The Crisis in the Classroom

About the Book: 

What happens when a child struggles in the classroom? 
What’s it really like for children and families living with neurodiversity? 
Why is there a surge in children requiring special educational support? 

In this book, Dave Clements confronts urgent questions about education and the rising levels of diagnosed needs and behavioural difficulties in schools. He combines personal accounts, research, media commentary and cultural analysis to explore why there has been such a rapid growth in identified needs, while also questioning common explanations for this trend. 

Clements argues that parents play the central role in understanding what is best for their children, and that teachers remain vital in shaping classroom experience. He calls for a more honest and critical conversation about how best to support young learners, urging empathy for children and families, but also a rethink of policies and systems struggling to respond to the growing crisis in education today.

Reviews:

An urgent wake‑up call to the harm the needs explosion is doing to schools and our children, from someone with personal experience who can see the bigger picture. TIFFANY JENKINS, author of Strangers and Intimates

This is a brilliant, important, and timely book …  For anyone concerned about the future of education, it is essential reading. STELLA O'MALLEY, author of What your teen is trying to tell you

Anyone who is seriously concerned with the problems confronting the education of young people must read this book. FRANK FUREDI, author of 100 Years of Identity Crisis

A sensible and sensitive discussion of the culture war over autism and ADHD, and its consequences for parents, teachers, and children with special educational needs. JENNIE BRISTOW, co-author of Growing Up in the Culture Wars

About the Author:

DAVE CLEMENTS has worked for three decades in local government and the public sector. He has also written for various publications including The Guardian and Huffington Post, and
is co-editor of The Future of Community (Pluto Press, 2008).
His latest work can be found at daveclements.org