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YoungMinds Magazine 55 ] 2001
Time to go back to school
Bruce stevensonargues that until the education
system sees troublesome pupils holistically, @tnttru,inclusion policies are doomed to failure
I used to teach a 14 year-old boy one-to-one'
He had a long criminal record and used to
swagger down the corridor towards me,
enjoying tre fear he instilled in tte other kids'
One daY he exPloded: "Bruce, manl You
don't know hourl angry I am with $e previ-
ous teacher!" Spontaneously, I asked him ii
he was afraid ot his anger' He replied
immediately: "Yes." I suspect ftis was thelirst time he had ever admifted to being
afraid, I could see him melt out of his imita-
tion of power and Iall back inside the body
of a vulnerable 14 year-old boy, separated
lrom his father who was living abroad'
Many of the pupils I see are helplessly
acting out conllicts lrom the past that
gravely hinder their ability to engage with
edueation. ln some cases, their attempts to
escape leelings they tind intolerable have
led to serious consequences, such as
imprisonment or being sent away to a resi-
dential school.
Many haue not been remotely adequate-
ly assessed. For example, the statement of
special educational needs tor one of my
puBils - I shall call him Bobert - says
attempts should be made to reduce his
anxiety and to encourage him to work inde-
pendently at structured tasks' These are
laudable aims, but they fail completely to
address the severity ol the developmental
tasks that he faces.
Yet the entire school system is founded
upon takiflg such developmental achieve-
ments lor granted. So inevitably, it fails t0
diagnose adequately and fails to offer thesuppori pupils need, The young people I
teach have often had such difticult experi-
ences that they are unable t0 see them-
selves as a whole: they oannot hold togeth-
er their need to connect and their anger at
the same time. The picture they have of
themselves is fragile: il anyone quesiions
ihem too deeply, they feel persecuted.
Robert, for examplen is split between
two images: on the one hand, everyihing
should be pedect and he should get exactly
what he needs when he needs it, and on the
other, he fears that he is bad and hopeless
and will neuer get anything he needs'
Unable to trust, he veers beiween depres'
sion and violence, especially when he leels
that he is being threatened by reiection*
ln my experience, educational psycholo-
gisb understand the cognitive factors that
play a part in leaming, but not the crucial
emotional and psychological development
on urrtrich leaming is based. Similarly' child
and adolescent psychiatrists, who have no
obligatory fiaining in psychotherapy, otten
medicalise the dilemmas pupils face by
labelling them wffi a speciliccondition or
disorder. Such diagnoses may have value as
part o{ an overall assessment but clinicians
trained io see children from the gutside tend
to grasp only external tactors' So ofien, thgy
fail to connect to the child himself, who
experiences himself as being on the inside'
Fupils like Robert have learnt to react in
a way that is a desperate attempt to gain
support - in his ease, by refusing io co-
operate with any authority and feeling he
has to provide it all himselt' lnside, such
pupils are crying out for support and recog-
nition and respect 0utwardly, more often
&an not, they are obiectitied and quantified.
So, wiat can be done to help pupils like
Robert? For a start, ditferent pro{essionals
must be prepared to work together to build
a picture of the rxhole ehild. Such pupils
need a safe adult who cansee through their
reactions to tieir underlying fuelings' with-
out humiliating them. ll they feel seen and
supported - that adults can contain them
and respect ihem - then ihey can hegin to
get on with life.
But above all, the educational FsYcholo-
gy sen ice needs to review its current prae-
tise, which is frequently limited to the
application of standardised tests as a part
of a very long and bureaucratic process
that faits to diagnose the child properly
and, tragically, fails to identify the support
they actuallY need.
ERUGE SIEUEI{SOII
Bruce Stevenson is a home tutor and psy-
chotherapist
Some would regard a perioo :' -- -' '' '-
not the most apposite time i: - . - - ' -
strategic approach to the pro- -: -- '" - -
tal health among children. bu: -: : -- =
Rees would beg to differ' "i-=. - : :' -
time, weshould, morethan E,:' :'' i
out where we stand and mai -; : : - : -'
winning the war and for esia: .- -; . n
mental health firmlY for the tu:-'.
For Colonel Rees, medicin: - 1-:-' - :
"been fartoo much a matte!' 0' -=:' - - :'-lpatching people uP". The futu': :
he predicts, will be largely pro!-. 1:'
our field, the imPortant thing s :- : '::: -"positive aspects of mental hea :- - - - '
: -
concenirating our interest on L -.' ':
Ever keen to look ahead, he : : -: -- = '
have often been too sPasmodic"=
-
need a long-term plan. '.The I'[-: i ] ::-
we need be in any way apologei: : =" : ':':1.
people's interest to questions of*.-: - - l:
Practically everybody is ready fc' :- - :''
Rees urges Practitioners ro: :
-
up to their own fears in a very' --'-:--=-
world - "if we are to pull our""i
l- --'-;the war period, we must be sur: --: :
our own personal fear" - but to :-
and ever more creative wa1ls ti - :
cate the impoftance of mental r::benefit of future generations
"- .
_. ,-_:i
Ihe filanic: Coultesy of Soufiampbn ffit} adf
Sewices
through Parliament, MPs anC:-: :'::: :-
by harnessing PoPular cultur: 1: I "medium. Yet Colonel Rees
"',a:::::" -:
than twelve months after the s::: -- :- -
Second World War. His comr:-:: 1-'' ---
an address to the annual me:: -=
:' -- -
National Council for Mental 'ir : '-'-
- -
1940, and Published four mo::-' 1-:-
October issue of Mental Hee':'
Historian Morris Berman Te?:-:: :: --
-
Second World War to find )i''- . :
