The Need for Good and Quality Education - Essay Example

?‘A critical review of policy and perspectives in identification of, and intervention to support, with Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties’. Introduction The need for good and quality education remains an important requirement for successful socio-economic survival in contemporary modern society. On a very rapid note, the importance of education makes the concept a more inevitable concept that one cannot choose to be exempted from. It is for this need that there continues to be more and state level policies that seek to make education compulsory and universal. Quite unfortunately though, there are very critical factors that militate against the need to have a compulsory and universal education for all. Key among these is what has been identified to be some level of difficulties associated with some students in their pursuit for education. In a very current study, which has prompted the need for this essay, Campbell (2005) found that the perceptions associated with some of these difficulties that students face in their education continue to be major hindrances to them in their bid to pursue education to the highest level. In line with this, the current essay is being written in an attempt to find some of these perspectives and perceptions towards students found with three major difficulties namely behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. In line with the approach to the study to use the critical review of literature, the writer will seek to find ways in which these perspectives create a hindrance to the search for quality education and the interventions that can be used in controlling the prevailing situation. Concept of Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties among Students Behavioural Difficulties In the opinion of Gordon (2003), behaviour is a highly qualitative and relative feature that is measured through the accepted perception of society. As children grow and mature, they are expected to have a very free flowing and well coherent behavioural pattern that is generally accepted by society. However, there are times that children’s behaviour become disruptive and difficult. Depending on the level of the disruption, the child could be said to have a behavioural difficulty. Due to its qualitative and relative nature, Department of Health and Human Services (2000) cautions on what may be a tag for a child as having a behavioural difficulty. On a generalised note however, it is said that specific characteristics including children who act impulsively, react with aggression, defy adult authority, and refuse to follow reasonable directions may be showing signs of behaviour difficulties (Hemmeter, Santos & Ostrosky, 2006). Explaining further, Smith (2006) notes that behavioural difficulties may be distinguished from other forms of difficulties by virtue of the fact that behavioural difficulties are exhibited or exemplified through specific physical actions that children undertake that is based on their reaction to events happening in their immediate environment (Campbell, 2005). A typical example of such ways of expression could be said to be aggression, deviance and violence. These behavioural difficulties are often measured from a psychological perspective and are best diagnosed based on professional findings rather than mere physical assumptions. This is a necessary aspect of behavioural difficulties in children due to how relative behaviour is, as feature of life. Emotional Difficulties The way children respond and react to issues and things that go on within them by way of psychological events is very important in determining how smooth and successful the transformation of their growth and maturity would be. This is because according to Hemmeter, Santos & Ostrosky (2006), such response and reactions constitute an emotional development, which is a very crucial and important component of general development. Professionally, a child’s emotional wellness could be measured by way of diagnosing the level of accommodation that children have for psycho-mental issues around them (Campbell & Ewing, 2000). A mature manifestation of any form of emotional difficulty would thus be measured by the level of psycho-mental outburst that is given to issues such as anxiety. Knott (2012) notes that even though anxiety and fearfulness is a normal part of development, very high levels of persistence and generalisation develop into socially disabling conditions that require intervention. Knott (2012) continues to stress that anxiety disorders are a major form of emotional difficulty and come in different levels and forms depending on their levels of exhibition. Particularly, he identifies 6-7% of children as developing anxiety disorders, of out which there may be categories such as over-anxiety in 1/3 of the affected children and anxiety phobia in another 1/3 of the affected children. Other forms of emotional difficulties easily identifiable with children are found to include “anxiety disorder, childhood-onset social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and phobia” (Knott, 2012). Social Difficulties Even though we all enter and approach the world from an individualistic perspective, we grow up to be part of a more socially constructed society that we cannot exclude ourselves in anyway. Societal norms, ethics, principles, and rules are factors and conditions that continue to shape the way people are expected to behave and react in various situations. These social principles also require and expect some level of interaction with other people within the social sect as interactions play a major role in social integration (Dodge, 2003). Because of the effect that social principles have on the life of a person for most times of existence, it is expected that people will adopt social principles more easily and at a very early age so as to ensure that at the time they grow and are required to apply social outcomes, they will not have difficulties in doing so. This generalised need notwithstanding, there are children who have been said to have difficulties with getting on