Parents’ Perspective of the Impact of School Practices on the Functioning of Students with Special Educational Needs

Students with special educational needs (SEN) are at an elevated risk of psychological and behavioural dysfunctions. In this study, we conducted a survey of parents of students with SEN in Hong Kong to examine the impact of two school practices – learning support and school climate – on the psychological and behavioural functioning (PBF) of students with SEN. We also examined the mediating effects of social participation and academic engagement. Questionnaires were distributed to 586 parents in 139 primary schools. The results of structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis show that perceived school climate has a direct effect on perceived PBF, while perceived learning support does not. Perceived learning support has two indirect effects on perceived PBF, with perceived academic engagement or social participation as a mediator. The findings have implications for the effective use of educational resources to support the inclusive education of students with SEN.     

‘So,how does one define a friendship?’: Identifying friendship among students using AAC in inclusive education settings*

The characteristics of friendships among children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) are not well understood. Research on friendships among children without disabilities has identified similarity to each other as a key characteristic among friends. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the friendships between students using AAC and fellow students in Norwegian mainstream public schools. Participants were students using AAC in first to fourth class, fellow students, parents, and staff. Data were analysed using a constructive grounded theory approach. The participants provided diverse reports about the friendships, although all students using AAC reported having friendships at school. The friendships were described by parents and staff as superficial and students using AAC were seldom perceived as playmates by fellow students. The results indicated that friendships between students using AAC and fellow students were often unilateral. The results are discussed along with the implications for future research.     

An ecological approach to promoting early adolescent mental health and social adaptation: family-centered intervention in public middle schools

This study examined the impact of the Family Check-Up (FCU) and linked intervention services on reducing health-risk behaviors and promoting social adaptation among middle school youth. A total of 593 students and their families were randomly assigned to receive either the intervention or middle school services as usual. Forty-two percent of intervention families engaged in the service and received the FCU. Using complier average causal effect analyses, engagement in the intervention moderated intervention outcomes. Families who engaged in the intervention had youth who reported lower rates of antisocial behavior and substance use over time than did a matched control sample. Results extend previous research indicating that a family-centered approach to supporting youth in the public school setting reduced the growth of antisocial behavior, alcohol use, tobacco use, and marijuana use throughout the middle school years.     

The Implementation of School Inclusion Practices for Students with Special Needs in Israel: Teachers’ Perceptions

The research examined how school inclusion practices for students with special needs in Israel are perceived by teachers. Participating in the study were 121 elementary and secondary teachers in 10 schools around the country. The instrument was the 50-item ‘Implementation of inclusion practices in schools for students with special needs’ questionnaire, developed by the author together with seminar students. The findings indicate that inclusion practice as a whole was perceived to be implemented in the schools to a moderate degree. When testing the five components of inclusion separately, moral obligation was perceived to be implemented to a significantly greater degree and the knowledge component to a significantly lesser degree than the others. Inclusion practice was found to be implemented more in schools with medium-high socio-economic-level students than in those with low socio-economic-level students, and to a greater degree in the Jewish sector than in the Arab.     

An examination of digital game-based situated learning applied to Chinese language poetry education

By gradually placing more importance on game-based education and changing learning motivation by applying game-playing characteristics, students’ learning experiences can be enhanced and a better learning effect can be achieved. When teaching the content of Chinese poetry in Taiwanese junior high schools, most teachers only explain the meaning of Chinese poetry, while it is difficult for students to understand why poets write these poems, resulting in learning confusion. This paper implemented a digital game-based situated learning system based on Tang Dynasty poems for learning Chinese poetry to simulate the situations of hardship encountered by poets when writing poetry in animated form to help junior high school students in Taiwan to have greater understanding when learning the content of Chinese poetry. The research results show that students who used the Gourd Tang Dynasty system in game-based instruction had significantly better learning achievements than students who underwent traditional narrative instruction. Among them, students in the low learning ability group improved in their grades significantly more than students in the high learning ability group in terms of their Tang Dynasty poetry learning. Furthermore, the authors examined the predictive relationships between perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and behavioural intention related to the digital game-based situated learning system for Chinese language poetry. The factor of perceived usefulness was a key factor in the students’ positive attitudes towards the digital game-based situated learning system. There were no significant differences with respect to individual characteristics (i.e. gender, online game experience and digital learning experience). The results demonstrate that this type of system can be widely accepted by students with different learning experiences.     

