Multi‐sensory storytelling as an aid to assisting people with profound intellectual disabilities to cope with sensitive issues: a multiple research methods analysis of engagement and outcomes

The importance of storytelling in social, cultural and educational contexts is well established and documented. The extension of storytelling to people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) has in recent years been undertaken with an emphasis on the value of sensory experience and the context storytelling provides for social interaction. The present study builds on earlier curriculum orientated research with a view to describe patterns of social and story‐oriented interaction during storytelling. The stories dealt with sensitive topics raised by family carers who wished the young person with PIMD to understand. Behavioural observation during storytelling sessions explored changes in engagement while semi‐structured interviews with parents and professionals explored the extent to which the experience had benefitted the young person with respect to the sensitive topic. Positive changes in engagement with the story were shown for seven of the eight participants. For six of the seven, a parent and a professional agreed that the outcome of the experience positively enabled the participant to cope better with the sensitive topic. The specific multi‐sensory storytelling factors leading to these outcomes are discussed, as is the issue of proxy reporting and determining the nature of understanding in people with PIMD.     

The case of ‘payment-by-results’: re-examining the effects of an incentive programme in nineteenth-century English schools

Performance-based management is a recurring and controversial strategy for education reform. This paper examines a nineteenth-century English experiment in paying schools by results and uses concepts from personnel and behavioural economics to understand its decline. Like many recent education reforms, payment-by-results sought to bring schools and teachers under the ‘laws of supply and demand’. The unintended outcomes of the policy, which ultimately led to its end, included narrowing of the curriculum, cheating and manipulation by schoolteachers and managers, and increased risk and uncertainty in the teaching profession. The paper begins by exploring the role of economics principles in the drafting of the policy. It continues to explore how the programme unravelled, with special attention to issues of perverse incentives, teacher motivation, risk, and uncertainty. Building on recent studies of analogous modern experiments in performance-based management, this paper finds important parallels to current policy concerns. The lessons learned address the fundamental relationship between incentives and teacher motivation and the role of economic theory in education policy.     

Coping styles and emotional and behavioural problems among Norwegian grade 9 students

The main purpose of this study was to explore the relations between coping styles and emotional and behavioural problems among adolescent students. The study was conducted as a survey among a representative sample of 2006 Norwegian 9th graders. The results show that emotional problems are associated with self-blaming as well as aggressive coping. Off-task orientation was associated with little use of planning and frequent use of aggressive coping. Finally, aggressive coping was the main predictor of externalizing problems, with infrequent use of planning and frequent use of behavioural disengagement as other significant predictors.     

Teacher stress and pupil behaviour explored through a rational-emotive behaviour therapy framework

Using the psychological framework of rational-emotive behaviour therapy, the principal aim of this study was to establish whether irrational beliefs, self-efficacy or pupil behaviour predicted teacher reports of stress. A secondary aim was to establish whether these variables, in addition to teachers’ verbal feedback to pupils in class, predicted on-task pupil behaviour. Participants consisted of 58 teachers from five secondary schools, who completed three self-report questionnaires examining teacher stress, self-efficacy and irrational beliefs. In addition, both teachers and pupils were systematically observed in class using a structured schedule. The results indicated that high self-reported irrational beliefs and low self-efficacy predicted high levels of teacher stress. In addition, high self-efficacy and low levels of negative comments directed at pupils’ social behaviour and academic work in the classroom predicted high levels of on-task pupil behaviour. The implications for supporting teachers in these areas are discussed.     

