Understanding what makes a positive school experience for pupils with SEND: can their voices inform inclusive practice?

Since the advent of the ideology of inclusion, several concerns have been raised worldwide regarding the effectiveness of its implementation. In the UK, governmental evidence suggests that maintaining pupils with special educational needs and/or disability (SEND) within mainstream school settings, is one of the greatest challenges (DfE, 2018). There is now, more than ever, the need to explore pupils with SENDs’ mainstream experiences and understand the challenges they encounter. This study explores the voices of secondary‐aged pupils with social emotional mental health difficulties and moderate learning difficulties as a way of understanding their needs and thus, facilitating their inclusion. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse data from semi‐structured interviews with 37 pupils with SEND and 8 typical pupils as a comparable group. The findings indicate that the school experiences of pupils differ based on their type of need. Yet, despite the differences, all the pupils expressed similar views on what makes a positive school experience. The four emerged themes were interesting lessons, effective control of challenging behaviour, equal allocation of teachers’ support and positive relations. The study concludes by proposing that listening to the voices of pupils with SEND can be a powerful tool to inform inclusive practice.     

The teaching and learning of pupils in low-attainment sets

This study explored the ways in which schools addressed the needs of pupils in low-attainment class groups, or sets, in the context of multiple and contrary government policy directives and inconclusive research findings about setting. In this article we have focused on school and classroom practices as well as the organisational processes through which low-attaining pupils were identified, grouped and reviewed within schools. The empirical data reported here predominantly refer to case studies involving classroom observations and interviews with teachers, pupils and other staff in 13 schools – both primary and secondary – from four local authorities (LAs).

In the latter part of the article, however, we also draw on survey data collected from a larger sample of schools in 12 LAs in England. Although the study found ample evidence of innovative school practices and efforts by individual teachers aimed at optimising the learning opportunities for children in low-attainment class groups, the findings also raise important questions about some of the processes of set allocation, the lack of mobility between sets, and the over-representation of particular social groups in low-attainment classes. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for equity and inclusion that moves beyond an emphasis on classroom practice to include questions about the in-school processes of social selection and educational mobility for pupils identified as low-attaining.     

Using pupil perspective research to inform teacher pedagogy: what Caribbean pupils with dyslexia say about teaching and learning

The transformative potential of pupils' voices is well documented in past research by Pedder and McIntyre; and Cooper and McIntyre. In this qualitative research, I utilise a social constructivist framework by Vygotsky to ask pupils with dyslexia about the kinds of teacher strategies that they find helpful to their learning at secondary school in Barbados. This study utilised direct observations and individual interviews as part of a multiple case study strategy of 16 pupils with dyslexia from two secondary schools in Barbados. Findings suggest that there are regular teachers' strategies like more detailed explanations, demonstrations, drama and role play, storytelling, asking questions and enquiry‐based approaches that pupils find facilitative of their learning. This research is guided by the following questions: (1) what do pupils mean when they refer to teacher strategies as helpful?; and (2) what pedagogical approaches do pupils with dyslexia find helpful to their learning at secondary school?     

‘I think it's about the teacher feeding off our minds,instead of us learning off them,sort of like switching the process around’: pupils' perspectives on being consulted about classroom teaching and learning

This article reports on selected findings from a doctoral study which investigated how teachers in an 11–16 secondary school in the UK consulted pupils about teaching and learning in their classrooms. It presents the views of pupils on the consultation practices and responses of their teachers. While interest in consulting pupils has increased over the last decade, there is little published research on pupils' perspectives on being consulted apart from Rudduck and McIntyre who themselves draw upon data from the study reported here. Qualitative case-studies of four teachers were carried out over one academic year. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews (with the teachers, with 75 Year 8 pupils and with school management) and lesson observation. Analysis was guided by a systematic inductive approach aided by NVivo. Key findings were that pupils: (i) welcomed consultation; (ii) had much to say about its benefits; (iii) valued feedback from teachers post-consultation; and (iv) had concerns clustered around issues of trust and anonymity. The article suggests there are implications for teachers, school management and policy-makers if significant benefit is to be realised from teachers consulting pupils on teaching and learning in the classroom.     

