How can the social outcomes of children with SEN in mainstream primary schools be promoted?

Over half the children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in the UK are educated in a mainstream setting following the support of inclusion by the British government.

However, the research on the social outcomes of inclusion has been equivocal. Therefore, the current thesis sought to identify how the social outcomes of children with SEN in mainstream primary schools can be promoted.

Social skills are used in chapters 2 and 3 as quantitative indicators of social outcomes. A systematic literature review evaluated how effective school based interventions were at developing the social skills of included children with SEN.

Conjoint Behavioural Consultation and the First Step to Success program were both found to be effective. These interventions highlight the benefits of working systemically.

The empirical paper sought to explore the mechanisms underpinning inclusion in the UK context. A mixed-methods study was employed.

Semi-structured interviews explored teachers' perceptions of what influences their attitudes to inclusion and their inclusive behaviours, and their role in developing the social outcomes of children with SEN.

The change in teachers' attitudes and the social skills of children with SEN was measured using questionnaires.

Mainstream primary school teachers in the UK were found to have generally positive attitudes to inclusion, which remained stable over a 3 month period. Furthermore, teachers perceived that their attitudes to were influenced by themes related to the subjective norm and perceived behavioural control components of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB).

The TPB was also found to be a useful framework to understand what influences teachers' attitudes and behaviours, and the prevalence of themes related to perceived behaviour control suggest that this is an important factor moderating the effectiveness of inclusion in the UK.

Furthermore, teachers did not identify themselves as having a particularly significant role in promoting the social outcomes of children instead citing the importance of within-child characteristics and the non-SEN peer group.

When triangulated with the finding that the social skills of children with SEN were found to be stable over a 3 month period, the findings of this research have important implications for professionals working with teachers to promote the social outcomes of children with SEN in inclusive settings.