Early childhood education (ECE) lays the foundation for a child's lifelong learning journey. More and more, new insights and understandings of child development are evolving, and concomitantly, new preschool education has seen several exciting trends in recent years, with innovative approaches to enhance children's learning experiences. Current trends in early childhood education, inter alia, focus on increasing physical activity, social-emotional learning (SEL), inclusive classrooms, integrating STEM/STEAM through play-based methods, a heightened focus on mental health, outdoor activity, and holistic development requiring higher degrees for educators, and incorporating more technology into learning. In this section of Perspectives in Education, we explore the latest trends and developments shaping the landscape of early childhood education.
BACKGROUND:
Verbal abuse is a pervasive yet underrecognized form of emotional maltreatment among adolescents, with significant psychological consequences. Despite its prevalence, a validated instrument for measuring verbal abuse among Indonesian adolescents remains unavailable. This study aimed to develop and validate the Indonesian Verbal Abuse Questionnaire (I-VAQ) using Rasch analysis to ensure its psychometric robustness and cultural relevance.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
A total of 1,197 junior high school students from three schools in Palangka Raya, Indonesia, participated in this study. The I-VAQ was adapted from the original Verbal Abuse Questionnaire (VAQ) and underwent a rigorous translation, cultural adaptation, and validation process. Data were analyzed using Winsteps Version 5.1.5.1 (Linacre, J.M., Winsteps® Rasch measurement computer program, Winsteps.com, Beaverton, Oregon, USA), employing Rasch modeling to assess item fit, unidimensionality, person-item reliability, and separation indices.
RESULTS:
The 14-item I-VAQ demonstrated strong construct validity and internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92). Item and person reliability were 0.99 and 0.84, respectively, indicating high measurement precision. The Wright map confirmed the instrument’s ability to differentiate individuals based on their exposure to verbal abuse. The I-VAQ effectively captured multiple dimensions of verbal abuse, including teasing, insults, threats, and diminished self-esteem, making it an effective screening tool for Indonesian adolescents.
CONCLUSION:
The I-VAQ is a psychometrically sound and culturally appropriate instrument for measuring verbal abuse among adolescents. This validated tool provides valuable insights for educators, psychologists, and policymakers, supporting the development of targeted intervention programs and mental health policies. Future research should explore the I-VAQ’s applicability across different socioeconomic and cultural settings in Indonesia and beyond.
Special aspects of education, Public aspects of medicine
Diana Elvira Soto, José Arturo Molina, Nubia Yaneth Gómez
El estudio analiza el programa de pasantías de investigación internacional del Doctorado en Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia. El objetivo es crear un marco para las pasantías doctorales que promueva el enriquecimiento académico, profesional y personal a través de la inmersión en diversos contextos socioeducativos y culturales. La metodología incluye un análisis documental y de archivo, apoyándose en la historia social de la educación y la hermenéutica crítica. Los resultados muestran que las pasantías han fomentado redes académicas internacionales y han mejorado las competencias globales de los estudiantes. Se concluye que estas estancias son fundamentales para la formación de investigadores con perspectiva global, resaltando la necesidad de adaptarse continuamente a nuevas formas de aprendizaje e interacción intercultural. Este artículo contribuye con estrategias para la internacionalización de la educación superior, ofreciendo un modelo replicable y sostenible que enriquece la academia y fortalece la identidad global sin perder la perspectiva regional, y que puede servir de referencia a programas doctorales similares.
PurposeThe study aims to explore the diverse meanings and sources of frustration among Israeli principals working in special education settings. The study poses two questions: 1. What are the perceived expressions of frustration among principals working in the context of special education? 2. What are the perceived sources of frustration among principals working in special education settings?Design/methodology/approachA total of 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted with principals working in special education schools for complex disabilities to investigate perceived expressions and sources of frustration.FindingsThe study identified four themes through data analysis: helplessness regarding the children, helplessness regarding bureaucratic aspects, frustration from conflicts and disappointment and frustration from feeling alone.Originality/valueDespite the extensive acknowledgment of emotions and feelings in the context of educational leadership, the experience of work frustration among special education school principals has not been explicitly investigated. This research provides empirical insights into the nuanced experiences of frustration among special education principals, offering both empirical and practical implications for understanding and addressing this critical aspect of their work.
