ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a closer look at emotional disturbance as faced by teachers. Some children experience their emotional and developmental difficulties principally in the school situation. Tavistock students began taking small groups of children in primary schools in 1966, when a trainee employed as a remedial teacher realized that the children were using her classes to work on their personal emotional problems. The integration of the groups into the school day obviates the emotional and practical difficulties of leaving the school for aid. It also avoids the issue of 'labelling' in the eyes of the children and their parents. A useful function of the groups lay in providing a regular and stable opportunity for a child to have a sustained relationship with an adult and with other children. The chapter provides further examples of the kinds of behaviour which the psychotherapist tries to illuminate.
