This text is designed to provide insights into the application of ideas and theories from psychotherapy and counselling to education in teaching. It is a response to the increasing pressure that is being placed on schools to produce results, and so to neglect pupils with special needs.

In times of great change and development in the education system, those children who experience difficulties in school because they are emotionally troubled are particularly vulnerable. Increasingly, schools are under pressure to produce results which appear good in the public domain, and so can feel forced to spend money on activities designed to enhance public reputation, consequently neglecting those pupils who are difficult to teach because they are emotionally disturbed. Taking Children Seriously has been written by those trained and working in this field to provide insights into how to apply ideas and theories taken from psychotherapy and counselling to the context of education. The authors demonstrate to practising teachers approaches for working with feelings in the classroom and provide ideas which schools may wish to consider to supplement their present work with special needs pupils. Steve Decker is a Chartered Psychologist and Head of Counselling Division at Anglia Polytechnic University. Sandy Kirby is a counsellor and Professional Tutor at a London comprehensive. Angela Greenwood is an educational therapist and special needs co-ordinator who has worked in Britain and Zambia in the primary and pre-school sectors. Dudley Moore is a counsellor and former headteacher of a special school. All four editors are founders of the Counselling and Therapy Service for Schools.