The goal of the current study was to examine the potential mediating role of two types of school avoidance (absenteeism, in-class avoidant behaviors such as asking to leave the classroom) on the relations between peer victimization and two academic outcomes [standardized test scores, grade point average (GPA)]. Participants included 1815 diverse…

Universal SEL interventions have garnered increasing attention in educational systems worldwide, including in Portuguese schools, with short- and long-term benefits for students, such as social and emotional competencies, academic performance, and positive attitudes and behaviours. Using a pre- and post-test design, the current study aims to…

Most children with disabilities receive instruction in inclusive classrooms where children with and without disabilities are educated side by side; however, students with disabilities often experience lower levels of social inclusion, such as lower quality friendships and classroom connectivity, than their nondisabled peers. Little is known about…

While the merits of dialogic talk for supporting students' learning is well documented, the contribution of specific talk moves on learning outcomes remains less understood. This study was conducted to investigate how student-generated talk moves during whole-classroom discussions, as captured by the Low-Inference Discourse Observation tool,…

We study the peer effects of grade retention in the context of Indiana's statewide third-grade retention policy. When a retention occurs, it changes the peer group for two cohorts: rising fourth graders who lose a peer and rising third graders who gain a peer. We identify peer effects in both cohorts by leveraging plausibly exogenous variation in…

The present study sought to investigate the friendship formation of ethnic in-and out-group friendships, as well as differences in stability and quality, while accounting for the network structure (such as the tendency to befriend friends of friends). We analyzed longitudinal data from 770 students from 42 Austrian primary school classes collected…

The present study developed a brief school-based intervention focused on raising awareness about Cerebral Palsy. To assess the effectiveness of the intervention, 91 classes from the fourth and fifth grades were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Control, Focused on the Domain (Cerebral Palsy), and Non-Focused on the Domain (promotion of…

Identifying factors buffering the bidirectional relationship between bullying victimization and perpetration is crucial in informing interventions to protect students from cycling between being bullied and bullying others. Nevertheless, that bidirectional relationship and its buffering factors have been underexamined among children. As a potential…

The present study uses social network analyses to examine the associations between children's prosocial behaviour and classroom affiliative relationships (i.e., hanging out relationships). Our sample includes data from 257 children and their teachers in 12 s through fourth-grade classrooms living in high-poverty, inner-urban city neighbourhoods…

Boys and girls sit together in most classrooms, but do they interact? Based on 40-year-old evidence, coeducational classes may not be coeducational but instead segregated by gender, which may undermine student success. Our goal is to answer this question in today's classrooms. We used longitudinal data to assess gender segregation in 26 classes in…

This study focuses on the relationship between an autonomy-supportive classroom climate and changes in attitudes towards social participation in mixed-grade classes. The research field involved the learning activities conducted in a Japanese elementary school. Learning activities were carried out in mixed-grade classes, and the children engaged in…

The extent to which teachers make changes in classroom seating reflects, in part, the degree to which they value promoting positive peer relationships in the classroom. We assessed the frequency with which teachers made both minor (i.e., involving only 2-3 students) and major (involving half or more students in the class) changes in classroom…

The objectives of this study were to establish the frequency of violent behaviors present in primary education (PE), to determine differences based on students' grade and gender, and to assess the evolution of behaviors between the fourth and sixth grades of PE. The research design was a cohort longitudinal ex post facto study with three measures.…

This study aims to explore perceptions of otherness among primary school children, focusing on 4th-grade students in the southern region of Türkiye. The study group consists of 48 Turkish and Syrian students selected through criterion sampling, a purposive sampling method. Employing a qualitative research approach, this study utilized a case study…

This article reports the findings from a study that explored children's interactions and their perceptions of working in groups in a primary classroom. Group work among children has been researched widely to highlight its efficacy in influencing children's cognitive and social learning in mainstream classrooms. Such research, however, appears to…