Integration: The disruptive student and suspension

In 1984 the Education Department of Victoria, Australia, declared its support for developing policies and programs committed to the integration of disabled students into the educational and social life of regular schcols. These programs were to include disruptive students. Simultaneously, Victorian education administrators were engaged in revising suspension regulations and the proliferation of off-site facilities for disruptive students. In surveying literature pertinent to school suspension and segregated learning centers, this article highlights the paradox of marginalizing students through suspension and segregation while promoting the rhetcric of integration. Successful integration of disruptive students requires teachers and educational administrators to broaden their focus of attention beyond concentration upon changing individual student behaviour. Consideration of the responsibility of school processes in contributing to aberrant behavior is warranted.