Carmel Cefai

Students without Voices: The Unheard Accounts of Secondary School Students with Social, Emotional and Behaviour Difficulties.

The student voice is growing rapidly in education, driving many educational initiatives and policies as well as research. The voice of students with social, emotional and behaviour difficulties, however, is one of the least heard, with relatively few studies that sought to capture the voice of these students in an authentic and emancipatory way. This paper reviews a number of small‐scale qualitative studies that sought the views of secondary school students with social, emotional and behaviour difficulties in Malta. Five main themes were identified, namely poor relationships with teachers, victimisation, a sense of oppression and powerlessness, unconnected learning experiences, and exclusion and stigmatisation. The paper concludes with various suggestions on how the voice of these students may become more powerful and authentic and serve as an emancipatory experience.

Understanding and Measuring Student Engagement in School: The Results of an International Study from 12 Countries.

The objective of the present study was to develop a scale that is appropriate for use internationally to measure affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions of student engagement. Psychometric properties of this scale were examined with data of 3,420 students (7th, 8th, and 9th grade) from 12 countries (Austria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States). The intraclass correlation of the full-scale scores of student engagement between countries revealed that it was appropriate to aggregate the data from the 12 countries for further analyses. Coefficient alphas revealed good internal consistency. Test-retest reliability coefficients were also acceptable. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the data fit well to a second-order model with affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement as the first-order factors and student engagement as the second-order factor. The results support the use of this scale to measure student engagement as a metaconstruct. Furthermore, the significant correlations of the scale with instructional practices, teacher support, peer support, parent support, emotions, academic performance, and school conduct indicated good concurrent validity of the scale. Considerations and implications regarding the international use of this student engagement in school measure are discussed.

Resilience for all: a study of classrooms as protective contexts

Educational resilience has received considerable attention in the literature in the past three decades, with particular reference to indicated and selective interventions. This paper construes resilience within a generalist, universal perspective and examines how classrooms may serve as protective and competence‐enhancing contexts for all their students. Various processes, such as caring relationships, active engagement, inclusion, collaboration, positive beliefs and expectations, and recognition, were identified in a naturalist study of Maltese primary school classrooms operating as optimal learning environments. The study suggests that classrooms, which organize themselves as caring, inclusive and learning and pro‐social centred communities, may operate as protective and competence‐enhancing contexts for all their students.

Pupil Resilience in the Classroom: A Teacher's Framework.

Abstract This article describes the development of a teachers framework to identify a number of primary school classes in Malta characterized by high levels of pupil resilience, namely socio-emotional competence and educational engagement. The article starts by defining resilience as a proactive, contextual and relational phenomenon concerning all pupils, irrespective of individual characteristics or background. It outlines and discusses the construction, administration and scoring of a seven-item framework, followed by an analysis of responses by 22 teachers who rated 465 pupils in their classes, on the basis of which three classes in each school were selected for further study. The conclusion suggests how schools and teachers may use the framework as a descriptive tool in their efforts to promote socioemotional and cognitive competence.

Cultural universality and specificity of student engagement in school: The results of an international study from 12 countries

BACKGROUND A comprehensive understanding of the contextual factors that are linked to student engagement requires research that includes cross-cultural perspectives. AIMS This study investigated how student engagement in school is associated with grade, gender, and contextual factors across 12 countries. It also investigated whether these associations vary across countries with different levels of individualism and socio-economic development. SAMPLES The participants were 3,420 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students from Austria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. METHODS The participants completed a questionnaire to report their engagement in school, the instructional practices they experienced, and the support they received from teachers, peers, and parents. Hierarchical linear modelling was used to examine the effects at both student and country levels. RESULTS The results across countries revealed a decline in student engagement from Grade 7 to Grade 9, with girls reporting higher engagement than boys. These trends did not vary across the 12 countries according to the Human Development Index and Hofstedes Individualism Index. Most of the contextual factors (instructional practices, teacher support, and parent support) were positively associated with student engagement. With the exception that parent support had a stronger association with student engagement in countries with higher collectivism, most of the associations between the contextual factors and student engagement did not vary across countries. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate both cultural universality and specificity regarding contextual factors associated with student engagement in school. They illustrate the advantages of integrating etic and emic approaches in cross-cultural investigations.

