Following high school exit, many autistic young adults are not enrolled in post-secondary education or employed, and few are engaged in community activities. This disengagement among autistic young ...adults may be a result of the limited or inadequate supports provided to autistic transition-age youth in schools. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to explore how school professionals report preparing transition-age autistic youth for adulthood and the barriers that make it difficult for school professionals to provide quality transition services. We surveyed 21 school professionals who work with transition-age autistic students. The survey solicited descriptions of transition supports provided to youth, and barriers that make it difficult for school professionals to provide high quality transition supports. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify themes from the data. Participants described barriers related to the autistic youth they taught or supported, their families, the classroom environment, and the community. Barriers were either framed as deficits inherent to autistic students and their families, or larger systemic issues that make it challenging to implement high quality transition supports. We recommend implementation of autism-specific trainings within teacher preparation programs and school districts, professional development opportunities that create spaces for educators to challenge and resist deficit views of autism, and development of strengths-based transition programs that are implemented by school-based professionals who work with autistic students.
Specialists working in school settings provide crucial psychological and pedagogical support to students, teachers and other members of the school community. As the roles played by psychologists, ...educators, speech therapists and other specialists vary internationally, more needs to be understood about their lived experiences and perceptions of working in particular school systems.
This study, undertaken in Poland, sought to explore specialists' experiences of supporting teachers in schools and capture their perceptions of their roles.
A total of 30 online semi-structured interviews were conducted with psychologists, educators, and speech therapists who were working as specialists in schools. The data were analysed qualitatively, using a two-stage coding procedure based on a grounded theory approach.
Through in-depth analysis of rich interview data, three thematic areas emerged: (1) specialists' collaboration with teachers; (2) specialists' tasks to support teachers in their work with students; and (3) changes that might assist specialists in better supporting teachers. Their tasks included meeting with students' parents and other institutions outside the school, conducting interventions, collaborating with teachers and managing documentation. The specialists believed that there were insufficient numbers of them working in their institutions to meet all the needs of students, teachers and parents.
The study highlights the significance and potential of collaboration between specialists and teachers in fostering students' development, and the need for resources to ensure that appropriate support can be provided.
To determine Spanish-speaking school professionals' level of knowledge and attitudes regarding pediatric TBI.
School professionals(n = 2,238) from 19 countries completed an online-survey regarding ...their training, knowledge and misconceptions, attitudes and perceptions about TBI.
Of the full sample 75% (n = 1689) knew what TBI was, though only 18% (n = 350) reported having experience with a student with TBI. Only 7.7% (n = 143) and 3% (n = 55) of participants could identify all of the common short- and long-term TBI sequelae, respectively. Special education professionals, those with experience with a student with TBI, and those who had received training regarding TBI showed greater knowledge in these areas. Although participants showed high levels of knowledge in 6/24 misconceptions of TBI, they endorsed others. Group, sex, experience with students with TBI, training in TBI, and number of years working were significantly linked to some misconceptions about TBI; however, the effect sizes were small.
The knowledge and experience that Spanish-speaking school professionals have regarding childhood TBI are minimal. It is therefore critical that these professionals receive a more comprehensive education during their academic training and the practice of their profession about TBI.
This study aimed to analyse how school health team professionals in geographical areas with a long tradition of neo-Nazi activism discursively conceptualise the problem of racism. The participants do ...not consider racism or neo-Nazi mobilisation to be a central problem at their schools. At the same time, they cited several examples of obvious expressions of neo-Nazi convictions among students. This discrepancy is explained in different capacities. Firstly, as the students are understood to have a mill-town mentality, certain behaviours are expected and excused. Secondly, to be seen as a problem, racist expression is also expected to be visual. A third factor is that the problem is individualised, focusing on one incident at a time.
HPV vaccine coverage in France remained lower than in most other high-income countries. Within the diagnostic phase of the national PrevHPV program, we carried out a mixed methods study among school ...staff to assess their knowledge, beliefs and attitudes regarding HPV, HPV vaccine and vaccination in general, and regarding schools' role in promoting HPV vaccination.
Middle school nurses, teachers and support staff from four French regions participated between January 2020 and May 2021. We combined: (i) quantitative data from self-administered online questionnaires (n = 301), analysed using descriptive statistics; and (ii) qualitative data from three focus groups (n = 14), thematically analysed.
Less than half of respondents knew that HPV can cause genital warts or oral cancers and only 18% that no antiviral treatment exists. Almost 90% of the respondents knew the existence of the HPV vaccine but some misunderstood why it is recommended before the first sexual relationships and for boys; 56% doubted about its safety, especially because they think there is not enough information on this topic. Schools nurses had greater knowledge than other professionals and claimed that educating pupils about HPV was fully part of their job roles; however, they rarely address this topic due to a lack of knowledge/tools. Professionals (school nurses, teachers and support staff) who participated in the focus groups were unfavourable to offering vaccination at school because of parents' negative reactions, lack of resources, and perceived uselessness.