Educational transition outcomes of children and adolescents with clinically relevant emotional or behavioural disorders: results of a systematic review

Educational transitions are associated with significant changes. If students cannot overcome these challenges, their well‐being and motivation may be impaired. Students with clinically relevant emotional or behavioural disorders (EBDs) are at risk for negative transitional experiences. We conducted a systematic review summarising transitional outcomes of students with EBDs. After an electronic search in eight scientific databases, 4,930 publications were screened against six inclusion criteria. Two coders assessed the eligibility of 181 full‐texts. We included k = 22 studies published in English or German (1988–2017). Students with autism (k = 15) and transitions out of school (k = 13) were examined most frequently. Well‐being, achievements, social participation, support and expectations were observed. Poor well‐being and social difficulties were prevalent, but often adjusted over time. The results are limited by the inclusion criteria and search procedures. Nevertheless, the review closes a research gap and has implications for the implementation of interventions and a supportive transition environment for students with clinically relevant EBDs. Further research on individual changes and supportive approaches during transitions is needed.     

'I just sit there': shyness as an emotional and behavioural problem in school

Shyness is not unlike many psychological constructs in that it connotes a rich cluster of behaviours, cognitions, feelings and bodily reactions. But when adolescents' shyness creates keen sensitivity to cues of being rejected, preventing them from speaking up for their rights and expressing their own opinions, thereby encouraging self-consciousness and excessive preoccupation with their emotions, it becomes a problem for both these adolescents and their surroundings. This paper presents 10 adolescents' experiences of being shy in a school context to such a degree that it is regarded as being a behavioural and emotional problem. In light of elements from an existential-phenomenological understanding, challenges and remedial measures for these adolescents as well as their peers and teachers are discussed. Finally, focus will be placed on how teachers can promote good relationships and working environments and in this manner prevent shyness from becoming a behavioural and emotional problem in school.     

Using a sensory approach with children who challenge

In this article Denise Chilvers and Angela Cole describe a school‐based study which is located very much in an action‐research idiom. Starting from a questioning, but collegial, stance on identifying positive interventions for children who challenge, the authors illustrate how theory and reflection on practice can lead to significant innovations in pedagogy and curriculum. They provide a thought‐provoking account of how a multi‐sensory approach in one setting has had a notable impact on pupils' social behaviour.     

Challenges and management frameworks of residential schools for students with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties in Hong Kong

This study by Stella Suk‐Ching Chong, an assistant professor, and Ka‐wai Leung, a teaching fellow, both at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, focuses on the perspectives of hostel staff from six residential schools for students with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties. Individual or focus group interviews were conducted to explore the range of challenges perceived by staff and the strategies they employed to address the needs of the students. The software N‐Vivo was used to analyse both qualitative and quantitative data. This study finds that staff met a multiplicity of challenges, of which 67.9% were management‐related rather than student‐related (32.1%). In relation to effective strategies for staff, co‐ordinated and concerted efforts are frequently used between different stakeholders, such as intra‐hostel‐staff‐student collaboration (84%), inter‐hostel‐community collaboration (8.6%), inter‐hostel‐home collaboration (5.1%), and finally inter‐hostel‐school collaboration (2.2). In summing up the findings of various approaches deemed favourable by different residential staff, a residential school management framework is conceptualised and presented in this article. Implications and future research directions are also highlighted.     

Supporting the transition from Primary to Secondary school for pupils with social,emotional and behavioural needs: a focus on the socio-emotional aspects of transfer for an adolescent boy

Transitions represent an important milestone for children and are experienced differentially. For some children, transitions represent a critical period that can have a long-term impact on their lives. This paper examines the socio-emotional aspects of the transition through an exploration of the findings derived from an evaluative case study of a group-work intervention to support children with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Needs across the Primary-Secondary transition, seen through the eyes of an adolescent boy and related stakeholders. The study took place in two local authorities in Scotland. The intervention is informed by the ‘Teaching for Understanding Framework’ (Project Zero, Harvard University) and ‘Multiple Intelligence Theory.’ The study examines the impact of the intervention on participating pupils, in the process exploring the variables that impacted on pupil progress both internal and external to the intervention. The findings highlight the importance of: building trustful and respectful relationships between adults and children; creating a safe environment in which children will be listened to and cared for; high quality pedagogy and continuity and progression across the transition; and understanding the complexity of factors which may impact on the transition for individual children, particularly for those who may be at greater risk across it.