with other people and understanding what other people mean (Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). Such children with difficulty to get along with other people and understand what other people mean have been said to have social difficulties. In the argument of Egeland, Gottesman & Erickson (2010), it is noted that most cases of social difficulties are associated with communication difficulties because communication sets the pace for all forms of social interactivity to begin. But yet again, it is important to note that the mere fact that a child shows characteristics such as difficulty to keep eye contact, keep friends and join games does not mean the child has a social difficulty. Rather, there must be a measure that can be identified as being excessive (Smith, 2006). Critical Perspectives In line with the aim of the paper to identify perspectives of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties in students and how these difficulties can be intervened, it is important to look at the various views and opinions that are commonly associated with these difficulties. Having looked at the meaning of the three difficulties individually, the three will now be approached as psychological difficulties in students from henceforth. Four major critical perspectives of psychological difficulties in students shall be investigated namely learners, parents, public and professional. Views of Learners In a recent study, Campbell & Ewing (2000) found that views sampled from students with various forms of psychological difficulties proved that affected students are the most vulnerable group when it comes to such psychological difficulties. This is because views coming from the learners showed that most of these young ones have not knowledge as to how their situations can be improved or how they can receive workable interventions to solving them. This was even with those students who had admitted to having some levels of psychological difficulties. An even worse case exists with another group of learners who did not admit or know at all that they had these psychological difficulties. These learners who had been diagnosed by professional to be exhibiting various forms of psychological difficulties perceived their lives as being normal with the explanation that they could not be the same as all other people and so their differences did not constitute a problem that needed to be aided in correcting. According to Dodge(2003), when such views are learners, it becomes very difficult for them to receive any help and interventions for change. This is especially with those who do not admit to be having any problems. This is because once the learner refuses to admit to having a problem they do not become intrinsically obliged to stick to routine interventional solutions. Views of Parents Three major lines of views were sampled from parents by U.S. Department of Education (2001) in a research that was specifically dedicated to finding the roles that parents can play in managing psychological difficulties in their children. The first two of the views are similar to what was held by the students themselves. This is because in the first instance, there were parents who did not recognise any difficulties with their wards even though professional diagnosis had showed the existence of these challenges. In the second place, there were those who admitted to the psychological difficulties of heir wards but expressed difficulty in knowing how to help the children overcome these challenges. For these two groups, the problem they face is adherence to intervention and management principles since they seem not to be ready for such interventions and changes (Dunlap et al, 2013). It is held that some parents holding the views have an attitude that seems to suggest that admitting the existence of the challenges and accepting the need for intervention would mean that they are degrading the wellness and social integrity of their wards. In the final instance, there are parents who hold an overemphatic view about the psychological difficulties that their children have, thinking that these are too alarming and demand immediate attention (Gordon, 2007). In some cases, the over emphasis placed on these difficulties make parents fumble with interventions, thinking that things must be done in excess before there can be control. Public Opinion Public opinion about children with psychological difficulties have been said to be a mixed one. This is because Dunlap et al (2013) opines that the level of opinion and perception held about a child with psychological difficulties by the public directly depends on the person in question who is casting the opinion. In a study that compared the educational level and area of academic studies to the levels of opinion they held on children with psychological difficulties, it was found that people who have received higher level education tend to have a positive attitude towards such children as compared with those who have not advanced in education (Gordon, 2003). The reason assigned to this situation is the fact that the educational curriculum makes it possible for people to learn about these psychological difficulties, helping to eradicate most of the misconceptions associated with psychological difficulties in children (Kazdin, 2005). Even among people with higher level of education, it was found that those who study human science and social science have a better understanding of issues of psychological difficulties in children than those whose area of studies is biased from these areas. For those with lower levels of education, most of them were found to have very misconceiving opinions on psychological difficulties including opinions that most of these difficulties are irreversible (Shaw, Gilliom & Giovannelli, 2000). There are also others who opine that these difficulties are natural and get corrected with age (Reid, 2003). Views of Professionals Professionals are people who have studied child psychology as a professional cause. Most certainly, these groups of people offer the most authentic and promising information about psychological difficulties in children