The Role of Teachers in Students’ Social Inclusion in the Classroom

in Frontiers in Education (in press)

Inequalities in teacher reports on students’ inclusion at school

Scientific Conference (2021, August)

Theoretical background: With the ratification of the UN Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 26 March 2009, Germany has made the commitment – as have 181 other countries – to ... [more ▼]

Theoretical background: With the ratification of the UN Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 26 March 2009, Germany has made the commitment – as have 181 other countries – to guarantee non-discriminatory access to inclusive and high-quality teaching at all levels of the (general) educational system. The much-noticed Article 24 of the UN CRPD demands that participating states ensure, among others, effective and personalized support measures in inclusive learning settings to maximize academic as well as social and emotional development of all learners. Access to the general educational system is a prerequisite, but not a sufficient condition for successful inclusion (Powell & Hadjar, 2016). Students´ wellbeing is regarded as an important indicator of the quality of inclusion and as one of the main aims of inclusive education (Kullmann et al., 2015). As such, responding to student diversity has brought about new challenges for teachers. In order to meet diversity challenges in classroom, it is critical that teachers adapt their instructional practices. In this regard, teacher’s ability to accurately assess a student’s subjective wellbeing is supposed to support each student’s personal and academic development. However, while teachers’ assessment accuracy for students’ academic achievement and cognitive abilities is in general relatively adequate, the agreement between self-reports and teacher reports of socio-emotional aspects is rather low (Machts et al., 2016). The low to moderate consistencies suggest the occurrence of an assessment bias. Recent findings indicate that especially student’s gender and the status special educational needs (SEN) influence teachers’ assessment accuracy of students’ inclusion at school (Schwab et al., 2020). Teacher characteristics such as their self-efficacy and their attitudes towards inclusion are regarded as fundamental for successfully implementing inclusive education (Gebhardt et al., 2015). Teachers’ responsibility is related to the teachers’ belief in their ability to influence students and with positive attitudes towards teaching in heterogenous classrooms (Halvorsen et al., 2009). Furthermore, teachers with more job experience are better able to judge students’ performance (Van Ophuysen, 2006). In this line of thought, teachers’ assessment bias represented as stigmatization effects could ultimately lead to increasing educational inequalities. Even though to date several studies investigated the accuracy of teacher judgments, teachers’ assessment accuracy with respect to students’ emotional inclusion has been largely neglected in previous research. In this regard, the present study investigates, first, the consistency of the self-reports and the teacher reports of students‘ emotional well-being, social inclusion and academic self-concept. Second, we address the question whether students’ gender, first language and SEN can explain teachers’ assessment accuracy of students’ inclusion in school. Third, the possible influence of teachers’ job experience, self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion as well as their responsibility for every student on teachers´ assessment accuracy is also part of our study. Method: Data are from the project “Inklusion in der Sekundarstufe I in Deutschland” (INSIDE). The sample consisted of 3772 grade 6 students (Mage = 12.6 years, SDage = 0.62) from 231 schools and 432 teachers. To assess students’ emotional well-being, social participation and academic self-concept, both students and teachers were asked to fill out the German Version of the Perceptions of Inclusion Questionnaire (PIQ; Venetz et al., 2015). In the project INSIDE, the PIQ items with negative wording were not included. Additionally, teachers filled out the Self-efficacy for Inclusive Teaching Questionnaire (Bosse & Spörer, 2014), the Attitudes towards an Inclusive Education System Questionnaire (Lüke & Grosche, 2017) and an adapted version of the Teacher Responsibility Scale (Lauermann & Karabenick, 2013). Analyses were performed in Mplus Version 8.0. Given the nested structure of the data, we used the complex sample option. First, we applied a correlated trait-correlated method minus one [CT-C(M-1)] model (Eid et al., 2003) to examine the consistency of student self-reports and teacher ratings. To address the second and third research questions, we fitted a CT-C(M-1) model with covariates and latent interaction effects (Koch et al., 2018). Results: Research question 1: How consistent are self-reports and teacher reports of students‘ emotional well-being, social inclusion and academic self-concept? Results showed low to moderate consistencies between self-reports and teacher reports (12–33%). The consistency between teachers’ reports and self-reports of students’ emotional well-being and social inclusion is rather low. The consistency for academic self-concept is somewhat higher. Research question 2: Do the students’ gender, first language and the status special educational needs (SEN) predict teachers’ assessment accuracy regarding students’ inclusion? The students’ gender and the status SEN were important predictors for the assessment bias. Teachers underestimate the academic self-concept of students with the status SEN (compared to students without SEN) – and to a smaller extent also their social inclusion and emotional well-being. Moreover, they tend to overestimate girls’ subjective well-being. Research question 3: Do the teachers’ job experience, self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion as well as their responsibility for every student predict teachers’ assessment accuracy of students’ inclusion? The bias could partly be explained by teachers’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion and their responsibility for every student. Teachers’ assessment (in-)accuracy regarding students’ subjective well-being could be predicted only to a small extent by the teachers’ self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusion and their responsibility for every student. The findings will be discussed in terms of their significance for educational inequalities. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research will be given. [less ▲]

