In the early 1980s, concern about disruptive behaviour in secondary schools had grown, being variously regarded as a symptom of a decaying society or as a failure on the teachers’ part. One response was to ‘throw money’ at the problem and various different kinds of special schools and units had been devised to deal with disruptive adolescent pupils. Yet there was little systematic evaluation of the different options – particularly in terms of cost effectiveness.
Originally published in 1983, this book reviews all the available research on 21 alternative systems for the education of disruptive adolescents at the time. These range from the highly expensive residential special schools to on-site adaptations which involve no extra cost. Most are based on developments in Britain and the United States and the author concludes in favour of many of the less sophisticated systems. This book will be interesting historical reading for workers and students in educational psychology, special education and educational policy.
Preface. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part 1: Traditional Provision 1. Residential Special Schools 2. Day Special Schools Part 2: Off-site Physical and Personnel Resources 3. Separate Units 4. Separate Units with Transition Facility 5. ‘Alternative’ Schools 6. Suspension Centres Part 3: In-school Physical and Personnel Resources 7. Special Classes 8. Resource Rooms 9. Time-out Rooms 10. Crisis Rooms/Teachers Part 4: In-school Personnel Resources 11. Support Teachers 12. Paraprofessionals 13. Volunteers Part 5: External Personnel Resources 14. Itinerant Support Teachers 15. Consultants 16. Teacher Training 17. Pupil Training 18. Parent Training Part 6: In-school Organisational Factors and the Continuum Model 19. Curriculum 20. Routine Sanctions 21. Miscellaneous 22. Resource Continua Part 7: Conclusions 23. Summary 24. Discussion. References. Bibliography of Unused Items. Bibliography of Items Unlocatable in the UK. Index.
Biography
Keith J. Topping