Preparing to transition to secondary education: perceptions of Dutch pupils with migrant backgrounds

Background: The transition from primary school to secondary school is a crucial period of time for children and this may be especially the case for pupils with migrant backgrounds. While there has been considerable research on the transition from primary to secondary school, more needs to be known specifically about the experiences of this group of pupils during their final year of primary school, as they prepare for their transition to secondary school.

Purpose: The study investigated how Dutch children with migrant backgrounds in their final year of primary school perceive the preparatory process for the transition to secondary school. In particular, we were interested in who the children felt were the important ‘actors’ (e.g. pupils, parents, teachers and others) in the preparatory process.

Sample: We collected data from 76 primary school pupils from three schools in an urban city in the Netherlands. The sample included pupils who, according to the Dutch system, were preparing to follow an academic pathway (i.e. the tracks known in this system as ‘HAVO’ or ‘VWO’) and those who were preparing to follow a vocational pathway (i.e. the track known as ‘VMBO’) in secondary education.

Design and methods: We used photo elicitation (N = 76) and also conducted semi-structured interviews with a subsample of the pupils (N = 25) to examine the roles of the important actors in the preparatory process. Data were analysed qualitatively; responses were coded and underwent pattern analysis in order to identify and describe repeating structures in the data. Data were grouped according to whether the pupils received school recommendations for an academic track or a vocational track.

Results: Findings suggested that the pupils perceived the most important actors to be the pupil, the classroom teacher and the parents. Both teachers and parents were considered valuable resources for pupils in the preparatory process. Patterns representing the participants’ perceptions of the roles of three actors – namely, (1) the child, (2) the classroom teacher and (3) the parents, were identified. Six patterns were identified with respect to the child, four with respect to the classroom teacher and two with respect to the parents. For some patterns, it was apparent that the responses of children in the vocational group and the academic group had different emphases.

Conclusions: The study highlights the importance for teachers and parents of children in their final year of primary school to be aware of the pupils’ perceptions of and feelings about their preparation for secondary school, so as to be in the best position to support them collaboratively.     

Pupil mobility in schools and implications for raising achievement

This paper examines the causes of pupil mobility and good practice in schools to address mobility issues. Pupil mobility is defined as ‘a child joining or leaving school at a point other than the normal age at which children start or finish their education at that school’. The first part draws upon evidence of a survey, which explores the views of headteachers on the nature and causes of pupil mobility in schools and the priority they give to addressing pupil mobility issues in their schools. It examines the cause of mobility in schools in the context of mobile groups. This is followed by the challenges for managing mobility and strategies to address pupil mobility in schools. The second part of the paper outlines successful strategies that minimize the effects of mobility in schools. Evidence is drawn from case‐study research and focuses on the school systems, pastoral care and access to learning which combine to support the induction, assessment and monitoring of newly arrived pupils in school and effective use of data for self‐evaluation. Examples of flexible curriculum organization, innovative approaches to additional support and effective administrative procedures are drawn upon. Evidence reflects the views of a range of school staff, parents/carers and pupils in the case‐study school, as well as the judgements of senior researchers. Policy implications for government and for all concerned with school performance are highlighted, as well as many practical suggestions for raising achievement of mobile pupils     

Researching into Some Primary School Children's Views About School: Using Personal Construct Psychology in Practice with Children on the Special Needs Register

This article describes a research project, which collected the views of 13 junior aged children on the special educational needs register of one school about their education. The techniques used for eliciting their views were a series of personal construct psychology (PCP) conversations based on drawings produced by the children of themselves in school. A case study approach was taken within the naturalistic paradigm of 'constructivist inquiry'. The findings indicated that social activities were of greater importance for the pupils than formal learning experiences. Peer relationships were paramount and these defined the positive or negative experiences the pupils had of school in general. The pupils were able to describe a range of problem solving strategies for resolving peer group difficulties. The implications of the study are also discussed.     