Peer mediation: citizenship and social inclusion revisited

In sociometric research tradition, popularity is defined as the degree to which children are liked or accepted by their peers. However, research indicates that two definitions of popular students should be distinguished: (1) popular students as those students who are well liked by many and disliked by few peers, and (2) popular students as those students who are described as popular by their peers. The main purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between sociometric and peer perceived popularity in Slovenian students of different grades of elementary and secondary school. Additionally, the age differences in the relationship between sociometric and peer perceived popularity were examined. Another purpose of the study was to investigate the differential relationships between concepts of popularity and some students' characteristics. The participants were 321 boys and 329 girls who ranged from the 5th grade of elementary school (the mean age 11.04 years) to the 3rd grade of secondary school (the mean age 17.02 years). The results of this study confirm previous findings that peer perceived popularity is a construct that is distinct from sociometric popularity. There are some substantial differences in relations between indices of perceived popularity and sociometric indices between elementary school students and secondary school students—i.e. between early adolescents and middle to late adolescents. It seems that perceived popularity and sociometric popularity are rather similar constructs in elementary school students, whereas in secondary school students they become almost unrelated to each other. Based on these findings, the terminological issues are discussed and some conclusions are made.     

Gender and high school chemistry: student perceptions on achievement in a selective setting

This paper reports on research undertaken in a middle-class Australian school. The focus of the research was on the relationship between gender and students’ engagement with high school chemistry. Achievement data from many OECD countries suggest that middle-class girls are achieving equally as well as, if not better than, boys in many subjects. This has led to claims that the ‘girls and science’ agenda is no longer necessary, and indeed may have been detrimental to boys’ achievements in science subjects. The data collected from students at this site indicate that at this school this agenda is far from a completed one. These data indicate that whilst girls’ achievement levels are comparable with those of the boys, for many students chemistry is still perceived as a masculine subject. Hence, the girls in the chemistry classrooms at this school construct themselves, and are constructed, as outsiders in the subject.     

Parental involvement and adolescent school achievement: the mediational role of self-regulated learning

Both parental involvement and self-regulated learning are important predictors of students’ study success. However, previous research on self-regulated learning has focused instead on the school environment and has not focused on the home situation. In particular, investigations into the role of parents in self-regulated learning when children enter middle school have been limited. The present study examined the relationship among students’ perceptions of parental involvement, their self-regulated learning and school achievement in the first year of middle school. Survey data from 5939 Flemish students were processed using mediation analyses and revealed that students’ perceptions of parental involvement in school work was associated with students’ self-regulated learning and their school achievement. Moreover, how students perceived parental involvement was associated with students’ achievement through the self-regulated learning factors. These results underpin the importance of parents in education at the middle-school age. Schools should be aware of this and enhance parents’ educational involvement and the stimulation of self-regulated learning in the home environment.

     

The effects of exposure to violence and victimization across life domains on adolescent substance use

This study uses longitudinal data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) to examine the effects of exposure to school violence, community violence, child abuse, and parental intimate partner violence (IPV) on youths’ subsequent alcohol and marijuana use. We also examine the cumulative effects of being exposed to violence across these domains. Longitudinal data were obtained from 1,655 adolescents and their primary caregivers participating in the PHDCN. The effects of adolescents’ exposure to various forms of violence across different life domains were examined relative to adolescents’ frequency of alcohol and marijuana use three years later. Multivariate statistical models were employed to control for a range of child, parent, and family risk factors. Exposure to violence in a one-year period increased the frequency of substance use three years later, though the specific relationships between victimization and use varied for alcohol and marijuana use. Community violence and child abuse, but not school violence or exposure to IPV, were predictive of future marijuana use. None of the independent measures of exposure to violence significantly predicted future alcohol use. Finally, the accumulation of exposure to violence across life domains was detrimental to both future alcohol and marijuana use. The findings support prior research indicating that exposure to multiple forms of violence, across multiple domains of life, negatively impacts adolescent outcomes, including substance use. The findings also suggest that the context in which exposure to violence occurs should be considered in future research, since the more domains in which youth are exposed to violence, the fewer “safe havens” they have available. Finally, a better understanding of the types of violence youth encounter and the contexts in which these experiences occur can help inform intervention efforts aimed at reducing victimization and its negative consequences.     

Perceived self-efficacy and social anxiety changes in high school students with learning disabilities (LD) during first year of secondary vocational education

This empirical study focused on high school students with a learning disability (LD), particularly adolescents undergoing training in secondary vocational study programmes. A total of 417 1st-year high school students were included in the survey, 105 of whom were LD students. Data on social anxiety and perceived social self-efficacy were collected at the beginning and end of the school year using the Social Self-Efficacy Scale and the LSAA Social Anxiety Scale. The results mostly relate to male students because the sample included 359 boys and 58 girls. In both the initial and final measurements, a significantly lower level of perceived social self-efficacy and a higher level of social anxiety were found in students with special needs compared to their peers. Perceived self-efficacy in LD students decreased significantly during the school year, while changes in social anxiety were not statistically significant. Results could indicate some difficulties in social integration of LD youths in vocational school classes. Thus, it would be desirable for schools to provide a more supportive and efficient learning environment for strengthening social integration of LD students in secondary vocational education.     

