Emotional and behavioural difficulties are the element of teaching that we most hear about in the news. It is the thing that teachers and schools most struggle with. Thomas and Loxley (2001) are most critical of schools for putting all the blame on the student, without actually addressing the problem itself.
In many schools I have worked in, children that have extra needs are deemed to be disadvantaged and therefore less able. If a student does not fit into the teacher’s method of lesson delivery, then it is that student’s problem, and they ought to be extracted and dealt with. It is a view that I still see in my current setting. I find it very saddening. Instead, the teacher should be supported and educated in how to best deal with and include all their students, regardless of their ‘need’.
EBD is often seen to be defiance. This is most prevalent in students with Autistic spectrum disorder. Teachers rarely see their behaviour as a product of a form of anxiety, but more regularly as a method of defiance that deserves punishment. The student is seen to be behaving in an unacceptable manner for the establishment, so is therefore removed – i.e. excluded. Should we not be seeking to discover the source of the anxiety, and addressing that: proactive, rather than reactive? I believe Thomas and Loxley are right when they say that EBD as a label has done little for the student, all it has done in fact, is enabled educational institutions to cover up the school based issues and blame them on the child. Labels are not always helpful, and can often create more problems than they intend to solve.
What do the schools need to do?
Children need stability, nurture and security, in order to succeed and thrive. Thomas and Loxley (2001) challenge the thought that the behaviour is the child’s problem. They state that the schools are the one with the problem, and it is the school operation that needs to be examined, not the child. Although I realise this may be a generalisation, I do feel that in many cases this is probably true. The school needs to look at how to fix the issues in the institution that is causing the problem, rather than simply trying to fix the child in question.
Sources:
- Thomas, G and Loxley, A (2001) ‘The great problem of “need”; a case study in children who don’t behave’ Deconstructing special education, Buckingham, Open University Press
Melanie Ryding - Melanie writes on a range of topics, her main interest lying in health, fitness, weight management and sport
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