ABSTRACT
This chapter shows to build on the teachers' experience and on their knowledge of the learning process, of child development and of human behavior, while perceiving such knowledge as capable of supplementation by outside professionals or specially appointed members of staff. It looks at the relevance of curriculum skills to meeting special needs. The teachers' confidence may have been sapped for various reasons. While the consultant helps the group to deal with pupils' failures and successes, success and failure in general become a professional issue, indirectly helping members in the repair of their own loss of confidence and self-esteem. The M. Warnock Committee re-emphasised the importance of establishing a genuine teacher-parent partnership. If teachers want to meet parents as partners, they need to be aware of pressures, but also to be careful not to interfere with a complex system of relationships outside their scope.
