Understanding what makes a positive school experience for pupils with SEND: Can their voices inform inclusive practice?
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2021-04-25
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Abstract
Since the advent of the ideology of inclusion, several concerns have been raised worldwide regarding the effectiveness of its implementation. In the UK, governmental evidence suggests that maintaining pupils with special educational needs and/or disability (SEND) within mainstream school settings, is one of the greatest challenges (DfE, 2018). There is now, more than ever, the need to explore pupils with SENDs’ mainstream experiences and understand the challenges they encounter. This study explores the voices of secondary‐aged pupils with social emotional mental health difficulties and moderate learning difficulties as a way of understanding their needs and thus, facilitating their inclusion. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse data from semi‐structured interviews with 43 pupils with SEND and 8 typical pupils as a comparable group. The findings indicate that the school experiences of pupils differ based on their type of need. Yet, despite the differences, all the pupils expressed similar views on what makes a positive school experience. The four emerged themes were interesting lessons, effective control of challenging behaviour, equal allocation of teachers’ support and positive relations. The study concludes by proposing that listening to the voices of pupils with SEND can be a powerful tool to inform inclusive practice.Citation
Dimitrellou, E., and Male, D. (2019) 'Understanding what makes a positive school experience for pupils with SEND: can their voices inform inclusive practice?', Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs. doi: 10.1111/1471-3802.12457.Publisher
WileyJournal
Journal of Research in Special Educational NeedsDOI
10.1111/1471-3802.12457Additional Links
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1471-3802.12457Type
ArticleLanguage
enEISSN
1471-3802ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1111/1471-3802.12457
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