Learners with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties’ experiences of reintegration into mainstream education

Abstract

Behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) are a significant impediment to effective teaching and learning in England and Wales. Initiatives such as in-school Learning Support Units (LSUs) and off-site Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) aim to address BESD through short-term individualised learning programmes, followed by mandatory reintegration into mainstream education. This reintegration often fails due to post-reintegration regression contributed to poor-to-fit behaviour. The aim of the study was to analyse and describe the reintegration experiences of learners with BESD, followed by a resilience-based reintegration programme to aid policy makers and practitioners with the reintegration into mainstream education of learners with BESD. A qualitative research approach with a generic phenomenological enquiry within an interpretivist-constructivist paradigm was followed. A total of 13 learners with BESD from the London Borough of Waltham Forest and between the ages of 11 to 14 participated through completion of sentences and a life essay. Of the learner participants, four were invited to participate in unstructured interviews, alongside professionals with an interest in the reintegration of learners. Parents of the participants were asked to complete qualitative questionnaires and teachers were asked to respond to questions via email. In all, three main themes were identified: promotive and risk emotional experiences, promotive and risk relationship experiences and promotive and risk experiences based on the reintegration processes. The findings support guidelines for developing resilience-based reintegration programmes that include developing emotional competence, developing promotive relationships and implementing promotive reintegration practices.

Keywords:

• behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD)
• reintegration
• inclusion
• mainstream education
• learning support units (LSU)
• pupil referral units (PRU)

Notes

1. 1. The London Borough of Waltham Forest has implemented a Fair Access Panel (FAP) referral system in which the headteachers of all schools, lead teachers of PRUs and LA representatives meet once a month to discuss learners at risk of permanent exclusion from school. During these meetings, the best education options for the individual learner are discussed: in most cases, the learner is referred to a PRU. The FAP ensures that learners have the best possible opportunity to access education despite their BESD and other special educational needs.

2. 2. The terms good-to-fit and poor-to-fit are used to indicate behaviour that is considered to be either positive or negative within the educational setting of the mainstream school.

3. 3. The term ‘risk’ is not used in the description of findings in terms of adult relationships within the school, as there were no examples of experiences where adult relationships posed actual physical or sexual risk towards any of the participants.