Knowledge and Feelings of Competence with Regard to ADHD Among Support Staff in All-Day Primary Schools

Abstract

(1) Background: Schools report a high number of schoolchildren with poor attention and hyperactive behavior, with 5% being diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This causes specific problems during homework and classroom times, and the extension of all-day schooling in German primary schools makes this a challenge for support staff working in the after-school programs. Such staff have a very wide variety of qualifications, ranging from no formal teacher training to full teaching qualifications. (2) Methods: This study documents the knowledge of 196 support staff working in all-day primary schools about ADHD, and their subjective view of whether they feel competent with regard to homework situations in general and ADHD in particular. (3) Results: Those with an educational background have significantly more knowledge than those without such a background, staff feel less prepared to supervise children with ADHD, and there is a small but significant correlation here with knowledge about ADHD. (4) Conclusions: The importance of trained pedagogical staff in the supervision of children with concentration problems is emphasized.

Effective but Not Feasible—What Support Staff in All-Day Primary Schools Think of Pedagogical Interventions with Regard to Children with ADHD

“…In their path model, there was a positive correlation between knowledge and effectiveness ratings, which in turn was a main factor for the intention to implement pedagogical interventions. In line with our assumption, there were also group differences in terms of effectiveness ratings between support staff with pedagogical qualifications and those without, with the former not only having more knowledge of ADHD [40], but also rating the effectiveness of the interventions higher. A similar result has been found by Zemp et al [56] in a comparison between pre-and in-service teachers.…”

“…Another variable could be the qualifications of the pedagogical staff. For example, there are differences in knowledge between pre-and in-service teachers [39] and between pedagogical and non-pedagogical staff [40]. Consistent with these findings, the level of qualification seems to play a role in whether there is a higher acceptance of the use of effective interventions [35,37,41].…”

“…The sample is identical to that already described in the article by Domsch et al [40] in this Special Issue. A total of 196 support staff (89.3% female; 7.1% male; 3.6% missings) working in after-school homework supervision at 40 primary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse in Germany took part in the survey.…”

“…The group of pedagogical support staff in the after-school sector is very heterogeneous in terms of qualifications. Those with a background in education seem to have more knowledge of ADHD than those without [40]. Furthermore, experienced teachers seem to have a more positive attitude towards effective methods of supporting ADHD children and also use these methods more frequently.…”

Teachers’ Readiness and Knowledge About ADHD Students among Mainstream School Teachers: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Knowledge and Feelings of competence with Regard to ADHD among support staff in All-day Primary Schools (Domsch et al, 2021) Improving student outcomes by supporting students with disabilities and their need effectively and efficiency strategies…”