Experiences of paraprofessionals working with children with challenging behaviours

Inclusive schools support a diverse group of students, each of whom has different needs. Accordingly, all staff must have the skills needed for the school to meet its responsibilities. Paraprofessionals play an important role in inclusive education, given that they often attend to children with more...

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Main Authors: Leifsdóttir, Árdís Flóra, Guðmundsdóttir, Bergljót Gyða, Rúdólfsdóttir, Annadís Greta
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:Icelandic
Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2023
Subjects:
Bak
Online Access:https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3700
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spelling fticelandunivojs:oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/3700 2024-02-11T10:05:15+01:00 Experiences of paraprofessionals working with children with challenging behaviours „Þú þarft að hafa breitt bak til að vinna í svona“: Reynsla stuðningsfulltrúa af krefjandi hegðun barna í grunnskólum Leifsdóttir, Árdís Flóra Guðmundsdóttir, Bergljót Gyða Rúdólfsdóttir, Annadís Greta 2023-05-03 application/pdf https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3700 isl ice Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3700/2292 https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3700 Copyright (c) 2023 Netla Netla - english edition; 2023: Netla - Ársrit Netla; 2023: Netla - Ársrit 1670-0244 challenging behaviours paraprofessionals inclusive schools well-being in-service training skóli án aðgreiningar stuðningsfulltrúar krefjandi hegðun samskipti líðan fræðsla info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2023 fticelandunivojs 2024-01-25T02:46:01Z Inclusive schools support a diverse group of students, each of whom has different needs. Accordingly, all staff must have the skills needed for the school to meet its responsibilities. Paraprofessionals play an important role in inclusive education, given that they often attend to children with more intensive support needs. Although they are often responsible for supporting children with social, emotional, and behavioural challenges, previous studies indicate that paraprofessionals lack professional guidance and training. Research indicates that behavioural concerns are common in Icelandic schools, as teachers and paraprofessionals report encountering challenging student behaviours daily. Furthermore, teachers in Iceland have also expressed having limited self-efficacy about preventing and addressing student behavioural concerns, and a majority of teachers and school administrators have needed more training related to inclusive school practices.This qualitative study aimed to examine paraprofessional experiences working with children with challenging behaviours and their work-related well-being from a phenomenological perspective. The paraprofessionals’ roles, responsibilities, experiences, and feelings in these situations were investigated. We asked them how much training they received and whether and how it helped them prevent or address behavioural challenges. Additionally, we examined the paraprofessionals’ responses to challenging behaviour and their relationships with students and school staff.Six paraprofessionals participated in the study, all of whom had experience working with students with challenging behaviours. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants, and data were analysed using thematic analysis. The themes we developed were: 1) children’s distress causes challenging behaviour, 2) calm and positive communication works best to meet children’s needs, 3) paraprofessionals are made responsible for classroom and behaviour management while lacking support, and 4) the importance of ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland University of Iceland: Peer Reviewed Journals Bak ENVELOPE(9.783,9.783,63.250,63.250)
institution Open Polar
collection University of Iceland: Peer Reviewed Journals
op_collection_id fticelandunivojs
language Icelandic
topic challenging behaviours
paraprofessionals
inclusive schools
well-being
in-service training
skóli án aðgreiningar
stuðningsfulltrúar
krefjandi hegðun
samskipti
líðan
fræðsla
spellingShingle challenging behaviours
paraprofessionals
inclusive schools
well-being
in-service training
skóli án aðgreiningar
stuðningsfulltrúar
krefjandi hegðun
samskipti
líðan
fræðsla
Leifsdóttir, Árdís Flóra
Guðmundsdóttir, Bergljót Gyða
Rúdólfsdóttir, Annadís Greta
Experiences of paraprofessionals working with children with challenging behaviours
topic_facet challenging behaviours
paraprofessionals
inclusive schools
well-being
in-service training
skóli án aðgreiningar
stuðningsfulltrúar
krefjandi hegðun
samskipti
líðan
fræðsla
description Inclusive schools support a diverse group of students, each of whom has different needs. Accordingly, all staff must have the skills needed for the school to meet its responsibilities. Paraprofessionals play an important role in inclusive education, given that they often attend to children with more intensive support needs. Although they are often responsible for supporting children with social, emotional, and behavioural challenges, previous studies indicate that paraprofessionals lack professional guidance and training. Research indicates that behavioural concerns are common in Icelandic schools, as teachers and paraprofessionals report encountering challenging student behaviours daily. Furthermore, teachers in Iceland have also expressed having limited self-efficacy about preventing and addressing student behavioural concerns, and a majority of teachers and school administrators have needed more training related to inclusive school practices.This qualitative study aimed to examine paraprofessional experiences working with children with challenging behaviours and their work-related well-being from a phenomenological perspective. The paraprofessionals’ roles, responsibilities, experiences, and feelings in these situations were investigated. We asked them how much training they received and whether and how it helped them prevent or address behavioural challenges. Additionally, we examined the paraprofessionals’ responses to challenging behaviour and their relationships with students and school staff.Six paraprofessionals participated in the study, all of whom had experience working with students with challenging behaviours. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants, and data were analysed using thematic analysis. The themes we developed were: 1) children’s distress causes challenging behaviour, 2) calm and positive communication works best to meet children’s needs, 3) paraprofessionals are made responsible for classroom and behaviour management while lacking support, and 4) the importance of ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Leifsdóttir, Árdís Flóra
Guðmundsdóttir, Bergljót Gyða
Rúdólfsdóttir, Annadís Greta
author_facet Leifsdóttir, Árdís Flóra
Guðmundsdóttir, Bergljót Gyða
Rúdólfsdóttir, Annadís Greta
author_sort Leifsdóttir, Árdís Flóra
title Experiences of paraprofessionals working with children with challenging behaviours
title_short Experiences of paraprofessionals working with children with challenging behaviours
title_full Experiences of paraprofessionals working with children with challenging behaviours
title_fullStr Experiences of paraprofessionals working with children with challenging behaviours
title_full_unstemmed Experiences of paraprofessionals working with children with challenging behaviours
title_sort experiences of paraprofessionals working with children with challenging behaviours
publisher Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands
publishDate 2023
url https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3700
long_lat ENVELOPE(9.783,9.783,63.250,63.250)
geographic Bak
geographic_facet Bak
genre Iceland
genre_facet Iceland
op_source Netla - english edition; 2023: Netla - Ársrit
Netla; 2023: Netla - Ársrit
1670-0244
op_relation https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3700/2292
https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3700
op_rights Copyright (c) 2023 Netla
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