Parental communication and collaboration in schools with special educational needs (SEN) programmes in Bhutan

ABSTRACT

This study explored the experiences of communication and collaboration of parents with the teachers of their children with special educational needs (SEN). In this investigation in the Bhutanese context, 26 parents (13 fathers and 13 mothers) of children with SEN, either fully or partially included in 3 schools with SEN programmes in Bhutan located in urban, semi-urban, and rural regions in Bhutan were individually interviewed. The interview data were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using both manual thematic coding semantic mapping and text mining analysis (Leximancer). The majority of parents (n = 21/26) were found to have either minimal or no communication or collaboration with the school. It was mainly a few mothers (n = 4), and no fathers, who reported consistent communication and collaboration with the school, whose children were partially included in the schools and had high support needs. The findings have implications for building channels of communication and collaboration between parents and school staff in order to support their children with SEN in Bhutan.

KEYWORDS:

• Communication
• collaboration
• parents
• teachers
• inclusion
• Bhutan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Karma Jigyel is currently a PhD candidate in Inclusive Education at the School of Education in the University of New England. Prior to his PhD study, Karma taught for ten years as a lecturer in Paro College of Education at the Royal University of Bhutan. His research interests are in the areas of inclusive education, assessment in primary schools, and mathematics education (secondary and primary level).

Judith A. Miller has been actively contributing to pre-service teacher education teaching and research for over two decades at the University of New England. Judith has contributed to both collaborative research and curriculum development in Bhutan, most recently championing study programs for young Australian teachers to experience educational experiences in Bhutan through the New Colombo Plan Scholarships.

Dr Sofia Mavropoulou is currently a Senior Lecturer at the School of Early Childhood & Inclusive Education and Study Area Coordinator for the area of Inclusive Education (Master of Education) in the Faculty of Education at QUT. Her research projects are focused in the area of autism with a particular interest in the delivery of educational interventions in inclusive contexts and in parenting experiences and social inequalities.

Jeanette Berman is associate professor of Inclusive Education at the University of New England. Her professional career in school psychology complements an academic career in teacher and psychologist education in Australia and New Zealand. Research interests include student voice, dynamic assessment, and learning intervention for students experiencing learning difficulties.

ORCID

Karma Jigyel http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8182-7549

Notes

1 Full inclusion refers to full placement in a regular classroom.

2 Partial inclusion refers to a combination of placement in the regular classroom and in a SEN unit, or part day attendance in a SEN unit.

3 Although Dzongkha is the national language in Bhutan there are more than 20 different languages spoken which presents difficulties for all people in Bhutan to communicate.

4 This particular probing question was asked to reiterate the type of communication the parents had with the school.

5 Mothers who stayed with their children in school daily for the whole session. These mothers were housewives with low education backgrounds and were unemployed.