The increased diversification of classrooms in recent years has placed additional demands upon teachers who strive to facilitate the learning and participation of all pupils. The aim of the current study was to explore how primary teachers across Europe understand and respond to diversity in their classrooms. A total of 35 teachers from 7 countries (Czech Republic, England, Germany, Holland, Lithuania, Malta, Sweden) participated in semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the data yielded several key themes: (i) the need for caring and inclusive attitudes and school ethos, (ii) facilitating inclusive values and solidarity in pupils, (iii) building collaborative networks, (iv) organising 'responsive' teaching, and (v) facing challenges in responding to diversity. The implications of these findings for the development of inclusive practices are discussed.

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of social and emotional learning (SEL) skills and resilience in explaining mental health in male and female adolescents, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three self-report questionnaires were administered to 778 participants aged between 11 and 16 years (mean age = 12.73 years; SD = 1.73) and recruited from 18 schools in Northern Italy. The SSIS-SELb-S and the CD-RISC 10 assessed SEL and resilience skills respectively, while the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to measure mental health in terms of internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and prosocial behavior. We found that SEL and resilience skills were positively and significantly associated with each other, negatively associated with internalizing and externalizing problems, and positively related to prosocial behavior. Three linear regression analyses showed the significant role of resilience, age, and gender in explaining the variance of internalizing problems; the significant role of SEL skills, resilience, age, and gender in explaining the variance of externalizing problems; and the role of SEL skills, age, and gender in explaining prosocial behavior. Importantly, we found that resilience fully mediated the relationship between SEL skills and internalizing problems, partially mediated the relationship between SEL skills and externalizing problems and didn't mediate the relationship between SEL skills and prosocial behavior. The paper concludes with a discussion of the limitations of the study as well as its practical implications.

This article discusses the dilemma faced by psychologists in responding to diversity. It is based on a qualitative review of relevant literature over the past decade. It first describes psychologists as frontrunners in recognizing the uniqueness and autonomy of each of their diverse clients but within the biomedical model that locates problems within clients. This raises a dilemma vis-à-vis diversity issues which are associated with discrimination suffered by minority groups who are best supported by changes in social structures and processes. An account is then given of an increasing adoption of a biopsychosocial model, with further influence of the social model of disability and mental health. Evidence of the trend is explored in a new commitment to the human rights agenda, changes in ethical codes, and in psychologists’ engagement with intervention at macro systems levels as in the promotion of inclusive education. The review concludes with the implications of these trends for greater changes in training institutions to reflect openness to diversity, and in training programmes to promote an understanding of, and skills in, using social approaches to addressing the needs of clients who are at risk of being misunderstood, devalued, and discriminated against.

It is a hard task for professionals to give and parents to receive the bad news about a child's developmental disability. This study describes how findings about four preschool children, with difficulties suspected to lie within the autistic spectrum, were negotiated with parents by two multiprofessional groups, one in a Medical (Site M) and one in an Education setting (Site E). Each assessment was undertaken over half a day, the professionals jointly interacting with the child and family. All assessment discussions were audiotaped and each participant was interviewed after the assessment. Conversation analysis showed the activation of three major social-interaction frameworks: professionals at both sites applied a parent-friendly frame, but this was complemented by a hopeful-diagnostic-formulation frame at Site M, and a defocusing-of-bad-news frame at Site E.

