The History of Special Provision for Pupils with Emotional or Behavioral Difficulties in England: What Has Proved Effective?

Abstract

This article asks who the children with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) are in England and what programs have evolved in the 19th and 20th centuries to address their needs. Services have been provided by different agencies adopting various day and residential approaches, both proving of lasting value in some circumstances. Theoretical battles, notably between supporters of a medical approach, which concentrates on so-called within-child factors ahead of formal education, and those of the now-dominant educational model, have punctuated the past century. Too often academic standards have been low, but where they have been high this is probably explained by the human factor rather than the theoretical or physical model in place. However, effective staff have tended to operate from an essentially humanistic standpoint.