Special Educational Placement Decisions for Handicapped Children: An Initial New Zealand Study

An examination was made of the case records and special educational placement decisions for a sample of 40 children, all of whom had been tested and/or reviewed by school psychologists during the year preceding the study and classified within one of the traditional special educational categories: intellectually handicapped, mentally backward, physically handicapped, hearing handicapped, visually handicapped, and emotionally maladjusted. It was found that very few children receiving special education were being returned to regular classes, and that factors other than the child's ability and/or learning/behavioural characteristics were strongly implicated in special educational decisions for mentally backward (mildly retarded) children, but to a lesser extent in decisions reached for children in other special educational categories. The study highlighted a difficulty likely to arise in a wide range of situations involving parents and children, where research access to case information must be balanced against parents’ rights to privacy and confidentiality of information disclosed in casework. Implications for the present results are considered, together with the need for alternative research strategies in this and related areas of enquiry.     

盲、聋、培智学生群体体育教育公平性的现状调查与对策

“盲、聋、培智学生群体教育”是我国基础教育的一个重要组成部分,是针对身心发展有缺陷或残疾的少年儿童,即智力、听觉、视觉、肢体、语言、情绪等方面发展障碍的儿童少年的特殊教育。特殊教育学校的“体育教育”是指对在听力、视力、语言、智力、肢体等方面有缺陷者,通过身体练习,以增强体格体质、促进身心健康、帮助缺陷康复、培养个体意志品质和生活自理能力,帮助他们融入社会所进行的体育教育活动。     

Evaluating the FRIENDS programme in a Scottish setting

This study used an “indicated prevention” approach to attempt to replicate very positive international evaluations of the FRIENDS for Life programme. Using standardised self‐report measures of anxiety, low mood and self esteem with groups of children from four schools, the study found significant improvements in all of these measures following the 10‐week programme, which were sustained four months later. Positive findings were also obtained from an examination of the programme’s impact on children’s social skills. Implications for improving emotional well‐being and educational outcomes for children in Scottish schools are discussed.     

Educational services for mentally handicapped children in Northern Ireland: A survey of provision

Abstract

Until April 1987 mentally handicapped children were legally excluded from education in Northern Ireland. Provision was made instead in special care schools administered by social services authorities. This contrasts with the position in the rest of the UK where all children have been educated in schools administered by education authorities since the early 1970s. A survey was conducted to investigate aspects of provision in special care schools. Comparative samples of special schools for children with mental handicap in England, and special schools for other categories of children with special needs in Northern Ireland were also surveyed.

Results show that the special care school pupils were disadvantaged often seriously, compared with the other samples. Staffing ratios were inferior in most respects of provision. Other resources were often criticized by head teachers as inadequate. The special care school transport system was also shown to be seriously deficient, causing the length of the school day to be reduced for a very large proportion of pupils. The inadequacies identified impinged particularly on severely and profoundly handicapped pupils, despite earlier Government arguments that the interests of this group could be damaged in a transfer to education.

Nearly one fifth of the special care school population were aged 19 and over, and nearly one third of the profoundly handicapped pupils were 19 or over. In many cases adults and children shared the same facilities.

These results are compared and contrasted with Government documents which claimed parity of provision in special care schools and special schools in England, and which adopted a stated policy of normalization in the development of services for the mentally handicapped.     

Selectivity,admissions and intakes to ‘comprehensive’ schools in London,England

This study focuses on admissions criteria used for ‘comprehensive’ secondary schools in London, UK. It was found that schools whose admissions were controlled by the local authority were more likely to report giving priority to children with medical/social needs and special educational needs than were schools that controlled their own admissions; the latter were more likely to report the use of various potentially ‘creaming’ criteria. There was also more ‘selectivity’ among London comprehensive schools with autonomy over admissions, with higher proportions using potentially selective admissions criteria than in the rest of England. Moreover, it was found that schools with responsibility for their own admissions had lower proportions of pupils with special educational needs and obtained higher scores in public examination ‘league tables’ than schools whose admissions were controlled by the local authority. The findings suggest that some schools, although nominally ‘comprehensive’, appear to restrict access to certain groups of pupils.     

Special education in France

ABSTRACT

The French special education system has been formed around two educational groups, according to the perception of the possibilities of schooling for disabled children and adolescents. One has been organized around learning difficulties, and concerns children and adolescents whose abnormality is produced by the school institution. The other was developed around re‐education, and the re‐education of disabled children refused admission by the schools. The 1970s witnessed the appearance of an indisputable official policy in favour of integration into schools, implemented through diverse and numerous private and public initiatives. This policy and these initiatives are being translated more and more clearly, in many respects, into reality, yet they come up against the prevailing ways of thinking on institutionalization of care and education of children said to be disabled. In particular, the persisting dichotomy between an educational approach which is focused on the management of learning difficulties in schools, and the education of children with disabilities rooted within a medical orientation, stressing ‘re‐education’ (the teaching of social skills to children) or ‘re‐adaptation’ (training of various sorts with the intention of improving employment prospects) continues to exert a strong influence on possible reforms.     

