A community of practice as an inclusive model to support children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties in school contexts

Theories-based Inclusive Education Practices

“…By adopting a constructivist perspective Botha and Kourkoutas (2016) traced the support that children with behavioural difficulties receive and the development and implementation of innovative practices that support these children. The authors commented that children with behavioural difficulties might often develop varying degrees of psychological symptoms, including social withdrawal, learning difficulties, lack of motivation, and disengagement from school.…”

“…It also provides opportunities to enhance the social integration of children, including those with behavioural difficulties in schools. Additionally, it allows for students to co-construct knowledge gained, which includes ways of supporting these children in their immediate contexts in their communities (Botha & Kourkoutas, 2016).…”

“…Although, overall, teachers are said to support inclusion, the inclusion of different groups of children, especially those with social, emotional or behavioral difficulties, continues to be considered as problematic (Hornby, 2014). Issues faced concerning teaching staff include the practical feasibility of inclusion, classroom teacher demands, the quality of support for students, and the degree of knowledge, understanding, and expertise required by classroom teachers (Botha & Kourkoutas, 2016). The demands of working with other agencies and issues relating to decision-making and the roles of parents, students, and other professionals is also challenging for regular education teachers (Mowat, 2010).…”

Teachers’ Emotional and Educational Reactions toward Children with Behavioral Problems: Implication for School-Based Counseling Work with Teachers

“…As for educational responses, it is more likely that teachers who deal with students with disruptive behavior use implicit or explicit punitive or remedial techniques instead of positive or more sophisticated and elaborate strategies, based on a specific and thorough understanding of the case, when dealing with these students (Bloomquist & Schnell, 2002;Botha & Kourkoutas, 2015; The least effective teachers tend to deal with hostile-aggressive children, using a combination of negative strategies such as warnings, punishments, reprimands, or sending them to the principal's office (Bloomquist & Schnell, 2002). The use of negative consequences is an important and sometimes effective class management technique, yet this strategy can be "problematic" and less effective when it is exclusively or permanently used and does not rely on a trusting and positive student-teacher relationship; moreover, it fails to respond to the students' expectations and deeper needs for emotional and behavioral improvement, through other type of techniques, such as role modeling, on the part of the educator (Bloomquist& Schnell, 2002;Hanko, 2002;Kourkoutas, 2012).…”

What do Dutch general education teachers do to facilitate the social participation of students with SEBD?

“…The findings of empirical studies suggest that general education teachers could apply structured social and instructional strategies to facilitate students' positive social participation (Almog and Shechtman 2007). Other examples within the literature on teachers' strategies include seeking and acquiring support within the school team (Botha and Kourkoutas 2016), promoting parental involvement (Abrams and Gibbs 2002), promoting positive teacher-student relationships (Pianta, Hamre, and Allen 2012), construct individual education plans for students (Tod 1999) and teachers' own professionalisation (Florian 2008). Other studies underscore the importance of daily contact and interactions with each student to enable them acquire acceptance and establish friendships (Frostad and Pijl 2007) and realise a realistic social self-perception (Bossaert et al 2012;Henke et al 2017).…”