Student–teacher closeness and conflict in students with and without special educational needs

Teachers play a key role in creating effective conditions for students to succeed in school. The quality of student–teacher relationships is consistently associated with social, emotional, behavioural and academic adjustment, and this is even more relevant for students with special educational needs (SEN), considering these students’ emotional, social and learning vulnerabilities. This study aimed to examine the associations between students’ externalising and internalising behaviour, social skills and academic performance, and teachers’ perceptions of conflict and closeness in their relationships with students with and without SEN. Data regarding 360 students in Year 3, Year 5 and Year 7 (169 students with SEN) were collected. Teachers (n = 74) reported on the student–teacher relationship and students’ social skills, behaviour problems and academic performance. Special education teachers (n = 38) provided information regarding the diagnosis and profile of functioning of students with SEN. Results showed that teachers’ reports of students’ social skills and externalising problems were the strongest predictors of closeness and conflict. Internalising problems and SEN status also predicted decreased closeness, despite smaller effects. Taken together, findings support the importance of professional development opportunities focusing on facilitating teachers’ relationships with students with perceived challenging behaviour.     

Achieving inclusion? Effective resourcing of students with special educational needs

In line with the increasing policy emphasis on inclusive education, there is now a greater focus on how best to provide for students special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. However, there is little consensus internationally as to the most equitable way in which to support these students. Despite ongoing evaluations of the existing funding structures, there has been little discussion to inform future changes and ensure an equitable distribution of resources. This paper examines the system of SEN funding in Ireland during a period of policy change. Using data from a National Survey of Schools, we examine the profile and distribution of students across different school contexts to assess the extent to which the existing funding model targets those most in need. Findings show that the current through-put funding system broadly targets students with SEN but in any new model, there is room for greater differentiation in the allocation of funding, particularly within disadvantaged school contexts. The paper highlights the need for further discussion around how we conceptualise special education in mainstream education. We argue for greater emphasis on student outcomes and school accountability where SEN funding is received to support students.     

The development and initial validation of a questionnaire of inclusive teachers’ competency for meeting special educational needs in regular classrooms in China

The aim of this study was to develop and validate an instrument of inclusive teachers’ competencies for teaching students with special educational needs in China. Data were obtained from a preliminary and large-scale investigation in Beijing. The primary analyses included exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The findings indicated that Chinese inclusive teachers’ competency is underpinned by four factors: teaching and instruction; communication and cooperation; attitudes and beliefs; and reflection and development. The four-factor model was obtained with satisfactory reliability and validity. The validated questionnaire generated a theoretical understanding of inclusive education teachers’ competency in China. In addition, the findings of the study provided knowledge that will allow for the development of professional standards and teacher education programmes for inclusive education.     

Factors correlated with teachers’ attitudes towards the inclusion of students with special educational needs in Cyprus

Inclusion of SEN students in mainstream classrooms constitutes an ambitious objective of the education system in Cyprus. The legislation currently in effect provides for a clear‐cut frame of action, largely based on the willingness of teachers in the mainstream school, who are expected to develop positive attitudes that encourage and support the coeducation of SEN and non‐SEN students. However, the impact of infrastructural insufficiency, prejudice and, above all, the lack of specific knowledge as regards special education, seems in many cases to pose obstacles that undermine any efforts made. The present study, based on recent research in the schools in Cyprus, aims at recording teachers’ perceptions and determining the factors that influence Cypriot teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion after the implementation of the new laws on special education in Cyprus. The findings of this research confirm that the provisions in the new laws have adopted the right course of action, although teachers’ feelings of inadequacy, non‐SEN students’ circumspection and SEN students’ hesitation have not yet been satisfactorily addressed.     

One of the gang? Peer relations among students with special educational needs in Irish mainstream primary schools

Internationally and in Ireland, the adoption of inclusive education frameworks have been broadly welcomed, particularly by parents of children with special educational needs (SEN). Mainstreaming these children is generally viewed as positive primarily because of the social factors associated with attending mainstream schools for children with SEN. Despite this commonly held view, there is increasing evidence to show that children with SEN have difficulties participating in mainstream environments. Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland study of 8,578 nine year olds, this paper examines whether peer relations differ among typically developing students and students with different types of SEN. We focus on the quantity and quality of peer relations using data on the child’s number of friends and, using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the quality of relations with their peers. These measures are examined by controlling for a range of individual, home and school-level factors simultaneously in a regression model. Our findings show that, all else being equal, students with SEN, particularly those with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD), are more likely to have fewer friends and experience negative peer relationships compared to their peers without any additional needs. Based on these findings, we argue that specific interventions may be needed to promote positive peer experiences for children with SEN in mainstream education.     

