room, G. (See below). Pitts, J., & Hope, T. (1997). The local politics of inclusion: The state and community safety. Social

Policy and Administration, 31(5), 37-58. Power, A. (1997). Estates on the Edge: the social consequences of mass housing in Northern

Europe. Basingstoke: MacMillan. Room, G. (Ed.) (1995). Beyond the Threshold. 7[he measurement and analysis of social exclusion.

Bristol. The Policy Press. SEU, Social Exclusion Unit (1998). Truancy and School Exclusion. London: The Stationary Office. Shropshire, J., & Middleton, S. (1999). Small Expectations: Learning to be Poor? York: Joseph

Rowntree Foundation/York Publishing Services. Sibley, D. (1995). Geographies of Exclusion. London: Rontledge. Slee, R., Weiner, G., with Tomlinson, S. (Eds) (1998). School Effectiveness for Whom? Challenges

to the School Effectiveness and School Improvement Movements. London: Falmer Press. Tabberer, R. (1999). Poverty and Education: evidence for education's role in combating the

transmission of poverty. In: Hills, J. (see above), 121-126. University of Essex (1996). ESRC Research centre on Micro-Social Change. Annual report

1995-1996. Section B: Low Income Dynamics, 19-22. Walker, R. (1995). In: Room (Ed) above. Webster, T. (1999). Social Inclusion. Education Journal, March, 28. Worpole, K. (1999). Driving Forces. The Guardian, June 8th, 8. A study on home and school,

soon to be published by Comedia/I)emos. York, R., Heron, J. M,, & Wolff, S. (1972). Exclusion from School. Journal of Child Psychology

and Psychiatry. 13, 259-266. Young, J. (1999). The Exclusive Society: Social Exclusion, Crime and Difference in Late Modernity.

London: Sage Publications.

90 THE EDUCATION OF STUDENTS

WITH EMOTIONAL AND

BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES:

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

i" Egide Royer

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents six important questions that must be addressed regarding educational services presently offered in schools to emotionally and behaviourally disordered (EBD) children and youth, and suggests developments which are in the author's opinion very much needed. The text refers in part to research projects conducted in Canada by the author and more broadly to the body of knowledge that, as a field, educators and researchers now have access to.

The Education of Students with Emotional and BehaviouraI Difficulties." One Size Does Not Fit All.

Research data from North America and Europe clearly indicate that violence and adaptation problems of children and youth have increased over the last 20 years. Works conducted by the author with Belgian, American, English and Australian colleagues, all preoccupied with behaviour disorders in school, support this perception. For example, the official data from the Ministate de


129

130 t~GIDE ROYER

l'rducation du Qurbec reveal that for the past 15 years, the number of students officially identified as behaviourally disordered has steadily increased. This is even more significant when you consider that the administrative identification, which is done primarily for funding purpose, usually underestimates the phenomenon because of the pressure put on schools to offer special services to identified students.

In a recent paper, Walker (1996) and his colleagues also state that the increase in the prevalence of aggressive and antisocial behaviours of children and youth is a fact that cannot be denied. Many factors are contributing to the development of behaviour disorders and, more specifically, to aggressive behaviours in school: parental skills characterized by punishment, inconsistency and the lack of limit setting; neighbourhoods that give occasion to associate with deviant peers without proposing prosocial models of behaviour as replacement and schools that reinforce punitive disciplinary approaches, where students, in great number, are failing to succeed academically

The recent shooting episodes in U.S. schools constitute the most obvious and dramatic illustration of this reality. The American Psychological Association reports that, since 1992, there have been 13 specific shooting incidents in American schools (without taking into account the recent killing episode in Denver, Colorado), involving 31 violent deaths (Sleek, 1998). Even more troubling, according to this report, is the increasing number of youth homicides in rural schools. Violence, according to this report, is not limited to poor and disadvantaged urban areas.

The behaviour problems of children and adolescents are in fact becoming a very important educational question. Many of these youngsters, indeed, do not complete their school career. It is known that EBD students are the most at risk of dropping out (42% of those 16 or older drop out, in comparison to 26% of all the students identified as having some form of handicapping condition, Steinberg & Knitzer, 1992) and are the most at risk of being suspended or excluded from school.

So, schools are confronted with a more and more pressing situation, but we have not observed, at the same time, developments in the abilities of teachers and other school personnel to deal effectively with the educational needs of these students. The author has given many conferences and in-school training sessions in the last 10 years in Qurbec, Manitoba, Belgium and other provinces and countries. It is obvious, from what he has heard and seen, that teachers, principals and professionals working in schools have received very little training on how to make education happen with students with EBD. Even when they have had the opportunity to receive this training, the use in the classroom of these newly developed professional skills is far from obvious.

The Education of Students with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties 131

Some Critical Questions that Confront Researchers and Practitioners Regarding the Education of EBD Students

There are at least six critical questions that, as researchers and practitioners we have to address regarding the education of students with EBD:

(1) Are good schools really making a difference with students with EBD? (2) Is the regular classroom the better placement for all these students? (3) Are we really implementing individualized interventions for these students

or are we in a 'when your only tool is a hammer, all problems must look

like a nail ' syndrome? (4) What type of teacher training is necessary to make education and sociali-

sation happen for students with EBD? What is the best way to do it? (5) How can research effectively support intervention? (6) Do we really consider parents as effective partners or is it only a 'poli t ical ly

correct affirmation'?

Are Good Schools Really Making a Difference with Students with EBD?

In a paper considering the actual situation of special education in Europe, Hegarty (1996) stated that

the involvement of the school in creating learning difficulties is more controversial, but in fact is relatively easy to demonstrate. The literature on school effectiveness confirms the intuitive belief that schools do make a difference, and that pupils receive a better education in some schools than they would in other schools. By the same token, pupils receive a worse education in some schools than in others, learn less in them and are deemed to have greater learning difficulties (p. 15).

It is obvious that the same can be said about school achievement of students with EBD. There are schools which control and punish, and there are schools which are committed to educate. As stated by Osher and his colleagues (1994), in many schools a 'curriculum of control seems to dominate. ' In this type of school, principal and teachers consider that everything is fine when, walking in the hallway, no unusual or loud sounds come out from the closed doors of the classrooms. Silence, as an indicator, is not sufficient to conclude that students with EBD are engaged in education! A curriculum of control or a silent and orderly classroom are not enough (Steinberg & Knitzer, 1992).

When discussing quality schools for EBD students, it is necessary to make obvious that good schools: are setting clear expectations for students regarding their behaviours; have put in place general and selective interventions to prevent problematic behaviours and to teach prosocial ones; have adopted

132 I~GIDE ROYER

crisis intervention procedures and are communicating high expectations to their students regarding academic success (Coie & Krehbiel, 1984).

A quality relationship, coupled with an environment where learning is highly reinforced, constitute two important components of any reference model for teaching students with EBD. A school is not a psychiatric hospital or a therapy center. It is a place where students have the possibility to grow, to actualize their potential and to develop significant and meaningful relationships with peers and with adults dedicated to their well being. A school is a place to learn how to live with others in society and a very important social training ground. For the children who enter the classroom with important deficiencies in their socialisation process or development, school is, for many, the second and sometimes the ultimate chance to develop the necessary skills to successfully find their place in their community and to live a meaningful and rich professional life (Royer, 1995, 1996).

Schools also have an important preventive role to play. This is a very sensitive part of its social mission. As Walker (1996) and his colleagues stated

Schools have the relatively unique ability to access the vast majority of at-risk children early in their school careers and also to marshal the resources and expertise necessary to address their problems in co-ordinated fashion (p. 195).

To do so, at-risk students need to be targeted early and comprehensive interventions with these students, their parents, and their peers need to be put in place

Because maintaining students with EBD in mainstream school as long as possible may be one of the best opportunities we can offer them (Walker et al., 1996), the way a school considers suspension and exclusion is surely one of the best indicators of the philosophy chosen to faire oeuvre d'dducation with difficult students. For example, in a Qu6bec City secondary school, a program has been developed to prevent exclusion from school of students with EBD (Royer, Bitaudeau & Poliquin-Verville, 1996). The Positive Alternative to School Suspension Program (PASS) is based on the belief that, to be able to teach and help these students, they must be kept in school, even though some of their behaviours may be disturbing to their peers or impeding their own learning (Morgan-D'Atrio, Northup, LaFlettr & Spera, 1995). The program is aimed at being proactive instead of reactive when dealing with these students. This belief is directly related to the conviction, supported by many studies, that punishment, used as the sole intervention to socialize a child, fails miserably, even more with adolescents and young adults living in disadvantaged communities or in multiple problem families. The impact of this program is nevertheless limited. It is obvious that this type of intervention is effective in limiting to a


minimum the exclusion of students from school. Nevertheless the programme has led to an unacceptable increase in the use of in-school suspension by some teachers who considered the use of in-school suspension as their first means to deal with discipline problem in their classroom. The exclusion has moved from being external (from the school) to internal (within the school).

Is the Regular Classroom the Better Placement for all These Students?

It has often been said that once on the special education track, less than 10% of EBD students with EBD return to the mainstream (Walker, Singer, Palfrey, Orza, Wenger & Butler, 1988). This type of data is often used to support total inclusion of students with EBD in the regular classroom. There remain questions regarding the adequacy of the services offered to students with EBD. For example, the only specialized school for behaviour disorders in the Quebec City area is seen as an essential regional service and more and more EBD students are referred by school boards to this school. In a similar way, another school, specifically designed to teach hearing handicapped students, is planning to open near Quebec City, following many years of total inclusion of hearing impaired students in regular schools and dissatisfaction of many parents regarding the school achievement of their children. Many educators and administrators are revisiting the question of inclusion with the growing awareness of the differences existing between social correctness, social value and effective educational intervention. As for special education in general, concerns are shifting from the evaluation of the process of education to the evaluation of the results or the outcomes of education.

In April 1998, James Kanffman was presenting at the Salt Lake City convention of the Council for Exceptional Children his views on the future of special education. He clearly stated his reserve regarding the total inclusion movement and his amazement at the fact that, in education, specialisation seems to be more and more a sin. In the medical world, for example, as in many other fields, specialisation is seen as a necessity to deal with difficult or severe questions. Schools act as if the regular teacher will be able to teach, in a regular classroom, every child, including those with severe behaviour problems. It seems that, in school, a generalist can do everything, and can do it well, as long as the child is seated in a regular classroom.

This comment from Kauffman is important for behaviourally disordered students. More and more evidence contradicts the position that more restrictive placements are never beneficial and that mainstream school is always beneficial to all children with disabilities (MacMillan, Gresham & Forness, 1996). The debate is not on the desirability of full inclusion. What must be addressed are

134 t~GIDE ROYER

the needs of the students and the resources and intervention required to meet them. In this perspective, it is obvious that a 'flexible continuum of services' is necessary with EBD students (Osher et al., 1994). When well assessed, well documented, and well supported regular classroom interventions have failed, quality, reintegration oriented special classes, with excellent teaching and clear reintegration plans, are, needed. This classroom (Steinberg et al., 1992):

(1) must have a state of the art behavioural management system, (2) must have a strong focus on academic learning, (3) must be co-ordinated with other agencies offering services to the student, (4) must involve parents in the dally life of the classroom.

To summarize, we cannot effectively teach all emotionally and behaviourally disordered children and youth with only the two levels of service which are often encountered in many schools: the regular classroom and the sidewalk. To think otherwise is a myth. A diversified and flexible continuum of services is needed. In this context, the level of inclusion is not, in itself the sole or the best indicator of successful educational services.

I N D I V I D U A L I Z E D I N T E R V E N T I O N O R ' W H E N Y O U R O N L Y T O O L IS A H A M M E R , A L L P R O B L E M S M U S T

L O O K L I K E A N A I L ' S Y N D R O M E ?

One of the favourite ways of doing things in education is often to try to find the 'magic bullet' - the 'one size fits all' solution - which will solve rapidly and efficiently the complex and long lasting problems of students with EBD. The use of this 'pens6e magique' is like saying for every complex issue there is a simple answer. We are too often confronted to the fact that this solution is the bad one.

At the same time, educators have been talking about individualisation for at least twenty five years and still the 'one size fits all' position is the most common approach in mainstream schools. As stated by Walker (1996),

school personnel have a long history of applying simple and general solutions to complex student behaviour problems and of expressing understandable disappointment when these attempts do not work. What we see is often a poor match between problems mad interventions, inadequate implementation, lack of necessary resources and minimal investment well below the threshold necessary to achieve critical effects (p. 197).

One problem lies with assessment: it has to support the intervention. Data collection must relate to the intervention process to be employed. Data that are only good for categorization or diagnosis are not enough since they are often


not of great educational relevance. Reseachers and practitioners both fall into this trap where data collection is valued because it underpins the ascription of labels rather than the proscription of appropriate interventions.

Dunlap and Childs, (1996) have examined the status of experimental research on interventions designed to modify behaviours of children and youth with EBD. They concluded that very few studies reported interventions that were individualised on the basis of assessment data. They found, in the published intervention literature, little evidence to support linking intervention procedures on an individualised basis to the results of pre-intervention assessment data.

Good quality educational services for students with EBD cannot rely upon data which labels and leads to an assumption. What we must state, as advocates of quality educational services for EBD students, is that 'One size does not fit all'. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a good example of this. You can deal with these children on the preliminary assumption that Ritalin will always be effective and sufficient, or that a behaviour management program will do the job, or that self-monitoring is the key intervention for this 'type of kid'. However the evidence suggests that often, following a careful functional analysis, there is a need to construct a multi-modal, multi-environmental intervention which is tailored to the needs of the individual student. Not all students with ADHD are the same. Consider, as a second illustration, the knowledge base regarding social skills training. If we really want transfer of training to occur, we need formulation of specific individual goals for each child, training occurring in the natural setting by people who work with the children daily, and a combination of the traditional social skills training package with social problem solving program (Weiner & Harris, 1997).

So each case must be considered on an individual basis and with a carefully designed intervention. This is time and energy consuming, but in fact has a direct relationship with the complexity of behaviours many of these children and youth manifest in school. It does justice to their individuality and to the complexity of every human being. It requires teachers whose training enables them to do this.

WHAT TYPE OF TEACHER TRAINING IS NECESSARY TO MAKE EDUCATION AND

SOCIALISATION HAPPEN WITH EBD STUDENTS?

Teacher training for children who present difficult behaviours is never easy. Teachers received very little intervention training for students with EBD in their initial training. Many of them believe, total inclusion movement or not, that

136 t~GIDE ROYER

there is no real way to effectively deal with these students. Excluding them from class, or even from school, constitutes for some the only logical solution if they want to have a chance to teach to the other children.

There are two major classroom behaviours that teachers tend to view as problems: not paying attention and disrupting the classroom and other school activities (Foruess, Kavale, King & Kasari, 1994). Regarding disruption, needless to say, regular and special education teachers have not received, for the most part, adequate initial or in-service training. When they have attended some work- shops, it has been very much, from the trainer's point of view, the 'train and hope' philosophy. The transfer to their classroom, in particular, of the behavioural intervention skills has not been impressive (Nelson & Rutherford, 1987). It is not enough for teachers to listen to experts telling them how to do it in their classroom. We need to find ways to support teachers' use this knowledge.

Nevertheless, well trained teachers can effectively manage disruptive behaviour and can improve children's behaviour by establishing clear rules and directions, providing positive and corrective feedback for adaptive behaviour, and using reprimands, time out, response cost or a token economy system to decrease problematic behaviour.

After many years of working with teachers of students with learning and behaviour problems, the author believe that the best way to modify the teachers' educational practice is to show them that it is not only of great benefit for the student but also for themselves to adopt techniques of preventive intervention with students who demonstrate difficult behaviours in class. Just as the student requires a sense of achievement in altering his behaviour, so the teacher needs to see results when applying a new approach with a student. The effort-benefit ratio is important for teachers who are often solicited to change some of their practices. If their efforts improve the student's behaviour and ultimately give them a feeling of accomplishment about the situation, and if the atmosphere in class is improved, this new approach is likely to be maintained. Furthermore, they will eventually share these new teaching strategies with colleagues and tend to be more open to other suggestions along the same line.

Just like many of their students, personnel working with students with EBD experience isolation from other educators. They need a system of support to help them with curriculum modification, behaviour management etc . . . . (Osher et al., 1994). Teachers must not feel that they are alone when dealing with the problems these students present. Team collaboration between educators is a must. It has been shown clearly that traditional, lecture-style, in-service training sessions, based on the transmission of information or specific knowledge to teachers, are not efficient, effective, or useful in changing practices in the classroom and in the schools. Teachers should train in teams, there must be an interactive follow-


up which give teachers the occasion to talk things over with peers regarding the difficulties they encounter and the successes they achieve with EBD students. This kind of training program has been found effective, in particular regarding the use of verbal intervention to deal with difficult behaviour in the classroom. (Veillette & Royer, accepted). In another study, these authors have also used a Teacher Assistance Team Model with 13 secondary school teachers working with 13-14-15 year old students. Once a week, these teachers met with the researcher to discuss situations encountered with some of their students and asked their colleagues for advice and suggestions. These meetings were managed in a very directive way by the facilitator, setting a strict time frame, focusing on specific behaviours, and were action (not diagnostic) oriented. Results were positive, with teachers indicating an increase in the efficacy of their interventions with some difficult behaviours manifested by students (Royer, in preparation).

HOW CAN RESEARCH EFFECTIVELY SUPPORT INTERVENTION?

'Teaching is an art' or 'What these children need is love' are both examples of the curious belief, held by many educators, that teaching behaviourally disordered children is some kind of innate ability or emotional experience that relies solely on some quality of the teacher. For many teachers and principals, the fact that some interventions have been evaluated and are considered more efficient than others does not seem to be of any practical significance.

The author has met teachers and principals who stood firm in their position regarding the highly addictive property of Ritalin, others who expressed strong feelings against any use of reinforcers in the classroom, some who maintain the view that most students with EBD deserved to be punished, and others unable to avoid getting into escalating verbal exchanges with some these students.

It must be reaffirmed clearly that the education of students with EBD needs to be supported by good, sound, and significant research. Some interventions are better than others and everyone working in a school with behaviourally disordered students must possess this information and know these skills. Briefly stated, these students require evidenced based teaching and interventions. To love and to be committed to these children is necessary, but not sufficient. But what type of research do we need?

