ABSTRACT

Prevention policy was mostly based on intuition rather than a more scientific approach. Studies showed that some preventive interventions were working better than others and yielded increasing insight into what works' in the prevention of delinquency. The prevention of delinquency at an early stage is made possible by current knowledge of the behavioural development of disruptive and delinquent behaviours from childhood onward. The developmental perspective on disruptive and delinquent child behaviours and the different dimensions that characterise prevention efforts constitute a framework that can be used to analyse the available programmes. Taakspel is aimed at the prevention of children's disruptive behaviours, the promotion of task-oriented behaviours, and a positive educational climate in the classroom. Taakspel has been developed for children of Class 4 and 5 of the primary schools and serves as a universal prevention programme for the whole class. The prevention of disruptive and delinquent behaviours is important and needs national and local investment.