Having taken the opportunity to read several of the Des English lectures that have been published over the years, it appears that the tradition of this lecture is often to provide some commentary on changes that have occurred during the career of the person delivering the address, in relation to the field of special education. There is more than a little reminiscing and nostalgia in Des English lectures and a great many references to ‘journeys’ by various Des English presenters suggesting a sense of progress or at least progression over time.

This research examines the strategies reported by teachers who have managed aggressive and extremely disruptive behaviour of students who have special needs. A sample of 52 teachers from mainstream and special settings listed the strategies that they have used to respond to this behaviour, the reasons for their choice and their estimate of the effectiveness of the strategies. The results indicate that teachers of students with special needs encounter a significant amount of challenging behaviour directed towards themselves and others. The study found that although teachers’ years of experience and level of training were unrelated to their choice of strategies and their perceived success, the majority of teachers relied heavily on their own and their colleagues’ experiences rather than on evidence‐based/empirical research. The study also found a low reported incidence of negative or coercive interventions and that approximately half of the teachers adopted strategies that involved some form of functional assessment of aggressive and/or extremely disruptive behaviours. The implications for further research, policy development, in‐service training and professional development were explored.

This article reports on research exploring the school experiences of 26 children (aged between 8 and 15.5 years) diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome. The research adopted a qualitative methodology, and is reported here from the perspective of both the parents and the children themselves. Three different groups of families emerged: those who were moderately satisfied in their experiences with the school system, those who were dissatisfied in their experiences with the school system, and families who were so completely dissatisfied that they removed their child from the school system altogether. There was no participating child or parent who was entirely satisfied in their experiences with teachers and the school. Themes that emerged for each of these groups are discussed. This research stresses the importance of teacher understanding and flexibility, as well as parent/school communication. The facilitation of social acceptance for a child with Tourette’s Syndrome is also extremely important to successful classroom integration.

Student teachers’ perceptions of possible best practices in the education of students with high support needs and their reports of level of implementation during field experience were investigated in this research. In addition, the student teachers’ suggestions for other indicators of best practice and their perceptions of barriers to best practice were examined. These data were also compared with that obtained in a previous study of teachers. Students reported high levels of agreement with best practice indicators, broadly consistent with the views of teachers. In contrast, students reported substantially lower levels of perceived implementation than teachers. Exploration of the reasons for these perceived differences is a priority for university educators involved in preparation of special education teachers. In addition, weight is added to the argument that evaluation of implementation of best practice should draw on a range of sources and that sole reliance on retrospective teacher self‐reports may be problematic.