How do children learn to be aggressive? How and why do some learn to bully other children? Are attention deficit hyperactive disordered (ADHD) children deficient on some cognitive skills? What are the cultural differences in conceptu- alization of ADHD? How can we increase the transfer and maintenance aspects of social skills training program? These are legitimate research questions regarding

138 t~GIDE ROYER

emotional and behavioural disorders. Nevertheless, some are more popular with researchers than others. Intervention research, or research designed to evaluate intervention strategies in the field, is not favoured by many university researchers. It is expensive, difficult to do, and does not produce many journal articles compared to longitudinal studies or survey studies. Nevertheless, special education, and specialist EBD teachers in particular, need to be supported by research and development, which is carried out in schools with practitioners, and is related to the problems they are facing. As well, the results should be discussed with the teachers, professionals and principals working with these children.

The fact is that it may be important to better understand how aggression development is related to school achievement, but the knowledge issued by such a study will not magically transform practice in the classroom. Research activity needs to be grounded in schools and aimed at 'developing' interventions. In this sense we need field descriptive research, experimental research (even though it is difficult to obtain significant results with design implemented in schools) and we need more research synthesis (the integrative review) to be able to know what is the state of knowledge in our own field, something that the single research paradigm is not able to do (Rosenthal, 1991; Schmidt, 1992). Take for example the question of social skills training. A meta-analytic review of the effectiveness of social skills training interventions with children with learning disabilities concludes that the overall effect were small, with the largest effect evident on self-report measures. (Kavale & Forness, 1995). A second meta-analytic review of 79 evaluative studies on social skills training (SST) with aggressive and withdrawn children, conducted by Schneider (1992), concludes that SST is moderately effective in improving social interaction in natural settings, particularly with withdrawn as opposed to aggressive children, and that programs using modeling and coaching techniques have a higher effect that do those involving social cognitive methods and that highest effect seems to be with studies involving treatment of relatively short duration. These research synthesis procedures are producing robust knowledge that teachers and other school personnel working with EBD students should know, as any doctor should be aware that, under some circumstances, the use of Aspirin prevents heart attack. As a field, we need this kind of research to lessen the gap between researchers and practitioners (Lovitt & Higgins, 1996).

PARENTS AS EFFECTIVE PARTNERS OR A P O L I T I C A L L Y C O R R E C T A F F I R M A T I O N ?

Education will not really influence the development of students with EBD children unless educators consider their parents as important partners. Indeed,


an indication that an intervention model is ineffective is certainly the fact that the family, the support system which is the most intimate and long lasting a child may have, is often ignored, excluded or blamed by the school and the other agencies offering services for these students (Osher, Osher & Smith, 1994).

An effective intervention must consider the family of the child as one of the most important variables of the intervention. Schools must, among other things, adopt a preventive stance and work on parental skills and not only on teacher abilities or the children' behaviours (Deslandes & Royer, 1997). The family of students with EBD is a key element in the development and maintenance of the skills which support social integration. Research data supports these consid- erations. To help parents develop their parental skills is an important factor in the success of school based intervention.

The author and his collaborators have been developing an intervention program where, in addition to a social skills training program for adolescents, they are directly working with parents to help them in their interactions with their adolescents. This program consists first of meeting the adolescent and his parents to evaluate the quality of their interaction and the aspects that need to be developed. This first phase is followed, for the parents, by group sessions aimed at the development of their parental skills to deal with some of the most difficult behaviours of their children and to develop means to reinforce newly acquired behaviours of their adolescents, who, at the same time, are participating in a social skills training group. We are deeply convinced that parents participation in this kind of program is a must if the adolescent is to transfer and generalise the new skills learned during training. Indeed, the effect of such an intervention is, at the best, modest if we do not get the parents' direct support even though the students may be in the 14-15-16 years old age group.

CONCLUSION

Good schools, with quality teaching and high expectations regarding learning and behaviour of their students are required to meet the needs of students with EBD. Well organised schools can and will make a difference in the achievements of many of these pupils. There also needs for a full continuum of educational services. Total inclusion, as the only way to offer quality educational services to students, is a fallacy. The regular classroom is an objective for these students but not an end in itself. On the other hand, to suspend and expel as a protective measure for a school is a form of 'social professional malpractice'. Intervention must be evidence based and highly individualised. Furthermore, the full range of the interventions which are potentially effective

140 t~GIDE ROYER

with students with EBD must be available. W e need to get out of the ' hammer and nail ' orientation and select highly individualized interventions. Experience is not everything in working with behaviourally disordered students. Teachers must be in contact with the knowledge base and the best practices which are available. The 'train and hope ' approach will not be enough. Initially, teacher assistance teams and in-class demonstrations will be necessary, as well as the review of in-service training practices. Research and development is absolutely essential and requires support. Particularly needed is field research completed in collaboration with teachers and aimed at the development and evaluation of educational interventions for students with EBD. W e will go nowhere without the parents of these students. Home-school partnership is necessary to influence

the development of students with EBD in a significant and positive manner. Parents are still the more stable adult figure with whom the majority of these students have developed this strong and long term affective bonding necessary to influence their personal development.

It is clear that a comprehensive intervention with students with EBD is a must. In this regard, one of the posit ion papers presented at the 1997 Asia- Pacific Conference on education and sustainable development, held in Bangkok by UNESCO, is most relevant to the preoccupation for quality and effective education for students with EBD.

Education must not be equated with schooling or formal education alone (says UNESCO). It includes non-formal and informal modes of instruction and learning as well, including traditional learning acquired in the home and community. By defining education broadly, one also widens the community of educators (...) to include teachers, lecturers, curriculum developers, administrators, support staff, (...) community educators, youth leaders, parent association members, media people and yet more . . . (UNESCO, 1997, p. 15). With EBD students this affirmation is obvious. Schools cannot do the job alone.

To conclude, the following analogy is a good way to illustrate the complexity of the job we have to do, and the importance of the context in which we are

doing it.

We watch an ant make his laborious way across a wind-and-wave milded beach. He moves ahead, angles to the right to ease his climb up a steep dunelet, detours around a pebble • . . Thus he makes his weaving, halting way back to his home.. , the ant's path is irregular, complex, hard to describe. But its complexity is really a complexity in the surface of the beach, (and always remember this) not a complexity only in the ant. (Simon, 1981, pp. 63~54).

It seems obvious that American, Australian, Canadian, Vietnamese, Chinese and French beaches, only to name a few, may in some ways differ. To deal effectively with the education of students with EBD, we will have to consider our own beach: the school, the class, the teacher, the professional, their training,

The Education o f Students with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties 141

the i r k n o w l e d g e and the f a m i l y o f these ch i ldren . T h e s e m u s t be the c o m p o -

nen t s o f a c o m p l e x r e s p o n s e to the c o m p l e x i ssue o f E B D student .

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6valuation d'un programme alternatif ~ la suspension scolaire. Revue Canadienne de Psychodducation, 25, 25-40.

Schneider, B. H. (1992). Didactic methods for enhancing children's peer relations: A quantitative review. Clinical Psychology Review, 12, 363-382.

Schneider, S. F. (1996). Random thoughts on leaving the fray. American Psychologist, 51, 715-721. Simon, H. (1981). The science of the artificial. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Sleeks, S. (1998). Experts scrambling on school shootings. APA Monitor, 29, 1 & 35. Steinberg, Z., & Knitzer, J. (1992). Classroom for emotionally and behaviorally disturbed students:

Facing the challenge. Behavioral Disorders, 17, 145-156. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (1997). Educating for a sustainable

future: A transdisciplinary vision for concerted action. Paris: UNESCO. Veillette, M., & Royer, t~. (accepted). La formation des enseignants et les stratggies d'intervention

efficaces auprks des dlbves manifestant des comportements difficiles.

142 t~GIDE ROYER

Walker, D. K., Singer, J. D., Palfrey, J. S., Orza, M., Wenger, M., & Butler, J. A. (1988). Who leaves and who stays in special education: A 2-year follow-up study. Exceptional Children, 54, 393-402.

Walker, H. M., Homer, R. H., Sugai, G., Bullis, M., Sprague, J. H. R., Bricker, D., & Kaufman, M. H. J. (1996). Integrated approaches to preventing antisocial behavior patterns among school-age children and youth. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 4, 194--209.

Weiner, J., & Harris, P. J. (1997). Evaluation of an individualized, context-based social skills training program for children with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 12, 40--53.

10. MEDICAL CON-TRICK OR

NEW PARADIGM FOR

EMOTIONAL AND

BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES ?

THE CASE OF ATTENTION

DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY

DISORDER (AD/HD)

Paul Cooper

PREAMBLE: AD/HD AS MEDICAL CON-TRICK

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) is an important issue because it is a big issue. In the USA between 30 and 50% of referrals to mental health services for children are for suspected AD/HD (Greenhill, 1998). It is also a source of great controversy and concern in many countries of the world. This is not surprising given the two extreme and opposing views that are often associated with the concept.

The first view portrays AD/HD as a miracle diagnosis which accounts for virtually any manifestation of attentional and activity problems in children by attributing them solely to a biological cause. Along with the diagnosis comes

Emotional and Behavloural Difficulties in Mainstream Schools, Volume 1, pages 143-164. Copyright © 2001 by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISBN: 0-7623-0722-6

143

144 PAUL COOPER

a medication to which are attributed miraculous properties. The belief is, that the medication has the effect of 'curing' the problem of AD/HD.

The extreme counter to this view of AD/HD is to portray it as a malevolent contrivance. It is sometimes argued that AD/HD is a bogus medical condition, which serves those who have a vested interest in diverting attention from the social and political conditions that create and exacerbate EBD's (Slee, 1995). By shifting attention to the biological make up of the individual who exhibits the emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD's), it is argued, the advocates of AD/HD conspire to ensure that the conditions which disadvantage certain groups in our society remain unchanged. Worse still, not only does the concept of AD/HD promote these socially repressive understandings, but the pharmacological treatment, commonly prescribed for this 'condition', has the insidious effect of disabling the victims of this medical con trick, by dampening their mental alertness.

As medical con tricks go AD/HD could be seen to be especially successful. Estimates of the prevalence of AD/HD vary, internationally, between 3 and 6% of children (Tannock, 1998). Between 3 and 5% of all Americans are believed to suffer from this condition, including approximately 6% of school age children (Hinshaw, 1994). In the United Kingdom severe and pervasive hyperactivity is estimated to affect approximately 1% of all children, whilst at least a further 5% experience a less severe AD/HD (Nice, 2000). This means, on average, that at any one time there is approximately one child who could qualify for the diagnosis AD/HD in every class group of 30 children. It is a problem, therefore, that most teachers and schools are going to encounter. A cynic might suggest that this is very good news for professionals specialising in the assessment and treatment of the condition, and even better news for those who hold shares in certain pharmaceutical companies.

Cynicism aside, there are good reasons why the advent of AD/HD has been greeted with such a lack of enthusiasm and even hostility by some education- alists with an interest in EBD's. Any examination of the modern history of EBD's reveals why this is so. In charting this history Laslett et al. (1998) show how the development of this field can be characterised by a gradual shift away from individualised - 'within child' - explanations for EBD's and towards a contextualist view of such problems. This move from a medicalised view of EBD, as a pathology (or disease) of the individual, to a social model, emphasising the social and environmental influences on EBD's, encourages a focus on the ways in which educational and other environments can be changed to accommodate a wide variety of individual differences, rather than forcing individuals to adapt to uncongenial and sometimes hostile settings. An essential

Medical Con-Trick or New Paradigm for Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties ? 145

aspect of this shift in perspective has been the abandonment of the idea that EBD's are best seen as deficits in the individual, a view that is often referred to as the 'medical model' (Tomlinson, 1982). The concept of AD/HD, however, seems, to some commentators, to undermine this development, and even set the clock back.

In this chapter it will be argued that there are more positive and useful ways of understanding the phenomenon of AD/HD than either of those opposing views expressed above. In particular it will be suggested that AD/HD offers an extension to, rather than a departure from, the social-contextualist paradigm that has developed over recent years. Far from reinstating a biological determinist account of EBD's, AD/HD, it will be suggested, provides an opportunity for workers and academics in the EBD field to gain insights into the ways in which social, psychological and biological factors can interact to produce and alleviate social, emotional and behavioural problems.

Central to this chapter are the following three key propositions:

(1) The diagnostic concept of AD/HD rests on a body of empirical evidence which, whilst being not entirely conclusive, is supportive of the view that neurological, cognitive and genetic factors have a significant bearing on the development of a particular set of commonly recurring behavioural problems.

(2) The cognitive theories relating to AD/HD have particular implications for the development of educational and other social contexts in which all children function.

(3) Blanket rejection or ignoring of the AD/I-ID concept is likely to lead to a self fulfilling prophecy, by which the inappropriate over-medicalisation of EBD's is achieved. On the other hand, the willingness of non-medical professionals to engage constructively with the concept and to work co- operatively with professionals from other, including medical, disciplines is likely to produce the best outcomes for children and their families.

Finally, it is hoped that the thoughtful and critical reader will understand that the writer of this chapter is no more a proponent of, nor enthusiast for, AD/HD than he is of school exclusion or educational failure - topics which he has also written on. He is an advocate of and enthusiast for finding ways of promoting the positive social, personal and educational development of children in schools. He believes that there are ways of working with the concept of AD/HD that will aid this process. It is up to readers of this chapter to decide whether or not they agree with this view.

146 PAUL COOPER

WHICH DIAGNOSIS?

The application of the medical diagnosis of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) to children of school age and below is a topic of particular international interest at the present time. Well established in the USA and Australia, it is only in the 1990s that the phenomenon received a high profile in the U.K. and Europe. More recently still the diagnosis has become a focus of interest in Asian countries, such as Taiwan and Japan. Although the historical origins of the diagnostic concept of AD/HD are commonly traced to a paper published in 'The Lancet', almost a century ago, by an English physician by the name of George Still (1902), the current diagnostic criteria for AD/HD are the work of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and are published in the 1994 edition of their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Until recently, British and European psychiatrists have tended to favour the similar diagnosis of 'hyperkinetic disorder', which is to be found in the World Health Organisation's (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (10th edition) (Hill and Cameron, 1999). These two diagnoses have much in common with one another, but there also significant differences between them, largely in relation to the severity and pervasiveness of the symptoms of hyperactivity required for a diagnosis to be applied. The WHO diagnosis requires the presence of severe and pervasive hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattentiveness, the APA version, on the other hand, divides the diagnosis into three major sub-types: mainly hyperactive, mainly inattentive and combined inattentive and hyperactive. Whilst the WHO requires that the symptoms be generally pervasive, the APA diagnosis requires the symptoms to be present in a minimum of two settings, usually the home and school. A consequence of these differences is that prevalence rates for the WHO diagnosis are generally estimated at below 2% of school age children, whilst international estimates for the APA diagnosis range up to 6% of the childhood population (Tannock, 1998). It is widely argued that variations in prevalence rates from country to country, as well as within the same country, are influenced to a significant degree by differences between clinicians' assessment practices (Hill & Cameron, 1999; Hinshaw, 1994). Needless to say there is some controversy over the merits of the different diagnostic criteria, particularly in the U.K.

Some psychiatrists and a growing number of other medical practitioners (particularly paediatricians) in the U.K. favour the APA diagnosis on the basis that it includes a wider range of individuals who have symptoms which cause 'significant impairment', but who would fail to meet the more exclusive standards set by the WHO criteria (Munden & Arcelus, 1999). This view is also shared by members of many parent support groups who raise public


awareness and promote the interests of children with AD/HD, and who are largely responsible for making AD/HD the topical issues that it has become (Munden & Arcelus, 1999). For these reasons the current author will focus throughout this chapter mainly on the APA diagnosis.

THE NATURE OF AD/HD

AD/HD is a diagnosis of the American Psychiatric Association (1994) encompassing behavioural symptoms of inattention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity which significantly interfere with affected individuals' family and peer relationships as well as their educational and occupational functioning. The APA diagnosis divides AD/HD into three sub-types:

(1) the mainly hyperactive/impulsive sub-type; (2) the mainly inattentive sub-type; and (3) the combined subtype of hyperactive/impulsive/inattentive.

As noted above, international prevalence rates are conservatively estimated at between 3 and 6% among children from a wide variety of cultures and geographical regions, with boys outnumbering girls by 3:1 (Tannock, 1998). AD/HD for many people is a lifelong condition which places sufferers at high risk of such diverse problems as social isolation, motor vehicle accidents and psychological problems. People with AD/HD are often seen as incompetent, disorganised, aggressive, lazy, disruptive, untrustworthy, neglectful, selfish, accident prone, antisocial or asocial. Research suggests that children with AD/HD are more likely than most to fail in school academicially, in spite of the fact that they tend to score in the average to above average range on stan- dardised ability tests (Hinshaw, 1994; BarNey, 1990). In the U.K. they are also more likely than most to be excluded from school for behavioural reasons (Hayden, 1997). Adults with a history of AD/HD (or AD/HD type symptoms) are at greater risk than most of experiencing marital breakdown (Hinshaw, 1994) and imprisonment (Farrington, 1990). Having said this, there are widely (even wildly) varying estimates claiming that between 30% and 70% of children and juveniles diagnosed with AD/HD 'grow out' of the condition (Hinshaw, 1994). Some of the variation in these statistics can be accounted for by the fact that AD/HD was for many years considered a childhood disorder, with the result that affected adults tended to be diagnosed with alternative 'adult' disorders, such as depression (BarNey, 1990).

AD/HD also commonly co-occurs with other psychosocial problems, including conduct disorder, delinquency and depression, with the incidence of

148 PAUL COOPER

these 'co-morbid problems increasing as children reach the adolescent years (Hinshaw, 1994).

T H E O R I E S O F C A U S A T I O N

There is a common view among authorities on AD/HD which is expressed succinctly by BarNey (1997) that:

the precise causes of AD/HD are unknown at the present time, if by cause one means the direct, necessary, and sufficient events that immediately precede and directly lead to the creation of this behaviour pattern in children (p, 29).

