Across the world, there have been many policy developments in and reviews of inclusive education (IE) but what appears to be missing is an up to date and thorough review of IE in general. What is ...required is a synopsis of previous reviews to help guide future practice and research. The aim of this paper is to analyse existing reviews of IE regarding (1) which themes have been studied, (2) what can be learned from these reviews and (3) what gaps there are in the research that can be addressed. Published reviews were identified through a systematic search using the Education Resource Information Center (ERIC) and Web of Science (WoS) databases. A thematic analysis of 26 reviews revealed five main themes: attitudes towards IE, teachers' professional development in IE, IE practices, student participation and critical reflections on IE research. The conclusion is that for the implementation of IE, it is vital that there is professional development for teachers regarding evidence-informed IE practices which would lead to successful teacher experiences. In addition, suggestions for research into the attitudes of all students, with and without special educational needs, and school leaders are made, as well as some suggestions regarding students' academic participation in IE.
Internalizing symptoms, such as depressive and anxiety symptoms are prevalent in adolescence. We examined the mediational role of two self-esteem dimensions, that is, level and contingency, in ...comprehensive models linking parenting to adolescent internalizing symptoms. Using a cross-sectional design, a large sample of secondary school students (
N
= 1958; 56.28% female; mean age = 15.31 years) completed questionnaires on maternal responsiveness, psychological control, conditional regard, as well as on their own self-esteem, depressive and anxiety symptoms. Analyses yielded both direct and indirect effects of adolescent-reported parenting on internalizing symptoms. More perceived responsiveness was uniquely associated with higher self-esteem level which, in turn, predicted less depressive and anxiety symptoms. Perceived conditional negative and positive regard and psychological control were uniquely related to self-esteem level (negative relations) and contingency (positive relations) which, in turn, predicted more internalizing symptoms. In general, our study supported the mediational role of self-esteem level and contingency in the link between parenting and internalizing symptoms. Whereas low self-esteem increased adolescents’ vulnerability for both depressive and anxiety symptoms, high self-esteem contingency appeared as a unique vulnerability factor for anxiety symptoms.
Whereas it has sometimes been asserted that the intellectually gifted would be more prone to develop mental health problems, empirical studies generally do not seem to support such claims. However, ...much of the available research has relied on preselected samples, introducing risks for sample selection bias. This study scrutinized the relationship between intellectual giftedness (defined as high cognitive ability) and mental health in a large, non-selective sample of early adolescents (
= 3409; 49.6% boys; M
= 12.5 years). Using a standardized intelligence test (CoVaT-CHC) to identify participants with a high cognitive ability (IQ ≥ 120;
= 403), we compared self- and parent-reported levels of emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, and self-reported worry and global self-esteem between high and average ability adolescents. Findings indicated that adolescents with a high cognitive ability were not at increased risk of psychological maladjustment; if any, differences were in favor of the high ability group. However, adolescents who had been formally identified as gifted (i.e., who had received a gifted label) did report worse adjustment for a number of outcomes.
Since previous research on educational career exploration has mainly been cross-sectional and therefore has been unsuccessful in explaining how this process can change during the final year in ...secondary education before students make the transition to higher education, this study aimed to examine changes over time in the exploration process. A person-centered research perspective was taken to further deepen the understanding of how different exploration tasks jointly combine into meaningful profiles. In this way, this study tried to gain more insight into why some students go through this process successfully and others do not. Four goals guided this study: identifying exploration profiles of students in Fall and Spring of the final year in secondary school based on four decisional tasks (orientation, self-, broad and in-depth exploration), investigating transitions between exploration profiles across these two timepoints, and examining the role which different antecedents (i.e., academic self-efficacy, academic self-concept, motivation, test anxiety, gender, educational track, socio-economic status) play in explaining both profile membership and transitions between profiles.
Using self-report questionnaires to measure the exploration tasks and the antecedents in final year students, two cross-sectional samples collected in Fall (
= 9,567) and Spring (
= 7,254), and one longitudinal sample (
= 672) were examined.
Latent profile analyses identified three exploration profiles at both timepoints: passive, moderately active, and highly active explorers. Latent transition analysis showed the moderately active explorers profile to be the most stable profile, while the passive profile was the most variable profile. Academic self-concept, motivation, test anxiety, and gender had an effect on the initial states, while motivation and test anxiety affected the transition probabilities. For both academic self-concept and motivation, students scoring higher were found to be less present in the passive or the moderately active than in the highly active profile. Furthermore, compared to students who remained in the passive profile, higher levels of motivation were associated with a higher probability to transition to the moderately active profile. Next to that, compared to students who remained in the highly active profile, higher levels of motivation were associated with a lower probability to transition to the moderately active profile. Results on anxiety were inconsistent.
Based on substantial cross-sectional as well as longitudinal data, our findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the explanatory base of important differences in the study choice making process of students opting for higher education. This may ultimately lead to more timely and fitting support for students with different exploration profiles.
