Caroline Couture

Impact of a school consulting programme aimed at helping teachers integrate students with behavioural difficulties into secondary school: actors’ points of view

A collaborative school consulting programme model, using functional assessment and applied behavioural techniques, was offered to secondary school teachers in two modalities: individual consultation and small-group consultation. The objective was to facilitate the integration of students with behavioural difficulties into mainstream secondary school classes. Both consulting programme modalities shared the same postulates. This article presents the stakeholders’ perceptions of the consulting model and its impacts on teachers and students. Presented here are the results of semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers (N = 42), resource persons accompanying individuals or groups (N = 11) and school managers (N = 8) in the programme’s first year of implementation. According to qualitative analysis of the interviews, these two models seem to have had positive impacts on teachers, especially in relation to their perceptions of students with behavioural difficulties and their understanding of behavioural problems. However, the group model is the one that elicited the most adhesion in all groups of actors.

The differentiated impact of Kangaroo Class programmes in Quebec primary schools: examining behavioural improvements in relation to student characteristics

ABSTRACT Inspired by Nurture Groups, Kangaroo Class (KC) programmes have been gradually expanding in francophone schools throughout the Canadian Province of Quebec. These classes are designed for primary students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBDs) and aim to provide children with a nurturing and predictable environment. To date, KC research data show only moderate improvements in attendees’ behaviour. The aim of this study is to differentiate the characteristics of children with a positive behavioural trajectory from those with a negative behavioural trajectory after 2 years of attending KC by examining the sample group in light of their prior educational history, family-specific factors and types of SEBDs. Results indicate that the primary school children whose behaviour improved after 2 years attending KC had entered the programme displaying higher levels of adjustment difficulties and a greater incidence of internalising behaviours in contrast to those whose behaviour deteriorated. These preliminary results, although obtained through a very small sample size, might warily suggest that when a KC admission choice must be made between a range of potential programme candidates, selecting children with internalising behaviours over those with externalising behaviours would likely lead to more effective outcomes.