Classroom behavioural climate in inclusive education – a study on secondary students’ perceptions

Abstract

Previous studies pointed out that dealing with difficult behaviour is perceived by teachers as a major challenge in inclusive settings. However, research on the students' perception of the classroom behavioural climate (CBC) is rare. Therefore, this study aims to examine students' perceptions of CBC and to identify predictors of CBC as well as associated variables. The sample consists of 650 German students from secondary schools (5th-9th grade) of whom 83 students are diagnosed with special educational needs (SEN). CBC was measured via four subscales ('students' possibilities to study and concentrating on teaching', 'disruptive behaviour', physical and psychological safety' and caring for the physical environment'). Results show significant differences in students' perceptions of CBC between students from different school tracks. Furthermore, gender (being male) and SEN (having a) predict the perception of physical and psychological safety'. Additionally, social inclusion, emotional experience as well as teacher support and care are associated with CBC. Accordingly, a positive CBC is important for the successful implementation of inclusive education: while diversity in classrooms is a challenge for behavioural climate, poor behavioural climate may also pose specific barriers to learning for some students with SEN and thus is a general challenge for equity in inclusive classrooms.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Cultural adaptation, content, and protocol of a feasibility study of school-based “Let’s learn about emotions” intervention for Finnish primary school children

“…To assess the classroom behavioral climate (CBC), we use a shortened version of a Finnish instrument, CBC, which has adequate reliability ( 46 , 47 ). Pupil and teacher reports of CBC were used in this study.…”

Signature Pedagogies versus Trauma Informed Approaches: Thematic Analysis of Graduate Students’ Reflections

“…The purpose of this analysis was to assess effectiveness of online instructional methodologies. Each methodology was built upon both trauma-informed approaches as well as skilled signature pedagogies (Barros-Lane et al, 2021;Hoffmann et al, 2021). Table 2 lists each instructional methodology below, followed by brief description and connection to both principles of trauma-informed and skilled pedagogical approaches to classroom instruction (Martin et al, 2019;Moreno & Mayer, 2007;SAMHSA, 2014SAMHSA, , 2018.…”

“…Clear and consistently reinforced expectations are not only the foundation of well-run classrooms; evidence also supports a connection between strong classroom management and classrooms perceived as psychologically safe spaces by students (Kulikova & Maliy, 2017). Norms simultaneously support learning and are foundational to a healthy emotional classroom climate, by embedding elements of stability and predictability (Hoffmann et al, 2021). In contrast, classrooms with disruption and chaos are not perceived by learners to be as psychologically safe as their well-ordered counterparts (Hoffmann et al, 2021).…”

“…Norms simultaneously support learning and are foundational to a healthy emotional classroom climate, by embedding elements of stability and predictability (Hoffmann et al, 2021). In contrast, classrooms with disruption and chaos are not perceived by learners to be as psychologically safe as their well-ordered counterparts (Hoffmann et al, 2021).…”

“…Classroom norms are important socialization tools; yet they are also foundational to equally vital intentional instructional approaches utilized to engage diverse learners in pedagogically-sound methods (Findley & Varble, 2006; Hoffmann et al, 2021). For the purpose of this study, the term “signature pedagogies” will be utilized to describe a set of pedagogical strategies historically utilized by educators to engage students in classroom settings (Gurung et al, 2009).…”