These results highlight the need to improve school staff knowledge on HPV. Parents should be involved in intervention promoting HPV vaccination to prevent their potential negative reactions, as feared by school staff. Several barriers should also be addressed before organizing school vaccination programs in France.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
School climate (SC) reflects the culture and norms of the school community, being a potential factor linked to students’ disruptive behavior (DB). This study intended to characterize the Portuguese ...school professionals’ perception on SC, analyzing the connections to the students’ DB. Another objective was to explore the differences on SC based on the functions of school professionals and school geographic location. An exploratory study with 333 school professionals was carried out. Concerning SC, the participants were asked about
environmental-structural
and
relationships
, while absenteeism, behavior problems, and incivilities were included in the students’ DB. Overall, the participants generally reported positive perceptions about SC. Differences were observed on DB, based on SC ratings. The participants rating poorer environmental-structural and relationships tended to report more DB. SC differed according to the school geographic location and to functions of school professionals. Additional research about the implications of SC on students’ DB is needed to develop preventive strategies.
Purpose: Little is known about school professionals’ definitions of trauma outside of the context of trauma-informed school trainings. Methods: The present study used thematic analysis to explore ...school professionals’ open-ended definitions of childhood trauma (
N
= 1271). Follow-up chi-square tests of independence were used to investigate differences in professionals’ definitions based on their professional role and education. Results: Five themes were identified: effects of trauma, events of trauma, solutions to trauma, emotional responses, and no knowledge. Effects of trauma and events of trauma contained ten and five subthemes, respectively. School professionals who identified long-term effects of trauma on students most commonly listed general negative effects (e.g., “An experience or event that can negatively impact that child”) instead of effects on specific domains such as behavior or emotions (e.g., “An experience that negatively impacted a child emotionally”). School professionals who identified an event of trauma most commonly provided examples of trauma (e.g., child maltreatment) or a general definition of trauma. School professionals’ roles and education were somewhat related to their definitions of childhood trauma. Findings suggest that childcare providers and professionals without a bachelor’s degree have gaps in their knowledge of child trauma. Conclusions: These results suggest school professionals have some foundational knowledge about trauma, but it is not universal. To best serve school professionals working with this vulnerable population of students, researchers and practitioners should design future trauma-informed professional development opportunities around school professionals’ prior knowledge and understanding of trauma as well as their potential misunderstandings of trauma.
The purpose of the work presented here was to study how the Swedish compulsory school, identifies and acts relative to the social problem of children living with domestic violence. More specifically: ...how do the various professional groups in school and professionals within the child protection services (CPS) describe and understand their own and other professionals’ responsibilities and tasks with respect to children living with domestic violence? The study consisted of 10 focus groups whose members were taken from five professional groups in schools and the CPS in Sweden. The results show that professionals in school lack knowledge about living with domestic violence, one example of which is child abuse. They navigate through the large open space that exists between the pedagogic and psychosocial missions of schools, and use different strategies to interpret the child’s symptoms of maltreatment. They point at an unclear distribution of responsibility between different professionals in school, which can be interpreted as a tension between domains within the institutional school domain. They also point at a “gap” between the school and CPS domains, and find confidentiality to be an obstacle to collaboration. Furthermore, the article sheds light on the complexities, the conflicting understandings, and the different priorities of the different professionals and institutions working with children living with domestic violence. It also discusses practical implications of the results.
Permanent exclusion from primary school is an issue of national and local concern; previous literature has primarily focused on secondary school experiences of school exclusion. Furthermore, research ...offering detailed insights into the experience of permanent exclusion from the perspectives of pupils, parents and school staff is limited. This research aims to provide an in-depth exploration of the stories of permanent exclusion from primary school in England from the perspectives of two pupils, three parents and two members of school staff. Using a qualitative design and narrative inquiry approach, data was gathered through unstructured interviews. The findings illustrate the emotional impact of permanent exclusion from primary school as well as the wider impact it can have on family life. This research illustrates the complexity of permanent exclusion in how it is experienced through interacting systems and discourses of SEN and inclusion. Implications for schools and professionals within the wider systems are suggested.
The World Health Organization (WHO), concludes that child maltreatment is a global concern calling for a multi sectoral interdisciplinary approach. School professionals, such as social workers, ...teachers, and health care professionals are in positions to discover and report maltreatment enabling social workers to intervene. However, a variety of reports reveal an evident gap between incidences and frequency of number of cases reported. A review of relevant research indicates that the problem of “not reporting” suggests that moral conflicts are activated in the process of decision-making. The aim was to gain a deeper understanding of school professionals’ experiences of reporting suspected neglect and abuse to the Social Welfare Board. In a mixed method approach 32 school professionals, such as teachers, social workers, nurses and psychologists participated in interviews and responded to questionnaires. Findings from the qualitative content analysis were compared to the quantitative analysis in a meta-analysis. Moral conflicts occur when faced with making decisions about how to best deal with a child’s situation. Thoughts about the child’s best interest and relationship with his/her parents as well as the informants´ own safety, were central. The comparative meta- analysis of both data sets revealed these conflicts commence with a moral sensitivity of possible negative consequences for the child. Moral sensitivity can be viewed as a “good” personal attribute, it paradoxically might lead to moral stress despite an open ethical climate. Based on the results of this study, further research on the interpersonal aspects of dealing with moral conflicts involved in reporting suspected child abuse is indicated.
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