Having said this, AD/HD has been for many years a focus for a considerable amount of research which has appeared in internationally respected peer reviewed journals. A significant amount of this research has been aimed at isolating the cause or causes of the condition. Tannock (1998), in a recent and authoritative review of international research on AD/HD, identifies three major areas of theoretical exploration of this subject: cognitive research, neurobiological research and genetic research. What follows is a brief account of some of the key research in these areas. There is not room here for a comprehensive review, what follows, therefore, is intended to be illustrative rather than definitive in scope.

Cognitive Research

Cognitive research has increasingly focused on impulsiveness as the central feature of AD/HD, and the possibility that a dysfunctional response inhibition system is the neuropsychological mechanism, located in the physiology of the frontal lobes of the brain, underlying this problem. This means that children with AD/HD can often be characterised as experiencing significantly greater problems than most in inhibiting or delaying a behavioural response. The nature of the dysfunction in this system is described alternatively in terms of a failure of the inhibitory control system to be become activiated, or as extreme delay in the activation of this system.

Barkley (1997) proposes a model which suggests that neurologically based problems of response inhibition lead directly to problems in four major 'executive functions' of the brain which are essential to effective self regulation. The first executive function is working memory, impairment of which makes it difficult for individuals to retain and manipulate information for purposes of appraisal and planning. The second function is that of internalised speech. It is suggested that self-control is exerted through a process of self-talk, during


which possible consequences and implications of behaviours are weighed up and internally 'discussed'. The third executive function is that of motivational appraisal. This system enables us to make decisions by providing us with information about the emotional associations generated by an impulse to act and the extent to which the impulse is likely to produce outcomes we find desirable. The final executive function is that of reconstimtion, or behavioural synthesis. The role of this function is to enable us to plan new and appropriate behaviours as an outcome of deconstructing and analysing past behaviours.

Another cognitive theory suggests that problems with inhibiting responses are situation specific and characterised chiefly by individuals' 'aversion to delay'. This severe impatience has been defined as an attidunal characteristic (Sonuga-Barke et al., 1992) and more recently described as arising from dysfunction in temporal processing systems (Sonuga-Barke et al., 1996). An important difference between these two explanations for 'aversion to delay' is that the former attitudinal explanation contrasts with other, neurobiologically rooted explanations, by implying the possibility of a much greater role for socialisation in the development of the problem. The temporal dysfunction explanation, on the other hand, conforms to the more usual neurobiological accounts.

A still different theory of causation, prominent, in the work of Dutch researchers who present a 'cognitive-energetic' model of AD/HD (Sergeant, 1995; Van der Meere, 1996). This approach places the emphasis on dysfunctions of the so called 'energetic' or 'state' mechanisms which are hypothesised to influence the speed and accuracy with which the brain activates the response processes which deal with sensory stimuli.

It should be stressed that these models apply almost exclusively to the hyperactive/impulsive and combined subtypes of AD/HD. The mainly inattentive sub-type is believed to be caused by impairments in the individual's speed of information processing and their ability to focus or select the object for their attention. This contrasts with the impulsive/hyperactive and combined sub-types which are believed to be underpinned by more fundamental problems that cause the regulatory functions to fail (Barkley, 1997).

Neuroimaging research

Although there is a variety of cognitive theories of AD/HD most of these theories are based on the assumption that the cognitive dysfunctions are underpinned by neurological problems (Tannock, 1998). The basis for this assumption can be traced through a long line of research dating from the early years of the 20th century which repeatedly indicates close similarities between the symptoms

150 PAUL COOPER

of AD/HD and those produced by injuries particularly in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. Other studies suggest a link between neurological damage affecting this part of the brain as a result of toxin exposure and AD/HD type symptoms. Authorities suggest that whilst recent research has added support to the neurological aspects of AD/HD, such research is far from conclusive, and has been at times inconsistent in its findings. Barkley (1997) expresses the need for caution in this regard when he states that:

far more research is needed before we can be as sanguine about the biological nature of AD/HD as we might like to be (p.32).

This view is supported by other informed commentators (e.g. Tannock, 1998; BPS, 1996; Hinshaw, 1994). It is also important to point out that research on AD/HD which has employed modern neuroimaging techniques, such as computefised transaxial tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalog- raphy (EEG), has been limited. For example Tannock (1998) reports only 14 published MRI studies of AD/H , involving a total of 378 children with AD/HD and 295 normal peers. And that 11 of the 14 studies were investigations based on studies of samples generated in one of only 3 main studies.

With the above qualifications in mind, it can be concluded on the basis of existing neuroimaging research that individuals with AD/HD sometimes exhibit abnormalities in the development of certain brain regions. In particular these studies show that individuals with AD/HD tend to have smaller structures in those regions of the brain, particularly the striatal regions, which control movement and behaviour (Tannock, 1998; Barkley, 1997). These findings, however, like EEG studies, leave us with a great many unanswered questions. The main problem is that the studies do not show a direct link between the brain abnormalities and AD/HD. What they do indicate is that these abnormalities have been found to commonly co-occur with AD/HD. Barkley (1997) is able to identify only one study which begins to suggest a more substantial, causal link. This study, by Castellanos et al. (1996) of 57 boys with AD/HD and 55 boys without AD/HD (aged between 5 and 18) found a direct relationship between the size of some of the brain regions investigated and degree of AD/HD related impairment. This was demonstrated by correlating the variation in size with variations in performance on a laboratory test of response inhibition. This is an important finding, but one study of 57 boys with AD/HD does not amount to solid generaiisable proof of an hypothesis. The neurological basis for AD/HD, therefore, remains an interesting and promising hypothesis that is as yet unconfirmed.

As Barkley (1997) notes, the neuroimaging studies find no evidence of brain damage. The characteristics identified, therefore, are thought to be the product


of abnormal neurological development of unknown cause. One of the richest areas which have been and continues to be explored for such causes is that of genetics.

Genetic research

Tannock (1998) reports that there is strong evidence from studies that have been carried out over the past 30 years that ADAtD is more common in the biological relatives of children with AD/HD than it is in the biological relatives of children who do not have AD/HD. The problem with these studies is that it is difficult to control for environmental factors which family members often share and which may influence the development of ADAtD type behaviours. This problem is addressed through twin and adoption studies which have repeatedly shown a much greater incidence of AD/HD among identical (i.e. monozygotic) twins than among non-identical (dizygotic) twins. Similarly, studies which compare the incidence of AD/HD among children and parents who are biologically related with that of children and parents where the child is adopted, have tended to support the heredity argument (Tannock,1998).

These findings are given further weight by molecular genetic research which has identified certain genes as being implicated in the aetiology of AD/HD and AD/HD type symptoms. In particular there is evidence that points to genetic abnormalities in the dopamine system (Tannock, 1998). Dopamine is a neuro- transmitter which is found in systems of the brain concerned with, among other things, the regulation of movement (Thompson, 1993).

THE BIO-PSYCHO-SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE

As the foregoing review illustrates, ADAtD is likely to involve a complex interplay between, in themselves, complex human systems. The above evidence suggests that, for neurocognitive reasons, individuals with AD/HD respond to the world in ways that are different from the general population. The consistency and pervasiveness of the behaviours associated with AD/HD is taken to imply that individuals with AD/HD experience the world differently; that is, they have different ways of processing and responding to the external world at the level of their cognitive processes. The apparent level of resistence of these patterns of response to external influence, in the form of normal behavioural correction of the type practiced by usually competent and successful teachers and parents, is taken to imply deeper structural underpinnings to these cognitive problems. This leads researchers to the brain and an exploration of the neurological structures which regulate cognitive functions. Whilst the evidence for the

152 PAUL COOPER

relationship between neurological abnormalities and AD/HD is difficult to interpret (Tannock, 1998) there is a small amount of reliable evidence to support an association between neurological abnormalities and AD/HD. Interestingly, the neurological abnormalities can be related to some of the cognitive theories of AD/HD. The fact that the neurological evidence most commonly appears to implicate abnormal brain development rather than brain injury justifies the increasing interest in familial and chemical genetic studies of AD/HD. Again, these studies appear promising, in that both familial and chemical studies suggest that AD/HD can be transmitted from one generation to another.

The above account illustrates that one of the shared limitations of the dominant research approaches to AD/HD is their tendency to focus the search for explanations of the condition on within-person factors. That is to say that all of the approaches described above assume that a major reason why individuals with AD/HD behave as they do is located within the individual who bears the AD/HD diagnosis.

There is a circularity to this approach. Clearly, automatically to assume that an individual's behavioural problems are a product of characteristics within the individual would be very misguided. Such assumptions would inevitably lead to a misdiagnosis of the nature of problems in many instances. In turn, such misdiagnosis would disadvantage individuals whose behaviour was the product of unsympathetic or harmful environmental conditions. On the other hand, in the face of a growing body of evidence in support of the contention that there are systematic differences of a neuro-psychological nature between persons with AD/HD and persons who do not have AD/HD, it would seem ill-advised to automatically dismiss the validity of the AD/HD diagnosis in all cases.

Unfortunately, there has been and continues to be a destructive tendency which encourages an unhelpful polarisation of views of AD/HD (Cooper, 1997a). In particular there is a tendency to see AD/HD as a set of problems that are induced by biological factors or as problems that are generated by the environment. This crude nature versus nurture argument contributes virtually nothing either to our understanding of AD/HD or our understanding of emotional and behavioural problems in general. It does, however, tell us a lot about the tribalism of competing disciplines and professions (Hughes, 1999).

This situation is compounded by the fact that researchers, including many of those whose work was considered earlier in this chapter have tended to focus their research on single factors in their explorations of the aetiology of AD/HD, such as neurological structures or cognitve processes or the genetic pathways (Tannock, 1998). This is in spite of the fact that many of these same researchers would claim to view AD/HD as a bio-psycho-social problem (e.g. Barkley, 1990, 1997); that is, a problem which has a biological element to it, but that

Medical Con-Trick or New Paradigm for Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties? 153

interacts with psycho-social factors in the individual's social, cultural and physical environment. Clearly, once this consensus view is recognised the simplistic nature versus nurture arguments are untenable.

Frith (1992) offers a model which shows how a range of maturational and experiential factors act as mediators between biological causes and behavioural outcomes. The extent and indeed to some degree the nature of behavioural manifestations are influenced by a set of social and psychological factors, namely: experience, maturation, compensation and motivation. Thus the extent to which the neurological problems result in behavioural and social dysfunction will be influenced by the individual's learning and experience, which may, for example, give the individual skills which enable him or her to compensate for cognitive deficits, or provide the individual with a high or low degree of motivation which in turn will affect his or her ability to cope. Clearly, the severity of the initial biological problem will vary, as will the nature of the individual's experience and environment. Thus in some cases biology will be more dominant than environment in the aetiology of the disorder, whilst in others environment will be more dominant than biology. Given that biology is heavily implicated in most prominent theories of the nature of AD/HD, it seems only sensible to take the biopsychosocial perspective and recognise that in a given case it will always be very difficult to tease out the biological and psychosocial strands.

With regard to experiential aspects of AD/HD there has been research which has identified patterns of parental behaviour that have been related directly to childhood AD/HD. For example, Barkley (1990) in a review of research on this topic refers to studies which show that children with AD/HD tend to experience a high level of interpersonal conflict with their parents. Furthermore, the mothers of children with AD/HD have been found to be more commanding and negative towards their children than the parents of children who do not have AD/HD. Barkley, (1990) cites further evidence which shows that children with AD/HD tend to experience more commanding and negative behaviour from adults and children from outside the family (such as teachers and peers). When children with AD/HD are the subject of successful intervention, adults' levels of disapproval and frequency of commands decreases. He concludes from this that it is the child's AD/HD which precedes the parents' negative behaviour rather than the other way around. This is the basis for the important claim that bad parenting or ineffective teaching do not in themselves cause AD/HD. What does seem to be the case, however, is that the kinds of interactions that children with AD/HD experience do have an effect on the way in which their AD/HD manifests itself, and in some cases the extent to which it is seriously or not so seriously debilitating or disruptive.

154 PAUL COOPER

Research by Nigg and Hinshaw (1998) which examines the relationship between parents' personality traits and childhood AD/HD provides interesting findings which may bring us closer to an understanding of the way in which the biological, psychological and social factors interact. Principally, this carefully designed study found an association between specific parental characteristics and the nature and manifestations of children's problems. Children with AD/HD were found to be more likely to have a mother with marked anxiety symptoms or one who had experienced a recent major depressive episode than the mothers of children not diagnosed with AD/HD. Children who exhibited AD/HD co-occurring with Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder had fathers who scored lower on measures of 'agreeableness' and higher on measures of 'neurotocism' than fathers in the comparison group. Thus, this study indicates that the extent to which a child with AD/HD exhibits seriously anti-social behaviour may be influenced by the characterisitics of parents.

Clearly, the evidence just presented might be interpreted through a bio- medical/genetic model and it be suggested that the children inherit anti-social characteristics from their parents. This suggestion, however, has to be put alongside the well established research tradition which places considerable emphasis on psycho-social factors as being chiefly implicated in the aetiology of anxiety disorders, with some, though at present limited evidence of inheri- tability (Mills, 1996). Where Oppositional Defiant Disorder is concerned Blau (1996) reports that environmental explanations are the most persuasive. Common to both Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Anxiety Disorders is the implication that dysfunctions in the parent-child bonding process are significant factors in creating difficulties, causing affected children to find themselves trapped at the stage of infant dependency, sometimes into their adolescence and beyond (e.g. Bennathan & Boxall, 1996).

A D / H D - B I O L O G I C A L , P S Y C H O L O G I C A L , S O C I A L A N D C U L T U R A L I S S U E S

In many ways much of the controversy surrounding AD/HD would disappear over night if someone were able to come up with a single definitive assessment instrument which could act as an objective test for the presence or absence of AD/HD in a given individual. No such instrument exists, nor is likely to exist in the foreseeable future (Hill & Cameron, 1999). The reason for this is that whilst there is strong evidence to suggest that there is a biological aspect to AD/HD the manifestation of AD/HD as a personally and socially debilitating condition is not determined by biology alone, but by a combination of biological, psychological


and social factors. Put simply, AD/HD is not 'caused' by biological variation alone; neither is it solely the result of environment and experience.

Perhaps the best way to think about the role of biology in relation to AD/HD is to think about it in terms of creating propensities. That is, the development of AD/HD in an individual cannot be predicted on the basis of genes or neurology alone. Certain genetic and neurological factors, however, when present in an individual, make it more likely that he or she will develop AD/HD than another individual, who does not possess the genetic/neurological predisposing factors. For AD/HD to develop in an individual, he or she will have to experience, what are to him or her, a set of aversive circumstances. These circumstances are made aversive by the way in which they interact with biological predisposing factors, and, therefore, are not experienced as seriously aversive by a second individual who does not possess the predisposing characteristics. Furthermore, biological propensity factors can themselves be influenced by the post-natal environment. Evidence from neurological research indicates that human beings are unique among animals in the extent to which certain aspects of neurological development, particularly in the area of the dopamine and other neuro transmitter systems (implicated in the aetiology of AD/HD), take place after the human individual is born. It is crucial that these (and other) neurological systems receive essential forms of stimulation at critical periods in the early weeks and months of the individual's life in order for optimum development to take place (Carter, 1998). These critical periods represent opportunities that often will not be presented again, owing to the process by which the brain 'prunes' superfluous neurones.

Having said this, genetic and other prenatal factors will also play a role here, possibly influencing the extent and nature of stimulation that is required by different human beings. Thus owing to such predisposing factors different individuals experiencing identical forms and levels of stimulation may develop differently.

The circumstances in which the individual finds him or herself, and, therefore, the opportunities for appropriate stimulation will, in turn, be influenced by individual factors, such as family composition, the characteristics of parents/carers, and other significant individuals (such as siblings) and the ways they interact with the child. Put straightforwardly, the early family (or substitute family) unit plays a crucial role in shaping an individual's behavioural characteristics. The early social learning that the child experiences here provides him or her with the social and cognitive tools with which he or she negotiates the worlds within and beyond the family. Wittingly or unwittingly carers will reinforce certain of a child's behaviours and, in effect 'train' the child to perform certain behaviours in order to achieve his or her wants and needs (Patterson et al., 1992). Biological

156 PAUL COOPER

propensities will inevitably interact with the training regime (Lahey, Waldman & McBurnett, 1999). So, for example, parents' efforts to redirect a child's behaviour may succeed with one child but fall with a second child who requires more intensive intervention or a type of intervention that is beyond the skills or resources of the parents. For example, a common feature of children diagnosed with AD/HD is their tendency to require tightly focused and highly intensive intervention where behavioural change is required.

T H E R O L E O F C U L T U R E

These individual factors are nested within a further set of influences which are of a structural and cultural nature (Cooper, 1997b; Ideus, 1997). For example, AD/HD can be thought of not so much as a disorder, but as a cognitive style which is not well adapted to modern life in the developed world. The child's 'problems' in this context are characterised by an apparent inability to conform to social and procedural rules, in the home and school, extreme difficulty in maintaining effort and interest in school and leisure activities, particularly those involving sustained attention, and problems of over activity and impulse control that make the individual appear self centred and anti-social.

These behavioural patterns are rendered problematic in environments where a high premium is placed on methodical rule observance, predictable behavioural patterns, and the ability to sustain effort on sedentary tasks in group situations. Throughout the world, where there is mass schooling, these are the qualities commonly required of the student. Also, where there is mass schooling it tends to reflect an approach to economic development that stresses these same characteristics for the mass of the population in the workplace.

These expectations of conformity and self-control go hand in hand with a paradoxical emphasis on early childhood as a period of relative freedom from such constraints. For the child with a propensity to develop AD/HD concerted and intensive early intervention designed to influence the development of internal controls would seerrl to be essential. This becomes problematic when we place it alongside what some commentators see as the disintegration, throughout the developed world, of the social and familial support networks which traditionally provided support, expertise and resources to fulfill this need (see Rutter & Smith, 1995).

ASSESSMENT AIMS

Given the complexity of AD/HD it is not surprising that its accurate detection depends upon a similarily complex assessment process. Just as the condition is


mulfifaceted, so is the assessment process, depending for its accuracy on a wide range of sources of information. The crucial aim of assessment is, on the one hand to rule out, as far as possible, environmental and otherwise localised influences on the symptoms as their major causes, and, on the other hand, to established that the symptoms are pervasive across different situations, are a source of serious disruption to the individual's personal development, and that they have been present, in the same or different manifestations, throughout the child's life. Failure to meet any one of these criteria usually means that the presenting problems are attributable to something other than AD/HD.

THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

The assessment process can be ilhistrated by reference to a scheme developed by a team of clinicians that has been engaged in the assessment of AD/HD in the U.K. for over 20 years (Detweiler et al., 1999). Although it is specific to a particular setting, their scheme is in principle compatible with assessment approaches described by other clinicians who adopt a biopsychosocial approach (e.g. Munton & Arcelus, 1999; Barkley, 1990). Detweiler et al. (1999) describe a two stage process. The first phase involves an overall assessment of the nature of the child's problems as they are perceived by the child himself or herself, and those significant adults around the child. This involves the following activities:

• A Parent Interview First, the parents of the child suspected of having AD/HD are interviewed in depth by a psychologist. The main purpose of this interview is to filter out those possible AD/HD type symptoms which are caused by temporary environmental stimuli and, therefore, have not been a pervasive aspect of the child's background. At this stage, as at all other phases of the assessment process, it may become apparent that there are aspects of the child's environment, for example at home or school, which are the most likely causes of the apparent AD/HD symptoms. If this is so, the assessment may be suspended and interventions implemented in order to address these immediate problems. Such interventions could include a course of behavioural management training for parents, or adjustments to the educational environment in the form of particular strategies to be used by the teachers of the child.

• A Developmental Checklists Second, two Developmental Checklists are filled out - one by parents and one by teachers - which gather systematic information about the child's behaviour. There are numerous widely available instruments that can be used for this purpose (e.g. the Connors Behaviour Rating Scale (Connors, 1989);

158 PAUL COOPER

the Goodman Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1999)). Teachers may also be asked to provide additional informations about their perceptions of the child's behaviour in school, and where files have been kept recording his or her behavioural history these may be consulted.

• The Child Interview Third, the child's own perceptions and experiences that are associated with the presenting problems are ascertained through a clinical interview.

This combination of information is intended to give a clear picture of the child's behaviour and the circumstances associated with it in a variety of settings. This information, however, is not enough to be the sole determinant of the presence of AD/HD. If the likelihood of AD/HD persists at this point a second phase of investigation is undertaken.

• Stage Two: Neuropsychological Testing The next step in the diagnostic process involves neuropsychological testing. Detweiler et al. (1998) have designed their own neuropsychological instruments for the assessment of:

• intellectual functioning; • the functioning of processing strengths and weaknesses (visual, auditory

and visual motor); • achievement levels in fundamental school skills; • visual and hearing ability.

In addition they have developed a computerised test of vigilance and impulsivity. This instrument also measures functions associated with the frontal lobes of the brain that are implicated in the aetiology of AD/HD. These include finger oscillation, motor sequencing and confrontation tasks.

It is only on the basis of results from these tests, when added to the information gathered in the interviews and through the checklists, that a diagnosis of AD/HD may be made by the team physician, in this case a child psychiatrist with many years of experience in working with children with AD/HD and its precursors.

Accurate assessment is crucial in determining the nature of the problem under consideration. In turn, the accuracy of the assessment will influence the appro- priateness of the interventions that are selected. It is to the issue of intervention that attention is now turned.

INTERVENTION

There is a great deal of concern about the use of medication in the treatment of childhood AD/HD. It is undoubtedly the case that medication is commonly


prescribed for children who are deemed to present clinically significant levels of hyperactivity. In the USA between 2 and 2.5% of all school aged children are prescribed some form of medication for hyperactivity, with over 90% of these being prescribed the psychostimulant medication, methylphenidate (Greenhill, 1998). This has to be compared with the much lower figure of less than 1% of children in the U.K. receiving similar pharmacological treatment (BPA, 1993; Nice, 2000), revealing U.K. physicians to be among the least likely of medical professionals in the developed world to make such prescriptions (Kewley, 1999).

There is a number of important observations about the use of methylphidate and other psychostimulant treatments for hyperactivity, that are shared by a wide range of informed commentators. First, psychostimulant medications, generally when applied in relatively low and moderate doses, are widely regarded as being highy effective in reducing the core symptoms of AD/HD (Hill & Cameron, 1999). Figures, taken from a number of controlled studies, indicating significant improvement in between 69% to 75% of cases have been frequently recorded in reponse to psychostimulants, compared with figures of between 20 and 29% in response to placebos (Greenhill, 1998; Hinshaw, 1994; Barkley, 1990). Second, methylphenidate in particular is seen as an extremely safe medication, being non-addictive, with only mild side effects for the majority of users (such as sleep disturbance and appetite suppression), which can be controlled and often avoided through careful adjustment of the dosage after attention is paid to routine and regular reports from users, their parents and teachers (Kewley, 1999; Nice, 2000). Finally, all of these cited authorities agree that medication alone is never a sufficient treatment, but where it is used it should always be part of a comprehensive multi-modal intervention approach which employs behavioural, psycho-social, cognitive and environmental interventions (Nice, 2000; BPS, 2000).

This multimodal approach reveals a conception of AD/HD as in part a dysfunction of the individual, and in part a problem that is created and exacerbated by the environment in which the individual operates. From this perspective mediction is seen as creating a 'window of opportunity' which allows social and other infuences to be brought to bear effectively. Coupled with this approach is the realisation that the behaviour of children with AD/HD is often misunderstood by parents, peers, teachers and other adults, and seen as a problem of motivation and volition rather than an involuntary reaction to stressful circumstances created by the conflict between a particular cognitive style and the demands of an environment that is geared to the needs of a contrasting cognitive style. By developing an understanding of these behavioural problems in terms of the cognitive and other theories of the aetiology of AD/HD,

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adults and others can make more informed judgements about how best to approach and facilitate the positive development of the child with AD/HD. In this way the concept of AD/HD can be seen to help reinforce the widely held view that apparent behavioural problems are often experienced by their perpe- trators as reasonable responses to what they experience as difficultcircumstances.

This last point should be of particular interest to teachers and educational psychologists, as well as parents and professionals, such as social workers, whose job it is to support parents and families. The task that is now presented to these individuals is one that involves both learning and teaching. They need to learn to listen to the child with AD/HD and see the world through his or her eyes. They also need to find points of connection and cooperation with the child in order to provide the circumstances which will help to rebuild a child's often shattered sense of self and to help them develop the emotional strength, self-confidence, trust in others, and self belief necessary to succeed socially and academically.

There is not space here to detail the kinds of psychosocial approaches that are promising or successful in any detail. Stated briefly, preferred interventions include, for the individual, social skills training, problem solving skills, training in self activated response delay and reflection techniques. For parents and teachers, behaviour management training and the use of a form of applied behavioural analysis are used. Hinshaw, et al. (1998), in a comprehensive review of treatments in which medication is combined with non pharmacological interventions found evidence that behavioural therapy was effective in promoting improved behaviour and academic gains, and where used with medication it was found to lead to reductions in the level of medication required to produce an effective response. Cognitive interventions, such as 'refraining' technique are also recommended (Cooper & Ideus, 1996). In the home and school environmental distractors are identified and eliminated, where possible, and careful attention is given to the ways in which social, academic and behavioural expectations are defined and expressed to the child (DuPaul & Stoner, 1994). For example, instructions need to be given in short sequences and in highly direct language, with the avoidance of non literal illustrations or figurative language (Weaver, 1994). Also, children with AD/HD have been found to learn particularly effectively when engaged in concrete and kinaesthetic activities. Similarly, children with AD/HD benefit considerably from frequent opportunities to engage in structured physical activity (Pellegrini & Horvat, 1995).

Many of these interventions are not only appropriate for children with AD/HD, they are beneficial to almost all children. However, for children with ADPrtD they are often essential rather than simply desirable. This draws attention to the often noted but sad fact that the vast majority of children are


very capable of 'putting up' with circumstances that are not supportive of positive personal development, but are actually highly negative in their social, personal and educational effects (Schostak, 1982; Silberman, 1971; Neill, 1968). Children with AD/HD differ in that they cannot 'put up' in this way, but rather are the first to 'crack' under the strain of unreasonable conditions that some of us, too readily, take for granted.

THE NEED FOR AN HOLISTIC A P P R O A C H TO AD/HD

As the foregoing indicates, AD/HD is a complex phenomenon that can be understood in different ways. The emphasis of much of this chapter has been on the role of bio-medical and psychological insights and research in shaping understanding. These are important perspectives that will continue to develop as more research is carried out. As has been already noted, it is hoped that these different approaches to research will move beyond the current tendency to restrict studies to the exploration of single factors and concentrate attention on interactions between multiple factors.

In addition to the understandings that can come from sometimes abstract and reductionist research, however, it is also important that not to lose sight of the human dimension. It is very easy for professionals and academics to get lost in the mire of argument and to forget that the concepts being discussed relate directly to the lives of living people. For this reason there is a need to include within an holistic approach to understanding AD/HD a willingness to listen to the voices of those who, in one way or another, live with the daily reality of what some people call AD/U.ff). It is not the case, necessarily, that these voices are more important, in terms of their contribution to our understanding of AD/I-ID, than the research perspectives already mentioned. What is clear is that these voices provide information not made available through conventional scientific research channels. Perhaps more than anything these voices bring images of living breathing people to us, and so provide a reminder that whatever value there is in a concept such as AD/HD is best judged on the basis of the extent to which it has the potential to contribute to positive human growth.

In this regard, one of the important things to emerge from a recent study is the way in which pupils' perceptions of the nature of AD/HD appears to affect their sense of control over its course (Cooper & Shea, 1999). The tendency among some students in this study to adopt a simplistic, biological determinist approach to understanding AD/HD was associated with a sense of helplessness and extreme reliance on medication as the remedy for the condition. Where the participants had a more contextualised view, which related the condition to the

162 PAUL COOPER

demands of schooling, and their own plans and aspirations, there was much more of a sense of the students being 'in charge' of the condition, and seeing medication, for example, as a tool for helping them acheive their own goals.

As yet there is very little published research of this kind, enquiring empirically into the social reality of this medical condition. The indication of this study, however, is that the children themselves need to be much more closely involved in the dialogues and debates about AD/HD. The response of the children in this study to the experience of AD/HD was multifaceted and complex. It indicated, very powerfully, that for them AD/HD existed as a daily reality, having a major effect on their lives. Their need was for a positive and constructive perspective on the topic: one that would serve their need to make their positive, forward way in the world. Commentators who disparage the concept of AD/HD often seem to forget this point, and labour under the illusion that somehow they can disinvent the concept and diagnosis. They cannot do that. What they can do is perhaps contribute to the positive development of this 'evolving concept' (BPS, 1996), by helping to place it where it belongs, firmly within a bio-psycho-social framework of understanding. Doing this, will overcome many of the concerns of those who have set themselves against AD/HD.

R E F E R E N C E S

American Psychiatric Association (APA) (t994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.

Barkley, R. (1990). AD/HD: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment. New York: Guilford. Barkley, R. (1997). AD/HD and the Nature of Self Control. New York: Guilford. Bennathan, M., & Boxall, M. (1996). Effective Intervention in Primary Schools: Nurture Groups.

London: Fulton. Blau, B. (1996). Oppositional defiant disorder. In: G. Blau & T. Gullotta (Eds), Adolescent

Dysfunctional Behavior. Thousand Oaks, CA, London and New Delhi: Sage. British Psychological Society (BPS) (1996). AD/HD: A Psychological Response to an Evolving

concept. Leicester: BPS. British Psychological Society (2000). AD, q-ID: Guidelines and Principles for Successful Multi-

Agency Working. Leicester: BPS. Carter, R. (1998). Mapping the Mind. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Castellanos, F., Giedd, J., Marsh, W., Hamburger, S., Vaituzis, A., Dickstein, D., Sarfatti, S., Vauss,

Y., Snell, J., Lange, N., Kaysen, D., Krain, A., Ritchie, G., Rajapakse, J., & Rapoport, J. (1996). Quantitative brain magnetic resonance imaging in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53, 607--616.

Connor, J. (1989). Connors Rating Scale. Windsor, NFER. Cooper, P., & Idedus, K. (1966). ADHD: A Practical Guide for Teachers. London. Fulton. Cooper, P. (1997a). Biology, behaviour and education: AD/HD and the bio-psycho-social

perspective. Educational and Child Psychology, 14, 1, 31-38.


Cooper, P, (1997b). The reality and hyperreality of AD/HD: and educational and Cultural analysis. In: P. Cooper & K. Ideus (Eds), Attention Deficit/Hpperactivity Disorder: Medical, Educational and Cultural Issues. East Sutton: The Association of Workers for Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 1997 - 2nd revised edition.

Detweiler, R., Hicks, M., & Hicks, A. (1988). From assessment to intervention: the multimodal assessment and treatment of ADHD. In: P. Cooper & K. Ideus (Eds), ADHD: Educational, Medical and Cultural Issues. East Sutton: Association of Workers for Children with EBD.

Detweiler, R., Hicks, M., & Hicks, A. (1999). A multimodal approach to the assessment of ADHD. In: P. Cooper & K. Bilton (Eds), ADHD. Research, Practice and Opinion. London: Whurr.

DuPaul, G., & Stoner, G, (1994). ADHD In The Schools. New York: Guilford. Farrington, D. (1990). Implications of criminal career research for the prevention of offending. The

Journal of Adolescence, 13, 93-113. Frith, U. (1992). Cognitive development and cognitive deficit. The Psychologist, 5, 13-19. Goodman, R. (1997). The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: a research note. Journal of Child

Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 581-585. Greenhill, L. (1998). Childhood ADHD: pharmacological treatments. In: X. P. Nathan & M. Gonnan

(Eds), A Guide to Treatments that Work. Oxford University Press. Hayden, C. (1997). Exclusion from primary school: children in need and children with special

educational need. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 2, 3, 36-44. Hill, P., & Cameron, M. (1999). Recognising hyperactivity: a guide for the cautious clinician. Child

Psychology and Psychiatry Review, 4, 2, 50-60. Hinshaw, S. (1994). Attention Deficits and Hyperactivity in Children. London, New York, New

Delhi: Sage. Hinshaw, S., Klein, R., & Abikoff, H. (1998). Childhood ADHD: non pharmacological and combi-

nation treatments. In: Nathan & M. Gorman (Eds), A Guide to Treatment That Works. Oxford University Press.

Hughes, L. (1999). Professionals' perceptions of AD/HD. In: P. Cooper (Ed.), AD/HD Research, Practice and Opinion. London: Whurr.

Ideus, K. (1997). A sociological critique of an American concept. In: P. Cooper & K. Ideus (Eds), Attention Deficit~Hyperactivity Disorder: Medical, Educational and Cultural Issues. East Sutton: The Association of Workers for Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 1997 - 2nd revised edition.

Kewley, G. (1998). Medical aspects of assessment and treatment of children with ADHD. In: P. Cooper & K. Ideus (Eds), ADHD: Educational, Medical and Cultural Issues. East Sutton: Association of Workers for Children with EBD.

Laslett, R., Cooper, P., Maras, P., & Rimmer, A. (1998). Changing Perceptions: EBD since 1945. East Sutton: Association of Workers for Children with EBD.

Lahey, B., Waldman, I., & McBurnett, K. (1999). The development of antiscial behaviour: an integrative and causal model. Journal of Child Psycology and Psychiatry, 40, 5, 669-682.

Mills, H. (1996). Anxiety disorders. In: G. Blan & T. Gullotta (Eds), Adolescent Dysfunctional Behavior. Thousand Oaks, CA, London and New Delhi: Sage.

Munden, A., & Arcelus, J. (1999). The AD/HD Handboook. London: Jessica Kingsley. National Institute of Clinical Excellence (2000). Guidelines on the use of Methylphenidate. London:

Nice. NeilI, A. S. (1968). Summerhill. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Nigg, J., & Hinshaw, S. (1998). Parent personality traits and psycho pathology associated with

antisocial behaviors in childhood AD/HD. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39(2), 145-159.

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Patterson, G., Reid, R., & Dishion, D. (1992). Antisocial Boys, Vol. 4. Eugene. Pellegrini, A., & Horvat, M. (1995). A developmental contextualist critique of AD/HD. Educational

Researcher, 24(1), 13-20. Rutter, M., & Smith, D. (Eds) (1995). Psychosocial Disorders in Young People. Chichester: Wiley. Sergeant, J. (1995). Hyperkinetic disorder revisited. In: J. Sergeant (Ed.), Eunythydis: European

Approaches to Hyperkinetic Disorder. Amsterdam: Sergeant. Schostak, J. (1982). Maladjusted Schooling. Lewes: Falmer. Silberman, C. (1971). Crisis in the Classroom. New York: Random House. Slee, R. (1995). Changing Theories and Practices of Discipline. London: Falmer. Sonuga-Barke, E., Taylor, E., & Hepenstall, E. (1992). Hyperactivity and delay aversion lI: the

effects of self versus externally imposed stimulus presentation periods on memory. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 399409.

Sonuga-Barke, E., Williams, E., Hall, M., & Saxton, T. (1996). Hyperactivity and delay aversion III: the effects on cognitive style of imposing delay after errors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37, 189-194.

S011, G. (1902). Some abnormal psychical conditions in children. The Lancet, 1, 1008-1012. Tannock, R. (1998). AD/HD: advances in cognitive, neurobiological and genetic research. Journal

of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 1, 65-99. Thompson, R. (1993). The Brain: A Neuroscience Primer (2nd ed.). New York: Freeman. Tomlinson, S. (1982). A Sociology of Special Education. London: Routledge. Van der Meere, J. (1996). The role of attention. In: S. Sandberg (Ed.), Monographs in Child and

Adolescent Psychiatry: Hyperactivity Disorders of Childhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Weaver, C. (Ed). Success At Last: Helping Students with AD(H)D Achieve Their Potential. Portsmouth: NH, Heinemann.