Schule und erschwerte Lernsituationen und Lebenslagen

in Hascher, Tina; Idel, Till-Sebastian; Helsper, Werner (Eds.) Handbuch Schulforschung (2021)

Erschwerte Lernsituationen sind verknüpfte Gegebenheiten von individuellen Dispositionen, Sozialisationserfahrungen und institutionalisierten Lern- und Entwicklungsumfeldern in Schulen, die sich als ... [more ▼]

Erschwerte Lernsituationen sind verknüpfte Gegebenheiten von individuellen Dispositionen, Sozialisationserfahrungen und institutionalisierten Lern- und Entwicklungsumfeldern in Schulen, die sich als ungünstige Konstellationen im konkreten Klassenraum widerspiegeln. Sie stehen überzufällig häufig mit erschwerten Lebenslagen in Verbindung. Durch schulische Selektion werden zudem differenzielle soziale Lern- und Entwicklungsumfelder gebildet, die Schüler*innen im unteren Bereich des Leistungsspektrums besonders betreffen. Schwache Schulleistungen sind somit kein eigenständiges Charakteristikum eines Schülers bzw. einer Schülerin. [less ▲]

Rosy or blue? Change in recall bias of students’ affective experiences during early adolescence

in Emotion (2021)

Emotionen im inklusiven Unterricht

in Gläser-Zikuda, Michaela; Hofmann, Florian; Frederking, Volker (Eds.) Emotionen im Unterricht. Psychologische, pädagogische und fachdidaktische Perspektiven (2021)

Emotionen im inklusiven Unterricht wurden bislang noch selten untersucht. Erste Untersuchungen weisen darauf hin, dass Binnendifferenzierung, Individualisierung und kooperatives Lernen – als zentrale ... [more ▼]

Emotionen im inklusiven Unterricht wurden bislang noch selten untersucht. Erste Untersuchungen weisen darauf hin, dass Binnendifferenzierung, Individualisierung und kooperatives Lernen – als zentrale Merkmale eines inklusiven Unterrichts – sich positiv auf das emotionale Erleben von Schüler*innen auswirken. Implikationen für die Praxis werden aufgezeigt und weiterführend diskutiert. [less ▲]

Entwicklung und erste empirische Überprüfung des Fragebogens zur Erfassung des generellen emotionalen Selbstkonzepts in der frühen Adoleszenz (FEGESK-A)

in Empirische Pädagogik (2021), 35(2), 183201

The general emotional self-concept (GESC) is highly relevant to psychosocial development in adolescence. However, the GESC is hardly considered within empirical education and educational science. This is ... [more ▼]

The general emotional self-concept (GESC) is highly relevant to psychosocial development in adolescence. However, the GESC is hardly considered within empirical education and educational science. This is also mirrored by the lack of appropriate measurement instruments. The aim of this paper is the development and first empirical evaluation of a questionnaire assessing the general emotional self-concept in early ado-lescence (QAGESC-A). The development of the QAGESC-A was based on the hierarchically structured Marsh/Shavelson model of the general self-concept. Two working models were generated. According to working model I, the GESC contains three dimensions (perception, expression, coping), whereas model II comprises two dimensions (perception, modulation). In accordance with these self-concept dimensions, 24 items were generated. Based on a sample of a pilot study with 142 students (MRageR = 10.98 years, SDRageR = 0.89 years), the questionnaire was then reduced stepwise to 12 items and evaluated for factorial validity and reliability. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis provide first evidence that the two-factor model fitted slightly better than the three-factor model. The questionnaire shows good reliability (α = .82, ω = .85) and the scales exhibit acceptable internal consistencies (α / ω = .75). [less ▲]

Inklusives Klassenklima

in Resch, Katharina; Lindner, Katharina-Theresa; Streese, Bettina (Eds.) et al Inklusive Schulentwicklung (2021)

Inequalities in teacher reports on students’ inclusion at school

Scientific Conference (2020, November)

Peer influence in individuals with developmental disabilities

Scientific Conference (2020, August)

Die Bedeutsamkeit von Peers für Jugendliche in der Sekundarstufe und in der Freizeit

in Hagenauer, Gerda; Raufelder, Diana (Eds.) Soziale Eingebundenheit. Sozialbeziehungen im Fokus von Schule und Lehrer*innenbildung (2020)