Giving voice to education professionals of primary and secondary school students with emotional and behavioural disorders: a qualitative study

Abstract

Students with Emotional and Behavioural Disorders (EBD) are affecting school functioning on many levels. Despite EBD as a behavioural disorder has been subject of study, there is scarce research that gives a voice to professionals that work with EBD children in order to understand their experiences, perceptions and feelings. To address this gap four online focus groups were conducted: 1) eight primary school teachers; 2) seven secondary school teachers; 3) seven school counsellors and 4) nine specialised counsellors from the Educational Resource Centre for Developmental and Behavioural Disorders. Each focus group was asked to discuss freely about three questions: 1) about the challenges and emotions that, according to them, working with these students raises; 2) about the educational responses that teachers and other professionals in the school community should construct to ensure that these children have a chance to change; and 3) about the characteristics that the teacher's relationship with the families of these children should have in order to help them. The discussion generated in the different focus groups was analysed qualitatively. We present an integration and synthesis of this debate with the aim of guiding the educational intervention of the school community for the benefit of these students