ABSTRACT
Teachers appointed to a support service for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties have seldom had direct experience or training in the field, and are more likely to have been appointed through a combination of personal qualities and previous experience in education generally. However, they will be expected to carry out new roles and specialised functions within a range of complex structures, and to resolve problems which have resisted successful interventions from a school's existing strategies. Staff working in behavioural support teams are expected to possess expertise and a knowledge of effective support strategies for mainstream staff and pupils to maintain children in school. However, staff within mainstream schools can often feel frustrated and under personal stress from dealing with challenging behaviour, and they can respond negatively to interventions from an outside agency, possibly because of perceived increases in workload or of accepted wisdoms being challenged.
