Children’s social, emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties are a cause of concern for many schools in the western context. The current literature highlights concerns out of which a number of strategies have been developed which can be adopted within the classroom to include children with such difficulties. In this context, this paper will discuss the situation within an Indian context where such issues rarely reported and yet are of concern to many teachers. The paper will enquire into perceived level of presence of children with social, emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties within Indian primary classrooms. It will investigate whether these conditions which are said to be increasing in western culture are as common within this area of India. During my experience with primary children in India, I came across some children who exhibited serious behaviour problems and learning difficulties. It is customary within these communities that they are labelled as ‘naughty’ or ‘lazy’ but without great consideration given to any causal factors which may influence their behaviours and learning performance (Suresh and Sebastian 2003). Usually, teachers control them through disciplinary procedures and address the symptoms of behaviour rather than the underlying cause (Rao 2003). Placing blame upon parents and the use of exclusion from school is commonplace. On the other hand, parents often blame the schooling citing inefficient teaching, poor care and lack of facilities for supporting their children. This blaming culture is often visible in the classroom, at home or within the community (Kavoori 2002). It is possible that some of these children are affected with SEBD and learning difficulties and therefore this is worthy of enquiry to investigate the teachers’ attitude towards them within this project as such this study will be unique within a South Indian context. The research will be conducted within a social constructivist framework as its theoretical underpinning where the language and culture play a major role in constructing social reality within the research context (Gergen, 2001). The research questions to be addressed through this study will be based on establishing levels of awareness and the provision of educational treatment of children with SEBD and learning difficulties in an Indian context and specifically in Kerala which is India’s most literate state (Government of India, 2001). The specific questions to be addressed through this study will be: • What is the perceived level of presence of children with social, emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties within the Trivandrum Schools district of Kerala? • What is the knowledge and attitude of the teachers towards them? • How do they manage the children with social, emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties? The researcher is aware of the challenges of cross cultural research and of the necessity for judicious interpretation and transfer of concepts (Crossley and Watson 2003). In particular attention will be given to the examination of universal comparative research principles for the management of generalisable concepts as advocated by Noah and Eckstein (1969) and Alexander (2001).

The research takes the form of a case study of five primary schools which are located within Trivandrum Educational district of South India. The choice of these schools is based on purposive and selective sampling. The paper draws primarily on interviews with four teachers in each sample school. The information from the interviews was supplemented by classroom observation using child behaviour checklists (CBCL). This CBCL was developed and administered to children who were identified as having SEBD and learning difficulties by teachers in the interview. A qualitative analysis followed, using codes and categories that derived from the interview transcripts.

The findings suggest that children with social, emotional behavioural and learning difficulties who were marginalised and excluded from classroom activities hold the view that they cannot achieve much in their learning process. Further, they were largely managed by using negative intervention strategies such as punishments and sanctions. The teachers perceive that difficulties with behaviour are mainly associated with poor socio-economic background, poor parenting and elements which are culturally specific within the context of the study. The paper concludes by highlighting the fact that teacher training programmes and educational policy decisions within an Indian context are failing to address the necessity of understanding and managing children’s difficulties professionally.