ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book attempts an historical account of the development of education in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It examines in detail the evolution of ideas on children whose behaviour is a problem. The book describes research carried out in a primary school. Attention is focused on the teachers and the way they define children as problems. It also describes some further research undertaken to examine what kind of children are referred for what kind of problem, from what kind of institution. The book presents the conclusions which have drawn from this project and from general experience in the field. Some of ideas may be new to the reader, others may be very well known, and yet others vaguely familiar but as yet under-developed or unstructured in the reader's thoughts.
