The history of special provision for pupils with emotional or behavioral difficulties in England: What has proved effective?

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 ce nturies to address their needs. Services have been provided by different ag encies adopting various day and residential approaches, both proving of las ting value in some circumstances. Theoretical battles, notably between supp orters of a medical approach, which concentrates on so-called within-child factors ahead of formal education, and those of the now-dominant educationa l model, have punctuated the past century. Too often academic standards hav e 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. Howev er, effective staff have tended to operate from an essentially humanistic s tandpoint.