The reality of social and emotional difficulties in classrooms





One would like to think that the world has overcome issues of inclusion vs. special education, or equal rights for all studnents. For teachers, the preparation to understand and cater for all types of learning styles and abilities are presented in most courses for preservice teachers. Similarly, the education system internationally has taken giant steps in implementing more inclusive practices since the 1960 UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education (CADE) (UNESCO, 2014). In Australia, all children have the right to study in schools, and inclusive practices are the normal every day of the learning process. Yet the reality, as some would say, is different to how inclusion and equality should be. According to Oyler (2011), some teachers do not fully understand what inclusion means. Here are some of her observations:

“For instance, teachers often refer to “the inclusion kids” or say, “I teach an inclusion class.” Some administrators can be heard to relate “He is not ready for inclusion.”” (Oyler, 2011,p.205)

She underlines in her study, the need for quality teacher preparation courses to deal with children’s diversity of race, national origin, ability and disability, gender, language, culture and religion (Oyler, 2011). Despite Oyler's recomendation, the issues surrounding teaching children with social and emotional difficulties are not all because of teacher preparation.
For children in schools, the reality also includes all the ups and downs of the learning process and its consequences. Research indicates that children with low academic achievements suffer from rejection or victimisation more than children with higher academic performances. Children gained more popularity, in findings of a Chinese study, competence, sociability and leadership when they have better academic performance (Walker & Nabuzoka, 2007). According to Walker & Nabuzoka, 2007, high academic performance and social competence correlate positively with one another which means teachers would have higher expectations for him/her with more positive peer engagement. On the contrary, teachers and parents might determine that this child with the lower academic performance and emotional difficulties is not capable of completing certain activities and thus expect inappropriate behaviour from him/her. 

What is the solution?
Social and emotional learning is integrated in education in many schools in Australia. There are programs in schools aimed at improving the children’s behaviour, and their social and emotional learning (SEL). These programs can be expensive, and some would argue that these programs burden teachers with extra responsibility but give little result from students involved. On the other hand, teacher designed activities and focused instructions could be very effective with little cost. As Blair, K. C., Fox, L. and Lantini, R. (2010) found in their study, teacher’s implementation of an individualised behaviour support plan improved the students’ engagement and reduced challenging behaviour. Similarly, preparing an inviting and positive environment for the students will assist teachers in engaging children in classroom activities or social interactions

 Links to resources:

Emotions:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJOjpprbfeE


Books for social skills
http://cleverclassroomblog.com/2015/08/30-books-that-teach-social-skills.html 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evidence-based strategies for teaching students with social and emotional difficulties

Image
Researcher suggests that teachers should focus on explicit teaching strategies for children with social difficulties. It also presents the importance of implementing early targeted intervention activities. The first step in understanding the problem is assessing the child through observation and interaction. A tool that can be used is the Child observation record, which is a checklist developed by High/Scope Education Research Foundation for “implementing and researching high quality early childhood programs” (Follari, 2011. P.154). this record can assist teachers in determining how best to approach the emotional difficulties and learning difficulties that it causes or caused by it. It is a checklist that assesses developmental outcomes in 30 areas such as cognitive, physical and socioemotional development (Follari, 2011). Each checklist is used for one child, and consists of three observations to be done over time. It will include observing behaviours, acquired skills ...
Read more

Social and emotional difficulty

Image
In a world rapidly changing, the school’s social life with all of its electronic gadgets, tablets, smart phones, social media and internet access;   could be very challenging for children with learning difficulties, especially when these difficulties are social and emotional This could raise issues that set the scene for the student’s learning journey, and change his/her development and learning process greatly. These social and emotional difficulties include self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, resilience and communication. Children with social and emotional difficulties are less likely to perform complex social interactions such as negotiation, and are faced with peer rejection more than children without social and emotional difficulties (LD online see article, other resources). Moreover, some children’s difficulty in reading facial expressions presents another obstacle in the way of their social communication with other people). Viewing their own b...
Read more