Pupils’ perceptions of grades: a narrative analysis of stories about getting graded for the first time

The starting point for this article is changes in the Swedish assessment system which stated that pupils are to receive grade reports in school year 6 (12–13 years old) during the academic year 2012–2013. Since the 1970s, compulsory school pupils have received their first grade reports in grade 7 and/or 8. The issue here is to present pupils’ narratives about the possible future significance of grade reports in school year 6. Pupils were interviewed about their experiences of getting their first grade reports, and a narrative analysis was conducted. More specifically, we investigated pupils’ conceptions of themselves as pupils and of their future possibilities, as described in their stories of getting their first grade report. The findings show that pupils perceive grades in year 6 differently, showing both adaption and resistance to the new grading discourse. Our conclusion concerns pupils’ learning and well-being when national assessment policies are changed.     

School choice in England: evidence from national administrative data

We study school choice in England using a new dataset containing the choices of all parents seeking a school place in state secondary schools. We provide new empirical evidence to inform how the school choice market functions, including the number of choices made, whether the nearest school is the first choice and the probability of an offer from the first choice school. These indicators show that school choice is actively used by many households in England. We use the rich data available to describe how choices vary by pupil, school and neighbourhood characteristics and how school choice is used differently by different groups and in different parts of the country. For the first time, we are able to present national data on how the school choices made by parents vary according to pupils’ ethnic group and across urban and rural areas. We show, contrary to some existing literature that has relied on smaller and less representative samples of parents and pupils, that school choices do not vary significantly by social background. We show that parents pro-actively use the choice system and present new evidence on the extent to which the current school admissions criteria that prioritise distance penalise poorer families.     

School belonging among young adolescents with SEMH and MLD: the link with their social relations and school inclusivity

Despite the considerable institutional changes schools have made to accommodate the individual needs of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), as underpinned by key principles of inclusion, there is still international concern about the mainstream experiences pupils with SEND have in school settings. This study helps us understand the schooling experiences of pupils with behavioural difficulties and learning difficulties by investigating whether they have a sense of belonging and positive social relations and whether these vary according to the level of inclusiveness of the school ethos at the institution they attend. Perceived social relations and feelings of belonging of 1,440 (282 SEND) young adolescents from three secondary mainstream settings that differ in inclusivity, were analysed using a self-reporting questionnaire. Findings demonstrated that pupils with SEND are not a homogeneous group, as pupils with behavioural difficulties were found to have less of a sense of belonging, and social relations than those with learning difficulties. It was also found that the sense of belonging of both groups is associated with their positive perceived relations with teachers and their inclusiveness of school ethos. These findings contribute as they offer ways of enhancing the sense of belonging of pupils with behavioural and learning difficulties in schools.     

Pupils’ everyday transitions in school as a condition for social relations and activities in leisure time centres

This article focuses on how pupils’ everyday transitions constitute a condition for pupils’ activities and relationships, and how pupils understand and give meaning to their everyday transitions between different school settings (school and Leisure Time Centre). To examine this, we made participant observations in three different educational settings. The focus of these observations is on pupils in their everyday life in school and LTC, thereby gaining insight into the experiences of being a pupil in these settings. In regard to social relations, the changes brought about by daily transitions between educational settings create conditions for different activities and changes in the group. The changes in groups that occur in the different contexts of everyday transitions in school can be both an opportunity and an obstacle, depending on the situation and with whom pupils wish to engage in social interaction. Thus, it is clear that the transition from school to LTC often involves changes in the group, thereby changing the conditions of pupils’ opportunities to form relationships with each other.     

School bullying as a creator of pupil peer pressure

Background:?Research into school bullying has a long tradition but a rather narrow scope. Many prevention programmes have been designed, but despite extensive investigation, most studies suggest that bullying is not decreasing. There is something paradoxical in this phenomenon. In order to have any real impact on some phenomena, thorough understanding is needed. What, then, is the essence of school bullying? How does it develop and how is it maintained in a community? In the present study written material and interviews concerning pupils´ experiences of bullying were used to examine how the status of the bully is created among pupils and how cultural norms and values in the community are constructed via bullying. Bullying as a phenomenon is a hidden process, where teachers are often misled. The meanings given to bullying behaviour can often be understood only by the pupils in the community. This is why bullying is possible in the presence of the teacher and also during lessons. The study suggests the need to see bullying in a broader social and cultural framework, which also provides a new way of understanding pupils´ social relationships.

Purpose:?This study attempts to understand school bullying as a phenomenon from a social and cultural viewpoint. Communication in and meanings given to bullying acts in the school community are in focus.

