Department of Educational Psychology, Inclusive and Special Education
https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/19
Roinn na Síceolaíocht Oideachais, Cuimsitheach agus Oideachais Speisialta2024-03-29T15:03:07ZWhat are primary school teachers' attitudes toward introversion in students?
https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/3175
What are primary school teachers' attitudes toward introversion in students?
The existing literature suggests a potential implicit social desirability associated with the extrovert personality and as a result, extroverts are accommodated across various work and educational settings, leading to a better person-environment fit and therefore better wellbeing. This study adopted a social constructionist perspective to explore whether teacher attitude to students described in terms of introversion/extroversion, varied as a function of positive and negative framing, as well as teachers’ own levels of extraversion.
This was a quantitative mixed design. Participants were 334 primary school teachers. Teachers were presented with vignettes via a web-based survey, depicting hypothetical children displaying typical, extrovert, or introvert behaviours in the classroom and responded to follow-up questions assessing their attitudes. Teachers also completed a self-report measure of extraversion.
The results indicated a relationship between teacher attitude and framing and teacher attitude and student personality type. The findings appear to place the cause of lower attitudinal rating within the teachers’ perception of the student themselves rather than the teachers’ perception of their own ability to teach introvert students. Attitudinal ratings did not vary with teachers’ own level of extraversion. Results are discussed in terms of their educational implications for the social and academic functioning of introvert students. This research provides an original contribution to the field of educational psychology within the Irish context, and offers insights that would benefit the fields of education and psychology, more generally.
2023-11-06T00:00:00ZWhat is strong over what is wrong: an exploration of Irish educational psychologists' use and perceptions of strengths based practice
https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/3173
What is strong over what is wrong: an exploration of Irish educational psychologists' use and perceptions of strengths based practice
The present research aims to explore how Educational Psychologists (EPs) employ strengths based practice (SBP) and to elicit their thoughts and experiences of working from a strengthsbased lens. Research in the area of SBP suggests a lack of clarity and understanding around its implementation and suggests that attention to strengths is not carried out in the same systematic way that deficits are reported. The role of the EP is developing considerably, alongside a national and international policy shift away from the deficit model. Despite the growing evidence supporting strengths based approaches, there is a lack of research in relation to SBP and its role in EP practice specifically. A scoping review was conducted exploring how SBP is carried out in areas relevant to the work of an EP. Following this, a gap in the research was identified and empirical research was carried out. The study adopted a qualitative design, where semi-structured interviews were carried out with EPs from different service backgrounds in Ireland. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview data. Second Generation Activity Theory (Engeström, 1999a) was employed as a conceptual framework to map the strengths based practices of EPs. Hypothetical case vignettes were included as part of the interview schedule to explore EP’s actions in context and to complement interview data. Results are discussed in relation to implications for Educational Psychology policy and practice. A critical review and impact statement provides a reflection on the research process and outlines the distinctive contribution of the research.
2023-11-03T00:00:00ZExploring the impact of educating students about autism in a secondary school
https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/3172
Exploring the impact of educating students about autism in a secondary school
Aims: This research aims to further our understanding of the impacts of educating secondary school students about autism. Of note, AsIAm’s Autism Awareness Workshop is not evidence-based. This study is not evaluating or recommending the programme, only exploring student’s experiences of the programme in one school. The key research questions are outlined below. 1. What is the impact of AsIAm’s autism awareness workshop on student’s knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions towards autistic students? 2. What are students’ perspectives on taking part in the autism awareness workshop? 3. What are students’ perceptions of inclusion in school? Methodology: A pre-post, within-between groups mixed methods design was employed to explore the impacts of the autism awareness workshop as an intervention strategy within one mainstream secondary school. A total of 57 students in 1st and 2nd year were assigned to control and experimental groups. The experimental group attended AsIAm’s autism awareness workshop in their school. The control group received a waitlist intervention. The perceptions of students were accessed via pre- and post- intervention questionnaires. These results were analysed using two-way mixed ANOVAs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four autistic students and four non-autistic peers to gain a deeper insight into students’ perspectives and experiences. Thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the qualitative data. Results: The themes included, peer dynamics, impacts of the autism awareness workshop, feedback on the workshop and student’s perceptions of inclusion. Findings indicated the workshop had a positive influence on student’s knowledge, attitudes and behavioural intentions towards autistic individuals and increased students’ sense of inclusion in school.
Conclusion: This thesis addresses a gap in the research by adopting a mixed-methods design in exploring the impacts of educating students about autism. The voices of autistic students and their peers are listened to so their valuable experiences can be understood.
2023-11-03T00:00:00ZAn evaluation of the school based wellbeing intervention welcome to wellbeing for young children
https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/3171
An evaluation of the school based wellbeing intervention welcome to wellbeing for young children
Background: Wellbeing has become a valued aspect of education in recent years. However, further exploration of wellbeing and wellbeing interventions with young children still needs to be completed. Additionally, there needs to be more emphasis on including the voice of young children as a central aspect of wellbeing research. This paper begins by providing an overview of the literature on school-based wellbeing interventions for young children. Aim: The empirical study examines Welcome to Wellbeing, a school-based, teacher-led wellbeing intervention for junior infants to first class pupils (ages 4-8). A mixed methods design was used to determine the effectiveness and perceptions of the programme. The impact of this programme on resilience and emotional regulation, in particular, is explored. Sample: Two co-educational primary schools were involved in this study. Senior infants pupils (n = 75) between 5-7 years old and their teachers (n = 6) participated. Method: A mixed method design was used, which employed a pupil-completed quantitative wellbeing measure, teacher interviews, and pupil focus groups to address the research questions and aims. Results: The findings indicate that following the intervention, the experimental group had significantly higher resilience levels than the control group. Qualitative results also indicate new and emerging emotional regulation skills. Teachers and pupils reported positive perceptions of the programme, with the characters and strategies noted as providing a good base for pupil wellbeing. The content load in the limited timeframe and the real-life application of skills were identified as the main barriers to implementation. Conclusions: Overall, the Welcome to Wellbeing programme may be a valuable tool for teaching the Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum and enhancing aspects of wellbeing in schools. The implications of these findings for future practice and research are discussed.
2023-11-03T00:00:00Z