Behavioural

problems in

inclusive settings: Coping with challenging

situations

RENCONTRE D’AUTOMNE DE L’ASSOCIATION COMENIUS

Lausanne, October 2nd, 2014

Valérie Schürch UER Développement de l’enfant à l’adulte

Aims

• Identify the characteristics of EBD pupils and to evaluate the

stakes concerning their inclusion.

• Understanding the influence of teachers representations in

their classroom practices.

• Reflect on evidence based practices:

• What could really work in the classroom?

• How to adapt what research shows for classroom

practice?

• Student-teachers’ mobility as an asset in knowing different

means of dealing with disturbing behaviors openness.

1. Background

2. Behavioral problems in inclusive settings

3. Teachers’ perceptions of their pupil’s behaviors

4. Research-based practices: some examples

5. What is the reality in the classrooms?

6. The impact of mobility in teacher education

7. Conclusion

Content

1. Background

• School inclusion European educational policies touchstone.

• BUT EBD greatest challenge to inclusion debate about the

best schooling modality for these pupils (p. ex. Coleman, Webber &

Algozzine, 2008).

• Difficult behaviours + lack of support > stress and burnout risk

for teachers (Doudin,Curchod-Ruedi, & Baumberger, 2009 ; Tsouloupas,

Carson, Matthews, Grawitch, & Barber, 2010).

• Exclusion = teachers way to protect themselves from stressful

situations and to last in their jobs (Doudin, Curchod-Ruedi, & Lafortune,

2010).

2. Behavioural problems in

inclusive settings

© Sempé-Goscinny

Approaches

Psychopathological

Conduct disorders

Opositionnal disorder

ADHD

Intermittent explosive disorder…

Psychoeducational

EBD

Psychodevelopmental Behavioural difficulties

In research, there are three main

conceptions :

2.1 Definitions

2.1 Characteristics of pupils with EBD

Placement:

• 82% are in regular schools but spend 30% in special classes ;

• 18% are in institutional settings;

In class:

• Less class participation;

• Lower grades;

• More severe punishments (64% disciplinary exclusion);

Long term:

• High risk substance abuse and relational problems;

• High dropout risk (56% obtain a high school diploma);

• Employment difficulties;

• High involvement with the justice system.

(Bradley, Doolittle, & Bartolotta, 2008)

(OCDE, 2000)

What’s the situation in Switzerland?

EADSNE, (2012)

2.2 Inclusion/Exclusion: what do we actually

talk about?

Exclusion (Booth & Ainscow, 2002).

A temporary or long-lasting situation which impedes the full participation of

the student in the regular school system

Inclusion (Vienneau, 2004, p. 129).

1. The full-time pedagogical inclusion of all students in a class with

pupils of their same age;

2. The participation in all the learning activities of the group and in

school’s social life;

3. The individualisation of the teaching-learning process.

2.2.1 School inclusion consequences

+

• Better performances in mathematics (Peetsma, Vergeer, Roeleveld, &

Karsten, 2001).

• Positive models peer tutoring or buddy system (Davis & Florian,

2004).

– • Less availability of professional services in regular schools

(Kaufman, Bantz, & McCullough, 2002).

• Negative attitudes from peers and school staff (voir p.ex. Coleman,

Weber, & Algozzine, 2008).

2.2.2. Exclusion consequences

• Rupture, loss of references (Doudin & Erkohen-

Marküs, 2000)

• Highlights school failure (Doudin & Curchod-Ruedi, 2012)

• Deterioration of students’ behaviours and of their school results

due to peer social reinforcement (Gifford-Smith, Dodge, Dishion, &

McCord, 2005)

• Subjective experience: “destruction of the self” (Dubet, 2000)

© Richard Wilkinson

3. Teachers perceptions of their

Pupils’ behaviours

3.1 The importance of representations …

Exercise: draw a house in a sheet of paper (5 min.)

© sweetclipart.com

According to teachers, behavioural difficulties consist in:

(Schürch, 2014)

* Therefore, teachers’ definitions do not always match the ones which are

used in research! Collaboration difficulties + research – practice gap.

Attitudes

(Avramidis & Norwich, 2002) ;

Emotion-regulation abilities

(Doudin, Curchod-Ruedi, Meylan, & Moreau, 2011) ;

Self–efficacy

(Almog & Shechtman, 2007)

Stereotypes (Reyna, 2000).

Research shows that some characteristics influence teachers’

manner of perceiving their pupils’ behaviours and their way of

reacting to them:

3.1 Influence of teachers’ characteristics

Attitudes

An evaluative process of the person facing different objects which are

present in their environment (Fiske & Taylor, 2011)

• Three components:

• Affective

• Cognitive

• Conative

In a general manner, research shows that teachers’ hold negative

attitudes towards school inclusion of pupils with behavioural difficulties

(ex. Avramidis & Norwich, 2002).