A sociocultural investigation of pre-service teachers’ outdoor experiences and perceived obstacles to outdoor learning

Abstract

This study utilizes a sociocultural approach to explore how pre-service elementary teachers’ experiences in both outdoor and formal school settings have contributed to their intentions for taking their students outdoors and perceived obstacles to doing so. The participants were pre-service elementary teachers (N?=?95) enrolled in an elementary science education methods course at a public university in the Midwestern United States. This study builds on the qualitative research methodology established in a prior research study, whereby after reading Richard Louv’s book entitled Last Child in the Woods, pre-service teachers completed written essay responses to prompts about their past outdoor experiences, their intentions for taking their students outdoors, and additionally in this study, perceived obstacles to doing so once they become teachers. Analysis of the data indicates the importance of participants’ youth experiences in the outdoors and positive intentions for taking students outside. In addition, findings describe major obstacles discussed by pre-service teachers, and we use sociocultural theory to analyse the context of these findings. Implications for teacher educators working to better equip pre-service teachers to overcome these perceived obstacles are discussed.     

Autonomy and religious education: lessons from a six-year evaluation of an educational reform in an Israeli school network

This study investigated the tension that exists between promoting an educational agenda and practising an educational approach which emphasises autonomy within the framework of religious education. Our main thesis is that every educational deed contains a dialectical tension between endorsing an educational agenda and the promotion of autonomy. Moreover, this tension is not restricted to religious education. The intensity of such a conflict varies in accordance with the flexibility (or inflexibility) of the dogma, the conceptual cohesion of the educational agenda and the perceived importance of granting autonomy to students. The more cohesive and inflexible the educational agenda is, the greater the danger that autonomy will be discarded. The present research examined an educational reform implemented in the National-Religious School Network in Israel, which included the promotion of autonomy among principals, teachers and students. Conducted over a six-year period (2006–2012), the research employed both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and involved various stakeholders in the school network. The multifaceted picture that emerged of the relationship between educational autonomy and religious agenda is presented.     

Technology-enhanced learning and research using databases in higher education: the application of the ODAS model

Abstract

Research databases are a significant contributing aspect of modern technology, and, as such, innovation has enhanced learning and research outputs using online databases introduced by authorities in charge of higher education. However, databases have been rarely investigated from the perspective of psychological assessment. Therefore, this research examined databases using structural equation modelling and the Rasch model to explore contributing factors of learning and research in higher education. To measure databases, this research adapted the online database adoption and satisfaction (ODAS) model and analysed the responses of 300 postgraduate students, from a double first class university in Shanghai, collected using a stratified random sample technique. The results of the ODAS model showed that the postgraduate students’ perceived usefulness and ease of use of databases played mediating roles in establishing connections between their computer self-efficacy and intention to use and satisfaction with databases for research and learning. However, the ODAS model also showed that the students’ satisfaction was indirectly explained by their perceived usefulness of databases through ease of use and intention to use. The results of our investigation contribute to a better understanding of the ODAS model and suggest assessment strategies for learning and research through databases for researchers, academicians, and librarians.     

Streaming in Flemish secondary schools: exploring teachers’ perceptions of and adaptations to students in different streams

A rich body of research on streaming or tracking conducted mainly in the USA and UK suggests that teachers have lower expectations of students in lower education streams and adapt their curriculum and pedagogy in line with such expectations. Recent large‐scale quantitative research conducted in Flanders (Belgium) shows that teachers teaching in lower status technical/vocational streams share a lower ‘study culture’ and perceive their students as less teachable than teachers teaching higher status general education students, which in turn influences students’ educational outcomes. This research builds on these studies by using data from qualitative interviews with secondary school teachers in two Flemish secondary schools to explore teachers’ perceptions of students in different streams and their adaptations in terms of curriculum and pedagogy. In addition, the relationship between students’ educational achievement and stream allocation is analysed using survey data collected in these two Flemish schools. The results further support the findings of research in this area but also suggest that stratification occurs within streams. Furthermore, students from different streams are perceived to value different forms of cultural and social capital, suggesting the prevalence of social class cultures in different streams. The conclusions discuss implications for further research on streaming or tracking in (Flemish) secondary schools.     

Evaluating Education Reform: Students' Views of Their Charter School Experience

Abstract

One aspect of charter schools that is often overlooked when one evaluates their success is the support that they receive from students. By using data from a survey of Texas charter school students, supplemented with statistics from the Texas Education Agency, the author examined students' satisfaction with their charter school, especially as it compared with their previous educational experiences. Results suggest that when students perceived that the charter school had higher quality teachers, better classes, and a more caring environment, they were more satisfied with their charter school than with their previous school. Furthermore, students most at risk for dropping out also were those who tended to be more supportive of their charter school.     