弱智儿童实体名词的语义组织研究

本研究采用定义任务,探讨了弱智儿童对动物类、水果类、工具类实体名词感觉和功能语义特征的组织情况。结果发现,弱智儿童感觉特征表征贫乏,而功能特征表征相对完好。结论:弱化的感觉特征使弱智儿童在动物类和水果类的语义组织上表现出非典型性,表明这一人群更易发生生物范畴损伤,而相对完好的功能特征使弱智儿童工具类名词的语义组织与正常儿童没有差异。     

Explaining social class inequalities in educational achievement in the UK: quantifying the contribution of social class differences in school ‘effectiveness’

There are large social class inequalities in educational achievement in the UK. This paper quantifies the contribution of one mechanism to the production of these inequalities: social class differences in school ‘effectiveness’, where ‘effectiveness’ refers to a school’s impact on pupils’ educational achievement (relative to other schools). It builds on the small number of existing studies, whilst overcoming a number of their limitations. It estimates the effectiveness of the (state) schools attended between ages 7/8 and 10/11 by a cohort of children born in the 1990s in Avon, a former county of England, and then compares the effectiveness of the schools attended by children from different social classes. It finds that ‘higher’ social class children attend more effective schools, on average, and that these social class differences in average school effectiveness between ages 7/8 and 10/11 account for 7% of social class differences in average educational achievement age 10/11. This is not a causal analysis, however.     

The education of the handicapped for life in developing countries

Conclusion The greatest problems for developing countries, both economically and socially, are the wastage of scarce funds on unrecognised handicapped children in normal schools, the support by their relatives of the unproductive blind, deaf, physically handicapped, epileptic, leprous and mentally retarded children, and the present manpower loss through insufficient pre-planning for the vocational training, employment or settlement in co-operative workshops, of disabled young people coming from special schooling.The role of education for the handicapped child in a developing country should be to develop his abilities to the full, by use of a curriculum which is as demanding as possible, taught by staff who give the children realistic expectations to live up to. His educational experiences should be designed to compensate for what he loses as a result of his handicap and also give him the broad coverage afforded to his normal peers. This education must separate him as little as possible from his normal home environment and be followed by his integration in the community as a useful and socially acceptable member.

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Die Sondererziehung In Den Entwicklungsländern

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l'Education Des Handicapes Dans Les Pays En Voie De Developpement

     

培智教育学校办学情况调查与建议

培智教育是我国特殊教育的重要组成部分。通过调查显示,目前我国培智教育学校办学形式多样但规模较小,招生出现多种类型残疾学生同在一所学校的情况。培智教育学校的办学困难既有办学条件方面的也有家庭经济状况的因素。发展培智学校教育有利于教育体制与体系的现代化,因此,应对培智教育学校性质进行界定,进一步完善我国的相关法规和政策;加强对培智教育学校的支持、管理与督导,提高培智教育的规模效益,提高教育管理者依法治教的意识及对培智教育的认识;重视对培智学校义务教育新课程的研究,加强对培智教育本质问题的探讨,以逐步构建培智教育的理论,推动我国特殊教育事业的发展。     

Herding cats or getting heard: The SENCo–teacher dynamic and its impact on teachers' classroom practice

This article is based on two key findings of doctoral research into the impact that Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCos) in England have on teachers' skills when addressing the needs of children with SEN in mainstream primary schools. I use data from questionnaires and interviews with SENCos, teachers and headteachers to argue that key indicators for successful teaching of children with SEN include SENCos skilling teachers in their roles as ‘agents of change’ in relation to SENCos' views of their teaching colleagues, as well as the evolving nature of their own professional identity.     

Experiencing an ‘inclusive’ education: parents and their children with ‘special educational needs’

This paper focuses on the experiences of British parents who have children identified with ‘special education needs’ within mainstream education. Expectations of mainstream education can have a negative affect on parents when a child is unable to maintain his or her education within a mainstream school. In England and Wales, ‘inclusion’ within mainstream schools is implemented by the current government and promoted as anti‐exclusionary. However, current research indicates that actual ‘inclusion’ (the child experiencing inclusion as well as being placed in a mainstream environment) is not necessarily occurring in practice. As it stands, the conflict is between desires to embrace difference based on a philosophy of ‘equal rights’ (‘inclusive’ education) and prioritising educational performance, structuring it in such a way that it leaves little room for difference and creativity due to the highly structured testing and examination culture. Qualitative analysis of parents who have children identified with special educational needs indicate that they have hopes and expectations for their children. These hopes and expectations are challenged recurrently.     