Contemporary values and social context: implications for the emotional wellbeing of children

In this paper, the authors highlight features of the social and cultural context which surrounds services to children Emphasis is given to the point that those who work with children exist within the same cultural landscape occupied by the children, parents and other parents. Whilst this landscape is diverse, it contains certain dominant, historically rooted features which influence government policy and professional practice in subtle ways, as well as influencing the values and orientations of individuals. It is argued that there is a need for greater awareness of these influences, as well as a strong commitment among policymakers and professionals to help limit the negative effects that certain cultural trends have on the social context in which young people develop.

Circle time for social and emotional learning in primary school

This paper discusses the findings and implications of a semi-randomised control trial study on the effectiveness of circle time (CT) on primary school students’ social and emotional learning, as well as classroom teachers’ and students’ experience of CT. A social and emotional learning programme was delivered through CT by trained classroom teachers across the years in one primary school, with other classrooms serving as control groups. The classroom teachers completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at pre- and post-intervention, while the CT teachers also completed a questionnaire on their experience of implementing CT in the classroom. The CT students also completed a questionnaire on their own experience of CT. The SDQ scores suggest that CT students showed less internalised difficulties when compared to their control peers, while the qualitative data from both teachers and students suggest that the CT students also exhibited less behaviour problems and more prosocial behaviour. The study identifies various strengths and weaknesses of the programme and makes recommendations on how it could be organised more effectively in the classroom. The paper concludes that rather than taking CT as the default option for nurturing such values as student empowerment, inclusion and equity, there is a need for further rigorous studies on the impact of CT not only on students’ social and emotional learning and behaviour but also on the classroom relationships and climate.

School psychology for diversity : editorial

The concept of student diversity has brought together issues related to at least two major categories of students whose needs are not usually adequately addressed in general educational provisions: students with disabilities and other forms of special educational needs, and students from minority cultures or disadvantaged backgrounds (UNESCO, 2009). School psychologists have long been at the forefront in helping education systems, educators and parents in developing an understanding and adequate provisions for these students. However, the main role ascribed to psychologists was generally that of individual assessment and intervention. Increasing understanding of the cultural context of development, increasing student diversity in schools, and a deeper appreciation of the principles of social justice, have put inclusive education at the forefront of educational reform, and this in turn has called for a change in the role of psychologists as promoters of whole-school healthy contexts for learning and development. These issues were addressed in the keynote papers presented at the 31st International School Psychology Association Conference in Malta in 2009 on ‘School psychology for diversity’, some of which are brought together in this special issue of SPI. Paul Bartolo sets out the main dilemma for all psychologists and school psychologists in particular: while psychologists have long been regarded as the experts about the challenges for adaptation faced by individuals who differ from the norm, inclusive education points towards the challenge of the context, community, education system, school and classroom to be transformed to welcome and support the

Social inclusion and social justice: A resilience curriculum for early years and elementary schools in Europe

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a resilience curriculum in early years and primary schools to enhance social inclusion, equity and social justice amongst European communities, particularly amongst disadvantaged and vulnerable ones, through quality education. It defines educational resilience in terms of academic, social and emotional growth in the face of life challenges; discusses the conceptual framework and key principles underpinning the curriculum; and presents the six major content areas of the curriculum. Finally, it presents the preliminary findings of a pilot project on the implementation of the curriculum in more than 200 classrooms in about 80 early and primary schools in six European countries. Design/methodology/approach – The curriculum was first drafted collaboratively amongst the six partners on the basis of the existing literature in the promotion of resilience in early years and primary schools, with a particular focus to European realities. Once it w...

A Healthy Start: Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in the Early Primary School Years.

Mental health problems in children represent a significant international health concern, with up to one in five children using mental health services during the course of any given year. Identifying the processes of what prevents social, emotional and behaviour difficulties (SEBD) and promotes healthy development from an early age can make a significant contribution to the promotion of positive mental health in children. This article describes a longitudinal study which sought to identify the risk and promotive factors as young children move from the early to junior years in primary school. Multilevel analysis was used to identify the individual, classroom, school, home and community factors that predict change in SEBD and in prosocial behaviour in the early school years. It also calculated the cumulative effect of the various risk and promotive factors on the pupils’ well-being and mental health. The article presents the windows of vulnerability and opportunity for young children’s healthy development, proposing a trajectory for healthy development in early and middle childhood.