Emotion regulation abilities

(Doudin, Curchod-Ruedi, &

Meylan, 2013)

Self-regulation sources

Personal efficacy

(Bandura, 1995)

Stereotypes

Stereotypes in school

• Influence teachers’ expectations

• May become a self-fulfilling prophecy

• Related to different characteristics:

• Gender

• Socio-economical level

• Origin

• Child with/without a diagnostic

Stereotypes influence teachers’ perceptions and their practices

3.2 Our research

Aims at:

Understanding the influence of novice student-

teachers’ characteristics in their tendency to

include or to exclude pupils with behavioural

difficulties.

1. The links between

• attitudes towards inclusion,

• self-efficacy,

• burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, cynicism,

reduced efficacy),

• emotion regulation abilities (emotions felt – emotions

shown)

2. The influence of these factors on their declared tendencies to

include a pupil with behavioural difficulties (based on a case

vignette).

3.2.1 We analyze:

Population

218 first-year student teachers from a Swiss teacher university

(13% male, 87% female, mean of age = 21,9 years).

Instruments

• Attitudes towards the inclusion of pupils with EBD scale (MacFarlane &

Woolfson, 2013);

• Discipline and classroom management self-efficacy scale (Emmer &

Hickman, 1991);

• Maslach Burnout inventory, students version (MBI-SS, Schaufeli,

Martinez, Pinto, Salanova, & Bakker, 2002);

• Teachers emotion regulation questionnaire (Curchod-Ruedi & Doudin,

2009);

• Inclusive-exclusive practices questionnaire.

3.2.2 Methods

3.2.3 Results

A) Factor correlations

Attitudes (r = .37, p < 0.01) and self-efficacy (r = .30, p < 0.01) show a

significant positive correlation with students’ tendencies to inclusion.

Emotional exhaustion (r = -.14, p < 0.05) and emotions shown(r = -.17, p

< 0.05) show a significant negative correlation with students’ tendencies

to inclusion.

B) Hierarchical regression analyses

Emotions shown and exhaustion did not significantly predict tendencies to

include, however attitudes and self-efficacy did significantly predict these

tendencies and explained 17% of the variance.

4. Evidence-based practices for the classroom

4.1 Research-based practices: some examples

Classroom Management:

Predominance of behavioural and cognitive-behavioural

interventions.

Behavioural strategies

• Rewards

• Punishments (ex. Recess suppression)

Cognitive-behavioural strategies

• Self-regulation training programmes

• Aggression management programmes

Importance of favouring positive interventions PBS support, (Sugai &

Horner, 2002).

Short-term effects

longer-term effects

Social skills training

Most of these pupils present difficult interpersonal relations with

their peers and adults (Landrum,Tankersley, & Kauffman, 2003).

Interventions difficult to evaluate because of:

1. Lack of generalisation

2. Lack of reliability criteria

3. Difficult to evaluate the improvement of these pupils

Generally, these interventions are highly contested Replacement

Behaviour training (Maag, 2005).

Collaborative practices

Importance of a multidisciplinary collaborative practice is

indisputable.

Team-schools: a model of collaboration (Heath et al., 2004).

• Each school team of professionals who work with teachers

through a consultative approach.

Effects:

• improving of pupils’ self-image and the reduction of internalizing

symptoms.

• greater tolerance by teachers and more inclusive views, caused by a

better understanding of these pupils’ difficulties.

5. What is the reality in the classrooms?

http://www.behavioradvisor.com/WhiskersTigerCartoon.JPG

Teachers’ classroom management practices

Teachers rarely base their classroom practice in research

results.

Most of the time, these interventions are very specific and

difficult to generalise.

Some examples of the strategies that are the most frequently

used by teachers are (Schürch & Doudin, 2014):

• Behaviour contracts

• Admonitions

• Direct instructions

• Praise and reward

6. Mobility and Teacher education

Which advantages can be inferred about student teachers’

mobility related to classroom management and attitude

changes?

(Sierra et al., 2011)

7. Conclusions

Developing positive attitudes towards inclusion and enhancing

student teachers’ sense of self-efficacy, most particularly

linked to behavioural difficulties management, seems an

essential objective of future teachers’ education.

This could promote equality and better social conditions and

learning for students most at risk.

Mobility can be an aid to this objective, by reinforcing students’

self-efficacy and by broadening their minds…

Thank you for your attention!

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B) Prédicteurs des tendances à l’inclusion ou à l’exclusion

Analyse de régression hiérarchique

Using the enter method it was found that attitudes (F(1,216) = 33.765, p < .001,

R2 = .14, R2Adjusted = .13), self-efficacy (F(2,215) = 22.53, p < .001, R2 = .17,

R2Adjusted = .17), exhaustion and emotions shown (F(4,213) = 10.74, p < .001, R2

= .20, R2Adjusted = .18)explain a significant amount of the variance in the

tendencies to include or to exclude these pupils.

Emotions shown and exhaustion did not significantly predict tendencies to

include (Beta = -.01, t(19) = 1.17, ns), however attitudes and self-efficacy did

significantly predict these tendencies (Beta = .50, t(19) = 2.53, p < .05).