Speaker
Description
It is estimated that 20-69% of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) experience bullying involvement (Chatzitheochari et al., 2016; Blake et al., 2012; Rose at al., 2011). Yet we know very little about positive and negative networks and interactions between pupils in special schools. This study aims to explore peer networks in special schools to better understand the patterns of relationships.
Three UK secondary special schools will participate, each with a different primary specialism. Opt-out methodology will increase the likelihood of at least 70% participation of all pupils across each school. Pupils across each school will answer four questions: 1) who are your friends, 2) who do you play with? 3) who is mean (not nice) to you? 4) who are you mean (not nice) to? Per question, each pupil will provide up to 10 names of pupils in their school. Sex, age and school class will be collected.
Each school has a different SEND specialism and will be analysed and interpreted separately. However, comparisons will be made between schools. For each school, we will construct friendship and bullying networks and consider the degree of connectedness or separation of pupils in each network, based on age, sex and school class. Visual maps will be presented alongside analyses.
Our findings will present a picture of whole-school interactions of pupils from three different special schools. This novel data can support the development of more accurate and therefore more effective anti-bullying teaching resources and programmes specifically for pupils with SEND.
Keywords
Special educational needs and disabilities; SEND; network analysis; peer nomination; peer interactions
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
|---|---|
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Quantitative method study |
