Handbook of Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

Book excerpt: `At first glance I felt that this is a book that I should buy. On reading a selection of the chapters I realized that I must buy it. Each of the four sections has chapter that I know I will want to read and many others that I will read. It is a book that will provide student and authors in Higher Education and practitioners with much food for thought. It also emphasizes the desperate need to cut through much of the polemic that abounds in this field and to return to argument based on carefully conducted empirical work’ - Harry Daniels, Deputy Head of School and Director of Research, School of Education, University of Birmingham `Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (EBD) in schools can be defined in many ways. For example, EBD can be seen as: a set of problems that reside mainly within the individual student; as the result of interactions between social and psychological sub-systems, or as the product of professional discourses that create and maintain the very problems that they purport to identify and solve. Clough and Garner's Handbook of Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties sheds light on all of these perspectives and reveals the enormous complexity and diversity of what is termed "EBD". In doing this, the book reveals itself to be both a scholarly and practical resource that will be indispensable to anyone seeking insight and direction for understanding and responding to EBD in the 21st century. Readers looking for off the cuff 'tips for teachers' or simplistic solutions will not find what they want in this book. Rather, the Handbook of Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties will appeal to readers who want to hear from writers who have genuine insight into the multi-faceted world of EBD, who have worthwhile things to say about the range of possible solution to this area of difficulty, and, regardless of differences that might appear between their theoretical positions, share a sense of deep compassion for needs of students and educational professionals who experience EBD on day-to-day basis' - Professor Paul Cooper, The University of Leicester The behaviour of children in primary and secondary schools has been a consistent source of interest and controversy since the 19th century. Some commentators suggest that the phenomenon has a far more impressive historical pedigree. As education systems in First World democracies struggle to meet changing social, economic and educational conditions, one group of children has increasingly become the focus of attention. These are those who, for a variety of underpinning reasons, are either unable or unwilling to conform to the requirements of formal schooling. As a result they are identified as having Emotional and/or Behavioural Difficulties (EBDs) of one level of severity or another. Contemporary debate increasingly links causation with intervention, to form a holistic approach to problem prevention or remediation. This Handbook provides a systematic and comprehensive overview of a series of often related themes which underpin theoretical and philosophical approaches to pupils perceived as having EBDs, and their realization in both policy and provision. The structure of book divides these themes into three core sections. These allow the reader to consider children or young people with EBDs from a number of perspectives and levels. They are viewed in relation to society in general, then in terms of individual education systems and the policies and provision they adopt, and also in terms of the meanings of these problematic behaviours to the individual `actors' on whom they impact most profoundly. Each theme or topic is organisedto highlight: · the key principles or characteristics · examples of their impact on current practices · issues arising for debate The Handbook assembles contributions from significant authors in the field of EBD and particular emphasis is given to the international and comparative focus of the contributions. Thus, although contributions are principally from the UK and the USA, these writers have been identified because of their capacity to develop broader, transcultural, insights. The development of a comparative approach to special and inclusive education has now been well charted, and there are some highly significant books in this field. It therefore remains puzzling that the field of EBD, probably one of the most significant areas of special education in terms of pupil numbers, has largely escaped such international comparison. Each chapter deals with a key theme in EBD from both a theoretical and practical perspective. This approach has been adopted to enable individual chapters to be useful resources for a wide range of readers: students, academics and practitioners.