Podrška škole djeci s teškoćama u ponašanju i učenju iz perspektive roditelja i djece

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to describe perceptions and experiences of school support for pupils with learning and behavioural difficulties from the perspective of parents and their children. Interviews were conducted with 33 participants in 10 families at risk. Inductive thematic analysis showed that the key topic was to explain how behaviour and learning difficulties unnoticed by the school progress to behaviour and learning problems and problems in the family environment. The results suggest that family members perceive school as extremely important in their value system, and that schooling is a key topic present throughout childhood, burdening children as well as parents. Behaviour/learning problems are evident from the start of elementary school. To solve such problems, parents seek help first from school experts, and later from experts working in other services. From the parents’ perspective, they find neither understanding nor help, and they feel that they are usually left to cope with problems on their own. Therefore, progression of problems and their spread into non-academic types of problems are evident. In cases where schools ensure some kind of interventions, the perspective of research participants is that they are not matched with the type or intensity of the child’s needs. As experience from the research participants show, calls for help and assistance often come from parents, or even the children themselves. That means that it is unnecessary to motivate parents to participate in interventions, so the lack of school interest in providing support to parents and pupils is surprising. Possible school interventions that are focused on the needs of children with behaviour and learning difficulties are proposed in the discussion.

"Mislim, realno, tko voli školu?"

“…It connects people, yes, and inspires them for their future." (D1/10) However, the boys participating in this study were much more likely to talk about their school experience as a major area of challenge and a place where difficulties arising from the spectrum of ADHD symptoms were most pronounced; this finding is consistent with previous studies on this subject (e.g., Loe and Feldman, 2007;DuPaul and Langberg, 2014;Barkley, 2015;DuPaul and Stoner, 2016;Koller-Trbović et al, 2019). The boys regularly perceived school as being synonymous to burdensome activities associated with education ("… what is hard for me to do?…”

Experiences of Adolescent Participation in Educational Institutions in Croatia

“…Koller-Trbović and Širanović [37] point out that significant interest in the topic of participation of at-risk children has been evident in the Croatian research discourse only in the last fifteen years or so, while the research encompasses several contexts and topics (e.g., the participatory rights of children in educational institutions, of children who are in the process of a needs analysis and intervention planning, who are in foster care, or who are undergoing non-institutional treatment). Even though these are smaller and most often qualitative studies, the results almost unambiguously indicate that children's participatory rights are insufficiently observed and very diversely perceived in practice.…”

“…It may be concluded that the results of key Croatian studies on this topic unequivocally show the children's readiness to participate, but also their continued insufficient involvement and partnership with adults, especially in terms of participating in decisions on their future lives. In direct treatment, children report better opportunities for participation than in the process of needs analysis and intervention planning, even if such opportunities are still insufficient [37]. Therefore, this research was conducted with the aim of deepening the knowledge and understanding of participation of adolescents in various aspects of institutional life.…”

Risks of Social Exclusion Among Children in ECEC Settings: Assessments by Parents and ECEC Teachers

“…In assessing RSE, a child is not observed in isolation “but in the context of the social, and especially, microsocial environment” (Koller-Trbović et al, 2017, p. 12). This involves a process of determining the probability of the unfavorable development of the child to acquire a clearer picture of the needs of children and their families.…”

“…Such an assessment is intertwined with the intervention itself. Contemporary literature considers it a desirable assessment model because it is carried out without removing children from their natural environment, and it provides for dynamism and continuity and for assessing a child’s natural and spontaneous reactions (Koller-Trbović et al, 2017). However, very little is known about the preparedness of ECEC teachers to respond to these requirements and about the possibility of early identification of the RSE of preschool-age children, although different methods of assessing the development and social functioning of children have been developed in the last few decades (Howard & Melhuish, 2017).…”