Centres for disruptive pupils urged

SPECIALIST education centres urgently need to be created to meet the needs of continuously disruptive pupils and those with persistent, challenging behaviour, say school managers.

Students who have been either expelled from school or discouraged from going back are the responsibility of school welfare officers but often the students have nowhere to go, vocational school managers said at the IVEA annual congress yesterday.

Youthreach centres, which were set up to meet the training and pre-employment needs of people with no qualifications, may now have to accommodate these wayward students, Vocational Education Committees say.