Young lives blighted by a lack of support | Letters

Children with special needs, their parents and their teachers are being failed by the system, write Dr Stephanie Williams and John Beer, while Robert Halfon MP describes the education committee’s proposals

Your editorial (A less confrontational and better funded system for vulnerable pupils is needed, 28 October) was admirably understated. Its arrival on our breakfast table coincided with our grocery delivery, brought in by a cheerful young man whose job as a teacher and specialist in behavioural problems at a school in Cardiff had just been cut – along with the jobs of five others in his field. The reason given was that there was no longer any need for teachers specialising in behavioural problems.

At a time when young people are reported as feeling more anxious and stressed than ever, cutting jobs like these seems to be bordering on the negligent. Now that “ministers have belatedly realised that cash is the issue”, can it be hoped that some of these dedicated, skilled professionals will be re-employed as teachers, before they are lured away by the better pay and opportunities in other sectors?

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2PzBKpS