Students’ formative assessment perceptions,feedback use and mathematics performance in secondary schools in Tanzania

This study investigates the impact of secondary school students’ perceptions of mathematics teachers’ formative assessment practices and feedback delivery on their feedback use, and mathematics performance. The sample consisted of 2767 Form 3 (Grade 11) students from 48 secondary schools in Tanzania. Surveys and focus group discussions were used to measure students’ perceptions of formative assessment, feedback delivery, and feedback use. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) of survey data showed that students’ perceptions of the quality of teacher feedback delivery and perceived scaffolding positively predicted students’ feedback use whereas perceived monitoring negatively predicted feedback use. In turn, students’ feedback use positively predicted their mathematics performance to a small extent. Content analysis of focus group discussions illustrated that most students valued their mathematics teacher’s assessment practices. The findings imply that in Sub-Saharan African educational systems the quality of teacher feedback delivery and promotion of student feedback use can improve students’ mathematics performance.     

Age is more than just a number! The role of age and maturity in the processes leading to early school leaving in Flanders (Belgium)

In many educational systems, age is used as a criterion to organise education. Children's age is used to group students together and indicate entry into particular programmes. The use of age for organisational purposes in education stems from the idea that age provides an indication of the development of children, which is associated with teaching and learning. However, more far‐reaching consequences of age‐related educational practices are insufficiently recognised in policy and academic research. Qualitative methods are used to study students and school personnel in diverse types of educational institutions in Flanders (Belgium) to assess how age and age‐related issues matter for the students’ educational trajectories and educational decision‐making processes leading to early school leaving. Data analyses reveal that school staff members consider age and perceived maturity during evaluation procedures. Students also consider age during educational decision‐making processes: when getting older or being too old for the grade, students increasingly weigh the costs and benefits associated with getting an educational qualification and being enrolled in school and alternative opportunities. Students’ expectations related to age shape their school experiences and feelings of belonging. The findings of this study demonstrate how these educational practices add to the reproduction of inequalities through education. These results could inform debates concerning the evaluation procedures in secondary education, compulsory education and the reduction of early school leaving in Europe.     

Common misconceptions of suspension: Ideas and alternatives for school leaders

The use of exclusionary discipline practices in schools has been well documented since the 1970s with the passing of the Safe Schools Act and implementation of zero‐tolerance policies. Despite research indicating the ineffectiveness of exclusionary practices, students continue to receive suspensions and expulsions at alarming rates. Additional research highlights that there may be misconceptions regarding the application of suspensions and their perceived functions and effectiveness on students and their families. The purpose of this article is to discuss common misconceptions regarding the effects of suspension and provide teachers, school psychologists, and administrators with proactive strategies for implementation in local systems to create positive school climates and optimize successful outcomes for all students and staff.     

A Multilevel Analysis of Learning Environments and Student Attitudes

An investigation of relationships between students’ attitudes towards chemistry and their perceived laboratory environments was carried out using a sample of 1592 final year secondary school students in 56 chemistry classes in 28 randomly selected co‐educational government schools. This study is distinctive in that it marks the beginning of science classroom environment research in Singapore and because it pioneers the use of the Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) in learning environment research. The Chemistry Laboratory Environment Inventory (CLEI), a modified version of the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory, was used to assess students’ perceptions of the learning environment in chemistry laboratory classes. Students’ chemistry‐related attitudes were assessed using the Questionnaire on Chemistry‐related Attitudes (QOCRA), which is based on the Test of Science‐related Attitudes. Environment‐attitude relationships were examined using conventional multiple regression analysis and the more rigorous HLM. Positive associations emerged between the nature of the chemistry laboratory classroom environment and the students’ attitudinal outcomes     

The influence of school type and perceived teaching style on students’ creativity

School is an excellent place to foster young learners’ creative thinking skills. However, the emphasis on creativity varies among schools. In two studies the putative influence of school education on the development of students’ creativity was examined by means of a retrospective approach. We investigated whether two influential factors within school education (1) school type (i.e., traditional vs. alternative vs. religious) and (2) perceived teaching style (i.e., independence, judgment, flexibility, integration) associate with students’ creativity at university entrance level. The difference was examined at the primary and secondary school level, respectively. Study 1a found that students who attended alternative schools at the secondary school level performed better on divergent thinking tasks as compared to students who attended traditional or religious schools. Relationship between students’ creative performance and the perceived teaching styles were inconclusive. Finally, teaching styles in alternative schools during secondary education were perceived as high in independence and flexibility. Study 1b replicated the finding that university students who attended alternative schools during secondary education have an advantage in divergent thinking. Taken together, our results highlight the positive influence of alternative school education on students’ creative performance at the university entrance level.