Yearly data are collected describing progress in inclusive education. Frequently used criteria are the percentages of students attending special schooling or percentages of students officially labelled as having special educational needs (SEN). However, both criteria have pitfalls. In this study, the social participation of students was used as a…

This study focuses on companionship, intimacy, and support of reciprocated friendships of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), students with motor and/or sensory disabilities, and typically developing students with their classmates at the start of mainstream secondary school. The study included 1379 typically developing students, 65…

Social participation of students with special educational needs (SEN) is a key issue in the inclusion debate. However, the meaning of concepts like social integration, social inclusion and social participation used in current literature is often unclear. Recently, these concepts were clarified based on preschool and primary school literature. The…

The trend towards inclusive education has led to an increase of studies focusing on peer attitudes. This review study presents an overview of studies describing attitudes of students, variables relating to students' attitudes, and the relationship between students' attitudes and the social participation of peers with disabilities. Based on a…

Teachers in the Netherlands hesitate to accept responsibility for students with special needs in regular education. They generally do not have positive attitudes towards inclusive education, citing a lack of personal knowledge and skill for teaching students with special needs, an area that was not sufficiently covered in their basic teacher…

This study addresses the convergent validity of a new teacher questionnaire to assess the social participation of students with special needs in regular primary schools. The Social Participation Questionnaire (SPQ) consists of four subscales representing four key themes of social participation: friendships/relationships, contacts/interactions,…

One of the effects of implementing inclusive education is that the composition of the peer group of students with disabilities has changed from one consisting of only such students to one with no, or very few, students with disabilities. The question arises as to the implications of this situation for their social relations and self-concept. In…

Teachers are seen as key persons to implement inclusive education. Positive attitudes are therefore argued as playing a considerable role in implementing this educational change successfully. The aim of this study is to examine what attitudes teachers hold towards inclusive education, which variables are related to their attitudes and if these…

While there is an increased interest in describing attitudes of teachers, parents and peers towards students with special educational needs in regular education, there is a lack of knowledge about various variables relating to the attitudes of these three groups. The aims of this study are: (1) to examine which variables relate to the attitudes of…

This study addresses the social participation of young students (Grades One to Three) with special needs in regular Dutch primary schools. More specifically, the focus lies on four key themes related to social participation: friendships/relationships, contacts/interactions, students' social self-perception, and acceptance by classmates. The…

Maximizing the interaction between pupils with and without special needs is generally considered an important aspect of inclusion. However, it is frequently questioned whether pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in regular classrooms have interactions and friendships with their peers. In order to be able to evaluate these relationships, it…

Inclusive education places much value on implementing the conditions that foster good relationships between students. Research has shown that pupils with special needs can have difficulty in building relationships with peers without special needs. This study describes their social position in regular education. It applies different indexes for…

This study addresses the development of a teacher questionnaire to assess the social participation of pupils with special needs in regular primary schools and is divided into 2 parts. In the 1st part, the construction of the questionnaire is described. The questionnaire consists of 30 statements related to 4 key themes of social participation: …

Pupils with special needs can have difficulties in building relationships with peers in inclusive education. An important condition for developing positive relationships with peers is having the age-group appropriate social skills. It seems likely that pupils with an insufficient set of social skills face a larger risk of being excluded. This…