This longitudinal study set out to examine the changes that took place in parents' evaluations of their child's school in the course of the child's complete 9-year-long compulsory education. Over the follow-up period, academically educated and vocationally educated mothers and fathers (N = 326) were asked to indicate their degree of satisfaction…

The empirical study we present here deals with a pedagogical issue that has not been thoroughly explored up until now in our field. Previous empirical studies in other sectors have identified the opinions of researchers about this topic, showing that completely unacceptable interpretations have been made of significance tests and other statistical…

Teaching assistants (TAs) are part of a growing international trend toward paraprofessionals working in public services. There has been controversy over TAs' deployment and appropriate role when supporting the learning of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. Such debates have been transformed by findings from a large…

The study compared early literacy of Israeli children aged five to six years with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), contrasted parental writing mediation in the two groups and tested the relations between parents' mediation characteristics and children's early literacy skills. Each of 62 parent-child dyads (32 with ADHD)…

Co-teaching--or the use of more than one teacher in a classroom--has been commonly recommended as a means to promote inclusive education. The aim of the present study was to survey the actual frequency of co-teaching among different teacher categories in the comprehensive school level in one Finnish city. The data were collected through a…

This paper reports a field test of a new system of Graded Learning Support Classification Matrix to determine special educational needs (SEN) in a more systemic way, proposed by the Belgian Ministry of Education (Flanders Region), to put a barrier to the trend of referrals to special education schools. It is not directly determined by a child's…

A closer look at the dynamics of school organisation, culture and ethos in respect to the support and management of teaching assistants (TAs) can help to develop more effective ways of using their energy, skills and talent. Focusing on the UK System, this author has found promising practices that can be built on. Where schools have begun to look…

Children and adolescents with aggressive and delinquent behaviours are often educated in special needs classes with others who exhibit the same kind of challenging behaviour. Beside the opportunities provided by this approach there are also risks, as several studies point to the problem of negative peer influence among this student population.…

Provision for pupils with special educational needs in Ireland has undergone considerable change and review in the first decade of the twenty-first century. In response to international demands for a more equitable education system that recognises diversity and considers how schools might address the needs of pupils who have been previously…

International organisations make ambitious attempts to improve education for students with special needs. The article indicates that such global ambitions are tempered by recent educational developments and by comparative research that underscores the importance of locality by showing the unique character and antecedents of educational practices,…

The deployment of increasing numbers of teacher assistants (TAs) to support students, especially those with disabilities or other special needs, presumably has been perpetuated with benevolent intentions meant to help both students and teachers. Given the contemporary emphasis on theoretically grounded and evidenced-based approaches in education,…

One of the major aims for the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) within the mainstream classroom is to reduce prejudice and increase social interaction among children. Nevertheless, research has consistently shown that pupils with SEN remain less accepted by and may experience greater loneliness than their non-SEN peers. This…

This article reports two studies that aim at further distinguishing intellectual styles from abilities by taking into account the confounding effects of age and gender on the relationship between these two constructs. Two independent groups of secondary school students responded to the "Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised" and took the "Sternberg…

Bullying between students in the school setting is an increasing problem. Bullying can be defined as any form of repeated mental or physical violence carried out by one or several individuals on a person who is not capable of defending himself (Roland and Idsoe, "Aggress Behav" 27:446-462, 2001). The aim of this paper is to observe the expression…

The present study examines the relationships between parental beliefs relating to development and education, parenting practices, and the intellectual and academic performances of children. Data were collected for 128 families with a child in the second or third year of primary school. Investigations of the factors affecting the children's…