The SSIS SEL Brief Scales (SSIS SELb) are multi-informant (teacher, parent, and student) measures that were developed to efficiently assess the SEL competencies of school-age youth in the United States. Recently, the SSIS SELb was translated into multiple languages for use in a multi-site study across six European countries (Croatia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, and Romania). The purpose of the current study was to examine concurrent and predictive evidence for the SEL Composite scores from the translated versions of the SSIS SELb Scales. Results indicated that SSIS SELb Composite scores demonstrated expected positive concurrent and predictive relationships with scores from the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and negative relationships with scores from the problem behavior scales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Although there were a few exceptions, these patterns generally were consistent across informants (parents, teachers, and students) and samples providing initial validity evidence for the Composite score from the translated versions of the SSIS SELb Scales. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a resilience curriculum in early years and primary schools to enhance social inclusion, equity and social justice amongst European communities, particularly amongst disadvantaged and vulnerable ones, through quality education. It defines educational resilience in terms of academic, social and emotional growth in the face of life challenges; discusses the conceptual framework and key principles underpinning the curriculum; and presents the six major content areas of the curriculum. Finally, it presents the preliminary findings of a pilot project on the implementation of the curriculum in more than 200 classrooms in about 80 early and primary schools in six European countries. Design/methodology/approach – The curriculum was first drafted collaboratively amongst the six partners on the basis of the existing literature in the promotion of resilience in early years and primary schools, with a particular focus to European realities. Once it was internally reviewed, it was piloted in 200 early years and primary school classrooms in six European countries, with each of the six partners implementing one theme. Data collection included teacher reflective diaries, classroom checklists, semi-structured interviews with teachers and focus groups with students. Findings – The preliminary results from the pilot evaluation of the curriculum in 199 classrooms totalling 1,935 students across six countries indicate that both the teachers and the learners overwhelmingly found the curriculum highly enjoyable, useful, relevant and easy to use. They looked forward to the possibility of having the programme on a full-time basis as part of the general curriculum in the future. The teachers reported a positive moderate change in learners’ behaviour related to the theme implemented and argued that for the implementation to be effective, it needs to take place throughout the whole year. A number of modifications have been on the basis of the teachers’ and learners’ feedback. Originality/value – This is the first resilience curriculum for early years and primary schools in Europe. While it seeks to address the needs of vulnerable children such as Roma children, immigrant and refugee children and children with individual educational needs, it does so within an assets-based, developmental, inclusive and culturally responsive approach, thus avoiding potential labelling and stigmatising, while promoting positive development and growth. It puts the onus on the classroom teacher, in collaboration with parents and other stakeholders, in implementing the curriculum in the classroom.

As children and young people today face ever increasing social, emotional and mental health challenges, schools, as one of the primary systems in children’s lives, are called to broaden their agenda and help to address these challenges. This paper discusses the evaluation of a school-based, universal mental health promotion programme developed recently for the European context. The programme provides a universal curriculum from early years to high school, aiming to promote social and emotional learning and resilience and prevent social, emotional, and behavioural problems in children and adolescents. A total of 7,789 students (and their teachers and parents) from kindergarten to high school across 6 countries in Europe were recruited from 434 classrooms in 124 schools, making use of cluster sampling. A quasi-experimental longitudinal design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme on students’ outcomes by comparing the groups’ outcomes within times (pre-test vs. post-test) and between groups (experimental vs. control group). A total of 779 classroom teachers completed pre-and-post scales measuring students’ social and emotional learning, mental health and academic achievement. Results indicate that the experimental group had significantly larger increase in social and emotional competence and prosocial behaviour, and a decrease in mental health issues (externalising and internalising problems). No significant impact was found for academic outcomes. The findings are discussed in view of the limitations of the study and areas for further research.

This paper addresses the role of social emotional competence in the emotional and behavioral problems and learning outcomes of preschool children based on their parents’ and teachers’ evaluations. In this study, we compared the perceptions of teachers and parents when evaluating the same child using the multi-informant assessment. First, the associations and differences between both the informant evaluations were investigated. Second, the correlation of the social emotional competence and emotional, and behavioral difficulties among preschool children was analyzed, separately addressing their parents’ and teachers’ evaluations. Third, the role of the preschool children’s social emotional competence in their emotional and behavioral problems, and learning outcomes was investigated building the regression and mediation models. The sample consisted of 507 preschool children (3–6 years, mean age 4.85 years, SD 0.82) and their parents and teachers. Both informants completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and Social Skills Improvement System Social-Emotional Learning Brief Scales, and teachers reported on each child’s learning outcomes (by completing a three-item Learning outcomes measure). When comparing both informants’ evaluations, positive associations were found between teacher and parental evaluations of prosocial behavior and emotional, and behavioral difficulties of preschool children, as well as self-management. Parents evaluated their children higher than teachers in conduct problems, hyperactivity, prosocial behavior, and total difficulty, while teachers evaluated children higher than parents in social emotional competence. According to teachers, the social emotional competence of preschool children was negatively correlated to all difficulty scales, and positively related to the prosocial behavior scale. The demographic variables, as well as parental socioeconomic status and children’s belonging to a vulnerable group were not found to be significantly associated with the preschool children’s learning outcomes. However, social emotional competence remains a significant variable in teacher-rated learning outcomes of preschool children even if sociodemographic variables are controlled. Our findings indicate that a higher level of social emotional competence and lower levels of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties are related to a higher preschoolers’ academic learning in their teachers’ evaluation. This suggests the importance of early facilitation of social emotional competence as a key factor for academic success and more positive behavioral outcomes.