DfEE Green Paper (22/10/1997) - Specialist support, EBD

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8 Principles into practice: emotional and behavioural difficulties

Specialist support

15. Most behavioural difficulties should be dealt with in mainstream settings. An LEA's behaviour support team may have a large part to play in making this possible, both by spreading good practice and by providing targeted support for certain children. Where specific intervention is needed, there should be clear objectives and a clear plan for disengagement. The aim should always be for the school to resume full responsibility for the child.

16 As Chapter 4 acknowledges, where children's difficulties are severe, they may need - at least for a time - to be educated outside mainstream schools, in some cases in residential provision, both in their own interests and in the interests of other children. With reductions in the number of residential special schools and increased numbers of small LEAs, children with a wide range of behaviours are being educated together in all-purpose EBD schools. Providing for this wide range of needs has often proved difficult within a small school. The regional planning mechanisms suggested in Chapter 5 should make it possible to improve the match between provision and needs. Furthermore, the aim should be for children to return to a mainstream setting as soon as they are ready to do so. This will not be possible for all, but experience from other countries, including the United States, suggests that it could happen much more frequently than at present. EBD special schools would then, like other special schools, begin to develop a broader role in providing support to mainstream schools.

31/08/2000