NUMBER 341• 25 AUGUST 2003 • BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLANS
INDEX OF QUOTES

	The underlying policy rationale for the introduction of Behaviour Support Plans was straightforward. Government was about to place a duty on Local Education Authorities to provide ‘...coherent, comprehensive and well-understood local arrangements for tackling pupil behaviour’ (DfEE, 1998). The plans were to be characterised by a set of centrally-controlled imperatives, whereby Local Education Authorities must detail their arrangements for: provision of advice and resources for the promotion of good behaviour and discipline provision for dealing with pupils with behaviour problems provision for children excluded from school placing pupils with behavioural difficulties in appropriate schools links between the Behaviour Support Plans and the Local Education Authorities arrangements for Special Education Needs consulting with key local interest groups in drawing up the Behaviour Support Plans publishing and subsequently reviewing the Behaviour Support Plans The need for a degree of flexibility in the construction of Behaviour Support Plans, allowing for localised variations in provision and approach, was indicated at various points in the Circular. Thus, there was an acknowledgement that The considerable variation in local circumstances and in patterns of provision for pupils with behavioural difficulties suggest that a precise national definition of the pupils and behaviour problems to be covered in these plans would be difficult to achieve and restrictive for authorities. Elsewhere, the document notes that ‘Ultimately, the decision as to which services are included in an individual Local Education Authorities plan and how to define the coverage in terms of pupils, will rest with Local Education Authorities themselves...’ Nevertheless, guidance was forthcoming on the likely target groups for the initiative, as well as the nature of the content of an atypical Behaviour Support Plans. Behaviour Support Plans were directed towards a group of children who have been variously described as disruptive, disaffected, behaviourally disordered or, more recently ‘pupils with problems’. Circular 1/98 adopts a very loose interpretation of what might be included under such a catch-all phrase as ‘pupil behaviour’. Indeed, the Circular denotes 11 groups of pupils who …have already demonstrated behavioural difficulties’, whilst a further 10 groups are identified as ‘Vulnerable groups of pupils...’ (p. 6) (see Figure 1). Pupils who have  already demonstrated behavioural difficulties excluded pupils (permanent) (fixed-term) pupils at risk of permanent exclusion persistently disruptive pupils pupils involved in bullying others violent or abusive pupils pupils repeatedly absent without permission school refusers and school phobics pupils with challenging behaviour (including that associated with Local Education Authoritiesrning difficulties) pupils on schools’ Special Education Needs registers for behavioural difficulties pupils with statements of Special Education Needs for behavioural difficulties pupils who have committed criminal offences Vulnerable groups of pupils pupils with emotional difficulties looked after children children on the child protection register pupils with family difficulties pupils who feature disproportionately in exclusions figures (eg. African-Caribbean) boys or traveller children pupils with significant trauma histories, such as refugees pupils with drug problems or those from drug using families pupils with mental health problems pupils who are or who have been bullied Figure 1: Pupils identified as the focus for Behaviour Support planning Circular 1/98 made explicit mention of the need to identify and support mechanisms which allowed for a collaborative approach to this group of pupils. Thus, whilst the Circular stated that ‘The Local Education Authorities responsibility for producing behaviour support plans rests with Local Education Authorities... effective action requires a partnership between all relevant interests’ (DfEE, ibid). The Local Education Authorities were required, during the process of consultation, to determine the views of every local headteacher (mainstream and special), teachers in charge of Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), representatives of school support staff, parents’ representatives and a range of other official and quasi-official agencies. No specific mention was made, at the point of consultation, of the need to establish the viewpoints of young people themselves, particularly those who were categorised as having ‘behaviour problems’. A further feature of Behaviour Support Plans was to be their role in promoting inclusion. Circular 1/98 identified educational inclusion as one of its policy aims, stating that Many pupils with behavioural difficulties are educated within a mainstream setting with schools accessing support services as appropriate. The developing inclusive approach towards education for pupils with special educational needs, including those with behavioural difficulties, should result in this being the case for a greater proportion of such pupils where schools believe they are able to cope effectively with them. The Behaviour Support Plans was to establish a set of measures by which Local Education Authorities could offer support to schools in managing pupil behaviour. These included the close involvement of schools in the initial formulation of the Behaviour Support Plans, defining early intervention strategies, curriculum initiatives and links between the Behaviour Support Plans and the Code of Practice. A set of initiatives were to be geared towards meeting the needs of individual pupils in mainstream schools: the involvement of parents, strategies to deal with school exclusion and school attendance, and provision for the education of children who were in the care of the local authority. Finally, specific attention was placed on those pupils who were being educated in alternative provision, notably in ‘pupil referral units’ (PRUs).
	PHILIP GARNER Garner, Philip. (2000) The range and impact of LEA behaviour support plans. The Journal of the Association of Workers for Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. Vol.5 No.1 pp. 4-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 References
Cooper, P. (1999a). Educating children with emotional and behavioural difficulties?, in P. Cooper (ed.) Understanding and supporting children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. London: Jessica Kingsley
Department for Education and Employment. (1997a). Excellence for All Children. Meeting Special Educational Needs. London: DfEE
Department of Education and Employment (1998). Guidance on LEA behaviour support plans. (Circular 1/98) London: DfEE

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