11. THE INTEGRATION OF CHILDREN

WITH BEHAVIOUR DISORDERS"

AN AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVE

Keith Bradshaw

INTRODUCTION

Children with behaviour disorders have been regarded by researchers as the most difficult group of children with disabilities to integrate effectively (Braaten et al., 1987; Bradshaw, 1987b; Center, Ferguson & Ward, 1988; Saunders, 1987). Despite the difficulty involved in the education of these children, little research has taken place particularly in the area of service delivery. There have been no definitive answers to questions such as "which is the most appropriate integration support service" or "which is the most appropriate classroom environment when attempting to integrate children with behaviour disorders"? This lack of clear direction has resulted in the adoption of varied, and at times conflicting strategies and approaches. Indeed, the type of service offered to children with behaviour disorders to some extent depends upon where they live (Nelson & Pearson, 1991). In the United States, for example, Federal policies offer guide-lines for funding the integration of children with behaviour disorders through legislation such as The Children's and Communities' Mental Health Systems Improvement Act, 1991.

In Australia, however, unlike the United States and many countries across Europe, there is no national unified policy on the integration of children with


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166 KEITH BRADSHAW

disabilities. Each State has developed its own discrete policy and these policies vary considerably. As a consequence, there are significant implications for integrating children with behaviour disorders depending on which State they reside in (Gow, 1989).

The respective Departments of Education in Victoria and New South Wales, the most populous states of Australia, have developed two quite distinct integration policies. These two policies, which do not have separate guidelines for children with behaviour disorders, will be the focus of the following sections.

INTEGRATION POLICY IN VICTORIA

Although integration in Victorian schools has been occurring for a number of years, the release of the Report of the Ministerial Review of Educational Services for the Disabled (Collins, 1984), "saw a predictable heightening of interest and accompanying debate over the key issues of integration" (Skyes, 1989, p. 8). The Ministerial Review was established to explore and recommend strategies to "increase the participation of students with impairments or disabilities in the educational programs of and social life of regular schools and to maintain the participation of all students within the educational and social life of the regular schools" (State Board of Education, 1987, p. 1). The Review Committee presented 143 recommendations using five guiding principles.

(1) Every child has the fight to be educated in a regular school. (2) Non categorisation. (3) Resources and services should, to the greatest extent possible, be school

based. (4) Collaborative decision making. (5) All children can learn and be taught.

Principle 1: Every Child Has the Right to be Educated in a Regular School

The formulation of Principle 1 reflected the influence of overseas research and policy on the Ministerial Review Committee. Research (Carlsberg & Kavale, 1980; Madden & Slavin, 1983) found that special class placement for children with disabilities was inferior to regular class placement. The Committee accepted this view and concluded that children with disabilities had a fight to be educated in the regular classroom. In support of this crucial premise, the Review Committee rejected the concept of the least restrictive environment. In selecting the so-called rights model, the Review Committee rejected policies enshrined in legislation in both the USA and the United Kingdom. The adoption

The Integration of Children with Behavioural Disorders 167

of this model was also in contrast to those adopted in other Australian States, including New South Wales. Fulcher (1986) claimed that the Victorian policy was the only State policy or report on integration that could be identified as democratic because a great deal of consideration had been given to the issue of rights, of both children and parents. Despite widespread support for the philosophical beliefs expressed in Principle 1, it was criticised on a number of grounds.

On closer scrutiny, (Pickering, 1986, 1993), it was evident that children have, according to the law in Australia, no a priori right to an education. Legislation at the time concentrated instead on the obligation of parents to ensure the attendance of their children at school. "Thus conferring such a right on students with impairments, disabilities or problems with schooling is to some extent inconsistent with the non categorisation principle of the Review" (Skyes, 1989, p. 89).

The policy, by stating that children with disabilities had a right to be educated, singled them out as the focus of legislation, while children without disabilities did not have, legally, those same rights. Children with disabilities, it appeared, were in the eyes of the law, the only children to have a right to an education. Picketing (1986) suggested that if the Victorian Government wanted to adopt a rights model they would be wise to follow the United States' model which owed its existence to the United States Bill of Rights. In support, Fulcher (1986) noted that legislating for rights in a constitution where there is no Bill of Rights,

and in an economic situation where there can be no problems. Such a concept of democracy, it may be politically naive (p. 43).

In response to the controversy surrounding the

resources on demand is fraught with argued, is one-dimensional and thus

"rights" issue and other concerns about implementation, particularly with regard to a lack of resources, both finan- cially and in terms of qualified personnel, the Ministry of Education (now the Victorian Department of Education) published two documents: Implementation of the policy of integration, teacher, parent and community education, in January 1987, and Legislative changes to implement the integration of students with impairments, disabilities or problems in schooling in February, 1987. These documents acknowledged the problems inherent in any attempt to implement the original policy. Rather than altering or amending the existing legislation, the two documents outlined a set of principles to be utilised as guidelines. Importantly, these general principles would also be used as guidelines for the education of students without disabilities.

Despite the controversy over the implementation of the first principle, it "does not require children with disabilities to be educated in a regular school. Parents

168 KEITH BRADSHAW

now have a choice between two school settings - special schools and regular schools" (Sykes, 1989, p. 89). The present system in Victoria is therefore a dual system with the result that both special schools and regular schools are being chosen by parents and educational professionals as placements for children with disabilities.

Principle 2: Non Categorisation

The Victorian Ministerial Review Committee were cognisant of established international policies and programs. The Wamock Committee (1978), for instance, had recommended the abolition of statutory categorisation of children with disabilities. The Victorian Ministerial Review Committee was well aware that existing structures in Victoria were based on categorisation. The Review Committee raised the issue of the relevance of medical labels in education and subsequently rejected them in favour of a sociological model. The prime emphasis was on changing the child's education services rather than concen- gating on medical labels. "This transition from a medical (deficit) model to a sociological (systems) model, marked an important change in educational thinking about children with impairments and disabilities" (Sykes, 1989. p. 91). The acceptance of a sociological model also brought into question the validity of two separate education systems: the regular system and the special school system. The Review Committee argued for the substantial transfer of pupils and resources from educational settings to regular schools. Despite attempts to the contrary by the Review Committee, the Victorian education system continues to use special schools and regular schools as the two educational settings.

In 1993, a report by the Victorian Auditor-General's Office entitles Integrated Education for Children with Disabilities, noted that

if integration of children with disabilities into regular schools was to become the preferred option of parents, then the Integration Program has not been entirely successful in achieving this aim, as new enrolments in segregated settings for 1990 were higher than in 1984 (p. 74).

The Review Committee stated that various segregated settings would continue to operate in the foreseeable future. Funding, however, would be frozen at the 1984 levels. It also stated that no new special schools would be built in Victoria. These statements caused some concern among parents who, on the one hand had been given increased rights, and on the other hand faced a diminution in the options for their child's schooling.

The Victorian Teachers Union (Varley & Howard, 1985) argued that the Ministry could not supply to all regular schools the resources that were available

The Integration of Children with Behavioural Disorders I69

to children with disabilities in their special settings. The union was concerned that integration programs could falter due to the large strain placed on human and physical resources. It was argued (Varley & Howard, 1985) that some schools were gaining reputations as integration schools - that is, schools with a concentration of students with disabilities. It has appeared that these fears were well founded. The Review Committee reported that it was hopeful that by 1989, 1750 integration teachers and 1,000 integration aides would be appointed. By 1993, only 302 integration teachers had been appointed, while 1,277 integration aides had been appointed. These figures are particularly noteworthy considering the number of children receiving either integration or visiting teacher support grew from 2,186 in 1984 to 7,052 in 1993.

Perhaps the most unacceptable aspect of the Victorian policy is the lack of emphasis it placed, and continues to place, on the education and welfare of children with behaviour disorders. Picketing (1986) noted "in the absence of any meaningful provision emotionally disturbed children are catered for in regular schools" (p. 2)~ Picketing concluded that these children have been largely overlooked and are in effect integrated by default. Non categorisation may, therefore, ultimately disadvantage certain children with special needs.

Principle 3: Resources and Services Should, to the Greatest Extent Possible, be School Based

The Report of the Review Committee proposed that, to the greatest extent possible, resources for integration should be available at the regular school. To assist in this achieving this goal, it was recommended that certain non school based staff, for example, would be redeployed to regular schools. Recommendations also included the need for staff and resources presently provided to special schools to be shifted to regular schools while schools were encouraged to implement flexible and supportive curricula.

Principle 4: Collaborative Decision Making Processes

Due in part to the fact that the Review Committee had been constituted by teachers, parents and researchers, it was argued that a collaborative approach to integration was the appropriate direction to pursue. A close collaboration between the Ministry of Education, parent bodies, regular class teachers, special class/school teachers, and other professionals was encouraged. Integration policies were established in each school. While the school was responsible for integration policies the Review Committee reduced the role of professionals, such as psychologists, in favour of a more participatory role for parents. When

170 KEITH BRADSHAW

parents wished their child to attend the local school an Enrolment Support Group was established. This group consisted of the school principal, a classroom teacher, parents, a parent advocate and sometimes the student.

The real issue in Victoria, according to Fulcher (1986), was to challenge the role of medical professionals in the education and schooling process. Changes to teacher preparation were instigated whereby all trainee teachers had to do a mandatory unit in Special Education. Most States of Australia now require such a mandatory unit as a component of all pre-service teacher education programs.

Principle 5: That All Children Can Learn and be Taught

In setting forth this principle, the Review Committee challenged the concept of ineducability. The Review Committee made the Ministry of Education responsible for the education of all children. All special schools in Victoria would eventually come under the guidance of the Ministry of Education rather than welfare groups, charitable groups or medical associations, as had been the case for many decades. Since 1990, all special schools in Victoria have been administered by the Ministry of Education, now known as the Victorian Department of Education.

In 1989, a booklet entitled Everybody's Different, Everybody's the Same was issued to support the integration policy in schools. This booklet was then supplemented in 1990 by a video package: Integration Processes and Perspectives. In May 1992, the Victorian Auditor-General published a report "Integrated Education for children with Disabilities". The report was the first evaluation of the Integration Program since its inception. The results of the audit suggested that the original integration report (1984) did not provide the Victorian Department of Education with a clearly articulated policy with defined strategies and objectives. The summary of the report stated that "until a clear formal public policy on the integration program is developed, the Department will be unable to finalise precise operational strategies to direct program implementation" (p. 7).

I N T E G R A T I O N P O L I C Y I N N E W S O U T H W A L E S

In 1981, the first New South Wales' Department of Education and Training's policy statement on the enrolment of children with disabilities was issued. Since then, policy development has taken place and a procession of policy statements and media releases has occurred. At the present time, the Special Education Policy released in 1993 is the extant policy but a Special Education Handbook was issued to schools in 1998. A new, revised policy is anticipated for release

The Integration of Children with Behavioural Disorders t71

in late 1999 or early 2000. The Department of Education and Training (formerly the Department of School Education) also released a Special Education Five Year Plan 1993-1997. In addition, in 1996 a feasibility study was conducted (McRae, 1996) into integration and inclusion in New South Wales schools.

The mission statement of the New South Wales Special Education Policy recognises that all children can learn. The policy sets out a number of objectives; to provide an equitable and flexible continuum of special education services; to implement programs which focus on early intervention; to provide comprehensive assessment of students needs; to provide relevant curricula; to regularly review students' placement, programs and resources; to ensure successful transition through the different educational settings (pre-school, primary school and secondary school); to provide post-school programs; to apply strategies to maximise social and communication skills; and to provide new and appropriate technologies.

The policy is predicated on the need for a truly collaborative and consultative approach to integration. This collaborative and consultative approach aims to link parents, agencies and other government departments in decision-making. The major theme underpinning the New South Wales Special Education Policy is that of "Normalisation" - that is, "the creation of a lifestyle and set of living conditions for people with disabilities which are as close as possible to those enjoyed by the rest of the population" (N.S.W. Special Education Policy, 1993, p. 4).

The New South Wales Special Education Policy also;

° acknowledges that every child with a disability, learning disability or behaviour disorder has the right to attend their local school where this is possible and practicable and in the best interests of the child;

° acknowledges that parents and caregivers will be involved in assessment, placement, review and programming for their children with special teaching and learning needs;

• recognises that for some students their best interests may be met in special educational settings;

° aims to continue to move from provision of predominantly segregated educational settings to the provision of services in the regular neighbourhood school for students with disabilities, learning difficulties and bebaviour disorders.

This is being achieved by the provision of:

• services to support students with disabilities, learning difficulties and behaviour disorders in the regular classroom;

172 KEITH BRADSHAW

• support classes in regular schools where students with disabilities can receive appropriate educational support while experiencing the daily activities of their local community peer group;

• special education services to students isolated by distance, medical or legal factors; and

• a special education plan designed to support regions and schools in the development of high quality educational programs for students with disabilities, learning difficulties and behaviour disorders across a range of educational settings and within available resources. (New South Wales Department of School Education, 1993, pp. 4-5).

According to McRae (1996) the most salient section of the policy procedures is that which directs the principal to give

due regard to the Integration Policy and the availability of resources and support services necessary to provide an appropriate educational placement to provide an educational program for the child. The principal is the officer responsible for making the offer of enrolment to the parent (p. 7).

Principals of regular schools in New South Wales have a set of procedures to follow when considering the placement of a child with disabilities in the school. The principal requires statements about the child's medical and academic status from parents, medical professionals and the school counsellor, and is then requested to make an assessment of the child on the basis of these reports. Certain procedures are then followed depending on whether the child is accepted or not accepted for enrolment. If the principal decides that the child should not be enrolled, then the child's parents have a right of appeal through the Superintendent of the educational area. This enrolment procedure was to avoid "main-dumping"; that is, children being placed in the regular classroom without appropriate resources and programs (Gow, 1989). Apart from adhering to the principles of normalisation, designing enrolment procedures, and allocating resources, the New South Wales Department of Education and Training has continued to support the "Assumption of Responsibility" initiative.

The "Assumption of Responsibility" initiative is the practice whereby a large number of special schools previously administered by voluntary organisations are transferred, by negotiation, to the control of the NSW Department of Education and Training. The "Assumption of Responsibility" initiative has been paralleled in Victoria where the Department of Education has responsibility for all those special settings previously controlled by other agencies.

The Victorian policy and the New South Wales policy vary considerably in a number of areas. These include the focus on normalisation, the role of the parent in decision making and the right of the child to enrol in a regular school.


A number of parallels, however, between the approaches can also be noted. Both education departments are assuming responsibility for all special settings and both have been criticised by researchers, parent groups and unions for not providing adequate resources.

Children with behaviour disorders in both States are integrated using the same policies as other children with disabilities (based on the principle of non categorisation). In discussing his feasibility study on integration in New South Wales, McRae stated,

behaviour was referred m almost universally during school visits as the single issue which made integration difficult, the most troublesome for schools, the most stressful for staff and the most unsettling for other students (1996, p. 86).

THE SUCCESS OF INTEGRATION PLACEMENTS

A study undertaken (Bradshaw, 1997) to investigate the success of integration placements for children with behaviour disorders in these two Australian States aimed to track the integration of children with behaviour disorders in primary schools in these States, one and two years after an original survey was conducted on their placement in the regular classroom.

Fuchs, Fuchs, Fernstrom and Hohn (1991) discussed the "honeymoon phenomenon" - a well known phenomenon whereby there is an initial acceptance of atypical behaviour in an integrated setting which later becomes viewed as problematic, if not intolerable. To ascertain whether a honeymoon phenomenon existed in the initial studies (conducted in 1994 in Victoria and in 1995 in N.S.W.) a series of follow up studies were undertaken. Data in the initial studies (1994/1995) was gathered from fifteen primary schools in these two States. All of these schools were in the process of integrating children with behaviour disorders. In each school in Victoria a follow up survey was sent to school principals after two years (1996). In New South Wales a follow up survey was sent to principals after twelve months (1996).

In each school, in the initial studies (1994/1995) the principal, classroom teacher, parents, peer group and support staff were asked to respond to questionnaires, interview questions and self report inventories. In addition, sociometric activities and observation rating scales were conducted by this writer. In the follow up studies (1996) questionnaires were sent to all those principals involved in the initial studies.

The results of the follow up studies (Bradshaw, 1997) indicated that two years after the initial survey over 70% of the students in Victorian schools were no longer enrolled in their surveyed school. In New South Wales one year after

174 KEITH BRADSHAW

the initial survey, over 33% of the students no longer attended the surveyed school.

There were a number of factors that emerged from the study that may help to explain the enrolment patterns of the children in the study after one or two years. These can be identified as social, academic and resource factors, all of which influence the success of integration. In addition, variables such as gender and age are also significant factors, as is the collaborative role of the school and the community.

Social Factors Affecting Integration

In the Victorian phase of the initial study more than half of the schools surveyed indicated that they were less than satisfied with the progress made by the child with behaviour disorders in the area of social integration. This is a disappointing result if examined in the context of the Victorian integration policy which aims to increase and maintain, in relation to children with behaviour disorders, the participation of children with disabilities in the social life of the regular school. The results of the Victorian phase of the initial study support the findings of the Danby and Cullen (1988), Hornby (1992) and Lindsay (1989) all of whom "failed to find support for the effectiveness of integration in attaining the goals espoused in its rationale" (Hornby, 1992, p. 132). In the New South Wales phase of the initial study, fewer than half the schools surveyed indicated that social integration was taking place. These results support the findings of Swan, Brown and Jacob (1987), who claimed that it is possible to integrate only one third to one half of students presently labelled behaviour disordered.

The responses in the initial surveys indicated that the social aspect of the placement was seen as a concern in a number of schools. Staff in a number of schools indicated emphatically that social integration was not taking place. Despite schools indicating concern about a lack of social integration, the common argument put forward by proponents of integration including teachers, psychologists, and parents, is that when placement in a regular school takes place social integration naturally occurs. There is sufficient evidence in this study, however, to question the validity of this argument.

Social integration is considered a critical element in any integration program (Collins, 1984; N.S.W. Department of School Education Policy, 1994) yet it appears that this social integration is not taking place in relation to children with behaviour disorders.

The results of this study may in part be explained by Gresham (1982). Gresham argued that integration, particularly that of students with behaviour disorders, is


designed around a number of unsubstantiated assumptions. Gresham (1982) asserted that one such false assumption is that physical placement in the regular classroom will lead to increased social interaction - that is, physical placement does not necessarily mean that social interaction will flow as a consequence. The second false assumption is that physical placement in the regular classroom will lead to these children becoming more accepted by their peers without disabilities - that is, physical placement does not necessarily ensure social acceptance. The results of the original studies and the follow up studies provided evidence that children with behaviour disorders may well require assistance in enhancing social skills to maximise the potential for successful social integration. Importantly, these social skills may well influence the ultimate effectiveness and length of the child's placement in the regular school.