Extant studies of special education teacher wellbeing often focus on negative aspects, such as stress, burnout and the consequent attrition from teaching, the latter occurring with increasing frequency in the field of special education. In this article, the authors use the OECD teacher wellbeing framework to conceptualise special education teacher wellbeing as a positive multidimensional construct, making the case for uncoupling special education teacher wellbeing from mainstream teacher wellbeing given the almost paradigmatic difference in roles, responsibilities, and educational context within Australian schools. The (limited) literature reveals numerous possibilities for supporting and promoting special education teacher wellbeing with salient wellbeing-promoting factors, such as teacher self-efficacy, connectedness, professional development, and class structure. Further empirical studies harnessing these factors will help improve working conditions and the wellbeing of special education teachers.
Research on failure to master mathematics (often used term: disability) is a modest speciality, compared with related domains. Research on low attaining persons appears to be too much directed towards a small number of topics en vogue while other issues, often more impressive ones, are mainly left unnoticed. Not the least disquieting is the excessive concentration on computation with small natural numbers in a setting of formalism. This presentation has the aim to demonstrate that the number of parameters (factors, vectors, dimensions) is great in the field of research on education and learning mathematics and that research is a problematic matter, due to the complex relations between mathematics, individual and environment (MIE).
It has been well documented that experiencing trauma impacts all aspects of child development. Young children experience trauma at high rates, and children with disabilities are at an increased risk of experiencing trauma. One way to mitigate the effects of trauma is through the implementation of trauma-informed care, which requires a well-trained workforce. Yet, to date, minimal research has been conducted about the professional development needs of early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers related to trauma. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand ECSE teachers’ professional development needs related to trauma and trauma-informed care. Eighteen ECSE teachers participated in interviews. Results indicate that while ECSE teachers are familiar with the basics of trauma-informed care, more training is needed, specifically in the areas of working with families, implementing trauma-informed classroom strategies, and supporting children with disabilities who have experienced trauma.
Loretta Mason-Williams, Elizabeth F. Bettini, David J. Peyton
et al.
In this article, the authors describe the complexity of special education teacher (SET) shortage, how shortage undermines equal educational opportunity, and strategies that school districts and state and federal governments have used to combat them. The authors consider the economic consequences of shortage and describe how school budgets are burdened by turnover and, in some cases, litigation. The authors consider specific aspects of SET shortages, including the problems of staffing high-poverty urban and rural schools, recruiting and retaining teachers of color, and staffing alternative educational placements. The authors then consider more general factors related to shortage, including the valence of teaching as a profession, attrition, working conditions, and compensation. The authors describe how broad policy-based interventions, such as federal spending on personnel preparation and alternative route entrées to teaching, have largely failed to remedy SET shortage. Finally, the authors posit that SET shortage cannot be addressed successfully without improving working conditions and differentiating compensation for shortage area teachers and teachers working with struggling students. Although special education cannot achieve such sweeping change alone, the time seems ripe for moving forward on this important agenda.
ABSTRACT Although educational policies differ across countries, there appear to be clear commonalities across a global context in some aspects of the utilisation of special education paraprofessionals and their relationships with special education teachers. Research and federal education policies in the United States highlight the importance of ensuring access to general education curriculum and settings for students with disabilities. In response to students’ needs for support in general education settings, schools have widely turned to the utilisation of paraprofessionals, which can present challenges. This qualitative study explored the perspectives of 64 special education teachers and paraprofessionals across 11 focus groups, focused on the key issues that arise when working together to support students with disabilities in general education settings. We used inductive qualitative analysis to identify four themes of key issues, related to: (a) shared ownership of student learning, (b) planning and implementing appropriate supports, (c) navigating collaborating roles, and (d) facilitating the bridge between general and special education. We offer recommendations for future research and practice, including for teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, and teacher preparation personnel.
COVID-19 shocked the education system, disrupting the policies and practices of special education over multiple school years. This essay brings together the institutional logics perspective and racialized organization theory to first examine aspects of special education and then describe how leaders and teachers can improve special education to target inequities. We illustrate features of three logics of special education: compliance, intervention, and equity. We explain how these logics are racialized structures in the special education field. Applying an agentic stance, we portray how leaders and teachers draw on multiple, competing logics of special education. Next, we highlight how infrastructure enables leaders and teachers to enact the equity model of special education. In sum, this essay encourages improving infrastructural elements and confronting racism and ableism to re-envision special education in the face of COVID-disruptions.
Mohd Norazmi Nordin, Izzat Fadli Hamdan, F. Noor
et al.
Purpose: This qualitative study was conducted to explore the factors that influence the use of technology in special education classrooms. Theoritical Framework: Technology is evolving so fast, that we can’t afford to keep up with it. These technological developments give a new leaf to various aspects of life. Methodology: Respondents were interviewed in three separate sessions and recorded before the thematic analysis was conducted. Findings: This study shows benefit from the emergence of various gadgets that can make teaching and learning more interesting. Nevertheless, there are still teachers who are unable to use technology efficiently in the classroom, especially for special education. This condition is caused by several factors. Implications: The findings of this study are expected to provide an initial overview for subsequent researchers to conduct further studies. Value: Among those affected by this rapid development is the field of education. It can be seen that education is gradually moving according to a fresher and more exciting trend with the application of technology.
