PREVENTING SOCIAL EXCLUSION OF
CHILDREN AT SCHOOL
Nowadays changes in the psychosocial children’s well-being draw public attention. We are especially worried about increasing of social exclusion among children and adolescents. School can play an important role in preventing exclusion.
It is known that almost 2 million children are affected by social exclusion (which is 8% of the total child population), and 700 thousand are children with disabilities [2].
In our research we use the definition of social exclusion by Victoria Schmidt, according to which exclusion is "social activity restriction of person or a group of people before their exception from public life because of the limitation in social and civil human rights." [3] The author underlines the importance of studying this problem at every level of system, because it allows a specialist to determine the limits of his abilities and choose the task that is really to be solved at the moment.
Having applied multilevel approach to social exclusion, we conducted the research of social exclusion at the micro level in the secondary school №2 of Omutinskoe, Tyumen region in order to study the state of this social phenomenon and create a program of social exclusion prevention.
In order to reveal the facts of social exclusion and negative tendencies, we had a sociological survey among the pupils of the 8th and 9th grades of school №2 in Omutinskoye. We chose such indicators as access to school and the learning environment, social relationships between pupils’ groups and the school staff, the participation of parents in the school life. 143 pupils responded to the survey. (including 65 girls and 78 boys, 28% are children from single-parent families, 27% from low-income families, 23% from large families, 17% from families with unemployed parents, 2% children in care).
According to our survey results, we can see that:
● the indicator "Participation of parents in school life" shows the highest social exclusion rate – 30.4%
● About a quarter of respondents said about the lack of comfortable seating at school.
● talking about the quality of teaching you can see a negative tendency to exclusion in education – 19.4% respondents aren’t satisfied with education quality, the attitude of the teaching staff to learning and poor understanding of pupils’ needs
● 8.5% are affected by social exclusion because of low child participation in school social life, a low level of cooperation in the classroom and at school, the lack of equal opportunities in making social contacts;
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● One fifth of the social exclusion is contained in the assessment of relationships between pupils' groups and the school staff (19.1%).
Based on data from our survey, we can confirm negative tendencies of social exclusion at the School No. 2 in Omutinskoye of Tyumen Region.
Having applied the parameters we have chosen, we propose the following programme aimed at overcoming and preventing social exclusion at school for middle-level pupils (14-16 years), with a one-year implementation period.
The Programme for overcoming pupils’ exclusion comprises two levels:
1. Work with the child’s closest environment (teachers, parents). Form of work: surveys, individual and group consultation sessions.
2. Work with children (individual and group sessions, involvement in various activities)
Main activities of preventing social exclusion include work with teachers, parents and pupils.
Work with pupils.
The purposes are to prevent learning difficulties, acquire successful learning skills, identify “risk group” at an early stage, help solve crisis situations and develop social competence.
The objective is to help the child find his “own” activity. This activity will enable the child to discover himself, develop his personal qualities and find his place in the community.
The work in this area involves the school management, educational psychologist, social teacher, class teacher, subject teachers.
Methods and techniques used in the Programme:
● Discussion
● Game therapy
● Team-building activities
● Art therapy
● Behavioural modeling
Work with parents:
The purpose is pedagogical and psychological education (improvement in pedagogical and psychological competence), the involvement of parents in the educational space of their child, which is achieved by the each parent’s understanding of the importance of the child’s cognitive activity, its particularities, specifics and dependence on a favorable family climate.
Methods of work with parents:
● Discussion
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● Surveys
● Seminars
● Involvement in joint activities with the child
The work in this area involves the school management, educational psychologist, social teacher, class teacher, subject teachers.
The goal of the school is that the parents, together with the class teacher, subject teachers and classmates, become a lifeline to pull their children out of exclusion
Work with teachers
The purpose is to provide the teachers with psychological information on the pupils individual and age-related particularities, methods for the identification of “risk group” pupils and work and management methods for pupils in the state of exclusion.
At school, exclusion can be overcome through activities. The type of activity depends on the pupil’s abilities and interests. The teachers and parents have to find the activity in which the child will be successful.
Expected results:
Positive changes in the pupils in the state of exclusion.
They are involved in the life of their class and have positive emotions.
We offer several criteria you can use to evaluate the child's level of adaptation in the system of informal relationships:
● Pays attention to the needs of other persons;
● Can express his anger appropriately (does not show aggression or other forms of destructive behavior);
● Makes a compromise (reaches an agreement) with his classmates when required by the situation;
● Shows sympathy to others;
● Children want to involve him (or her) in their games and joint activities;
● Pupils can change their activity if this is required to continue interaction;
● Pupils spend their free time together;
● Pupils interact with other classmates who belong to different groups;
● Pupils model positive relations between each other [1].
Thus, we are confident that the program we propose for overcoming and preventing social exclusion will make a significant contribution to the children's well-being at school №2 in Omutinskoye and also it can be used in other educational institutions.
REFERENCES
1. Ainscow, M. Booth, T. Dyson, A. Farrell, P. Frankham, J. Gallannaugh, F. et al. Improving schools, developing inclusion [Text] - London: Routledge, 2006. – 123p.
2. Eflova, M. Social exclusion of deprived groups (drug addicts and people living with HIV) in Russian society: strategies for institutionalization and integration experience [Text]: Diss. ... cand. soc. sciences. - Saransk, 2015. – 393 p.
3. Schmidt, V.R. Social Exclusion and Inclusion in Education [Text] / Schmidt V.R. - M., 2006. - 182 p.
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