The current view of social inclusion amongst deaf pupils in mainstream schools

This thesis explores conceptualisations, assessment of, and interventions for the social inclusion of deaf children in mainstream education. Literature on school-based interventions to support deaf C&YP's social inclusion are systematically reviewed.

In the empirical paper, the researcher returns to initial conceptualisations of social inclusion, and explores how this can be supported.

In a mixed methodology design, 19 deaf children and their 353 hearing classmates completed a sociometric task to measure peer acceptance and friendship relations.

17 deaf children were further assessed using self-report measures of social acceptance and competence, friendship quality, emotional security and participation, the latter two with reference to both hearing and deaf peers.

Pupils were also interviewed for their views on social inclusion and how it can be promoted, which was then subject to thematic analysis.  

Deaf participants received less ratings of peer acceptance than their hearing peers .They also received more 'neutral' and 'don't know' peer ratings. Qualitative information from deaf pupils indicated that their experiences of making friends and belonging in school had been ambiguous.

Peer ratings of social acceptance showed no interrelation with self ratings. Experiencing a good quality friendship was positively associated with social competence and perceived participation with hearing peers.

Perceived social acceptance correlated significantly with perceived participation with hearing peers. Deaf C&YP were found to feel a higher sense of emotional security with deaf peers than with hearing peers.

Parent, teacher and pupil measures of emotional wellbeing showed no correlation with self perceptions of social inclusion.

In deaf C&YP's conceptualisation of social inclusion, themes of emotional wellbeing, friendship dynamics, communication and school structures were found.

Positive experiences raised themes of participation, technology and personal characteristics.

In terms of promoting social inclusion within the school system, themes of friendship opportunities, class and teacher practice, and academic support were identified.