Peer relationships of pupils with and without individualized education plans in co-teaching and maistream educational settings

2009

Pupils with special educational needs have been shown to experience more problems in peer relationships than their peers. Comparative research across different educational settings has been limited though. The purpose of this study was to compare the peer relationships of fifth-graders with and without individualized education plans (IEP) in co-teaching and mainstream educational settings. Peer relationships were operationalized as peer acceptance, friendship and, as a subjective response to peer relationships, the level of loneliness. Pupils with IEPs (n = 31) and pupils without IEPs (n = 181) from two coteaching and eight mainstream classes participated in the study. In the spring of Year…