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To preparedness to adjust subject matter and working methods and the consistent practice of Individualized work skills, is the allocation of resources in response to current needs. School difficulties are connected with the social situation of school and pupils. This can mean reducing the number of pupils per teacher, increasing the proportion of trained remedial teachers, reinforcing the school management, increasing the numbers of social workers, recreation staff, school librarians, school hostesses, pupil assistants and school psychologists, and generally increasing the number of adults per child. Of course it can also imply material reinforcements. In schools where there are many children belonging to linguistic minorities, it is important not least for teaching materials also to be provided in these pupils' languages.
Special attention must be paid to the expansion and design of the school day in schools with many problems. If there are great differences between schools in terms of initial working conditions, there are also bound to be substantial differences in resource inputs.
Free resources must be available for deliberate deployment with reference to the central tasks of schools. Above all those tasks include equipping all pupils with sound knowledge and basic skills. If pupils have to contend with difficulties, the principal aim when allocating a school's auxiliary resource must be to provide for the needs of those pupils before applying resources to other purposes.
The school management and forms masters are responsible for seeing that preventive work is planned and conducted within the school in collaboration with other municipal authorities working on behalf of children and young persons. The working plans drawn up for a school management district and a work unit should indicate in concrete terms how this work has been planned.
The work unit is the natural unit within which to attempt the solution of different problems. The discussions which take place within a work team or at a pupil welfare conference concerning a pupil' problem must result in a practical program. This program should be jointly drawn up by the school, the pupil and the pupil's parents on the basis of the pupil's needs and must show what is being aimed at, e.g. better reading proficiency, more regular attendance, greater motivation, or greater capacity for cooperation. The program should also indicate the means and methods to be employed. It is important to endeavor to strengthen the pupil's self-esteem and self-reliance by basing activities on his or her strong points. It is not until after aims and methods have been discussed that the question of placing the pupil in another group should arise.
Several possibilities are available.
-Pupils needing special support can be formed into small groups for a brief period. Pupils can work on special projects for longer than is normal. Discussion groups can be formed on various topics. During the time allotted for free activities, pupils can be given special support in proficiency subjects over and above the time allocation for English and mathematics.
-Special parental interviews can be arranged, and time can be allotted for visiting parents who do not attend school meetings.
-Time can be allotted for helping pupils with home work which they are unable to do at home. Should these opportunities of variety in terms of methods, content and organization prove insufficient, the pupil's situation must be discussed at the pupil welfare conference. The pupil's difficulties may be so great that he or she requires support in the form of a special teaching group for a considerable period, i.e. more than one term The school must then early out a more detailed investigation of the pupil's situation. The pupil welfare conference, acting in consultation with the pupil and the pupil's parents, may decide that the pupil is to join a special teaching group of this kind, if one has already been established.