In the initial surveys a number of interesting factors emerged concerning the school history of the children. This school history may also go some way in explaining the results of the follow up studies. In Victoria the majority (nine) of the children surveyed were in only their first year or second year at their school at the time of the survey. A small number of children (four) had only attended one other school. The majority of children surveyed had attended two or more schools in addition to their school placement at the time of the survey. Although only in the primary grades, five students had attended four or more schools. In New South Wales, twelve children had been to two or more schools, and five had been to more than three primary schools. Absenteeism was an interesting factor to emerge from the initial New South Wales' study. Eleven of the surveyed children, for instance, had been absent from school ten or more days the previous year.

The type of integration program adopted by schools also provides some explanation of the difficulties encountered with social integration and hence the results of the follow up studies. In the initial studies fourteen schools in Victoria and eleven schools in New South Wales had adopted withdrawal programs for the integrated child. A number of the children initially surveyed (nineteen) were considered physically dangerous to their peers. Due to the possibility of other children being hurt, two children had their recess and lunch times changed to a different time to that of their peers. This approach may have in fact rendered the task of social integration more problematic. Medication may have also, inadvertently, contributed to the difficulty of social integration. A number of teachers in the initial studies commented on the lack of discussion between medical personnel and parents and themselves with regard to medication. Teachers also commented about erratic behaviour due to dosage and dosage changes of medication, and in a number of cases children had to be sent home at lunchtime as they were "basically unconscious" after lunch.

176 KEITH BRADSHAW

Academic Factors Influencing Integration

The results of the initial studies indicated that, in general, school principals and teachers did not perceive that academic integration was taking place successfully for children with behaviour disorders. This finding has been supported in the literature by RuM and Beflinghoff (1992) who quoted the United States Office of the Federal Register statistics which showed that children with behaviour problems do not perform as well as expected in the regular classroom.

Most of the children surveyed in the initial studies experienced academic as well as behavioural problems, with some of the academic problems being described as "self inflicted". Recent research (Hornby, 1992; Ruhl & Berlinghoff, 1992), has demonstrated that in general children with behaviour disorders who have been integrated into the regular classroom do have difficulty in the area of academic achievement. An interesting fact to emerge from the initial New South Wales' phase of the study was that six of the teachers commented that the child's best subject was maths where the child often achieved at a level in advance of their peers. Generally, the children surveyed in the original studies performed below the level of their peers across the curriculum. The vast majority of schools indicated that the surveyed child had great difficulty remaining on task for any period of time.

Perhaps one of the main difficulties in integrating children with behaviour disorders is that they usually require both intense social and academic programs and often these programs are not compatible.

Resource Factors Affecting Integration

The results of the initial studies identified that the schools surveyed were not wholly satisfied with the levels of support offered to them. The availability and supply of resources to schools may never reach acceptable levels. However, the allocation of these resources to schools may well influence attitudes towards integration and hence the duration of the placement. The visits to the schools confirmed that the distribution of resources, especially personnel, appeared to be inconsistent. Integration teachers and support teachers were not employed in all schools. One Victorian school, for example, demonstrated a clear need for an integration teacher, yet was refused one by the Victorian Department of Education. Instead, the school requested that the parents' committee pay for an integration teacher out of its own funds.

In New South Wales, twelve of the schools surveyed had support teachers while only two had integration or teachers' aides employed to assist in the integration of the child with behaviour disorders. In Victorian schools the


appointment of integration aides varied from school to school. In the majority of schools, integration aides were employed, with their condition of employment varying from one to three days each week.

A number of schools were not allocated aides while others were not provided with integration teachers. In New South Wales, ten of the schools had an itinerant support teacher (behaviour disordered) who, in all cases, according to the classroom teachers, visited too infrequently. Generally, the staff interviewed in the initial studies were very critical about the lack of support in relation to Departmental support which, when it was forthcoming, was considered inadequate. This lack of visits to schools from Departmental support personnel was of particular concern, and the support considered the most suitable was obtained from outside the Department. A number of staff commented on the guidance and support gained from the integration support groups, local councils and particularly local special schools. In New South Wales, a number of classroom teachers commented that they received little in-class support as the support teacher usually used the withdrawal model.

On a positive note, however, five classroom teachers considered that the relationship they had established with the support teacher was a very beneficial one, and two support teachers supported these views. The role of the school counsellor was criticised by school staff who argued that because of the number of children involved, counsellors were forced to see the results of unsuccessful integration. A number of principals from both States commented that no other children with behaviour disorders would be enrolled in the school unless services and resources improved. A number of principals - eight from Victoria and nine from New South Wales - were concerned about the lack of resources and support from the Department.

The Significance of Gender

In the initial studies, the relationship between the gender of the integrated child and the attitude of the teacher was examined by comparing the gender of the child with the teachers' results on the "Attitudes towards integration of disabled children in regular classes" scale Larrivee (1985). Attitudes towards integration of disabled children in regular classes scale was modified and used by Center, Ferguson and Ward in 1988. No significant correlation was found between gender of the child and teachers' attitudes towards integration for either Victorian or New South Wales' teachers. A possible explanation for this finding is that there were far more boys in the present study. This is not a significant finding since the literature (Heward & Orlansky, 1984) has suggested that in relation to children with behaviour disorders, the prevalence ratio may be as

178 KEITH BRADSHAW

high as 8:1 in favour of males. Secondly, the size of the sample may make discriminations between gender difficult (Ruhl & Berlinhoff, 1992).

The Significance of the Age of the Child

Larrivee and Cook (1979), discovered that teachers' attitudes towards integration tend to become less positive as the grade level increases. In the initial studies, the grades in which the integrated child were placed were grouped into three categories; preparatory (kindergarten), 1st and 2nd as the lower division; 3rd and 4th grades as the middle division; and 5th and 6th grades as the upper division. A mean score for each division was calculated using the results gained by teachers on the self-report scale "Attitudes towards integration of disabled children in regular classes". The mean scores were:

VICTORIA NEW SOUTH WALES

Lower Division 72.1% 72% Middle Division 75.5% 66.8% Upper Division 67% 61.4%

These mean scores indicate support for the Larrivee and Cook result - that is, that as the grade level taught increases, positive attitudes towards integration decrease. A common theme in discussion with school personnel was the belief that the earlier in the child's schooling years the integration process took place, the more likelihood there was of placement success. This view was supported in the literature (Bender, 1986; Larrivee & Cook, 1979).

School and Community Links as a Factor in Integration

A close examination of those case studies where the child was still enrolled in the original school one and two years later was conducted. Perhaps the most important factor common to all of these cases was the appropriation and implementation of what can be termed the co-operative model. Sapon-Shevin (1978) used the term "co-operative model" to describe individualised programs. Her description defines most effectively what should be operating during the integration process, particularly for children with behaviour disorders. In the co-operative model Sapon-Shevin stated that the model would make use of the positive aspects of each individual setting. The most effective placements explored in case studies, were those where the regular school staff had the opportunity to visit the child in his/her previous educational setting prior to


his/her enrolment at their school. In some cases the regular school was located alongside a special school. In these case studies the regular staff maintained close contact with the special setting and utilised the special setting as a substantial external resource. Frequent contacts were made to discuss the child's progress, program needs, and possible behavioural strategies. Gow, Ward, Balla and Snow (1988), from their national review of integration, also concluded that there is a major need for a co-operation between special schools/teachers and regular schools/teachers.

This view is well supported by Kanffman, McCullough and Sabornie (1984), who asserted "special and regular education teachers should visit each other's classroom to observe, comparing student's behaviour and curricula" (p. 207). Clearly, the effective placements in the case studies were underpinned by a reliance on this co-operative approach.

The Department of Education and Training in New South Wales have recently produced a policy statement (1994). This policy states that regions will "identify existing expertise in the field to assist clusters and schools" (p. 5). It would appear that in the effective case studies the school is doing just that; it has identified expertise in the field and utiliscs this expertise to assist with the integration of the surveyed child. In one case study, the school has a special education unit within the school grounds. The school staff work very closely with the unit staff and most of the unit's eighteen children are integrated into a regular class during some time of their school week. While the surveyed child was not integrated from the unit, rather from a local special school, the classroom teacher and principal gained much support and knowledge from the unit staff in the areas of programming and discipline.

It is clear from the research that in all of the case studies where integration had been effective, a special school/setting had been a valuable resource. This reinforces the validity of a co-operative model. While each situation was unique, the overall findings strongly suggest that, when integrating children with behaviour disorders the support of a special school, in the areas of curriculum design, behaviour strategies, services for the child/parent and support for regular class teachers, is a fundamentally important component. These findings support the work of Masat et al. (1980) who advocated a close relationship between the regular school and the special school.

Masat (1980) also suggested a transitional plan involving the regular school co-ordinator and the special school co-ordinator. Each co-ordinator in this model, is equipped with a set of clearly stated roles and a clear schedule of transition is adhered to. Bradshaw (1987) has also outlined a set of transitional strategies that could be adopted and followed when integrating children with behaviour disorders.

180 KEITH BRADSHAW

C O N C L U S I O N

It is evident that for many children with behaviour disorders placement in the regular school may not be the most appropriate educational context to maximise the individual's educational experience. A number of factors, including social, academic and resourcing variables, influence the extent to which placement in regular schools is successful over the longer-term. The factor which appeared to enhance the success and the length of placement was a close working relationship between the regular school and a special school. Clearly, in striving to provide excellent educational opportunities and outcomes for children with behaviour disorders the regular classroom is only one of a number of alternatives available. Special schools, special classes, wilderness programs, vocational programs and social skills programs must also be considered. As Steinberg and Knotzer (1992) claimed, the time has come to perhaps look beyond the mainstream classroom because "the evidence is accumulating that this is not a sufficient condition for ED/BD children's development" (p. 152).

Despite having evolved from different perspectives and emphasising different principles, it would appear that the integration policies for both New South Wales and Victoria have similar long term prognosis and, indeed, may not be wholly appropriate or adequate for children with behaviour disorders. Gow (1989) undertook a review of integration in Australia and found that there was a lack of consensus amongst all States with respect to strategies and practices for integrating children, particularly children with behaviour disorders. Gow suggested that the planning of policy and services in Australia for children with disabilities should become a cooperative enterprise, harnessing the resources of both State and Federal governments with particular emphasis on funding, teacher training and incentive methods for teachers. The fact that such recommendations have yet to be seriously adopted underlines the lack of real progress in the area of integration. As long ago as 1979, a number of these recommendations had been put forward by Andrews, Elkins, Berry and Burge (1979). Two decades later the same recommendations are still to be acted upon.

REFERENCES

Andrews, R. J., Eklins, J., Berry, P. B., & Burge, J. A. (1979). A survey of special education in Australia. Brisbane. QLD: University of Queensland.

Bender, W. N. (1986). The case against mainstreaming-Emperical support for the political backlash. Education, 105, 279-287.

Braaten, S., Kauffman, J. M., Braaten, B., Polsgrove, L., & Nelson, C. M. (1987). The regular education initiative patent medicine for behavioral disorders. Exceptional Children, 55, 21-27.


Bradshaw, K. (1987). Behaviour disordered children-To integrate or not. Australian Journal of Remedial Education, 19(1), 19-21.

Bradshaw, K. (1997). The integration of children with behaviour disorders:A longitudinal study. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 21(1), 111-123.

Carlberg, C., & Kavale, K. (1980). The Efficacy of special needs versus regular class placements for children. The Journal of Special Education, 14(3), 29-309.

Center, Y., Ferguson, Y., & Ward, J. (1988).The integration of children with disabilities into regular classes (mainstreaming): A naturalistic study. Stage 1 Report, Macquarie University: Special Education Centre.

Collins, M. K. (1984). Memoradum No 28. Integration in Victorian Education. Melbourne, VICT: Ministry of Education. Office of Director General.

Danby, J., & Culten, C. (1988). Integrating and mainstreaming: A review of the efficacy of mainstreaming and integration for mentally handicapped pupils. Educational Psychology, 8(3), 177-195.

Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L. S., Fernstrom, P., & Hohn, M. (1991). Towards a responsible reintegration of behaviorally disordered students. Behavioral Disorders, •6(2), 133-i47.

Fulcher, G. (1986). Australian policies on special education: Towards a sociological account. Disability, Handicap and Society, 1(1), 19-52.

Gow, L. (1989). Review of Integration in Australia: Summary Report. Canberra, D.E.E.T. Gow, L., Ward, J., Balla, J., & Snow, D. (1988). Directions for integration in Australia-Overview

of a report to the Commonwealth Schools Commission part 11 The Exceptional Child, 35(1), 5-22.

Gresham, F. (1982). Misguided malnstreaming: The case for social skills training with handicapped children. Exceptional Children, 48(5), 422-430.

Heward, W. L., & Orlansky, M. D: (1984). Exceptional children-An introductory survey of special education (2nd ed.). Columbus, OH: Charles. E. Merrill.

Hornby, G. (1992). Integration of children with special educational needs: ls it time for policy review? Support for Learning, 7(3), 130-134.

Kauffman, J. M., McCullough, L. L., & Sabornie, E. J. (1984). Integrating exceptional students: Special problems involving the emotionally disturbed/behaviorally disordered. B. C. Journal of Special Education, 8(3), 201-210.

Larrivee, B. (1985). Effective teaching for successful mainstreaming. New York: Longman. Larrivee, B., & Cook, L. (1979). Malnstreaming: A study of the variables affecting teacher attitude.

Journal of Special Education, •3(3), 315-324. Lindsay, G. (1989). Evaluating integration. Educational Psychology in Practice, 5(1), 7-16. Madden, N. A., & Slavin, R. E. (1983). Mainstreaming students with mild handicaps: Academic

and social outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 53(4), 519-569. Masat, L. J. (1980). Transistional strategies for mainstreaming emotionally disturbed (El)) students.

Paper presented at the 58th Annual International Convention of the Council for Exceptional Children. Philadelphia PA: (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No ED 188-388).

McRae, D. (1996). The Integration~Inclusion Feasibility Study. New South Wales Department of School Education, Sydney.

Picketing, D. (1986). Integration in Victoria-A critical analysis. Paper presented at the National Conference Association of Special Education Teachers. Adelaide.

Picketing, D. (1993). Future Directions in Victorian Special Education and integration. Paper presented at the 17th National Conference of Special Education. Melbourne, Oct.

Nelson, C. M., & Pearson, C. A. (1991). Integrating services for children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders. Reston VA: Council for Exceptional Children.

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New South Wales Department of School Education (1993). Special Education Policy. Parramatta, NSW: N.S.W. Government Printer.

Ruhl, K. L., & Bedinghoff, D. H. (1992). Research on improving behaviorally disordered students' academic performance: A review of the literature. Behavioral Disorders, 17(3), 178-190.

Sapon-Shevin, M. (1978). Another look at mainstreaming. Phi Delta Kappan, 60(2), 119-121. Saunders, J. (1987). Bad, mad or sad. The Special Education Journal, 2, 9-13. Schiefelbusch, R. L. (1986). Integration-who benefits? Paper presented at the l l th Annual

Conference of the Australian Association of Special Education, Adelaide. State Board of Education-Victoria (1987). Implementation of the policy of integration: teacher,

parent and community education. Advice to the Minister of Education, Melbourne:State Board of Education.

Steinberg, Z., & Knitzer, J. (1992). Classrooms for emotionally and behaviorally disturbed students: Facing the challenge. Behavioral Disorders, 17(2), 145-156.

Swan, W. W., Brown, C. L., & Jacob, R. T. (1987). Types of service delivery modes used in the reintegration of severely emotionally disturbed/behaviorally disordered students. Behavioral Disorders, 12(2), 99-103.

Sykes, S. (1989). Integration in Victorian schools: A review of policy and progress 1984-1989. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 36(2), 85-110.

Varley, J., & Howard, S. (1985). Integration whats it all about? V.S.T.A. News, 6(5), 5-7. Victorian Auditor-General's Office (1992). Integrated Education for children with disabilities.

Special Report No. 17, Melbourne, Government Printer. Warnock, H. M. (1978). Special Edueational Needs (Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the

Education of Handicapped Children and Young People. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

12. INCLUSIVE PRACTICE FOR

PUPILS WITH EMOTIONAL AND

BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES IN

MAINSTREAM SCHOOLS

Ted Cole, John Visser and Harry Daniels

The Green Paper 'Excellence for all Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs' (DfEE, 1997) and consequent Programme of Action (DfEE 1998) show the United Kingdom government's commitment to the increased inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. This commitment might perhaps be more to 'inclusion of place' than to 'inclusion of process' or in the Warnock Report's terms to the 'locational' and perhaps 'social' rather than to the 'functional' (DES, 1978). Nevertheless, it is real and is restated recently in a new government bill on SEN about to be presented to parliament. However, it is clear from the Green Paper and the Programme of Action, echoing recent research in Britain and abroad (e.g. Clark, Dyson, Millward & Robson, 1999; Jenkinson, 1997) that achieving functional and even locational inclusion for children seen as having severe emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) remains problematic. The 63.5% growth (from 5,043 to 8,263) in numbers of pupils sole-registered in Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) between 1995 and 1999 and the education in England in 1998 of over 20,000 pupils outside mainstream schools (DfEE, 1999a; Cole, Daniels & Visser, 1999) highlight the continuing difficulties.

Disaffected, disturbing or disturbed children (who for the purposes of this chapter are aggregated under the term 'pupils with EBD') have always presented

Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in Mainstream Schools, Volume 1, pages 183-194. 2001 by Elsevier Science Ltd. ISBN: 0-7623-0722-6

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184 TED COLE, JOHN VISSER AND HARRY DANIELS

a challenge to teachers. Yet some mainstream schools have a much better record in meeting these pupils' needs than comparable establishments. These schools are extremely reluctant to seek placements for pupils with EBD in special schools or other off-mainstream-site provision. From February 1997 to April 1998 the University of Birmingham EBD Research Team, funded by DfEE, sought to establish the key features of such schools' organisation, behaviour policy and teaching approaches in relation to pupils with EBD. Our team ~ also studied the support these schools received from their LEA and the links the schools forged with other local government and health agencies. The detailed findings, including many practical exemplars of effective practice, were later published by DfEE as Daniels, Visser, Cole and de Reybekill (1998) 2 and further discussed in Cole, Visser and Daniels (1999b) and Visser, Cole and Daniels (2000). In this chapter, after a brief description of the research methodology, an outline is given of some of the key features of these schools under the headings of caring, sharing and learning which help to explain these schools' effectiveness in minimising the need to resort to segregated provision.

