Social participation and friendship quality of students with special educational needs in regular Greek primary schools

Abstract

The study addresses the social participation of integrated students with special educational needs (SEN) in upper primary regular classes in Greece alongside their perceptions of best friend quality. In keeping with previous research, social participation was defined as consisting of four key dimensions, namely the students' acceptance by classmates; their friendships; their social self-perceptions; and their social interactions. Participants were 457 students with a mean age of 11.04 (sd=.83), of which 45 were diagnosed as having moderate learning difficulties and 412 were typically developing students. Fieldwork involved implementing a sociometric technique, conducting systematic observations and administering two psychometric instruments: the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Friendship Qualities Scale (FQS). In line with previous studies, students with SEN received fewer nominations of peer acceptance, had fewer friends and had fewer social interactions with classmates than their typically developing peers. The social self-perception and the perceptions of friendship quality of both groups of students did not differ. Contrary to expectations, the students with SEN's social self-concept was not related to their acceptance by peers but it was positively related to the 'companionship' dimension of friendship quality. These results highlight the need to direct the researchers' attention from measuring the social participation of students with SEN within their class network towards examining the quality and durability of their friendships.

A Cooperative Learning Intervention to Promote Social Inclusion in Heterogeneous Classrooms

“…While educational policies around the world have become more inclusive ( Ramberg and Watkins, 2020 ), the social inclusion of children with special educational needs (SEN) still constitutes an area of concern. This concern has been expressed in a number of studies showing that children with SEN are less accepted by their peers and have fewer friends than their non-SEN peers ( Pijl et al, 2010 ; Nepi et al, 2015 ; Schwab, 2015 ; Avramidis et al, 2018 ; Banks et al, 2018 ). Moreover, children with SEN have fewer interactions with classmates ( Koster et al, 2010 ) and spend less time with peers during school breaks than their non-SEN peers ( Schwab, 2015 ).…”

Internalizing Behavior of Sociometrically Neglected Students in Inclusive Primary Classrooms – A Methodological Issue?

“…Depending on which dimension of social inclusion is addressed and which measurement technique is used, the answer to the question of whether students with SEN are equally socially integrated can vary. Accordingly, the study by Avramidis et al (2018) considered several dimensions of social inclusion. A differentiated picture emerges here insofar as students with SEN (compared to students without SEN) received fewer nominations of peer acceptance and had fewer friends and social interactions with classmates (sociometric measures), whereas they showed no difference in social self-perception and perception of friendship quality (self-report questionnaires).…”

The Circle of Friends intervention: a research synthesis

“…In this regard, fostering social participation of students has been highlighted as a major aim of inclusive education (Avramidis, Avgeri, and Strogilos 2018;Garrote and Dessemontet 2015;Hassani et al 2020;Sanches-Ferreira et al 2019). The educational need to establish effective and efficient strategies to promote social participation of all students has driven increased interest in the exploration of social participation enhancement strategies.…”