Search results

The term “socially disadvantaged pupils” defines those children from family environments that have low social and economic standards and are potentially endangered by socially pathological phenomena. Romani children make up the largest such group in the Czech Republic. Whereas in the 1991 census 33,489 Romani declared their Romani nationality, only 11,746 did so in the 2001 census, representing only approximately 0.3% of the total population. In fact the actual numbers are higher, as many hesitate to declare their Romani nationality for various reasons. NGOs estimate there are about 275,000 Romani, which represents approximately 2.7% of the total population. Czech law forbids public administration institutions (which include schools) to maintain evidence of national minorities, or to obtain, administer or make use of personal data that is somehow related to national minority inclusion. The authors attempted to analyze the circumstances of Romani pupils both in schools and families. The data was gained through all involved parties: Romani assistants, as well as teachers and students tutoring Romani families during the course of the Home Tutor project. This approach allowed us to view the problems of Romani pupil education in its natural background. The analysis is presented in the form of open coding; it describes key categories that were identified, using longer text analysis

While extreme forms of behaviour such as the use of guns within a school setting are rare events, they have profound impacts on school communities, their staff, parents and students. This chapter sets out to place such incidents in perspective and explores these issues within an American context. Various check lists are examined with a view to providing insights into the characteristics of young people driven to such violent acts and to providing some points of reflection which could lead to prevention of them. These reflections should be based upon an understanding that these young people are a product of school systems which need to change to ensure that they mitigate the effects of poor social experiences.

This chapter examines a training programme for facilitators of the ‘A Quiet Place’ project in three residential homes offering space for between 8 and 10 children up to the age of 18. It reviews the impact of a 12-month training programme which involves action learning in the trainees' own personal development, creativity and job satisfaction. It examines the hypothesis of whether the calibre of the person working with young people with a variety of ‘labels’ is a key variable in the successful impact of any intervention. The approach outlined interventions combine the latest in modern brain research with more traditional approaches. A key component of the programme is the training of staff to be able to deliver the programmes for themselves. The trainees reported, quite soon into their programmes, that they notice personal growth; this was not originally an outcome of the training as such. As they noticed a change in themselves, they also noticed change in the children and young people with whom they worked. Changes in the cultures of the homes brought more benefits as one change built upon the next. The case histories trace the journey of three facilitators, the ups and downs, finally ‘getting it’ and achieving their goal with all the wonderful surprises and skills that they developed and learnt to use as part of their own lives outside work.

This chapter presents a pedagogical tool for investigating at-risk children's attitudes towards the quality of school life. It has been developed from the questionnaire originally by Williams and Batten (1981), Binkley, Rust, and Williams (1996) and Dinkes, Forrest, and Lin-Kelly (2007).

Little has been published in relation to girls and SEBD. This chapter examines outcomes from a project between university academic staff and a specialist provision for girls excluded because of behaviour difficulties. Particular focus is upon the development of identity via engagement with creative projects involving prose, poetry and the visual arts. The chapter provides vivid illustrations of the potential of girls labelled with SEBD to be so much more than that. Furthermore, it illustrates how schools can creatively form themselves to be a good fit for their students. As adults working with young people, it is as well to remember that we need to create opportunities within learning communities to review identities in transition and to capture the dynamic sense of self. The authors concur with Carrington (2007) that developing the opportunities and skills ‘with which to participate and transform one's life path’ is central to social inclusion. This applies to all young people particularly those caught up in specialist BESD/SEBD provision.

The results of a pilot project between the Discipline of Occupational Therapy, Trinity College, Dublin, and the National Behaviour Support Service (NBSS) demonstrate that collaboration between professionals, students and parents can enable those of social disadvantage with significant behavioural problems participate better in school. This chapter describes the development of this service for students in two disadvantaged second-level schools, the processes of identifying need, interventions delivered and the collaborative workings of the partnership. The broad view of the Person–Environment–Occupation (Law et al., 1996) and a client-centred approach (Law & Mills, 1998) guided the intervention. An understanding of the social and situational influences in the school and classroom as experienced by each student was sought, as was the impact of possible sensory processing and attention difficulties on satisfactory participation in school. Students were perceived as having individual social and self-management learning needs and each class group and school was acknowledged as a unique culture. Engagement in fun-focused group processes supported the experience of inter-subjectivity and peer group learning was actively fostered. Thus, social action and co-construction of shared learning brought students to better connect with themselves and each other resulting in better engagement in school. However, each school staff and management team had its own culture and metaphor for explaining their students’ behaviours. This influenced their response to the occupational therapy perspective applied in this project. Following on from the success of this project, it is recommended that the collaborative approach between student, parents, teachers and therapist should be further developed in schools to benefit those with complex challenging behaviours. A national agency such as the NBSS is central to delivering this collaboration and partnership.

This chapter examines a development of the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) material into a programme designed to empower schools to work in partnership with parents to help children and young people to be happy and successful in school. It provides evidence to suggest that the programme called Family Works has a significant impact on children's learning and consequently their attainment. There is also evidence that children's behaviour improves across all contexts and that there are positive gains in the development of social and emotional skills of the children engaged in the programme. Aspects of the programme are described in action within primary schools.

Secondary schools in increasing numbers have been exploring nurture group intervention as a means of reducing exclusion, promoting educational engagement and transforming troubled lives. Here David Colley, co-author of the Boxall Profile for Young People (2010), offers guidance to school staff on the key steps to setting up a successful nurture group in the secondary school.

Nowadays primary and secondary school teachers search for increasing amounts of educational support when it comes to educating pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). The social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) framework that was recently launched within the English educational setting provides a wide variety of guidelines and advice on how to promote and enhance the needs of pupils, including those with SEBD. These needs can be met by enhancing pupils’ self-awareness, managing their skills, enhancing their motivation and enabling them to become more empathetic as well as developing their social skills. These five components, according to many authors, are considered to come under the umbrella of social, emotional and behavioural skills (SEBS).

In the literature, there is evidence to support the view that primary and secondary school teachers are not psychologically prepared to adequately support pupils with SEBD within the classroom setting. The research I have undertaken has enabled me to come to the conclusion that, before entering the classroom, teachers first need to develop their own SEBS before attempting to enhance those of SEBD pupils. This goal can be achieved by enabling teachers to become more emotionally literate. Through the development of emotional literacy, teachers will gain the ability to understand their own emotions, listen to others and learn to empathise with them, as well as to express their emotions productively (Barrow, Bradshaw, & Newton, 2001). Once this goal has been achieved, teachers will be in a better position to support pupils with SEBD within their classrooms. Therefore, this chapter aims to explore the elements that emotional literacy has to offer primary and secondary school teachers, and how these elements enable them to enhance their personal skills when it comes to supporting pupils with SEBD.