Sample:?The study sample comprised 85 lower secondary school pupils, aged 13–15, from various schools in central Finland. The data analysed consisted of 85 written accounts and 10 interviews.

Design and methods:?Pupils were asked to write about ‘School bullying’. The interviews were open-ended thematic interviews or episodic interviews (cf. Friebertshäuser). A hermeneutic method was used in analysing the meanings in the texts. The transcribed texts were analysed using categories and themes within which the meanings given to bullying were interpreted.

Results:?Our study suggested that bullying behaviour consists of short communicative situations which are often hidden from teachers. These separate situations account for the subjective experience of bullying. Bullying behaviour is a way of gaining power and status in a group or school class. The status is maintained by calling a pupil who is bullied different names. The ‘difference’ in the bullied pupil is interpreted as a culturally avoidable characteristic. In this way, bullying behaviour creates cultural norms and forces all pupils in the bullying community to follow them. Telling stories and calling the bullied pupil names increases the group's cohesion and the treatment of the bullied pupil creates fear in other pupils, who do not dare to fight bullying. In a community where bullying occurs, fear and guilt are obvious.

Conclusions:?Bullying is embedded in cultural norms, values and social status in the whole community. The hidden nature of the phenomenon emerges in short communicative situations that should be taken seriously. This research applies an approach from sociology and cultural studies to an area that has been dominated by psychological approaches. In doing so, it opens up a variety of interpretations of what bullying is and how it develops in schools.     

An exploration of school mobility: Risks and protective factors in late elementary

This study explored negative emotional, behavioral, and academic performance outcomes for highly mobile students and potential protective factors. Participants were fourth and fifth-grade students (N = 647, 51% male) from three schools with low socioeconomic status, highly mobile student populations within a large, suburban school district in the midwestern United States. Data were collected through student self-report surveys, teacher-report surveys, and school records. Multilevel moderation analysis tested whether school connectedness (SC) or social and emotional competence (SEC) acted as protective factors for highly mobile students, moderating the effect of school mobility on emotional problems and academic performance. Student mobility was associated with more emotional problems and lower academic performance. In contrast to past research, there was not an association between mobility and behavior problems. Although they did not act as protective factors, SC and SEC were independently associated with fewer emotional problems and stronger reading performance for all students, controlling for mobility. Results build on existing evidence that student mobility has negative effects on emotional and academic outcomes and lend support for interventions focused on enhancing SC and SEC of all students, including those at increased risk due to high mobility.     

Political and Individual Rationales of Student Mobility: a case-study of ERASMUS and a French regional scheme for studies abroad

The aim of this article is to analyse political rationales for promoting student mobility in Europe and discuss these in the light of individual experiences of mobile students. Since the creation of the ERASMUS programme in 1987, student mobility in Europe has been the subject of unusual political promotion. More recently, in the context of the Bologna process, the goal of increasing student mobility has been reaffirmed by various higher education actors. Student mobility is thought to be both a component of the European Higher Education Area and one of its outcomes. Beyond this apparent widespread acceptance, we examine, on the one hand, underlying legitimating ideas and rationales that accompanied the institutionalisation of student mobility by the European Commission and a regional French authority. We also discuss the extent to which drives for mobility and outcomes at the individual student level are in line with the political perceptions and expectations of the above‐mentioned institutional actors.     

A meta-ethnographic understanding of children and young people's experiences of extended school non-attendance

The views of the children and young people experiencing Extended School Non-Attendance difficulties are scarcely represented in the literature. This systematic literature review provides a much needed overview of the existing research evidence through a detailed synthesis of the lived experiences of persistently non-attending young people, using a meta-ethnographic approach. Ten qualitative, UK-based papers were selected and analysed, each of which focused specifically on the direct views of school non-attenders. Using Noblit and Hare's seven-step approach, the analysis generated seven themes: (1) difficult relationships with peer group; (2) inconsistent relationships with and support from adults; (3) negative experiences of school transition; (4) negative experiences of learning in school; (5) emotional wellbeing and mental health needs; (6) others' negative perceptions of the individual's needs; (7) personal beliefs about attendance. Through reciprocal translation of these themes, the overarching higher-order concept was developed relating to the impact of a sense of school belonging. The implications of this review include an enhanced emphasis on the need to gather young people's views early and to use their preferred terminology when discussing their difficulties. While outside the scope of this paper, further research should look to the translation into policy and practice in this area.     