and this is according to Smith (2013). This is because these professional have the technical knowhow to rightly diagnose psychological difficulties and assign a measure of intensity to the problems. Notably, it is very difficult to attempt any form of treatment or intervention when the specific level of challenge is not readily known. Professionals have generally held that every child with some level of psychological problems can be helped. Ideally, it is professionally accepted that every child has the potential to become a good student no matter the kind of psychological difficulty that the child possesses (Pierce, Ewing & Campbell, 2009). This notwithstanding, the professionals hold that it is only through a professional approach that the said aid can be given to affected children to ensure that they receive the needed improvement in their academic adventure (Shaw, Gilliom & Giovannelli, 2000). Closely related, it is said that in cases where interventional support given to affected children is not made from a professional viewpoint, it could create attendant problems that must also be catered for (Kazdin, 2005). This school of thought however seems not to be accepted by all as Egeland, Gottesman & Erickson (2010) debate professionals can always designate their competences to other stakeholders such as teachers and parents by giving them some levels of training aimed at dealing with these psychological difficulties. Stakeholders of Intervention and Change As part of the need to identify psychological difficulties in students and find the appropriate interventions that can help in correcting these situations, it is important to know the stakeholders on whose shoulders the wheels of change will grind. This is because the various forms of interventional changes are expected to be executed by the identified stakeholders in a manner that commit them to specific roles. In the identification of stakeholders, the funnel approach will be used to know the stakeholders from a more centralised point to a more open point. That is, those who are closely affected will be considered before those who are generally affected. The funeral approach to stakeholder identification has been illustrated in the diagram below. Affected Students Affected students generally refer to students who have been professionally diagnosed to exhibit any of social, behavioural or emotional difficulties in levels that are identified as alarming. Generally, these students require interventions to live a well integrated academic life (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). By including these affected students as stakeholders and on top of the funnel hierarchy means that they are the most important agents of change in within the model. This could be rightly argued as the affected students are the point of change and so must be more concerned about change than any other group of persons. As stakeholders, Smith (2013) notes that there are two major roles that affected students can play in the execution of interventions for change. The first of this is a self-will that must be developed by the affected students. This because U.S. Department of Education (2001) argues that in the absence of a self-will, affected children can hardly receive any aid. Legally and ethically, it would be an infringement on the fundamental human rights of the kids to force any form of change on them, no matter how promising the changes promise to be. It is for this need that the need for affected students to play their roles in the change agenda cannot be overlooked. In the second instance, it is said that affected students have a role to play in ensuring that they abide by change models and interventions that are spelled out to them. This is a crucial part in ensuring that interventions work to levels that they are expected to work. Home/Parents Parents have been placed next to the affected students because they are the closest people to the affected students at home. Even though most of these children may encounter several other people during the day, their parents are some of the very first people they encounter first thing to start the day and last thing to end the day. Parents are thus an important stakeholder of change, without whom the change effort could be very difficult if not impossible. Legally and ethically, there are constitutional rights given to parents to decide on the kind of changes that should take place in the socio-cultural life of their children (Reid, 2003). One of the very first roles that the parent is expected to play thus has to be the role of ensuring that they willingly support any form of professional interventions that will be suggested for their young ones. Already, it has been noted that parents have mixed feelings when they identify their children to be with various forms of psychological difficulties. To put their anxiety to rest, the need for parents to be cooperative in the change agenda has also been identified to be one important role they can play (Smith, 2013). In most cases, parents are expected to give supplementary care and management support to their affected kids at home. In such cases, parents are expected to thoroughly follow the duties that are assigned to them at home with no levels of under-emphasis or over-emphasis as any of these two can affect the levels of change expected (Lavigne et al, 2006). The School Most certainly, the home is the next place that most students spend most of their time as they grow up. This is a reason to bring the school right after the home in terms of rating stakeholder closeness to the problem of psychological difficulties in students. Apart from the time that students spend in school, the school is also identified as a major stakeholder because the school has several secondary stakeholders of change who may be captured under the broad spectrum of the school. Some of these secondary stakeholders are teachers and students (Pierce, Ewing & Campbell, 2009). In terms of roles, the school is seen as a place where direct interventional application can take place. This is because the focus of most professionals giving out interventions to