Despite a renewed interest in music teacher education practices with real-world implications, the heterogeneity of learners is often daunting to early-career educators. There is a lack of specific and adequate coursework in undergraduate music education programs to prepare preservice music teachers (PSMTs) for teaching diverse learner populations, including learners with disabilities. Drawing on a project where PSMTs facilitated drumming sessions at a special education school, this case study explored PSMTs’ experiences of project-based service learning in a special educational setting. Five themes that emerged from the data describing PSMTs’ experiences suggest that such initiatives with learners at a special education school can foster student responsiveness and autonomy. The findings describe how integrating dialectic aspects could nurture the music-teaching skills of a PSMT. These aspects are joy and challenges, expectations and reactions, and learning to teach individually and in a group.
Indra Jaya, Citra Ashri Maulidina, Irah Kasirah
et al.
Based on the observations and explanations of special guidance teachers in schools, inclusive education providers that the form of collaboration between teachers and stakeholders is still diverse. In general, this study aims to find out and obtain information about the implementation of collaboration between teachers and stakeholders in education services for children with special needs in schools providing inclusive education in Sukabumi. This research is a quantitative research. Data collection techniques are carried out by distributing questionnaires and recording initial data in the form of records that are understood by researchers without reducing the actual data. The results of the study can be concluded that collaboration in several aspects is still lacking such as teacher collaboration with SLB, teacher collaboration with related experts, lack of teacher collaboration with resource centers, teachers are also still lacking collaboration in carrying out learning activities. Meanwhile, there are several aspects that have begun to develop well, including teacher collaboration with parents, as well as teacher collaboration with special guidance teachers in inclusive schools, although not yet dehydrated, maximum results are expected to be a reference in building good collaboration between teachers and related stakeholders in creating effective learning in inclusive education. This study illustrates that inclusive education in its implementation process requires support from teachers and related stakeholders in order to run optimally.
Ni Kadek Nilawati, Gede Wira Bayu, I Nyoman Laba Jayanta
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengembangkan produk berupa modul praktikum pada mata kuliah Bahasa Inggris. Model penelitian yang digunakan adalah model ADDIE. Subjek dalam penelitian ini adalah 6 ahli untuk mengetahui validitas modul yang dikembangkana. Objek dalam penelitian ini adalah validitas modul praktikum Bahasa Inggris. Metode pengumpulan data pada penelitian ini adalah kuisioner dan tes. Hasil penelitian menunjukan (1) modul praktikum Bahasa Inggris memperoleh indeks validitas ahli materi I dan II rata-rata skor sebesar 95,5%, ahli media I dan II rata-rata skor sebesar 87%, dan ahli desain I dan II rata-rata skor sebesar 87% termasuk ke dalam validitas sangat baik. (2) Hasil penilaian ahli praktis memperoleh hasil sebesar 87%. Pengujian hipotesis dalam penelitian ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan Independent Sample T- Test/Uji-t Sampel tidak Bekorelasi. Berdasarkan hasil analisis Independent Sample T- Test/Uji-t Sampel tidak Bekorelasi diperoleh nilai signifikansi (sig. 2- tailed) sebesar 0,000. Berdasarkan hasil tersebut, dapat dilihat bahwa nilai Sig. < 0.05. Sehingga dapat disimpulkan bahwa Ho ditolak dan H1 diterima Hasil uji efektivitas produk dinyatakan sangat baik menurut hasil uji coba produk terhapadap mahasiswa melalui hasil belajar pretest nilai rata-rata memperoleh hasil sebesar 52,79 dan hasil belajar post-test nilai rata- rata memperoleh hasil sebesar 82,14. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa perangkat pembelajaran yang dikembangkan bersifat valid ditinjau dari hasil penilaian ahli, praktis ditinjau dari hasil penilaian praktisi dan efektif ditinjau dari hasil uji coba produk terhadap mahasiswa. Modul ajar yang valid, praktis dan efektif diharapkan mampu
mengatasi nilai hasil belajar mahasiswa. Melalui Pengembangan modul praktikum Bahasa Inggris diharapkan mampu membantu permasalahan mahasiswa saat mengikuti perkuliahan.
