Predicting a high rate of self-assessed and parent-assessed peer problems--Is it typical for students with disabilities?

Subjective well-being and social inclusion at school for students with a disability, according to their parents, in France

BACKGROUND

Providing inclusive, quality education for all children is one of the United Nations' sustainable development goals for 2030.

AIMS

The aim of this study, carried out in France among 491 parents of children with a disability aged 3 to 18 and enrolled in ordinary schools, is to measure the well-being and social inclusion of children and to identify the factors that promote well-being and social inclusion at school.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

The parents fill in various questionnaires relating to the well-being and social inclusion of their child, the quality of their relationship with the teacher and their satisfaction with the accommodations offered at school. They also provide information about their child and their socio-economic situation.

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

Regression analyses show that well-being and social inclusion depend on the nature of the child's disability and decrease with age but do not significantly depend on child's gender and academic level or social background. Furthermore, well-being and social inclusion can be significantly improved when the quality of the parent-teacher relationship and school accommodations are satisfying.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The results of this study encourage the development of quality parent-teacher relationships to promote well-being at school.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health: Psychosocial Conditions of Students with and without Special Educational Needs

Given the pandemic-induced school lockdown in Germany in the spring of 2020, COVID-19 evidently had a negative impact on child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing. However, there is no evidence regarding the specific problems of students with special educational needs in emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) during or after the school lockdown. Thus, this study bridges the gap. A sample of 173 students across Germany was included in the analysis. The students were rated by their teachers in an online survey via a standardized teacher-report form for emotional and behavioral problems and competencies, as well as perceptions of inclusion. Several student- and teacher-level predictors were applied in a stepwise regression analysis. The results showed that the school lockdown marginally impacted E/BD, with small differences between student groups. The strongest predicting variable was students’ psychosocial situation. Hence, the psychosocial situation of students should be monitored by teachers and school psychologists to provide sufficient support during lockdown.

Prediction of child and adolescent outcomes with broadband and narrowband dimensions of internalizing and externalizing behavior using the child and adolescent version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a frequently used screening instrument for behavioral problems in children and adolescents. There is an ongoing controversy—not only in educational research—regarding the factor structure of the SDQ. Research results speak for a 3-factor as well as a 5-factor structure. The narrowband scales (5-factor structure) can be combined into broadband scales (3-factor structure). The question remains: Which factors (narrowband vs. broadband) are better predictors? With the prediction of child and adolescent outcomes (academic grades, well-being, and self-belief), we evaluated whether the broadband scales of internalizing and externalizing behavior (3-factor structure) or narrowband scales of behavior (5-factor structure) are better suited for predictive purposes in a cross-sectional study setting. The sample includes students in grades 5 to 9 (N = 4642) from the representative German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS study). The results of model comparisons (broadband scale vs. narrowband scales) did not support the superiority of the broadband scales with regard to the prediction of child and adolescent outcomes. There is no benefit from subsuming narrowband scales (5-factor structure) into broadband scales (3-factor structure). The application of narrowband scales, providing a more differentiated picture of students’ academic and social situation, was more appropriate for predictive purposes. For the purpose of identifying students at risk of struggling in educational contexts, using the set of narrowband dimensions of behavior seems to be more suitable.

Agreement among student, parent and teacher ratings of school inclusion: A multitrait-multimethod analysis

One of the central objectives of inclusive education, and education in general, is not only to support every students' academic learning, but also their social and emotional development. It therefore is important to identify difficulties in a child's socio-emotional development at school. The current study investigates students' emotional inclusion and social inclusion, as well as students' academic self-concept from four different perspectives using the Perceptions of Inclusion Questionnaire (PIQ). In particular, we analyzed the degree of agreement between teacher, mother, and father ratings with students' self-reports. Moreover, we tested if students' gender and special educational needs (SEN) are predictors for possible bias in parent and teacher reports. Survey participants included 721 Austrian, Grade 4 students from 48 classes. In addition, data from 46 teachers, 466 mother reports, and 375 father reports were included. We assessed the consistency (i.e., agreement) between the different raters by means of multitrait-multimethod analyses, or more precisely, a correlated trait-correlated method minus one (CT-C[M-1]) model. Results of the CT-C(M-1) analyses indicated a rather strong rater bias (i.e., method effects) for all three dimensions of inclusion. However, the consistency for academic self-concept was higher than for emotional and social inclusion. Furthermore, gender and SEN status affected rater bias, particularly for teacher reports. Results suggested that it matters who reports students' emotional inclusion, social inclusion, and academic self-concept, which has methodological and practical implications.