Teachers’ views of co-teaching approaches in addressing pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in multi-grade classrooms

This study focused on primary teachers’ views of co-teaching approaches in addressing the learning needs of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in multi-grade classrooms in Irish primary schools. A case study incorporating a mixed methods approach was chosen. Views of 22 multi-grade and special education teachers (SET) were ascertained through self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that while teachers believe the learning needs of pupils with SEN can be met through co-teaching approaches, the withdrawal of pupils for supplementary support remains the dominant approach. Teachers indicate that they would prefer a combination of withdrawal and in-class support as opposed to choosing one approach over the other. Teachers refer to the challenges posed by co-teaching in delivering instruction for pupils with SEN including planning time, teaching personalities and teaching styles in the multi-grade context. When co-teaching does occur, the most common form used is station teaching. The data demonstrate that teachers lack a clear understanding of the various in-class approaches available and what exactly they entail, and point to teachers’ desire for continuing professional development (CPD) specific to co-teaching.     

Which variables relate to the attitudes of teachers,parents and peers towards students with special educational needs in regular education?

While there is an increased interest in describing attitudes of teachers, parents and peers towards students with special educational needs in regular education, there is a lack of knowledge about various variables relating to the attitudes of these three groups. The aims of this study are: (1) to examine which variables relate to the attitudes of teachers (N?=?44), parents (N?=?508) and peers (N?=?1113) towards students with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Autistic Spectrum Syndrome or a cognitive disability in regular primary education and (2) to examine whether teachers and parents’ attitudes affect the attitudes of peers. An attitude survey was used to assess attitudes and data were analysed by means of multilevel analyses. The variables found in this study relating to attitudes can be used as a foundation to develop interventions to change attitudes.     

How does the capability approach address current issues in special educational needs,disability and inclusive education field?

This paper aims to examine what the capability approach has to offer to the field of special needs and inclusive education. Several key questions are addressed: can the capability approach replace the language of needs and rights; whether the capability approach can address key issues in the field of disabilities and difficulties in education and whether it is possible to avoid the capability approach becoming a promising trend that ends in disappointment? It is concluded that there needs to be an awareness of its incompleteness and so needs integrating with other approaches. Nevertheless, it is argued that the capability approach provides a renewed ethical approach and some conceptual resources to re‐examine issues in the disability and education field. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/E3WwXuK‐jkg .     

Mainstream teachers’ concerns about inclusive education for children with special educational needs and disability in England under pre-pandemic conditions

A survey-based investigation of teachers’ concerns was conducted the following adaptation of Sharma and Desai’s ‘Concerns about Integrated Education (CIE) Scale’ two decades ago. The terminology was adjusted and ‘integrated’ became ‘inclusive’, and ‘Special Educational Needs and / or Disability (SEND)’ replaced ‘disability’ in a novel ‘Concerns about Inclusive Education Scale’. A purposive sample included the public and private education sectors. An online questionnaire was completed in April 2020 (n = 93) by teachers (66: state mainstream, 18: independent, 5: UK-based international schools, 3: SEND specialists, 1: alternative provision). Statistical analysis of closed questions aimed to identify teachers’ concerns about IE for children with SEND and was complemented by qualitative analysis of data generated through open-ended questions. Varied understandings of what IE means and longstanding concerns were identified. The highest level of concern was evidenced around resources, specifically, funding for specialist and support staff, resources, and appropriate infrastructure. Qualitative data analysis suggested that children with SEND risk being perceived as an onerous adjunct to an already stressful ‘regular’ teaching role. Few respondents mentioned national performance monitoring and accountability regimes in this context and, instead, viewed additional paraprofessional and external support as self-evident solutions to excessive workloads, neglecting the implications for equity in education.     

Inclusion of children with special educational needs and disabilities in physical education: A systematic review and meta-analysis of teachers’ attitudes

Research shows that teachers' attitudes toward physical education are associated with positive pupil outcomes. However, there is limited robust synthesis of evidence regarding teachers' attitudes toward working with vulnerable learners in physical education, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This mixed methods systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizes the research evidence on teachers' attitudes towards the inclusion of children SEND children in physical education. Results indicated that teachers have largely favorable attitudes toward the inclusion of children with SEND in physical education, and that experience working with children with SEND was positively associated with such favorable attitudes. Further quantitative and qualitative synthesis also revealed that several different factors affect teachers’ attitudes – namely, knowledge and preparation, years of teaching experience, direct experience working with SEND children, type and degree of SEND, and collaboration and teaching support.     

