Eleven months of continual confrontation

And justification to achieve what every parent

Has a right to request. I have finally been told

That my son can have an assessment by an

Educational psychologist to determine his

Individual academic and social needs. And this

After four short term exclusions and untold time outs

In order to address the many rising issues that he

Has with the school and the school so apparently

Has with him. This was not achieved via the

School who still adamantly hold that they are able

To carter for his needs, but via the local council

And continual complaints made about the way

That he is treated at his current school. What I

Didn’t know as part of my role as a teacher of

Children with behavioural difficulties I now know

As the parent of a child with behavioural difficulties.

I am somewhat concerned for children like my own

Who do not fit the academic structure of the hidden

Curriculum as in codes of conduct and social niceties

And who while are intelligent individuals are not

Robotic in their learning methods to fit our nice

Learning structures and environments. I had the pleasure

Of running an alternative educational programme last

Year in Nottingham (actually it was two, one for school

Aged pupils and one for over sixteen’s) and also an

Alternative year eleven programme in a college in

Colchester the year before. It was my experience that those

Children that the educational system had written of had much

To offer to both the wider community and those who contributed

To their education. While the government has plans for

A nation wide programme of vocational qualifications for

Students who are not academically inclined I fear that we

Shall be left in the position where we are picking up a generation

Of young people who have been disaffected by the educational

System. The cost will be more then a monetary one in that

These individuals will come out of the educational system

Knowing little more than they went in with combined with

Common sense. The same can be said of primary children with

The now changing emphasis upon relationship building and

Community spirit that is so obviously the new national agenda

For the hidden curriculum. Again here a generation of children will

Pass from primary to secondary school feeling inadequate and

Confused as to the change of emphasis within their schooling

Career. My youngest is coming on nine and the eldest twenty

Three and all I say is thank good that I don’t have to do this again

More than once should the need arise. Our educational system is

So rigid that any deviation from the conceptual norm is an

Extreme hindrance for the child and family concerned. Having to

Teach children as young as seven who’s parents are unable to cope

With their disruptive and challenging behaviour, I often ask myself

what is next for them when the medication is at such a high does that

it effects there cognitive abilities. Do we then Wright them off and

institutionalise them indifferently? While the prospect  appears bleak

there is hope for those that are determined to fight for their

Childs right to an education (of sorts). What your up against is the

Unwillingness of local authorities and schools to admit that one size does not fit all and that that odd size comes with a very big price tag. The private school that I work at is the best that I have thus far come across (the second  being Jacques Hall in Essex) both of which are based upon an holistic and  Therapeutic method of teaching and learning. But at £58.000 a year plus per child it is unfortunately out of the reach of all but those considered extremely disadvantaged in economic, social or political terms. The weight that a statement of needs carries is not surprising considering what is  required in order to obtain one in the fist place.