Goals and values in school: a model developed for describing, evaluating and changing the social climate of learning environments

Navigating School Meal Environments: Perspectives of Pupils Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder or ADHD

Busy and unstructured school environments can present challenges for pupils diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Although school restaurants may be demanding, limited research has focused on these pupils. This study explores how pupils diagnosed with ASD or ADHD navigate the physical, social, and pedagogical environments of school meals. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in four Swedish schools, involving observations, conversations, and interviews with five 12-year-old boys and their mothers, findings show how pupils valued having a teacher or classmate nearby during lunchtime. Crowded and narrow spaces posed motor challenges, leading to spills and comments on table manners. Socially, pupils alternated between engaging with others and seeking solitude to escape noise and interactions. The study calls for reflection on how societal norms and environmental structures of school meals impact pupils diagnosed with ASD or ADHD, emphasizing the role of school nurses in identifying potential issues.

Inclusive classroom climate development as the cornerstone of inclusive school building: review and perspectives

Education institutional guidelines around the world agree that building more inclusive schools is a priority. The reality of school practice, however, belies this institutional will. To help fill the gap, this theoretical review documents the value that the construct of classroom climate brings to research and practice in terms of inclusive school development. The article firstly points out that the current main challenge is to develop Inclusive Mainstream Teaching (IMT) in diverse classrooms. Indeed, IMT is needed in all classrooms to guarantee the effectiveness of special accomodating measures in schools that are targeted at special education needs students. Intervening at classroom level is both a pragmatic and powerful way of developing inclusive schooling. However, developing IMT in the classroom remains a challenge for both teachers and researchers. Thus this review documents the central role that classroom climate should play in the development of IMT. More precisely, the factors of classroom climate that are associated with inclusive outcomes are identified. We also highlight how these factors and the measurements associated with them are efficient tools to guide IMT development. These measures are proximal, sensitive, complementary, and pragmatic indicators of effective IMT. Such indicators are very useful in helping research empirically document effective IMT, ensure that any small improvement is assessed, monitor teachers' progress, and assist their professional growth. Theoretically positioned as a mediator between inclusive teaching in mainstream classrooms and inclusive school outcomes, inclusive classroom climate is a tool that appears to be effective in supporting IMT development and, consequently, in the establishment of more inclusive schools.

The effect of leadership in the development of innovation capacity

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of leadership on culture and on the structure of learning, and of these two constructs on the innovation capacity.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative study utilising a survey was carried out. By means of an ad hoc questionnaire, educational administrators were asked about some characteristics of their organisations. The authors have proven the model of research through a model of structural equations, that is, by means of the partial least squares technique.

Findings

The hypothesis is confirmed that leadership affects culture and learning structure, and both impact on the innovation capacity of schools.

Practical implications

This work addresses the role of three critical aspects in the management of educational organisations—leadership, culture and structure—in the development of innovation that is essential in improving organisational development.

Originality/value

The role of leadership in the development of favourable conditions for innovation is verified, as is the impact of these conditions on the innovation capacity of educational organisations.

A Positive Psychology Intervention With Emerging Adults

This study assessed the impact of a positive psychology intervention in a sample of 40 young men (35%) and women (65%) aged 18-30 years. Participants were 1st and 4th year undergraduate University students, postgraduate students and working youths. The study examined the effects of a battery of interventions commonly used in positive psychology interventions, including a video and three exercises (i.e. expressing gratitude, best possible selves, goal setting) on character strengths, hope, gratitude and social relations. Intervention activities were carried out during a session that lasted an hour and a half, while a further half-hour evaluation session took place after a two-week interval. Marked positive changes were revealed with regards to youths’ well-being as a result of the intervention. In particular, elevated levels of hope, perceptions of social support and ability to handle social stress successfully, as well as levels of three out of six key character strengths, i.e. courage, humanity/love and transcendence were observed. Influences of demographic and socio-psychological characteristics of youths on the above variables; constellations of intricate relations between them; as well as certain developmental patterns were also highlighted. The repercussions of the above findings for the advancement of positive psychology knowledge and interventions are discussed.

Structural Validity of the Polish Adaptation of the Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS-C)

Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of studies, also in the field of educational psychology, on values within the framework proposed by Schwartz, involving younger and younger respondents. A fresh impetus to studies on children’s values was given by the Picture-Based Value Survey for Children (PBVS-C), which was developed by Döring and her colleagues. This article presents the development and structural validation of the Polish version of the PBVS-C, which measures Schwartz’s four higher-order values self-transcendence, self-enhancement, openness to change, and conservation. A theory-based multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis performed in a sample of 910 children (aged 8-12 years) revealed a differentiated value structure that closely corresponds to Schwartz’s prototype. These findings are discussed in light of cross-cultural assessment in childhood.