ABSTRACT
The initial training of teachers and others working in support of pupils who experience emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) has remained a high-profile agenda item for decades and in many national settings. In part, it is the product of a long-standing and deep-seated ‘moral panic’ regarding a perceived decline in standards of behaviour exhibited by young people in school (Turkington 1986), and the implication that this is linked to shortcomings in the way that teachers are trained in ‘classroom management’ (Phillips 1996). It also signals the contested position of such pupils in an era when ‘educational inclusion’ is the policy norm, and a continuing tendency for training relating to pupil behaviour to be delivered separately from other aspects of training (Powell and Tod 2004). Tensions and dilemmas are ultimately highlighted by the continuing struggle to establish meaningful training responses to the challenges posed by pupils with EBD.