M E T H O D O L O G Y

A three-phase nested design was employed with each phase clarifying and refining understanding of effective practice and how it is achieved. In Phase One criteria associated with meeting the needs of pupils with EBD were taken from relevant research and guidance (e.g. Cooper, Smith & Upton, 1994; Cole, Visser & Upton, 1998; DFE, 1994a, b). These criteria were distilled into a draft model ('the Model') whose validity was probed in interviews and discussions with key personnel within the field. In particular the Model was examined and its contents checked against the perceptions of prominent Local Education Authority (LEA) and government agency workers who participated in a one- day conference consisting of focus groups and plenary sessions. Nominal group techniques were used to establish the participants' views and their ranking of relevant factors. The resulting data were used to refine the Model.

In Phase Two, a cohort of primary and secondary schools (thirty in total) was selected in an inner-London borough, a metropolitan borough and a mixed rural and industrial county. The schools had been identified as sites of good practice in consultation with LEA Officers and DfEE. They had been rated as successful in behaviour management by Of STED inspectors. Each school was visited, their documentation examined and the Model used as the reference point for interviews with key personnel covering management, special educational needs, behaviour policy and pastoral care.

Inclusive Practice for Pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties 185

Subsequently, five primary and five secondary schools were chosen from the Phase Two group for Phase Three. In this last phase, a more detailed study was made of these schools' policies and practice and the data used to develop the Model. A final version of the latter is given in Daniels et al. (1998) Cole et al. (1999b) and Visser et al. (2000). Further visits were made to each of the ten schools and interviews took place with members of senior and middle management including Heads of Year, SENCOs, class teachers, some pupils with EBD and school governors. Classroom practice was also observed. It should be noted that the ten schools were chosen in part to be representative of phase, size and contrasting catchment areas and were not always exemplars of uniformly good practice in relation to EBD. This comment applies particularly to two secondary schools serving disadvantaged neighbourhoods where there were distinct differences in the values and practices of different subject departments. However, the leadership and some teachers in both these schools were striving to create more inclusive environments.

O N E S I Z E C A N N O T F I T A L L S C H O O L S

The details which constitute the key features associated with EBD effectiveness cannot be offered as a neat and easily trans-locatable prescription. The study involved contrasting schools with policies and practices which varied in content, style and weighting attached to sub-factors. Like MacGilchrist, Myers and Reed (1997) in their work on school improvement, no blue-print was identified of systems or particular approaches (such as 'Assertive Discipline') which guarantee a high degree of functional inclusion of pupils with EBD in every mainstream school. Rather the headline key features, described below, provide teachers and schools with a way of examining their policy and practice against some essential principles which interact with each other. These interactions are governed by factors intrinsic and extrinsic to each school. They are underpinned by the values, attitudes and beliefs held by the teaching staff and to an extent by school governors and the pupils themselves. The outcomes of these interactions constitute the unique features of each school's approach to meeting the needs of its pupils with EBD.

The application of these essential principles does not enable mainstream schools to meet the needs of all pupils with EBD. This study added to another of our team's recent research (e.g. Cole, Daniels & Visser, 1999a). U.K. government publications (e.g. Of STED, 1999) show that the nature, intractability and complexity of a few pupils' difficulties are such; or their experience of their imperfect local mainstream schooling has been so damaging, that an extended time away from a mainstream setting and sometimes their local community can


be a better if imperfect option. U.K. Government statistics (DfEE, 1999) show a tiny percentage of the compulsory school-aged population (c.0.3%), who are pupils with EBD, remaining in provision outside mainstream schools. This figure is similar to figures suggested by the Elton Report a decade earlier (DES, 1989). Cole et al. (1998, 1999a) and Of STED (1999) suggest that for some of these pupils at least, such alternatives are likely to lead to better educational progress and a greater degree of social inclusion as young adults than remaining in what McGuiuness and Craggs (1986) termed 'pathogenic' mainstream environments. We nevertheless believe that, if schools achieved a better balance between their academic and pastoral functions (see Galloway, 1990; Power, 1996), few pupils would need to be excluded and a greater number of pupils with EBD could be managed within mainstream settings (see also Cole, Visser & Daniels, 2000).

Finally by way of introduction, the key features of good practice in relation to EBD found in the Phase Two and Three schools are scarcely a surprise and resonate with much of the literature on effective schooling (for example Stoll, 1991; Sammons, Hillman & Mortimore, 1995). We agree with Cooper (1993), DFE (1994a, b) and OfSTED (1999~ that good practice in meeting the needs of pupils with EBD overlaps substantially with and is sometimes derived from effective practice in meeting the learning needs of all pupils. It is what comprehensive education should offer but too often has not been able to (Cooper, 1993; Power, 1996; Booth, Ainscow & Dyson, 1998).

KEY FEATURES

The key features found in our sample schools which demonstrated effective practice in relation to pupils with EBD included:

• A 'critical mass' of each school's staff committed to inclusive values. • Leadership which generated direction, coherence and cohesiveness for the

staff. • Positive, whole-school behaviour policies 'owned' and regularly reviewed by

staff and pupils. • Specific targeted behaviour management approaches matched to individual

pupil needs. • Staff who understood and respected pupils with EBD and made time to listen

to their concerns. • Senior management (SMT) committed to the development of skilled teaching

which matched the learning styles and abilities of pupils including those with EBD.


• Staff with a propensity for learning from their own and from their colleagues' actions.

° Staff who appreciated skilled assistance from outside agencies in developing and sustaining inclusive practice.

These features heavily influenced the discourse of the majority of the Phase Two and Three Schools and formed the basis for an ongoing dialogue between the school' s leadership and a critical mass of other staff, including non-teachers.

A Critical Mass of Staff Committed to Inclusive Values

Unsurprisingly in larger schools we encountered a range of attitudes to pupils with EBD. Some teachers, as has been suggested above, did not necessarily espouse the convictions of colleagues or senior management on the duty of mainstream teachers to commit themselves fully to coping with challenging and disruptive youngsters. However, in many of the Phase Two and Three Schools there was clearly a critical mass of influential members of staff, including most of the senior management team who strove to maintain and increase the degree of inclusion experienced by pupils with EBD. The importance of the critical mass lay in the influence these teachers had on the creation and ownership of the school's behaviour policy and also in the strength of the positive relationships some of these staff formed with particularly challenging pupils. Some at least of these staff understood the emotional underpinnings of pupil behaviour and the sometimes fractured lives outside school of pupils with EBD. They had an empathy for the pupils and their family's difficulties. The critical mass avoided a negative fatalism about the future of these children, instead sustaining a belief that their school could help pupils with EBD to improve their behaviour and their academic performance. They also tended to avoid the use of the term 'EBD' preferring to see each child as an individual without a label.

Leadership Generating Direction, Coherence and Cohesiveness

Effective leadership is often seen as a major feature of good practice (e.g. Davies, 1997; Prince, 1997; DFE, 1994b) and essential to any list of factors which create effective schools (Cooper et at., 1994). It is therefore to be expected that when considering what maintains and sustains good practice in relation to EBD, our data suggested that the quality and nature of leadership were crucial. In the sample schools, having created appropriate structures, the head and senior colleagues were active in ensuring that their systems remained appropriate, subjecting them to ongoing review and evaluation, applying the


'do-review-learn-apply' cycle advocated by Dennison and Kirk (1990). The sustenance of good practice required the nurturing of appropriate values and attitudes as well as of the general morale and commitment of staff.

The leadership in the sample schools attended to the maintenance and sustaining of good practice by following a style associated with EBD school effectiveness (Cooper et al., 1994; Cole et al., 1998) and indeed general school improvement (e.g. Stoll, 1991). Senior staff sought to combine a degree of democracy with giving a clear sense of direction, sometimes by direct practical example. While on occasion there remained a need for a headteacher or deputy to play the benevolent autocrat, it was usually a collegiate approach aiming for the three 'C's of consensus, consistency and cohesion. Teachers and non- teachers were actively involved by senior staff in policy creation and review, particularly in relation to behaviour management. The interview data from the teachers pointed to an active non-bureaucratic, style of leadership which we also observed in the sample schools. This was typified by an open-door policy to staff, pupils and even the most 'difficult' of parents. Headteachers were observed directly dealing with pupils with EBD and in one secondary school one was seen sitting amongst such pupils at the lunchtable. Heads of Year and of Departments in secondary schools or Deputy Heads of SENCos in primary schools were observed offering practical advice and support to junior colleagues, actively striving for consistent and mutually supportive team-work. Senior staff were successful in helping to maintain school systems while sustaining the will of classteachers and learning support assistants (LSAs) to operate them and to develop inclusive practice which coped with disruptive and disturbing pupils. The leadership's approach to management clearly gave the schools direction and cohesiveness in a range of areas that impinged on pupils with EBD.

Positive General and Targeted Behaviour Policy and Practice

The achievement of the orderly, controlled yet relaxed atmospheres that we encountered in most of the Phase Two and Three Schools were almost always underpinned by a comprehensive positive whole-school behaviour policy. While usually in detailed written form, complete with pro forma and printed procedures, these were 'living' systems, routinely used and subject to revision and frequent discussion amongst staff and with pupils. These policies were integral parts of the schools' overarching aims, rather than separately established and attached only loosely to them. They flowed from the values and beliefs espoused by the critical mass of staff. The behaviour policies matched criteria outlined as good practice by a number of sources (e.g. Clarke & Murray, 1996; Of STED, 1993; DES, 1989).


The policies gave a framework which facilitated the daily practice of individual teachers and eased the creation of helpful relationships between staff and pupils. A variety of ways of motivating pupils and responses to challenging behaviour were observed. Common strands in these observations were clear boundary setting, the fostering of a climate of praise, high expectations of behaviour and academic progress, together with 'understanding' when expected targets were not achieved by individual pupils. Effective teachers clearly differentiated some forms of EBD from general 'naughtiness' or normal transient misbehaviour.

The general behaviour policies contained widely-used rewards and sanctions, referral systems and pastoral support. Within these were the carefully targeted individual behaviour plans, sometimes although not always linked to individual education plans operating under the aegis of the Code of Practice (DfE, 1994). These seemed to be consistently monitored. It was not uncommon during our school visits to SENCOs or Heads of Year Groups and sometimes headteachers checking an individual child's progress, looking at his or her behaviour records at the lunchtable or at breaktime offering encouragement or mild admonishments which, because of the relationship existing between pupil and staff, were accepted. At times pupils would be offered 'sanctuary' in learning support departments or senior staff offices as a pre-emptive move when the child was close to a confrontation or emotional outburst, sometimes during lesson times and sometimes during breaks. Similarly primary pupils with EBD were observed to be allowed individual time-out when Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) would accompany the child to lobbies or small rooms outside the main classrooms. Effective schools are clearly responsive to particular needs and strive to be the 'schools for individuals' advocated by Cooper (1993).

Skilled Teaching Matching Aptitudes and Ability of Pupils with EBD

Linked to behaviour policies was a concern for educational progress; pupils with EBD were seen as pupils whose special educational needs did not preclude them from needing to, or wanting to achieve academically. The sample schools had staff with a range of effective teaching styles and classroom management techniques but for most of these staff, teaching and learning were viewed as important for pupils wJith EBD as for other pupils. In secondary schools, these pupils were to be helped to achieve a range of national accreditation. Flexible time-tabling played to the individual strengths and sometimes side-stepped the weaknesses of individual pupils with EBD. Examples were seen of pupils being excused from certain subjects or placed in sets taken by teachers with whom the child had a good relationship. There was a firm welcome from senior staff in the secondary schools for an increase in the range of subjects pupils could


follow in the latter stages of schooling. Vocational and practical programmes amended and linked to national accreditation were used to re-engage pupils with EBD in the educational process.

In most of the Phase Two and Three schools there was also a clear recognition that behaviour difficulties were often intertwined with the educational underachievement of pupils with EBD; this has long been recognised (see Wilson & Evans, 1980; Cole et al., 1998). It was seen to be essential for pastoral staff, subject teachers and learning support departments to collaborate, with Heads of Year, Heads of Department and SENCos working cohesively. Similarly in the primary schools, it was common for the SENCo to be a part of senior management and to work closely with the classteachers responsible for the children with EBD. A relevant example was witnessed by our team in a secondary school meeting involving senior pastoral staff: the behaviour difficulties posed by a new pupil were being discussed and the decision taken that the SENCo would assess the pupil's learning capabilities and difficulties as a matter of urgency.

Staff with a Propensity for Learning from Each Other

In some of the sample schools, particularly the primary schools, the degree of mutual support offered by staff to their teaching and non-teaching colleagues was impressive. Teachers offered daily constructive support to each other. In a Phase Three primary school, lunchtime supervisors had easy access to the headteacher for advice and praised her active involvement in their professional development. The sample schools usually had a problem-sharing and problem- solving approach to issues which encouraged an open discussion of general and specific classroom or playground management issues. In one rural secondary school the SENCo alluded to 'teatime therapy' when senior staff would discuss professional concerns with less-experienced teachers over a cup of tea in the staffroom at the end of the school day on a regular basis. This was seen as a valuable mode of staff development akin to the more formal approaches advocated in Creese, Daniels and Norwich (1997). In the same school the deputy head was heard by our Research Team to admit at a meeting of the whole staff that he had just had a particularly difficult lesson with a new pupil. There was a willingness for established staff to be open about their difficulties and to seek the support of colleagues in the search for solutions. This encouraged less established staff-members to feel able to seek colleagues' advice. This practice was coupled with a 'no blame' culture associated with inclusive practice in the Birmingham LEA's Behaviour Co-ordinator scheme (Cole, Visser & Daniels, 2000).

Inclusive Practice for Pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties" 191

Skilled Assistance from Outside Agencies

The need for effective multi-agency work in meeting the often complex needs of pupils with EBD has been advocated for many decades (see Min. of Ed., 1955; DES, 1978; DES, 1989; DfEE, 1997; Cole et al., 1998). Within the sample schools, there was a strong desire for quick and practical assistance from LEA support personnel as well as social work and health services. In some schools this was forthcoming from respected individuals in particular branches of the major agencies. However our data suggested that constraints on finance and time as well as inter-disciplinary suspicions and contrasting priorities created formidable obstacles to effective external support. Even within the LEAs (intra- agency approaches) some of the sample schools struggled to receive adequate services from support teachers, educational welfare or educational psychologists. Where helpful support was managed it was often on the basis of local factors such as personal professional relationships rather than systems and structures which promoted collaboration in identification, assessment and provision for pupils with EBD. Expressions of satisfaction with social services or mental health service input were rare. Stretched LEA, social or health service resources had to be dedicated to time-consuming and probably increasing legal imperatives that did not include pro-active support of pupils with EBD in mainstream schools. This phenomenon was underlined by our later national study of LEA behaviour support plans (Cole et al., 1999a). It is to be hoped that the U.K. government's aspirations for early, preventive intervention expressed in Circular 10/99 (DfEE, 1999b) are soon realised.

Caring, Sharing, Learning Schools

The key features sketched above evidenced schools that were clearly caring, sharing and learning environments to an extent not replicated in many schools that are less effective at including pupils with EBD.

A critical mass of each of these caring schools' staff was committed to the welfare and progress of even the most challenging and testing of pupils. The rhetoric of inclusion was borne out in practice. Pupils were seen as part of a community which the school served and were therefore to be valued in all their diversity and individuality by staff. Their upsets and worries were recognised and addressed, often by staff spending time listening to them and offering 'emotional first aid' (Redl, 1966). Staff understood the need to provide pupils with 'cooling off space' when issues got out of hand. Teachers and LSAs modelled ways of coping with the strains and stresses of school life. Staff cared by setting achievable high standards in behaviour and learning, while being


tolerant and forgiving of lapses by pupils. Caring was not a soft option: misbehaviour was confronted but it was the 'deed' which was condemned not the person. These schools did permanently exclude the occasional pupil but always reluctantly.

These were sharing schools where staff, pupils and parents were able to discuss issues of behaviour openly between themselves and with each other. Teachers and LSAs collaborated in seeking positive ways forward to enhance their own skills in meeting individual pupils' needs. Through training and informal discussions they focused on learning and teaching skills rather than upon deficiencies perceived as embedded within the child. Drawing strength from the support of colleagues, they were confident of their school's ability to make a positive difference to the lives of their pupils with EBD. However, they understood that some pupils' difficulties in school could be caused or exacerbated by the child's experiences in the community or family. Senior school staff, despite disappointments in these endeavours, continued to try to share their skills with and to enlist the help of LEA, social and health service support staff, realising the potential of effective intervention in other parts of a child's ecosystem and its likely positive consequences for the pupil's functioning at school.

The Phase Three schools were also learning establishments. Dennison and Kirk's (1990) 'do-review-learn-apply' cycle was clearly in evidence. Staff frequently reflected upon their actions, decisions and organisation and these reflections guided their subsequent actions. There was a dynamic circularity with reviews forming an active part of their planning. The systemic nature of actions was appreciated. Single actions by pupil and staff were seen as important within their immediate milieux but were also reviewed to ascertain their wider implications for staff, teachers, pupils, parents and SMT in the context of the whole school. Reflecting on the needs of pupils with EBD was instructional and used as a vehicle for developing whole-school practice.

C O N C L U S I O N S

The findings from this study on increasing effectiveness in meeting the needs of pupils with EBD echo those of Thomas, Walker and Webb (1998) and the Elton Report (DES, 1989). Schools need to be communities that are flexible and responsive to diversity in their pupils, not selective or rejecting. Staff should ensure that their schools do not create unnecessary barriers against pupils with EBD. The development of a collaborative ethos is a key feature. This requires mutually respectful dialogue and shared working between staff, between staff and pupils, and, as far as possible, with outside agencies. Lastly, schools must


foster equity by promoting every pupil's rights and responsibilities in all aspects of school life. It is easy to make these recommendations but this study and our subsequent research (eg. Cole et al., 1999) show how difficult it is for schools to implement them.

