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Special Educational Needs

: That is a strong point. Over the years, I have thought it peculiar that people like me who went to a grammar school had small classes and intensive teaching, while those who attended secondary modern schools had larger classes and less good teaching. It should have been the other way round. Those who are most able should have the least effort put into their education, while those who are least able should have the most effort put into their education. The system should be compensatory. The liberationist ideology derives from a philosophy that was common when I was young in the 1960s. It was reinforced by psychologists such as R. D. Laing who thought initially that there was no such thing as mental illness, but just different ways in which to perceive the world, and that we were all the same. He was debunked during his lifetime and, like Baroness Warnock, at the end of his life, R. D. Laing recanted. He said that his whole philosophy was an attempt to rationalise his manic depression. He was not well mentally himself, but he had a great mind. Throughout history, many people who suffered from a similar illness have been great. I appreciate that it is politically explosive to say what I am about to say, but we are now starting to understand that some of our differences are determined by our physiological nature. With the unravelling of the genome, we now see that some of the problems that we thought previously were just people being naughty or having been badly brought up are the result of genetic problems. During the past few weeks, it is thought that a gene has been identified that is responsible for dyslexia. Furthermore, it may be not genes but hormonal imbalances that determine autistic spectrum disorders. We are now learning that there are physiological causes for behavioural problems, not social causes. It is more nature than nurture. We have to use nurture as best we can to help people to come to terms with their difficulties and lead good, productive and happy lives like the rest of us. If we ignore the fact that physiological difficulties stem from nature, we will do people a disservice. It was cruel, but in the past matters were simple; children were beaten until they did what we wanted them to do. We do not beat children any more, and that is absolutely right. However, pretending that children do not have a problem that needs special attention and putting them into mainstream schools in the belief that they will get on with it and be socialised into behaving well is not sensible. It is certainly not kind. We must challenge our deep feelings about what is right for a child. Dear friends think that I am a wicked person because I suggest that we should have special schools tailored to specific difficulties and that inclusion is not always the right way forward. Inclusion is certainly not the right way forward for teachers and pupils who are trying to deal with children who have serious behavioural problems in class. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is another variant of such problems. It is common in my constituency. Many parents are tearing their hair out about it. It is unkind to imply that children misbehave because they have been badly brought up. There are so many cases of children with appalling backgrounds who have turned out to be perfectly nice people. Equally, youngsters with caring, nurturing parents who have done everything for them have still turned out to be difficult. We must accept that factors in those children's make-up are nothing to do with their experiences. When we recognise that, they can be dealt with properly. Some children are so difficult that they need special schools. Many education authorities still have the ideology that blanket inclusion is the way forward, and that anyone who favours special schools is somehow malevolent and discriminatory, and not a nice person.