The Concept of Need

Translated with permission from Jean Chouinard
Service national du RÉCIT en adaptation scolaire - January 2006

It is important to make the distinction between a need and the means used to address it; the means can be defined as the proposed or chosen solution to address a specific need.

The need itself can be defined as a minimal condition to reach. It is expressed as the capacity to reach a condition or to perform a task according to a required minimal level of satisfaction.

The concept of need is closely related to the concept of a situation of need. The need arises from the presence of a gap between the fulfillment of this need and the situation experienced by a person. This gap is called the situation of need.

Thus, the recognition of a situation of need gives rise to the need (to fulfill this gap).

The situation of need

When a person is in a condition below the required minimal criteria, this person is considered to be in a situation of need.

The situation of need can thus be defined as the gap between the situation experienced by someone and the required minimal level of satisfaction. This gap becomes the standard to recognize the existence of a situation of need. The reaching of the minimal level determines the fulfillment or the satisfaction of the need.

Once the minimal level is reached, a person is not considered in a situation of need anymore. The need can then be defined as the attainment of this level; the disappearance of this gap.

In a school environment, the situation of need experienced by a student expresses itself as an inability, a great difficulty, or great restriction in performing a given task, in attempting a given learning inquiry, or in reaching a given competency according to an acceptable, identifiable and measurable minimal level. The student’s need is then to reach this minimal level. Once the minimal level is reached, the student will be able to perform the task according to an acceptable minimal level.

A person in a situation of need experiences insecurity, marginality, inequality, and inequity.

The situation of need, because it implies necessary and essential values, requires an adapted or appropriate solution to narrow or eliminate the gap. A person who has not reached an acceptable minimal level experiences a situation of handicap.

The standardized situation

Once the acceptable minimal level is reached, the improvement of the general state, the situation or the condition of a person will tend towards standardization. We refer to this as a normalized or standardized situation.

This normalized or standardized situation corresponds to the gap between an acceptable minimal situation and a situation referred to as normal, which is a situation common to the average group, organization, community, or society. If the person’s general state goes beyond the acceptable minimal level and if the conditions of his or her existence continue to improve, his or her situation will tend to become standardized. Once the average condition is reached, the person will experience a standard condition.

A person in a standard or normal condition experiences a feeling of well-being, security, standardization, equity and equality of opportunities.

The optimal situation

The optimal situation corresponds to the gap between a situation described as normal and the best possible situation in a given context. If the person’s general state goes beyond the normal situation as experienced by the average group or community and if the conditions of his or her existence continue to improve, given the context or resources and restraints of the situation, this person will experience an optimal condition. He or she will then reach a level of improvement and fulfillment.

The ideal situation

The ideal situation corresponds to the gap between an optimal situation and a situation without constraints. Once this level is reached, the person will experience an ideal condition. By definition, the ideal condition is unreachable.
The ideal condition involves things that are not necessary and accessory.