School counsellors’ beliefs regarding collaboration with parents of students with special educational needs in Flanders: Parents as partners or opposites?

The literature shows that a good collaboration between the school and parents of students with special educational needs (SEN) is not always present. However, school counsellors must collaborate with SEN students’ parents to organise guidance trajectories for their child. This article examines school counsellors’ experiences when collaborating with parents of SEN students and the factors they perceive as contributing to good or difficult collaboration. Four focus groups in mainstream education (N = 50) and one focus group in special education (N = 14) were conducted in Flanders. A thematic analysis indicated that school counsellors generally find it difficult to collaborate with parents of SEN students and that an expert attitude can emerge. The role of these parents is described as limited, which is even preferred by some school counsellors. A deficit view is recognised and the reasons for poor collaboration are mainly situated on the parents’ side, such as parents that need more processing time to accept the SEN of their child and that show distrust towards the school. School counsellors spontaneously referred to parents’ low socioeconomic and ethnic minority status as complicating factors for collaboration. They seem to feel incompetent to overcome these collaboration difficulties. Various recommendations for schools are formulated.     

Which students need accommodations the most,and to what extent are their needs met by regular upper secondary school? A cross-sectional study among students with special educational needs

The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to identify factors associated with a high level of accommodation needs in school activities among students with special educational needs (SEN) in regular upper secondary education; and (2) to investigate the extent to which schools have met students’ perceived accommodation needs. Accommodation needs and their provision in school activities were assessed with the School Setting Interview for 484 students with SEN. Students’ mean age was 17.3 years and 50% did not have a diagnosis. A logistic regression analysis revealed that a high level of school absence, studying a vocational programme, and a neuropsychiatric disorder were associated with a high level of accommodation needs. In the majority of school activities, about 50% of students had not received any accommodation despite an experienced need for support. About 30% of students perceived a need for support even though they had been provided with accommodations, and around 25% stated they were satisfied with received accommodations. Regular upper secondary school students with SEN are insufficiently provided with accommodations to satisfactorily participate in education. Specific student characteristics, e.g. high level of school absence, should receive special attention when investigating and accommodating students’ needs for support in school activities.     

Special education and general education – coordinated or separated? A study of curriculum planning for pupils with special educational needs

The central issue of this article is the coordination between special and general education in curriculum planning for pupils with special educational needs. The focus is on individual education plans (IEPs) in special education and work plans in general education. This is also viewed in relation to how special and general education teachers cooperate on planning. The analysis is based on a qualitative interview study with special and general education teachers in four primary and lower secondary schools in two municipalities. A clear pattern is shown in the study, where curriculum planning for special and general education is not very coordinated and cooperation between special and general education teachers is often very limited. Thus, curriculum planning within special and general education appears to be more separated than coordinated. The two groups of teachers appear to adopt traditional and partly separate roles, and tend to plan individually rather than together. Responsibility for the education of pupils with special needs seems to be more divided than shared.     

Preferential treatment or unwanted in mainstream schools? The perceptions of parents and teachers with regards to pupils with special educational needs and challenging behaviour

This study explored the perceptions of parents and teachers regarding the differential treatment or stigma experienced by pupils with challenging behaviour – more specifically, those with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD), as well as children with visible special educational needs (Down's syndrome and/or profound and multiple learning difficulties) who frequently displayed challenging behaviour as a characteristic of their SEN. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with ten parents of children with challenging behaviour, together with 15 educational practitioners employed in mainstream and BESD schools. Findings revealed how several parents, and staff employed in BESD schools, viewed pupils with challenging behaviour as ‘unwanted’ in mainstream schools. The remaining parents, as well as mainstream practitioners, reported the opposite and indicated that these pupils received treatment deemed to be ‘preferential’ in the mainstream. This has direct implications for those concerned with supporting pupils with challenging behaviour in mainstream settings.     