This study identified teacher challenges in the implementation of the individualized education plan (IEP) for special educational needs (SEN) children with learning disabilities (LD). A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to identify and synthesize the literature on this topic. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. Most of the findings indicated that teachers face challenges in all three aspects of competency challenges, that is knowledge, skill, and attitude challenges. Lack of knowledge on criterion-referenced tests (f = 3; 42%) can be considered as the biggest knowledge challenge faced by teachers. The biggest skill challenge was also found in the evaluation process, with teachers being less efficient in carrying out the evaluation process (f = 4; 57%). In terms of attitude challenges, the lack of motivation (f = 4; 66%) in implementing the IEP for LD children is the most common challenge encountered by teachers. Therefore, the results of the analysis and research carried out can serve as a guide and reference for educators, the Ministry of Education (MOE), and future researchers in an effort to solve teachers’ competency challenges in the IEP implementation process. However, additional high-quality research or an empirical study should be conducted to verify the validity of the conceptual framework formed by conducting a survey study in Malaysia.
Mahardika Supratiwi, M. Yusuf, Fadjri Kirana Anggarani
The rapid spread of the Covid-19 virus has had an impact on various aspects of life, such as the economy, education, and socialisation. One of the social distancing policies in the field of education is the application of distance learning at the preschool, primary school, secondary school, special school, and college education levels. Its implementation has led to challenges for teachers, students, and parents, especially students with disabilities (SWD). The purpose of this study is to identify the challenges faced by the special education teachers (SETs) who have been providing distance learning for children with special needs during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study was conducted using a survey method by distributing questionnaires via Google Forms to 226 SETs in Indonesia. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics. The results show that most of the SETs (66%) stated that they had faced barriers to distance learning that came from parents, students, and other teachers, as well as technical barriers. Accordin g to the SETs’ perceptions, some of the barriers that came from parents included lack of coordination and communication, limited use of mobile phones, and limited time for parents to accompany the students. The barriers coming from students were boredom and their lack of abilities. Furthermore, the barriers from the SETs themselves included difficulties in adapting material to online learning, difficulties in monitoring and evaluating student progress, and the lack of direction and coordination from schools. Other technical barriers were the frequent blackouts and insufficient internet signal.
Naiara Berasategi Sancho, Nahia Idoiaga Mondragon, M. Santamaría
et al.
Although COVID-19 is being disruptive to all children, the effects are stronger for children with disabilities. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse, from a holistic perspective, the well-being of children with special needs during the total lockdown period in Spain. The ‘Well-being of Children in Lockdown’ (WCL) scale was completed by 1225 parents of which 3.1% (n = 38) had children with special needs. The results reveal the emergence of negative emotions among children with special needs, who were found to be crying more, feeling more nervous than usual, getting more angry and feeling sadder. These children also have more unhealthy habits, eat more than usual, overuse new technology and watch too many TV. Children with special needs scored lower for general well-being than those without these needs, and scored lower also for emotional aspects, playful and creative activities and physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of European Journal of Special Needs Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Jamie M. Faro, Angelo D’Addario, Ann M. King
et al.
Abstract Background Physician delivered weight management counseling (WMC) occurs infrequently and physicians report lack of training and poor self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to develop and test the Video-based Communication Assessment (VCA) for weight management counseling (WMC) training in medical residents. Methods This study was a mixed methods pilot conducted in 3 phases. First, we created five vignettes based on our prior data and expert feedback, then administered the vignettes via the VCA to Internal Medicine categorical residents (n = 16) from a University Medical School. Analog patients rated responses and also provided comments. We created individualized feedback reports which residents were able to view on the VCA. Lastly, we conducted debriefing interviews with the residents (n = 11) to obtain their feedback on the vignettes and personalized feedback. Interviews were transcribed, and we used thematic analysis to generate and apply codes, followed by identifying themes. Results Descriptive statistics were calculated and learning points were created for the individualized feedback reports. In VCA debriefing interviews with residents, five themes emerged: 1) Overall the VCA was easy to use, helpful and more engaging than traditional learning and assessment modes, 2) Patient scenarios were similar to those encountered in the clinic, including diversity, health literacy and different stages of change, 3) The knowledge, skills, and reminders from the VCA can be transferred to practice, 4) Feedback reports were helpful, to the point and informative, including the exemplar response of how to best respond to the scenario, and 5) The VCA provide alternatives and practice scenarios to real-life patient situations when they aren’t always accessible. Conclusions We demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of the VCA, a technology delivered platform, for delivering WMC to residents. The VCA exposed residents to diverse patient experiences and provided potential opportunities to tailor providers responses to sociological and cultural factors in WMC scenarios. Future work will examine the effect of the VCA on WMC in actual clinical practice.