Attitudes and experiences of parents regarding inclusive and special school education for children with learning and intellectual disabilities

In a survey, 840 parents of children with cognitive deficits who were educated either in special schools or in inclusive classes were asked to assess their children's school experiences. The results showed an overall high degree of satisfaction with the schooling, but there were marked differences among the parents' assessments depending on the degree of learning disabilities and on the type of school. Satisfaction with their children's social experiences and satisfaction with the special education curriculum depend on these two factors. All in all, many parents of children in inclusive classes were satisfied with their children's schooling than those of children in special schools. The analysis of the causes for discontent showed that dissatisfied parents had chosen the type of school under less favourable conditions and a larger part of them are still not convinced of this necessity of additional help. This applied to parents of pupils in inclusive classes as well as to those of pupils in special schools. Furthermore, parents of children with German as a second language showed a higher degree of discontent than others.     

The pedagogic signature of special needs education

The goal of the following study is to identify a pedagogic signature, according to LS Shulman, for working with students who have special educational needs. Special educational needs are defined as significant limitations in personal development and learning which require particular educational measures beyond regular education. The development of a pedagogic signature should create an identity and provide guidance, particularly for teachers who are working in the context of inclusive schools with no prior knowledge or training in this regard. The study is carried out against the background of the structural uncertainty of the teaching profession and takes into consideration existing normative, theoretical and empirical approaches in education. Existing research regarding demands is largely theoretical, while empirical research is rudimentary. The present study used a multi-method approach to identify demands for working with students with special educational needs. Experts in the areas of learning disabilities and emotional/behavioural disorders completed an instrument from the field of industrial and organisational psychology, quantifying and weighting professional demands on teachers according to their importance. The results were added and validated through group discussions, creating a demand profile. By combining the results with the dimensions of a signature pedagogy, according to Shulman, it is apparent that surface structure and deep structure play a minor role in the perceptions of special needs teachers. The central importance of the implicit structure is characteristic of the pedagogic signature. This importance is represented by the target group’s emphasis on demands such as having an appreciative leadership or authenticity. An even greater emphasis is placed on the aspect of attitude – this is having a humanistic ethos. The demand profile and the resulting consequences for the practice of teaching will be considered with a view towards current problems and questions in research and practice, and particularly with regard to inclusion.     

Parent stress and satisfaction with early intervention services for children with disabilities – a longitudinal study from Germany

This study assessed parent–child and family-related stress at two points of time and analysed relationships between stress, child and family characteristics and parent satisfaction with early intervention services. In Germany, 125 parents of young children with intellectual disabilities, hearing impairment or visual impairment responded to a questionnaire. Eighty-seven parents agreed to participate in the second survey. Results indicated that (a) perceived parenting competence is associated with general self-efficacy and satisfaction with professional support, (b) parent–child interactional stress increased with time, specifically in families with children with intellectual disability or visual impairment, (c) the level of satisfaction with amount and quality of family support was low in a considerable subgroup of parents, (d) regression analyses support predictive relationships among parent–child stress, family-related stress, perceived parenting competence and satisfaction with early intervention services.     

Das MeDoc-System – ein elektronischer Publikations- und Nachweisdienst für die Informatik

Zusammenfassung.   Ziele des MeDoc-Projektes waren die Konzeption, prototypische Entwicklung und Erprobung volltextbasierter Informations- und Publikationsdienste für die Informatik, um den Informationsaustausch und die Literaturversorgung in der Wissenschaft effektiver gestalten zu k?nnen. Dazu wurde im Rahmen des Projektes ein internet-basiertes System entwickelt, in dem Informatik & Fachinformation im Volltext gespeichert, recherchiert, abgerufen und gelesen werden kann und das die Suche nach Informatik-Literatur in heterogenen, verteilten Informationsquellen im Internet unterstützt. Das Informationsangebot ist dabei teilweise kostenpflichtig. In diesem Artikel werden Ziele, Funktionalit?t und Architektur des MeDoc-Systems beschrieben. Eingegangen am 19. Januar 1998 / Angenommen am 27. April 1998     

The interplay between academic emotions,psychological flexibility and self-regulation as predictors of academic achievement

Research concerning students’ emotions as well as their way of coping with their emotions in different situations has been scarce. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between self-regulated learning, academic emotions, psychological flexibility, study success and study pace during university-level studies. A total of 274 arts students participated in this study. Academic emotions were first explored with factor analyses, parallel analysis and confirmatory factor analyses. The relationship between self-regulated learning, psychological flexibility, academic emotions and study success and study pace was analysed using Pearson’s correlations and path analysis using Amos. The results revealed that there is a strong connection between self-regulated learning and academic emotions and that students’ self-regulations appear to affect students’ emotions with regard to their academic study. Furthermore, psychological flexibility appeared to be an important mediator between academic emotions and study pace. The study suggests that students’ emotions and their way of coping with these emotions should be taken into account when considering learning and teaching.