School Social Support for Students with Disabilities (4StuDi)

Sofia Freire

Education is a fundamental human right and an essential condition for individual development and full and effective participation in society. However, too many persons with disabilities continue to be denied this fundamental right due to numerous barriers and obstacles to accessible education. Teaching students with disabilities (SwD) in general education or inclusive classrooms presents unique challenges for the actual SwD, but also for educators and classmates.

The central idea of this project is to educate/inform teachers and students about the types of social support that they should provide to SwD (aged 6 to 18 years old). These types of social support have not yet been specified in international literature, and consequently, research will be conducted to define them. It is evidenced that young people with disabilities have the same needs, educational need and need for social inclusion, as those of their classmates without disabilities, with the only difference that these needs are still to a great extent not met (Groce, 2004). SwD receive or expect to receive social support from people in and out of the school (e.g. teachers, parents, friends, siblings) (Schwarzer & Buchwald, 2004). Social support is positively related to the sense of happiness (Papadopoulos, Papakonstantinou, Koutsoklenis, Koustriava & Kouderi, 2015), to quality of life (Lovretić, Pongrac, Vuletić & Benjak, 2016) and mental health (Tough, Siegrist & Fekete, 2017) of individuals with disabilities. Although people who are on the social network of SwD can support them positively, however, sometimes they can upset them with the way they act, providing them with negative support; underestimating their abilities, providing overprotection, providing too much praise for simple accomplishments etc. Based on these concerns, the 4StuDi will investigate the needs of SwD (learning, visual, hearing, and movement impairments) that attend general schools (mainstream schools) for the type of social support they expect to receive from their teachers, and schoolmates. The ultimate aim of the 4StuDi is two-folded: First, to investigate the impact of disability education/information programs (which will be developed) on teachers and school-aged children/adolescents and, given the novelty of these programs, in case it is needed recommendations for improvements will be made on their content. Second, to make school education for students with disabilities more fun, more inclusive and just.

The specific objectives of the 4StuDi are:

1. To identify the types of social support that SwD need in their school environment (primary and secondary school) from their classmates and teachers.
2. To examine the existing knowledge of students attending primary and secondary schools and teachers regarding the social support they can and should provide to students with disabilities.
3. To educate/inform teachers and students about the forms of support they should provide to SwD.
4. Τo investigate the impact of education/information on the knowledge of primary school teachers and students in supporting SwD.
5. To disseminate the type of support learners with disabilities need in order to provide them with meaningful, high-quality educational opportunities

1/09/2020 – 31/08/2023

Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Action type: Strategic Partnerships for school education
Project Reference: 2020-1-EL01-KA201-079031