A special class within the school: a study of minority group relationships

Abstract

A contempory observer of New Zealand Education will find evidence of expansion over recent years within the field of Special Education. It may be that this expansion is a tangible reply to the recognition of the individual differences that exist between children, for in many places provisions are increasingly being made to meet the needs of the exceptional child. But as can be expected such expansion must make inroads into the traditionally accepted modes of school administration and organisation, for in the arrangements of such programmes it is often necessary to take the children away from the normal classroom situation to provide the specialised attention that is required. In some instances this "move out" is of short duration, perhaps for a short period each day, or a weekly visit, but in other cases it is necessary to take the child needing the special attention away from the normal classroom as is found in most primary schools, and to place him in a subsidiary class. In some cases such a transfer is a short term one, but in other cases it is permanent.