'Inclusion is more than a place': exploring pupil views and voice in Belfast schools through visual narrative

The research reported in this article by David Ryan, an adviser for special educational needs and inclusion in Belfast, was based on a participatory approach in which young people in a number of schools were encouraged to develop their ideas about inclusion. The project set out to explore any differences in perceptions between pupils with special educational needs and those without. The young people were equipped with cameras and were encouraged to generate 'visual narratives' expressing their views about the 'reasonable adjustments' that mainstream schools might make in order to become more inclusive. David Ryan concludes that education must be personalised so that schools take account of the perspectives of individual pupils in their endeavours to become more inclusive. He also notes that young people appear to have strongly-held views about some of the sensory aspects of the school environment.     

Family involvement in PSE: international schools easing the transition of mobile families

The impact of family mobility from domestic or international moves can be challenging for families. Some families adjust and other families experience crisis. For some families, relocation may be due to a job promotion and transfer, while for other families moving may be due to divorce, loss of employment or other stressful circumstances. Regardless of whether the family perceives relocation as positive or negative, moving places demands on families and consequently families experience varying degrees of transience. This article is based upon a qualitative research study about internationally mobile (IM) families managing relocation and transience and the place of international schooling in that process. 90 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 45 (IM) families at an international school in southern England. The study included an intervention that consisted of implementing a personal and social education (PSE) programme for families with adolescent children. Family involvement in PSE facilitated parent‐adolescent communication at a critical transitional stage as IM teenagers who grow up ‘on the move’ were experiencing complex emotional and social upheavals in relationships with their peers and their families. Although the focus of this study explored the experiences of a small sample of IM families, there are wider implications from the study. Family mobility presents an opportunity for schools to also work with families who experience domestic moves to ease the transition of children through pastoral care.     

Conditions for collaborative learning and constructive competition in school

Background:?Teacher-organised group work, in which pupils work together in groups or pairs, is one of many learning situations pupils may encounter at school. Research (Williams, P. and Sheridan, S., Collaboration as one aspect of quality: a perspective of collaboration and pedagogical quality in educational settings. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 50, no. 1: 89–93, 2006) shows that even though pupils are aware of the benefits that working in groups can generate, they tend to avoid structured group work at school.

Purpose:?The aim of this study is to gain knowledge about necessary conditions for collaborative learning and constructive competition to develop among pupils at school. What conditions are necessary for collaboration and constructive competition to develop in learning situations among pupils at school?

Sample:?The study was carried out in Sweden and involved a total of 66 children, 6–18 years of age, and 25 teachers. Both sexes were equally represented among the pupils. The participating schools and teachers were selected by means of a stratified sample involving different geographical and socioeconomic areas and different educational programmes. Twelve children were selected from each of school grades 1, 5 and 9, whilst a total of 30 students were selected from five different upper secondary school programmes.

Design and methods:?To study the conditions under which constructive competition could develop in school, the methodology used involved individual interviews. The analysis was qualitative and focused on the phenomenon of constructive competition and situations in which pupils and teachers compete. The process of analysis was interplay between empirical data and interactionistic theory, an analytical process of abduction, which consists of interpreting data and devising a theory to explain them. The intentions were to highlight perspectives of constructive competition in a variety of ways. The analyses converge, as well as generating information and knowledge about how pupils and teachers understand constructive competition.

Conclusions:?Several factors emerged as important for collaboration and constructive competition to develop among pupils in school. These were categorised into three conditions: attitudes, organisation and the meaning of learning. Competition between pupils and teachers does occur in school but it is not often explicitly articulated. The ways in which competition develops, either in destructive or constructive directions, becomes more a question of chance or coincidence than as evolving out of a conscious choice. To compete constructively in a conscious manner requires knowledge of how to be able to control the situation in a positive manner, about the characteristics of this kind of competition and of how – that is to say under what kind of conditions – it will develop constructively between people in school contexts. Content and conditions are thus seen as inseparable in the development of constructive competition.