N O T E S

1. Dr Nell de Reybekill, Dr Leon Tikly and Dr Angela Creese were also members of the Research Team and contributed to this study.

2. The full report is available from DIEE Publications, PO Box 5050, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 6SZ, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)845 60 222 60.

R E F E R E N C E S

Ayers, M., Clarke, D, & Murray, A. (1995). Perspectives on Behaviour:A Practical Guide to Effective Interventions for Teachers. London: David Fulton.

Booth, T., Ainscow, M., & Dyson, A. (1998). England: Inclusion and Exclusion in a Competitive System. In: T. Booth & M. Ainscow (Eds), From Them to Us'. London: Routledge.

Clark, C., Dyson, A., Millward, A., & Robson, S. (1999). Theories of inclusion, theories of school: deconstructing and reconstructing the inclusive school. British Educational Research Journal, 25(2), 157-177.

Clarke, D., & Murray, A. (1996). Developing a Whole School Behaviour Policy: A Practical Approach. London: David Fulton.

Cole, T., Daniels, H., & Visser, J. (1999a). Patterns of Educational Provision Maintained by Local Education Authorities for Pupils with Behaviour Problems. A report for the Nuffield Foundation, The University of Birmingham.

Cole, T., Visser, J., & Daniels, H. (1999b). A model explaining effective EBD practice in mainstream schools. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 4(1), 12-18.

Cole, T., Visser, J., & Daniels, H. (2000). The Framework for Intervention: Identifying and Promoting Effective Practice (Second Evaluation Report). For Birmingham City Education Department, University of Birmingham.

Cole, T., Visser, J., & Upton, G. (1998). Effective Schooling for Pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. London. David Fulton.

Cooper, P. (1993). Effective Schools for Disaffected Students: Integration and Segregation. London: Routledge.

Cooper, P., Smith, C., & Upton, G. (1994). Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. London: Routledge.

Daniels, H., Visser, J., Cole, T., & de Reybekill, N. (1999). Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in Mainstream Schools. Research report RR90. London: DfEE.

Davies, L. (1997). Beyond Authoritarian School Management: The Challenge of Transparency. Ticknall: Education Now.

Dennison, B., & Kirk, B. (1990). Do Review Learn Apply: A Simple Guide to Experiential. Oxford. Blackwelt.

Department for Education (1994a). Pupil Behaviour and Discipline. Circular 8/94, London: DFE.


Department for Education (1994b). The Education of Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. Circular 9/94, London: DFE.

Department for Education (1994c). A Code of Practice for the Identification and Assessment of Children with Special Educational Needs. London: DFE

Department for Education and Employment (1997). Excellence for All Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs. (Green Paper) London: DfEE.

Department for Education and Employment (1998). Meeting Special Educational Needs: a Programme of Action. London: DfEE.

Department for Education and Employment (1999a). Statistical First Release, SFR 10/1999. London: DfEE.

Department for Education and Employment (1999b). Social Inclusion: Pupil Support (Circular 10/99). London: DfEE.

Department of Education and Science (1978). Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Handicapped Children and Young People (the Warnock Report). London: HMSO.

Department of Education and Science (1989). Discipline in Schools (the Elton Report) London: HMSO.

Galloway, D. (1990). Pupil Welfare and Counselling. London: Longman. Jenldnson, P. (1997). Mainstreaming or Special? Educating Students with Disabilities. London:

Routledge. McGilchrist, t3., Myers, K., & Reed, J. (1997). The Intelligent School. London: Paul Chapman. McGuinness, J., & Craggs, D. (1986). Disruption as a school-generated problem. In: D. P. Tattum

(Ed.), Management of Disruptive Pupil Behaviour in Schools. London: Wiley. Ministry of Education (1955). Report of the Committee on Maladjusted Children (The Underwood

Report). London: HMSO. Of STED (1993). Achieving Good Behaviour in Schools. London: HMSO. Of STED (1999). Principles into Practice: Effective Education for Pupils with EBD. A report from

HMCI. London: Of STED. Powers, S. (1996). The Pastoral and the Academic. London: Cassell. Prince, L. P. (1997). The neglected rules of leadership: leadership and dissent. In: A. Coulson &

S. Baddeley (Eds), Trust in the Public Service. New York: Policy Press. Redl, F. (1966). When We Deal with Children. New york: Free Press. Sarmnons, P., Hillman, J., & Mortimore, P. (1995). Key Characteristics of Effective Schools: A

Review of School Effectiveness Research. Report Commission by Of STED. Smith, C., & Laslett, R. (1993). Effective Classroom Management: A Teacher's Guide. London:

Routledge. Stoll, L. (1991). School effectiveness in action: supporting growth in schools and classrooms.

In: M. Ainscow (Ed.) (1991), Effective Schools for All (pp. 68-91). London: David Fulton Publishers.

Thomas, G., Walker, D., & Webb, J. (1998). The Making of the Inclusive School. London: Roufledge.

Visser, J., Cole, T., & Daniels, H. (2000). Effective practice in mainstream schools. In: K. Ruoho (Ed.), Emotional and Behavioural difficulties : Papers presented at the First International Colloquium of the Finnish EBD Network. Finland, University of Joensuu.

Wilson, M., & Evans, M. (1980). The Education of Disturbed Pupils. Schools Council Working Paper 65, London: Methuen.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

John Visser, Harry Daniels and Ted Cole constitute the core members of the Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties research team in the School of Education at the University of Birmingham, U.K. Between them they have experience of teaching and senior management in a wide range of provision for pupils with EBD. They have an extensive research programme covering issues at national, local authority, school and classroom levels. Their publications list has an academic and professional focus.

Matti Kuorelahti is a lecturer, Ph.D. at the department of special education in the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. He was previously a lecturer in special education in the same university. For ten years he was a special education teacher in a special class for EBD pupils.

l~gide Royer is professor of special education, Faculty of Education, Universit6 Laval, Quebec, Canada. He is director of the Center of research and intervention for school success and has been, for the last 25 years, a researcher and a practitioner in the field of emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Gerda Hanko was previously Head of Education at a London college for mature students, has taught in inner city schools in Glasgow and in Birmingham and now works as a staff development tutor with schools and teachers training departments both in Britain and abroad. She is an Associate of the London University of Education and Visiting Course Tutor at their Special Needs Joint Inset Training Initiative (SENJIT). She also trains Personal advisers under the DfEE (2000) Connexions Project for disaffected 13 to 19 year olds.

Under the auspices of the London Institute of Education she developed in-service pilot courses with joint problem solving consultaney as a staff development method. Her publications on promoting teachers' insight into emotional factors in learning and failure to learn have also appeared in German and Spanish.

Markku Jahnukainen has worked as a special teacher at Secondary level and as a research associate and researcher at the University of Helsinki. He is

195

196 ABOUT THE AUTHORS

currently at the University of Helsinki and a post-doctoral researcher at the Academy of Finland.

He has been a lecturer and leader on many in-service training courses organised by different universities, and the National Board of Education of Municipalities. His special interest is emotional and behavioural difficulties, individualised education plans, transition planning and career development and secondary level special education and research.

Keith Bradshaw was a teacher in the N. S. W. Department of Education and Training for 15 years, including three years as a Itinerant Teacher of education with Behaviour.Disorders and three years a teacher at a special school for adolescents with behaviour disorders.

For the last 15 years he has been lecturing in special education at universities in both N.S.W. and VIC (Bendigo CAE and University of Western Sydney). At present he is a senior lecturer in Special Education at the University of WoUongong, N.S.W.

His research has focused on the integration of students with behaviour disorders and truancy. He has published a number of articles on truancy and behaviour disorders and have presented papers in Australia, the United States and United Kingdom on integrating children with behaviour disorders. His Ph.D. thesis was on the integration of students with behaviour disorders in two Australian states.

Paul Greenhalgh is author of the award winning book Emotional Growth and Learning (Routledge 1994), Senior Inspector in the London Borough of Merton and an Of STED Registered Inspector. He has held a range of advisory posts including Senior Adviser SEN, Adviser for Personal and Social Education and Advisory Teacher for SEN. After beginning his teaching career in mainstream schools, he worked with secondary-aged 'disruptive' pupils and ran a support service for primary-aged pupils with EBD, their mainstream teachers and parents.

Terje Ogden is presently implementing and evaluating a home, school and community based treatment programme for antisocial behaviour in children and youth in Norway. He is also Professor of Education Psychology at the University of Bergen and has for a number of years done research in the field of emotional and behavioural problems in schools.

Angeles Parril la is a lecturer in Special Needs Education at the University of Seville. She has written and edited a number of papers and books on the

About the Authors 197

integration and inclusion process in Spain. Her main areas of research include: integration and inclusion at school level; collaborative school and teacher support systems; and acse-study research.

Marion Bennathan was Principal Educational Psychologist for the county of Avon, a founder and first Director of Young Minds, the National Association for Child and Family Mental Health. She was for thirteen years Chair of the Association of Workers for Children with Emotional and Behaviourat Difficulties and continues as editor of its Newsletter. She started the Nurture Group campaign and is also consultant to the Nurture Group Project at the University of Cambridge. She is currently a member of the advisory group on EBD at the DfEE.

Paul Cooper is Professor of Education at the University of Leicester. Prior to this he held posts at the Universities of Birmingham, Oxford and Cambridge. He has carried out research and published widely on a range of issues relating to social, emotional and behaviottral difficulties, and effective teaching and learning in schools. He is editor of the journal Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties.

Carol Hayden is Senior Research Officer at the SSRIU (Social Services Research and Information Unit) at the University of Portsmouth. She has worked at the SSRIU since 1989, following a ten-year career in secondary school teaching. Her research expertise focuses upon the care and control of children and young people in difficulty. Key research conducted includes an ESRC funded project on exclusion from primary school and a DfEE funded follow up study of these children, through their secondary education (with Carl Parsons). Key publications include Children Excluded from Primary School (1997) Open University Press and State Child Care. Looking After Children? (1999) Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

INDEX

ability ix, xi, 18, 21, 33, 35, 42, 49, 72, 81, 109, 115, 118-119, 120, 125, 132, 137, 147, 149, 153, 156, 158, 189, 192

achievement viii, 6, 13, 15, 17, 21-23, 30, 54, 59, 68-71, 87, 93, 107, 116-117, 119-120, 122, 124-125, 131, 133, 136, 138-139, 158, 176, 188

acting out 16, 19, 53, 78, 80-81, 84 adolescence 6, 12, 26, 59, 88, 154, 163 affective 16, 50, 52, 63, 92, 94, 97-98,

104-106, 108, 140 antecedents 75, 86 assessment viii, x, 13-14, 19-22, 28,

38-39, 134-135, 144, 146, 154, 156-158, 163, 171-172, 191, 194

attachment 17-18, 23, 28, 34, 42-43, 59 attention 6, 9, 18, 21, 32, 34-35, 37-38,

40-41, 48, 65, 78, 84, 92, 104-105, 136, 144, 149, 156, 158-161, 164

attention deficit 12, 135, 137, 143, 146, 162-163

behaviour support plans 50, 60, 191 boundaries 14, 15, 22, 47, 55, 58 classroom management 76, 81-82, 84,

189, 194 Classrooms 28, 30, 60, 64, 81-82, 93,

99, 131, 182, 189, 194 cognition 86 collaboration 54, 57-58, 76, 81-83, 88,

103, 107, 136, 140, 169, 191 communication 14, 16, 54, 58, 98, 171 consensus 83, 103, 153, 180, 188 consequences 6, 15, 52, 67, 71, 80-81,

84, 86, 122, 128, 149, 192 consistency 15l, 188 consultation 48, 50-51, 55, 59~51, 184 culture vii, 2, 17, 24, 51, 54, 56, 58, 60,

89, 92, 107, 121, 126, 147, 156, 190

curriculum ix, 10, 13-14, 16, 18, 20-22, 26-28, 41, 50, 59, 61, 83, 91-96, 101-102, 108-111, 116, 118, 124, 126, 131, 136, 140, 176, 179

deviant 73, 75, 130 difference 7, 8, 17, 23, 37, 47, 54, 75,

80, 87, 116, t19, 128, 131, 133, 137, 139, 144, 146, 149, 152, 185, 192

discipline 15, 59, 80, 82, 84, 88, 91, 94, 104, 108, 110, 117, 121, 133, 145, 152, 164, 179, 185, 193-194

disruption 9, 79, 83-84, 100, 109, 127, 136, 157, 194

disruptive 31, 76, 78-81, 84-87, 107, 125, 136, 147, 153, 187-188, 194

drop-out 75 ecosystemic x, 108-109 emotion 5, 16, 86 emotional literacy viii, 13, 21, 25 environmental 96, 135, 144, 151-152,

154, 157, 159-160 evaluation 12, 22, 63, 73, 76, 98-99,

108, 125, 133, 140--141, 170, 187, 193 exclusion viii-ix, 1-7, 9-11, 30.32, 40,

68, 73, 75, 93-94, 98, 113-128, 132-133, 141, 145, 163, 193

expectations 15, 20-23, 77, 81-82, 118, 128, 131-132, 139, 156, 160, 189

expulsion 115-116, 128 further education 5, 7-9, 11 genetic 64, 145, 148, 151-152, 154-155,

164 inclusion vii-viii, x, 13, 17, 19-20,

24-25, 27, 30, 44, 50, 60, 91-93, 95-96, 98, 100, 106, 110, 117, 119, 125-128, 133-135, 139, 141, 171, 181, 183, 185-187, 191, 193-194

individualised programs 178

199

200 INDEX

integration 24, 60, 68, 73, 103-104, 113, 139, 165-182, 193

International xi, 12, 28, 48-49, 68, 74, 76, 87, 89, 113, 146-148, 168, 181-182, 194

interpersonal 54, 81, 89, 93-94, 97-100, 102, 104-105, 109-110, 153

intervention vii-xi, 1, 6, 11, 13-14, 16, 20-21, 33, 37-39, 43-44, 60--61, 75-76, 81-88, 94, 99, 100-101, 103, 105, 108-109, 111, 131-141, 153, 156-160, 162-163, 171, 191-193

language 36, 41, 54, 58, 86, 160 leadership 13, 21, 22, 28, 76, 81-83,

185-188, 194 mainstream school viii, x-xi, 24,

29-30, 38, 41, 50, 59, 66, 88, 126-128, 132-134, 183-186, 191, 193-194

marginalisation vii, ix, 1, 3-4, 75 maternal bonding 34 mental health 2, 42, 44, 55, 59, 143,

165, 191 motivation 21, 63, 77, 80, 84, 86, 121,

153, 159 Multi-agency 40, 127, 162, 191 neurological 64-65, 145, 149-153, 155 nurture viii, 19, 27-34, 36-41, 43-44,

152-153, 162 parent 5, 9, 13-14, 17, 20, 23, 33,

35-36, 40, 42-43, 49, 69-71, 76-77, 80-83, 103, 106-107, 109, 115, 119-120, 123-124, 127, 131-134, 138-140, 146, 151, 153-157, 159-160, 163, 167-176, 179, 182, 188, 192

participation 4, 11, 25, 31, 65, 87, 93, 95, 99, 100-102, 107, 110, 113, 118, 126, 139, 166, 174

pastoral 19, 184, 186, 189, 190, 194 peers 65, 70, 76-78, 81, 85, 124-125,

130, 132, 137, 150, 153, 159, 175-176 poverty ix, 1, 3, 113-114, 119-121,

126-128 praise 15, 23, 33, 79, 80, 83-84, 189 prevention 10, 75-77, 80, 86-88, 92, 99,

163

problem solving viii-ix, 84-85, 135, 160

regular schools 65, 133, 166, 168-169, 172, 179-180

relationships ix, 18, 22, 24, 31, 35, 40, 50-52, 92-93, 95, 98-105, 108-110, 132, 147, 187, 189, 191

relevance ix, 48, 73, 135, 168 Resilience 87 resources 25, 47, 54, 72, 97, 99, 100,

102, 106, 113, 119-120, 132, 134, 156, 166-169, 171-173, 176-177, 180, 191

risk factors 5, 12 schooling ix, 6--10, 63-64, 68, 71-73,

94-95, 116-119, 124, 126, 140, 156, 162, 164, 167-168, 170, 178, 185-186, 190, 193

self-confidence 21, 36, 160 self-control 5, 35, 85, 148, 156, 162 Social Competence 85, 87, 89 social skills ix, 20-21, 32, 76, 81-82,

85, 88-89, 93, 102-103, 106, 135, 137-139, 141-142, 160, 175, 180-181

special education 1, 4, 6-12, 28, 36, 59-60, 65-68, 72-73, 131, 133, 136, 138, 141-142, 164, 170-172, 179-182

special education services 171, 172 Staff support 14, 23, 47-48, 60 strategies viii-ix, 13, 15, 17-18, 22,

24-25, 27, 33, 76-77, 79, 82, 87-89, 97, 99-100, 103, 109, 113, 128, 136, 138, 157, 165-166, 170-171, 179--181

targets 15, 19, 22, 27, 118, 127, 189 teachers/teaching vii-xi, 13-16, 19-28,

30-31, 33-34, 36, 39, 40--42, 44, 47-51, 53-57, 59-60, 64-65, 67-73, 75-86, 88, 94, 100-101, 103-109, 119, 123, 125, 128, 130-140, 144, 151, 153, 157-160, 162, 168-171, 174-181, 184-193

therapeutic 17, 19, 22, 27, 44, 49, 51, 59, 115, 125, 141

transition 7-8, 11-12, 18, 87, 126, 168, 171, 179

Index 201

treatment 29-30, 42, 64, 76, 86-88, 93, 96, 108, 115, 138, 144, 158-160, 162-163

truancy 9, 68, 70, 75, 80, 120-122, 128 trust 16-18, 23, 32, 34, 43-44, 86, 98,

160, 194 unemployment 1, 2, 9-10, 25, 104, 118

values ix-x, 24, 56, 76, 81-83, 85, 91-97, 101-1t0, 185-188

vocational education 1, 9 welfare vii, 4, 88, 121, 126, 169-170,

191, 194 Whole school 13-14, 23-24, 3l, 80, 88,

192-193

Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties in Mainstream Schools (International Perspectives on...

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