Teachers' responses to bullying incidents are key in bullying intervention at school. Scholars have suggested that teacher responses can predict student cognitions that are associated with their ...bullying behaviors. However, little is known about whether and how teacher responses affect these cognitions. Therefore, the current study investigated the effects of four immediate teacher responses on four bullying-related student cognitions, using an experimental vignette design. Additionally, it was examined whether students' own participant role behaviors in actual bullying moderated these effects. The investigated teacher responses were non-response, comforting the victim, correcting the bully, and a combination of comforting the victim and correcting the bully. The investigated student cognitions were perceived teacher attitudes toward bullying, perceived teacher moral disengagement regarding bullying, student willingness to report bullying to the teacher and student expectations regarding bullying participant role behaviors in the classroom. Fourth-to-sixth grade students (
= 910; 47% boys;
= 11.04 years,
= 0.91) read a vignette describing a hypothetical teacher's response to a same bullying incident, following random assignment to one of eight conditions (i.e., four teacher responses × two genders of bully and victim in the vignette). Afterward, students completed questionnaires about their social cognitions and manipulation checks. ANOVA demonstrated that students perceived stronger teacher anti-bullying attitudes and less teacher moral disengagement when the hypothetical teacher displayed an active response. These effects were even stronger when the teacher corrected the bully compared to when only the victim was comforted. Further, students were more willing to report bullying when the teacher corrected the bully than when the teacher only comforted the victim. Finally, students expected less pro-bullying behaviors, more defending and less victimization in the vignette's classroom following active teacher response compared to non-response. The effects of teacher responses on student cognitions were not moderated by students' own participant roles in bullying. Taken together, these findings emphasize the importance of active teacher responses to bullying, and especially, responses that clearly show that bullying is not tolerated. Teachers are encouraged to be aware that students can deduce beliefs from teacher responses which can, in turn, affect bullying processes in the classroom.
School engagement and disengagement are important predictors of school success that are grounded in the social context of the classroom. This study used multilevel analysis to examine the ...contributions of the descriptive norms of friends, popular students and classmates regarding engagement and disengagement to the development of Students’ own behavioral and emotional engagement and disengagement among Flemish 7th-graders (
N
= 3,409). Moderating effects of Students’ self-esteem and cognitive ability were examined. The results showed effects from friends’ and classmates’ (dis)engagement on all dimensions of (dis)engagement. Popular Students’ engagement only affected individual Student’s behavioral disengagement and emotional engagement. Self-esteem and high cognitive ability did not make students more or less susceptible to peer effects.
In the last decade, the Achievement Orientation Model (AOM) of Siegle and McCoach has often been used to quantitatively explore different pathways for academic achievement among intellectually gifted ...students in educational settings, mostly in secondary education. To study the dynamics of the different components in the AOM, we further examined the inhibiting and facilitating factors associated with academic achievement as experienced by well-performing and underperforming gifted students. Because the transition from elementary to secondary education is a crucial phase for intellectually gifted students, we selected students from the 7th and 8th grade, using purposive sampling. Six gifted students, three well-performing and three underperforming, from two different high schools participated in in-depth interviews. By capturing the lived experiences of six intellectually gifted students in this study, we were able to get more insight into the complex processes that relate to students' (dis)engagement and (under)achievement in school. The findings underline the value of the AOM and stress the importance of taking learner perceptions into account.
Adolescents differ in their degree of
Environmental Sensitivity
, that is, the ability to perceive and process information about their environment. The present study aimed to investigate the ...psychometric properties of the Highly Sensitive Child scale (HSC), a self-report measure of
Environmental Sensitivity
, in two Belgian and UK samples with a total of 3056 adolescents. First, the factor structure, internal consistency, dimensionality, and construct validity of the HSC scale were examined. Second, measurement invariance of the HSC scale across developmental stage, gender, and country was tested. Results supported a bifactor model with a general sensitivity factor and three group factors: Ease of Excitation (EOE), Low Sensory Threshold (LST), and Aesthetic Sensitivity (AES). Cronbach’s alpha and McDonalds’s (hierarchical) omega indicated that the HSC scale is a reliable measure of
Environmental Sensitivity
, except for AES. Furthermore, AES was associated with different personality traits than EOE and LST. Second, the HSC scale was partially measurement invariant across developmental stage, gender, and country. The results provide important insights in the psychometrics of a first measurement of
Environmental Sensitivity
in early to late adolescents. Implications for further research are discussed.
The Student–Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) is widely used to examine teachers' relationships with young students in terms of closeness, conflict, and dependency. This study aimed to verify the ...dimensional structure of the STRS with confirmatory factor analysis, test its measurement invariance across child gender and age, improve its measurement of the dependency construct, and extend its age range. Teachers completed a slightly adapted STRS for a Dutch sample of 2335 children aged 3 to 12. Overall, the 3-factor model showed an acceptable fit. Results indicated metric invariance across gender and age up to 8years. Scalar invariance generally did not hold. Lack of metric invariance at ages 8 to 12 primarily involved Conflict items, whereas scale differences across gender and age primarily involved Closeness items. The adapted Dependency scale showed strong invariance and higher internal consistencies than the original scale for this Dutch sample. Importantly, the revealed non-invariance for gender and age did not influence mean group comparisons.
Although teachers play a central role in tackling peer victimization at school, no study so far has investigated transactional associations between positive and negative teacher-student relationship ...dimensions and peer victimization in early adolescence. Investigating both dimensions simultaneously in upper elementary school allows to examine differential effects on peer victimization (and vice versa) and could aid tailored prevention and intervention efforts. At three time points within one school year, self-reported teacher-student closeness and conflict and self- and peer-reported peer victimization were assessed in a sample of 930 fourth to sixth grade students (
M
age
= 10.55 years, 53.1% girls). Cross-lagged models revealed negative within-time associations between closeness and self-reported peer victimization, and positive within-time associations between conflict and self-reported peer victimization at most time points. Whereas closeness and conflict negatively predicted each other across the school year, no bidirectional longitudinal effects were found between teacher-student relationships and peer victimization. The current findings highlight the need for early prevention and intervention efforts to tackle peer victimization, build positive teacher-student relationships, and especially reduce negative teacher-student relationships.
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