ABSTRACT

This chapter shows that effective whole curriculum planning can be used to promote the personal and social development of pupils with learning difficulties - both through the considered implementation of a curriculum for personal and social education and through analysis of those aspects of the life of schools which can be referred to as the hidden curriculum. It looks at the ways in which pupils' personal and social development has been viewed in mainstream schools and considers the relevance of the models to pupils with learning difficulties. The chapter suggests that pupils' personal and social development will be enhanced by increased access to the whole curriculum on a number of levels. It also suggests a reformulation of the relationships between pupils and staff and a reconstitution of school aims and ethos. The chapter discusses a wide-ranging definition of the whole curriculum which appeared to offer plenty of scope for the development of a curriculum for liberation and autonomy.