Assessing wellbeing at school entry using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: professional perspectives

Emotional and behavioural disorders in early childhood are related to poorer academic attainment and school engagement, and difficulties already evident at the point of starting school can affect a child’s later social and academic development. Successful transfer from pre-school settings to primary education is helped by communication between pre-school staff and primary school teachers. Typically, in Scotland, pre-school establishments prepare individual profiles of children before they start school around the age of five years, highlighting their strengths and development needs, for transfer to primary schools. There is, however, no consistent approach to the identification of potential social, emotional and behavioural problems. In 2010, in one local authority area in Scotland, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was introduced for children about to start school as a routine, structured, component of the transition process to help teachers plan support arrangements for classes and individual children. The SDQ assesses emotional, conduct, hyperactivity/ inattention and peer-relationship problems as well as pro-social behaviour. In order to be an effective means of communicating social and emotional functioning, the use of instruments such as the SDQ needs to be practicable. Finding out the views of pre-school education staff with experience of assessing children using the SDQ was, therefore, essential to establish its future utility.

Aim

The purpose of this study was to explore the views of pre-school education staff about assessing social and emotional wellbeing of children at school entry using the SDQ. The objectives were to examine the opinions of pre-school workers about completing the SDQ and to elicit their thoughts on the value of doing this and their perceptions of the usefulness of the information collected.

Method

Pre-school establishments were approached using a purposive sampling strategy in order to achieve a mix of local authority (n=14) and ‘partnership’ establishments (n=8) as well as different socio-economic areas. Semi-structured interviews (n=25) were conducted with pre-school head teachers (n=14) and child development officers (n=11) in order to explore the process of completing the SDQ along with perceptions of its value. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically.

Results

In general, staff in pre-school establishments viewed the use of the SDQ positively. It was seen as a chance to highlight the social and emotional development of children rather than just their academic or educational ability. Most felt that the SDQ had not identified anything they did not already know about a child. A minority, nevertheless, suggested that a previously unrecognised potential difficulty was brought to light, most commonly emotional problems. Completing the SDQ was felt to be relatively straightforward even though the staff felt under pressure from competing priorities. Concerns were, however, raised about the potential of labelling a child at an early stage of formal education.

Conclusion

The findings from this small scale study suggest that, from the point of view of pre-school education staff, it is feasible to assess children systematically for social and behavioural problems as part of the routine transition process at school entry.     

An investigation of the construct validity of the personality trait of self-directed learning

Based on samples of 398 middle school students, 568 high school students, and 1159 college students, self-directed learning was found to be related to cumulative grade-point-average at all levels as well as to Big Five personality traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Extraversion), narrow personality traits (Optimism, Career-Decidedness, Work Drive, and Self-Actualization), vocational interests (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, and Conventional, as well as Science, Medicine, and Mathematics), cognitive aptitudes, and life as well as college satisfaction. Based on an additional sample of 4125 college students, a confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify a single factor structure for our 10-item measure of self-directed learning. Results were discussed in terms of personality characteristics of self-directed learners, the trans-situational validity of self-directed learning in academic settings, multiple forms of evidence of the construct validity of self-directed learning, and implications for future research and practice.     

Do chronic conditions increase young children's risk of being maltreated?

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether and to what extent specific chronic health conditions place young children at risk of maltreatment. METHODS: The study used a sample of Illinois children (born between January 1990 and March 1996) who were through age 3 continuously enrolled in Medicaid, a public health insurance program for low-income families. The study used "paid claims" data and ICD-9-CM health codes to identify children with one or more of three chronic conditions: chronic physical illness, developmental delay/mental retardation (dd/mr), and behavior/mental health conditions (b/mh). The analysis used Cox proportional hazard models to estimate the risk of substantiated child maltreatment that each of these health conditions confer on children under age 6. RESULTS: Among children under age 6, 24.1% had chronic physical health conditions, 6.1% had b/mh conditions, and 4.2% had dd/mr. Among the children, 11.7% were maltreated (abused or neglected). Children with b/mh conditions were 1.95 times more likely than children without such conditions to be victims of child abuse or neglect. Children with chronic physical health conditions were 1.1 time more likely to be maltreated (p相似文献   

The Use of Lego Technologies in Elementary Teacher Preparation

The need to reform science teacher preparation programs has been pointed out in research (Bryan and Abell in J Res Sci Teach 36:121–140, 1999; Bryan and Atwater in Sci Educ 8(6):821–839, 2002; Harrington and Hathaway in J Teach Educ 46(4):275–284, 1995). Science teachers are charged with the responsibility of incorporating both cognitive and non-cognitive parameters in their everyday teaching practices. This often results in their reluctance to teach science because they often lack disciplinary and/or pedagogical expertise required to promote science learning. The purpose of this study is to propose an alternative instructional approach in which Lego vehicles were used as a tool to promote pre-service elementary teachers’ development and to examine whether there are non-cognitive parameters that promote or obstruct them from using Lego Technologies as a teaching tool. The context of the study was defined by a teacher preparation program of a private university in a small Mediterranean country. A sample of 28 pre-service elementary teachers, working in five 5–6-member groups were involved in scientific inquiries, during which they had to use vehicles in order to solve scientific problems related to concepts such as gear functioning, force, and motion. The nature of their cognitive engagement in the scientific inquiry process, non-cognitive parameters contributing to their cognitive engagement, and the impact of their involvement in the process on their development were examined through qualitative analysis of pre- and post-inquiry interviews, presentations of their solutions to the scientific problems and of their personal reflective journals.     

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST DIAGNOSTIC DECISION‐MAKING: A PILOT STUDY

The current study examined the diagnostic decision‐making of school psychologists as a function of a student's disability and academic performance with three research questions using a randomly‐selected sample of school psychologists from the state of Texas. Results from the first research question indicated that school psychologists significantly differentiated between what diagnoses were considered most correct according to the DSM‐IV and what diagnoses would be in a child's best interest at school. Results from the second research question indicated that this differentiation in diagnostic decision‐making was present as significantly associated with academic performance. Results from the third and final research question indicated that school psychologists differed in their diagnostic decision‐making according to their perceptions about the particular disability.     

Assessing contributions to group assignments

We report the use of a combination of self‐ and peer‐assessment in an undergraduate social psychology laboratory course. Students worked in small groups on a self‐directed empirical project that they each wrote up independently as a laboratory report. Marks for the written assignment were moderated by a contribution index measure based on the self‐ and peer‐assessment measures. Our analyses indicated that: (i) students took the peer‐assessment process seriously, clearly differentiating between group members on the contributions questionnaires; (ii) students show a self‐bias, rating their own contribution to the group task higher than that of other group members; (iii) for a large majority of students the contribution index resulted in very little moderation of the final assignment marks; (iv) there was a strong correlation between the contribution index and the overall assignment score. Implications for the assessment of group work are considered.     

Evaluating the impact of Forest Schools: a collaboration between a university and a primary school

The Forest School movement, an important part of education in Scandinavia, has gained momentum in the UK in recent years. Within the context of declining access to, and engagement with, the natural environment Forest Schools can provide invaluable life experiences for our children. In 2012 the University of Northampton investigated opportunities to develop part of its campus as a forest site for use by schools and to enhance its students' learning. A researcher from the university evaluated the impact of visits made by children from the pilot primary school through a series of pupil, staff and parent interviews. Analysis of the interview data showed that evidence of impact was anecdotal and it was clear that a systematic approach was needed. The university and school have collaborated in developing a toolkit for evaluating this impact, which will act as a starting point to support other schools visiting the site.