Preparing German pre-service teachers in special needs education for school development—Can we do otherwise?

Although school development can be viewed as an emerging responsibility of teachers, special needs education in Germany does not leave sufficient room for non-teaching tasks, leading to a knowledge gap in the professionalisation of pre-service teachers with regard to school development upon entering the profession. This study focused on the preparedness of pre-service teachers in school development as a professional task at the end of their initial teacher training. The respondents of the interview study are 12 pre-service teachers enrolled at master level in special educational needs at a German university. The findings of the study report on the marginal situatedness of school development in the curriculum, the associated understanding of pre-service teachers of school development and their low assessment of the relevance of school development within special needs education. The study closes with practical recommendations on how to tackle the low level of preparedness for school development tasks in German teacher education.     

Putting back the ‘E’ in ‘EBD’

This paper argues that recent developments in the curriculum and in administrative structures for pupils with special educational needs have fended to marginalise the term ‘emotional’ or to combine it loosely with ‘behavioural’. It looks at the influence of forty years of behavioural psychology on the UK Code of Practice for children with SEN and related government circulars and suggests an alternative model for conceptualising emotional difficulties. This is not only current with mainstream psychology but can be fraced back to pre-Christian thinking. If the term ‘emotional’ is to be used in statements and IEPs in the future, the paper suggests, then appropriate ways of defining, assessing and providing for these will have to be found.     

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.     

宣武区普通学校有特殊教育需要学生有效参与策略实证研究阶段报告

本文通过课题的整体规划和整体推进,研究了普通学校在管理、教学、教育支持上的策略。提高了随班就读和满足特殊需要学生(称SEN学生)学习质量,同时发挥特教中心对全区特殊教育的指导功能。     

I can't imagine doing anything else': why do teachers of children with SEN remain in the profession? Resilience,rewards and realism over time

There has been a substantial amount of research on why teachers leave the profession but little on why they stay. The paper will follow Day et al.'s work (2007) in examining the factors that determine which teachers will maintain resilience and stay in the profession, focusing particularly on those who worked as special educational needs co‐ordinators (SENCOs), analysing the careers of 19 teachers who had been in the profession for more than 15 years. Data were gathered by focus groups and life history interviews taking a qualitative, narrative enquiry approach. This research found that some situated factors in schools were found to contribute positively and/or negatively to teachers' efficacy, commitment and perceived effectiveness. Personal influences were also significant and included having children, salary requirements and flexible working patterns. An important factor, and unique to this research, was a commitment to working with children with SEN, and all respondents wanted to continue doing this in some capacity in the future. The paper concludes with the implications for policy and practice and considers possible strategies for maintaining teachers' resilience across their careers.     

‘I didn’t stand a chance’: how parents experience the exclusions appeal tribunal

In September 2012, the process changed in England for how parents (and carers) can appeal against their child’s exclusion from school. This paper is one of the first accounts of how parents experience the new system. Using data from a research study with a range of stakeholders in the appeals process, this paper focuses on the accounts of the 21 parents interviewed. Thematic analysis was utilised to identify the factors that motivate parents to make an appeal, the barriers and enablers to doing so, and the physical, emotional, and financial costs that result from engagement with the process. The findings reveal that the costs are extremely heavy for parents with very limited rewards. The process is experienced as inequitable with a bias towards schools and many of these parents call for the provision of experienced legal support to make it a more balanced system. In spite of the challenges involved the need to call schools to account remains a strong motivation to appeal but this was not the preferred option for parents. Instead they call for schools to develop more inclusive and enabling environments that rely more on understanding the needs of pupils and their families than on exclusion from school.     

Radical conservatism in Herbert Spencer's educational thought

Abstract

The paper examines variations in the extent of special education needs (SEN) in different socio-economic contexts, drawing on data from 46 English primary schools. It examines the implications of variations in SEN for individual pupils and for school organisation and processes. It reviews funding allocations for SEN and what they mean for the provision of support in different settings.     

Illusionary inclusion – what went wrong with New Labour's landmark educational policy?

This article examines the emergence and evolution of New Labour's landmark educational policy; namely that of inclusion. The author, Alan Hodkinson, associate professor at the Centre for Cultural and Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University, illuminates his conceptual difficulties in attempting to define what inclusion was and what inclusive education became during the latter part of the twentieth century and first decade of the twenty‐first century. Throughout this article he endeavours to observe and define inclusive education in England through the employment of critical analysis of teacher discourse and examination of the vocabulary of inclusion. The article's contextual precept is that, rather than creating a brave new world for equality and social justice, inclusive education here was rendered illusionary by the actors who colonised and striated inclusion's space upon a stage of competing policy initiatives and practicalities of educational settings.     

‘.he was excluded for the kind of behaviour that we thought he needed support with…’ A qualitative analysis of the experiences and perspectives of parents whose children have been excluded from school

Exclusion from school is associated with adverse outcomes for young people. There is limited research that explores parents’ perspectives, particularly in relation to the exclusion of primary school aged children. The present study used semi-structured interviews with 35 parents of 37 children aged 5–12 years from the Southwest of England. Parents experiences were captured in a conceptual model through three main themes. Exclusion was described as part of a complex journey of difficulties reflected by a continuum of coping. The child’s place on the continuum was determined by an interaction between the child, family, and school with communication a key determinant. The study also highlighted the wider implications of exclusion, including emotional and functional impacts on the child and parent and highlighted the importance of the parents voice in the identification and support of their child’s needs. It also presents many complexities surrounding exclusion from school and limited support parents felt their child was offered.     

Teachers’ perceptions of students’ additional support needs: in the eye of the beholder?

Nowadays, teachers are regarded as key players in the process of identifying and catering to students’ additional support needs within mainstream primary classrooms. However, teachers’ professional judgements regarding students with special needs have been found to be contextually influenced (e.g. by school context, student population, level of achievement). It is unclear whether teachers’ perceptions of their students’ actual support needs are also influenced by their personal and professional characteristics. Hence, a better understanding of the value of teachers’ perceptions regarding students’ needs is needed. Therefore, this study explored perceptions of 109 Dutch mainstream primary teachers regarding four dimensions of students’ additional support. It addressed whether these teacher-perceived students’ needs are affected by teachers’ years of experience, level of training, personality traits and self-efficacy beliefs. It was found that teachers’ perceptions of students’ needs were relatively unbiased by their personal and professional characteristics.