Classroom Organisation and Teaching Approaches at Key Stage One: meeting the needs of children with and without additional educational needs in five inner city schools

This study is based on case studies of five inner city schools and focuses on organisation and teaching approaches used by teachers of Year 2 classes. It also addresses teaching approaches adopted and support for children with ‘additional’ educational needs, operationalised in terms of both special educational needs (not necessarily statemented) and English language needs. Planning was almost universally carried out on a weekly basis, with longer‐term planning also being apparent. Varied responses in relation to teachers’ aims and teaching approaches adopted emerged. These were frequently reported to have changed as a result of the National Curriculum. The majority of teachers reported that they grouped children on the basis of their ability. Children with language needs and with special educational needs were not equally distributed amongst the schools in the study and the support available for these children differed markedly. The findings are discussed in the context of past research and current policy.     

A survey of current pre‐school education of/for children from urban low‐income families in Beijing

This study investigated the pre‐school education of children from low‐income families in six urban districts of Beijing, using questionnaires and in‐depth interviews with respondents from district educational committees, sub‐district and residents’ committees, nursery schools, and low‐income families. The results indicated that (1) the number of nursery schools in Beijing’s urban districts showed a decreasing trend by year and that these schools were not evenly distributed; and (2) nursery school fees for usage were high, especially for low‐income families. These fees acted as a barrier for many of the children from this socio‐economic background, leaving a number of such children with no opportunity to receive pre‐school education. There was no attempt by the local government and/or communities to provide adequate financial and educational support for low‐income families. Recommendations are made with regard to improving the current situation.     

‘If they don't recognize it,you've got to deal with it yourself’: gender,young caring and educational support

This articles discusses some of the findings of a small‐scale, localized, qualitative study involving children and young people identified and processed as young carers, that are providing ‘substantial care’ for an adult while in primary and/or secondary school. It explores their views on managing to ‘care more’ whilst at school and the role that teachers and schools do and could play in supporting them. The voices of young carers suggest that educational support should be available ‘as soon as’ children become primary carers. The interviewees were critical of the factors that they perceived compromised their ‘performance’ at school. Some implications of these findings for implementing strategies for carers in schools are discussed.     

Social justice education with Chinese characteristics: An example from Shanghai

This article analyses a Chinese approach to social justice in education using the example of Shanghai. In addressing schooling inequalities, Shanghai illustrates social justice education with Chinese characteristics, which revolves around the ideal of ‘educational balance’ (jiaoyu junheng). The ‘balance’ in question is about achieving a values-centred and all-round education in and across all schools through the cultivation of a school’s ‘inner quality’ (neihan). This Chinese formulation of social justice education is manifested through two representative policy measures: creating and strengthening ‘new high-quality schools’ and helping weak schools to level up. The Chinese characteristics of these action plans are seen in two ways: a focus on social justice between schools rather than between students; and an emphasis on the moral cultivation of students. It is argued that a Chinese model of social justice education promotes educational equity to some extent through the politics of redistribution, recognition and representation. However, a major critique is its hegemonic and top-down nature, which overlooks alternative and competitive voices—especially those of migrant children—as part of a politics of representation.     

Social literacy and citizenship education in the school curriculum

This article explores citizenship education's need to focus on both ‘political’ and ‘social’ literacy within a communitarian framework. The Crick Report (1998; see also Lahey, Crick and Porter, 1974), while recognizing that the social dimension of citizenship education was a precondition for both the civic and political dimensions, concentrated largely on ‘political’ literacy. This article examines the social dimension of citizenship education. Concern with the social dimension of the curriculum in schools is not a recent interest, but changes within society have accelerated the social demands made upon schools. At the very least, society expects schools to correct the behaviour of children and to teach them values which usually means insisting on ‘good’ behaviour. The social development of pupils has thus assumed a much greater place in the aspirations of schools. Programmes of personal and social education, together with citizenship education, invariably emphasize a range of social skills and these skills are introduced early and built upon throughout the years of schooling. An individual's sense and ability to make socially productive decisions do not develop by themselves; rather, they require knowledge, values and skills. Above all opportunities are required for children to experience social relations in such a way that they are able to operate critically within value-laden discourses and thereby to become informed and ethically empowered, active citizens.     

Evaluating the outcomes of a school based Theraplay® project for looked after children

Research shows that Looked After Children (LAC) may experience emotional instability which can reduce their capacity to engage with education. This study evaluates an attachment based therapeutic Theraplay® intervention designed to bridge the gap between the emotional well-being of LAC and their engagement in education. Twenty LAC between the ages of five to 11 from nine schools participated in the project over eight months. The mixed method study used a repeated measures design. Strengths and difficulties questionnaires were used pre- and post-intervention; semi-structured interviews with teaching staff were conducted and children’s views were gathered. Quantitative results show a reduction in the children’s total strengths and difficulties stress scores post-intervention. Qualitative feedback shows noticeable changes in the children’s relationship skills, confidence and engagement with education. The complexities of supporting LAC in education and implications for educational psychology practice are explored.     

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.