Special educational needs and problem behaviour: making policy in the classroom

In this chapter, the authors draw on their research on the assessment of children identified as having emotional and behavioural difficulties to consider how educational reforms may affect teachers' decision-making about children identified as having special educational needs in mainstream schools. They discuss Warnock's endeavour to abolish the distinction between children with special educational needs and others, endorsing the principle that responsibility for all children lies with the class or subject teacher. Conservative education policy has taken the national curriculum and the devolution of resources to schools as the planks from which it has launched its bid to centralise education under the political control of government. The authors argues that government policy, far from valuing schools which are successful with children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, actually focuses attention on the achievements of more able children. It is important to bear in mind that teachers do not necessarily form a group whose perception of professional interests is entirely homogeneous.