Research being undertaken by the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth is exploring educational psychologists’ knowledge of, and perspectives on, exclusionary practices in schools in England, particularly illegal practices referred to as “off-rolling”. Preliminary findings from the survey element of a mixed methods research project are reported here. The role of business models in the provision of educational psychology services to schools is considered through the conceptual lens of Giroux, Agamben and Ball to highlight ambiguities around the client relationship and to recast individualised ethical dilemmas as systemic features that inhibit direct challenges to school practices relating to inclusion. It is suggested that traded and privatised services risk implicating educational psychologists in schools’ management of the (in)visibility of “off-rolling” and the manufactured legitimacy of varied exclusionary practices.

‘Safe Space’ is an often-used but rarely explored term within education. This thesis aims to explore the use of the term firstly within literature related to schools in both educational and psychological journals, and then the meaning of the term to specific individuals, through interviews of parents and children, within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In phase one, a systematic literature review was conducted, exploring how ‘safe spaces’ for children and young people were described and discussed in in educational and psychological literature between 2005 and 2020; 14 studies were included in a thematic synthesis which found five common themes. These were ‘physical aspects’, ‘emotional and psychological safety’, ‘relational aspects’, ‘adult facilitation’ and “peace amongst chaos” for marginalised groups’. In phase two, parent and child interviews were conducted on the topic of ‘safe spaces’ for children and young people; ten child interviews were conducted ‘by proxy’ through parental participation. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings highlighted the importance of relationships with people, pets, special objects and the importance of play to children. Parents additionally highlighted the importance of personalised approaches at school for their child’s feelings of safety. Links are made across both the phases regarding features of ‘safe spaces’, and a model is presented which highlights the transcendental nature of ‘safe spaces’ for children.

There is a wealth of research evidencing that feeling a sense of belonging at school is important and necessary. However, research suggests that one in four students do not feel that they belong at school whist children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) are more vulnerable to disliking school and experiencing rejection. This two phase project addressed a gap in the literature to explore why children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs are less likely than their peers to experience a sense of school belonging and consider what contributes to their school belonging.
Within the first phase, a systematic literature review was conducted exploring how children and young people with SEN experience school belonging and what they identify as contributing to their sense of school belonging. 14 studies were included in a narrative synthesis. The findings highlighted that children with SEN appear to need more support in building school belonging than their peers. Multiple factors appear important to building school belonging, however interpersonal relationships was a dominant theme in what children and young people with SEN identify as supporting their sense of belonging at school. The review also suggested that children and young people with needs that could be described as SEMH are amongst the most vulnerable to not experiencing a sense of school belonging. This suggests that attention is warranted to explore how to promote these children and young people’s connections and relationships at school to help develop their sense of school belonging.
In light of the findings within phase one, the second phase focused on how to enhance children with SEMH needs’ sense of school belonging. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 primary school classroom teachers and Teaching Assistants (TA). The interviews explored participants’ experiences of supporting children with SEMH needs and gathered their views on how to develop school belonging for the children they work with. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings suggested both differences and similarities in how teachers and TAs describe their experiences of supporting SEMH. Both groups of participants highlight that it is an emotive experience including both rewarding highs and challenging lows. There was further a sense that both teachers and TAs felt unsure and inexperienced when supporting social and emotional needs. These findings suggest that mainstream teaching staff could benefit from more support to cope with this aspect of their role in addition to giving them more knowledge about SEMH and what would help. Findings also suggested participants did not view SEMH to be a clear area to understand, there was a sense that it is a broad and wide area encompassing many different aspects.
Findings further suggested that participants valued school belonging and considered it a priority. The research highlighted multiple ways to enhance school belonging for children with SEMH needs. Themes included having supportive relationships with adults, valuing children’s strengths, listening to the child, developing secure peer relationships and a school ethos emphasising wellbeing. The present research also explored the barriers children with SEMH needs face in developing school belonging. Findings suggested a range of reasons children with SEMH may find experiencing school belonging difficult. In particular, difficulties forming friendships and being excluded from the classroom were emphasised as key barriers to school belonging.

Will

This thesis is formed of two papers. The first paper is concerned with the construction and design of the Spelling Self-Efficacy Measure (SSEM), based upon the constructs that children have about learning to spell and findings from a literature search. The second paper further develops the SSEM, carrying out a large test administration and validation, and then exploring relationships between perceived efficacy beliefs and spelling ability.

the rationale to create a measure of spelling self-efficacy originally stemmed from conversations with teachers during my placement experiences as a trainee educational psychologist. It was often the case that children in schools were not making progress in literacy, despite ongoing and high quality intervention and support. I carried out a literature review and found that the majority of spelling support packages were focused on building children’s mastery of skills rather than any focus on the emotional aspects of learning. I had many conversations with teachers about ways in which they could support children’s beliefs in their capabilities to learn, and had positive reviews with lots of school staff about how this had helped them make interventions more personalised to the child.

the two papers in this thesis outline the steps taken to develop and construct the Spelling Self-Efficacy Measure. There were originally five domains underpinning the Spelling Self-Efficacy Measure: Belief in Own Ability to Learn to Spell; Belief in Learner Characteristics; Belief in the Need for Help from Others; Belief in Phonological Awareness; and Belief in Technical Understanding of Spelling. These five areas were condensed through analysis in both Paper 1 and Paper 2 to propose a revised Spelling Self-Efficacy Measure underpinned by three domains: Phonological Awareness, Learner Independence and Optimism in Abilities; Learner Confidence and Resilience.

the Spelling Self-Efficacy Measure has been found to be a reliable and valid scale to explore children’s perceived efficacy beliefs about learning to spell. Consistent with existing research, significant correlations have been found between a child’s spelling ability and their level of spelling self-efficacy, as measured by the SSEM.