Inclusion of children with special educational needs in mainstream schools in Ghana: influence of teachers’ and children’s characteristics

The issue of where to teach children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities has been a great concern as countries respond to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Salamanca Statement on inclusion of 1994. In this study, the responses of 500 trained and untrained mainstream primary school teachers selected from three of the ten regions of Ghana were analysed to investigate their attitudes to including children with SEN and disabilities in mainstream schools in Ghana. These attitudes were examined alongside teachers’ characteristics such as gender, age, length and level of teaching experience, and knowledge of SEN, and also the type, nature and degree of children’s SEN. The results showed that teachers in Ghana were positive towards the inclusion of children with SEN and disabilities with a few reservations which are elaborated. On the basis of the findings, conclusions were drawn that the inclusion agenda should be subject to national and local interpretation, aimed at ensuring that policies and regulations on SEN are fashioned to meet local situations and standards.     

Acceptance or rejection? The social experiences of children with special educational needs and disabilities within a mainstream primary school

ABSTRACT

This article details a study which investigated the social acceptance and friendships of children with SEND, and their typically developing peers, at a mainstream primary school in the North West of England. Participants were 29 children aged five and six years old, separated into three groups; typically developing children, children who were being monitored for SEND, and children with formally identified SENDs. With the use of a peer nomination sociometric technique, findings revealed that children with SEND had less promising peer relations and friendships compared to children tracked for SEND and their typically developing peers, consequently questioning the mainstream ‘ideal’.     

How to cope with stress in special needs education? Stress-inducing dysfunctional cognitions of teacher students: the perspective of professionalisation

The goal of the present study is to identify prospective special education teachers (SETs) who may have difficulties in coping with occupational stresses and burdens. International comparative studies show that SETs have a higher level of stress than their colleagues who work in the general school system. Compared with teachers in regular schools, SETs leave their profession at a higher rate. For this reason, the study focuses on so-called dysfunctional cognitions, which might increase stress in strenuous occupational situations and which have long-term harmful effects on health. The construct of dysfunctional cognitions is supposed to be a basis for developing supportive measures for teacher students with low stress tolerance. In the framework of the present study located in the German educational system, teacher students (N = 333) from the special needs areas, including learning disability, mental disability, emotional/social disorders and sensory disabilities (hearing impairment, or speech or language disorders), are taken into account. A hierarchical cluster analysis and a discriminant analysis were used to identify four different clusters: Cluster 1 shows the lowest attitude level of equally all dysfunctional cognitions. Clusters 2 and 3 are characterised by higher degrees, especially of ‘dependency’, ‘internalisation of failure’ and ‘personal standards (perfectionism)’. The fourth profile indicates the highest degree of the dysfunctional cognitions. Lower levels of dysfunctional cognitions (with the exception of perfectionism) occur together with a higher expectation of self-efficacy. No cluster applies for all teacher students of one specific special needs area. Prospective teachers in the area of mental disability are overrepresented in cluster 3, with a high level of internalisation of failure and dependency. Teacher students in the area of emotional/social disorders belong, to a considerable degree, to the ‘risk’ cluster. The profiles are used to develop measures for those teacher students who may experience difficulties in stressful occupational situations. Therefore, these student teachers need to be closely supported through additional intensive training elements and balanced career counselling.     

Physical education students’ attitudes and self‐efficacy towards the participation of children with special needs in regular classes

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between personal variables of physical education students and their attitudes towards participation of children with disabilities and self‐efficacy (SE) in teaching students with disabilities in regular classes. A total 153 PE majors (95 females and 58 males) participated in the study. A 15‐item attitude instrument and a 15‐item SE instrument concerning dilemmas during educational tasks were administered as a part of the didactic assignments. Factor analysis revealed one challenge and two threat factors in the attitude instrument. The statistical analysis revealed significant effects on attitudes to gender (females higher than males) and years in college (advanced students higher than novices). Significant effects on SE were found in the coursework, previous experience and years in college variables. SE was inversely related to both threat factors of the attitude instrument (r?=???0.42 and ??0.43 respectively).     

Early childhood education and special education: how well do they mix? An examination of inclusive practices in early childhood educational settings in Hong Kong

To examine and identify the current inclusive practices in early childhood educational settings in Hong Kong, this qualitative study looks at the support and educational services available for young children with special needs in Hong Kong mainstream preschools as well as the characteristics of early childhood educational settings that support inclusion. Inclusive practices of each of the three preschools involved in the study are presented. Challenges to enhance the quality of inclusion in early childhood educational settings and future possibilities in the field in Hong Kong are also discussed.