Readers of the Beano’s “Bash Street Kids” will have noticed that a new pupil has raised numbers in Class 2B for the first time in 50 years, just as real teachers are mumping about class sizes.
But the new boy, Wayne in Pain, is something of an icon for support needs in mainstream as, brittle boned and accident prone, he needs a special rubber desk to prevent injury and has to be treated with kid gloves by Teacher, who has enough on her plate.
The big question on every reader’s mind: will Teacher be given a classroom assistant to work inclusively with Wayne in Pain? That’s the only post so far not on the staff of Bash Street School. Teacher can’t be in the EIS to ask for one, of course - publisher DC Thomson doesn’t recognise unions.