Erfassung von sozialer Partizipation – Übereinstimmung zwischen Selbst- und Fremdsicht von Schülern mitundohne sonderpädagogischen Förderbedarf

Zusammenfassung. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Studie wurde untersucht, ob Schüler mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf (SPF) im Vergleich zu Schülern ohne SPF weniger Interaktionen und Freundschaften mit ihren Peers haben. Zudem stand die Übereinstimmung zwischen der Selbst- und Fremdeinschätzung der sozialen Partizipation im Fokus. Als Untersuchungsgrundlage wurden die Daten von 616 Schülern der 4. und 7. Schulstufe analysiert, darunter auch jene von 129 Schülern mit SPF. Die Interaktionen wurden, im Hinblick auf die Häufigkeit von Pausenkontakten mit allen Peers, anhand eines soziometrischen Ratings operationalisiert. Für die Operationalisierung der Freundschaft wurden soziometrische Nennungen ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse zeigten erwartungsgemäß, dass Schüler mit SPF in beiden Bereichen der sozialen Partizipation geringere Werte erzielten. Dies gilt sowohl für die Selbst- als auch für die Peerratings der Interaktionen und die Anzahl der Freundschaften. Darüber hinaus war die Übereinstimmung zwischen Selbst- und Fremdeinschätzung zur sozialen Partizipation bei Schülern mit SPF geringer als bei den Peers ohne SPF.

Schulisches Wohlbefinden von SchülerInnen mit und ohne sonderpädagogischen Förderbedarf

Fragestellung: Die vorliegende Studie untersucht das schulische Wohlbefinden von SchülerInnen mit und ohne sonderpädagogischen Förderbedarf (SPF) in Integrationsklassen im Vergleich zu SchülerInnen aus Regelklassen, in welchen keine Kinder mit SPF unterrichtet werden. Zudem werden Zusammenhänge zwischen dem schulischen Wohlbefinden und emotionalen Problemen, Verhaltensauffälligkeiten, Hyperaktivität, Problemen mit Gleichaltrigen und prosozialem Verhalten analysiert. Methodik: Insgesamt 1.115 SchülerInnen (37 % SchülerInnen der 4. Schulstufe, 63 % SchülerInnen der 7. Schulstufe) nahmen an der Befragung teil, davon hatten 126 SchülerInnen einen SPF. Als Erhebungsinstrumente wurde die Skala «Wohlbefinden in der Schule» aus dem FEESS 3–4 ( Rauer & Schuck, 2004 ) sowie das SDQ ( Goodman, 1997 ) verwendet. Ergebnisse: Die Ergebnisse weisen hohe Reliabilitäten für die Skala «Wohlbefinden in der Schule» bei SchülerInnen mit und ohne SPF in beiden Schulstufen (4. vs. 7. Schulstufe) auf. Darüber hinaus wurde gezeigt, dass die Varianzaufklärung für das schulische Wohlbefinden sowohl Anteile auf der Ebene der individuellen SchülerInnen als auch Anteile auf der klassenspezifischen Ebene aufweist. Signifikante Prädiktoren des schulischen Wohlbefindens waren das Geschlecht, Verhaltensschwächen und -stärken sowie die Schulstufe. Der SPF-Status (kein SPF vs. SPF) sowie das Klassensetting (Regel- vs. Integrationsklasse) beeinflussten das schulische Wohlbefinden jedoch nicht signifikant.