Problem pupils ‘destroy’ teachers

Press, 16 May 1985, Page 27

Problem pupils ‘destroy’ teachers

PA Wellington Introducing children with special needs, such as those with behavoural problems, into large classes can destroy teachers says an Auckland primary teacher, Mr John McCaffery.

He has told the Educational Institute’s annual conference that he had a child in his class who had already forced three teachers, to take leave to recover.

It was vital that when a child with special needs was mainstreamed into an ordinary classroom, the class size was significantly reduced to compensate for the extra stress and work.

“People working with difficult children will be seriously stressed to the point of not being able to function

if this is not done,” Mr McCaffrey said.

The conference called for a series of minimum class roll reductions for different categories of special needs. For example, the extra work created by a deaf or blind child should mean a class size reduction of at least five.

When physically or mentally handicapped children were mainstreamed into ordinary classes, the number of children in the class should be cut by at least four, it said.

The conference also called for the parents of “ordinary” children, and the community at large, to be educated so that they could adjust to the presence of “exceptional” children in the classroom and the community.