these students aims to rightly integrate the students in their academic studies. Teachers are therefore expected to act as professionals who execute various interventional policies and programmes that are aimed at integrating the students with psychological difficulties. The school management is also expected to play the role of creating very conducive learning and socially integrating environment for these students with various forms of psychological difficulties. On the part of students who find themselves as mates to those with psychological difficulties, they are expected to exhibit welcoming and hospitable attitudes that make the accommodation of their colleagues very easier and forthcoming. The Community Since every child is born into a community, the community cannot be excluded as an agent or stakeholder of change. Indeed the community is very instrumental in determining the level and rate of change that children with psychological difficulties can have. From this basis, it is important to difficulty being talked about has a social perspective in the form of social difficulties. The community being the social setting of the child is therefore an important stakeholder for change. In line with this, Wolfe & Snyder (2007) identifies two major roles that the community can play to bring about needed change to children with psychological difficulties. In the first place, the community is expected to be agent of acceptability by creating a very accommodating atmosphere for the child to belong. A very typical example of a way to do this is for the community to show love and warm welcoming attitude to children exhibiting various forms of psychological difficulties. It is important for the members of the community to understand that right from the onset, they are dealing with students with challenges that has to do with anxiety, withdrawal, fear and aggression. To this end, any form of attitude that widens the gap between the members of the community and the child only worsens the situation. In the second instance, the community is expected to create what Simeonnson (2011) calls a liveable environment for the child. This is by ensuring that risk factors that expose children to their anxiety, fear, aggression and withdrawal will be taken far away from the children. State The state is placed last on the hierarchy not because the state has the least role to play but because indirectly, the state relates to the affected child in the least approachable means. In terms of roles however, the state has so much to do to ensure that the child receives the needed changes and improvements in their lives. In the first place, it state is identified as the sole policy maker who can back any professional advocacy and proposals with constitutional mandates (Wolfe & Snyder, 2007). Once there is such constitutional mandate to policies, their implementation becomes easier and simpler. The state is also expected to play a very crucial role in terms of funding of various programs, policies and interventions. More specifically, the state is expected to direct its focus and attention to the educational sector where curriculum planners are expected to prepare and structure the curriculum in a way that freely integrates children with psychological difficulties into various learning programmes (Gordon, 2007). It is also important to ensure that the curriculum is prepared and planned to meet the differing learning needs of all students, especially those with various forms of psychological difficulties. The state has also been identified as an important stakeholder in terms of the protection that it is expected to give to the rights and interests of affected students. There must be laws that protect these children against all forms of abuses and violence in society (Simeonnson, 2011). Interventional Policies and Programmes The need for interventions to be developed through policies and programs to ensure that children with various forms of psychological difficulties have a place of belonging in education cannot be bargained but must be executed in a very holistic manner. To do this, a model of intervention has been developed, which sees the need for change as a systematic process that must be followed by all stakeholders involved in the change agenda. This model is referred to as the Teaching Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Competence and identifies the need for there to be both national and local level policies and programmes that focus on change. Source: Smith & Fox (2007) National Policies and Interventions At the national level, two major policies and interventions are considered. In the first instance, there is attention on the need for there to be a national inclusive education programme. Inclusion in this context refers to the need for students identified with various forms of psychological challenges to be given the opportunity to academically develop with and alongside their colleagues who may not have these difficulties (U.S. General Accounting Office, 2001). According to learning theorists, children learn best by imitating or copying. This means that when children are given the opportunity to be together in a manner that blends their different competences and abilities, it becomes easier for them to learn from one another, especially the need to possess certain emotional, social and behavioural characteristics from their colleagues (West, Denton and Germino, 2000). In a recent study, U.S. Department of Education (2005) found that inclusive education helps in minimising most of the effects that would have generally been associated with psychological challenges in children such as anxiety and suppression of behaviours. This is because the children are given the opportunity to freely interact with the social world around them, which is the most suitable for them because it is made up of other people of the same age group who may not be judgmental on them. In a related development, teacher attitudes and behaviour have also been pointed out as an interventional policy that is worth taking up from a national level perspective. The need for the teacher to be targeted in this sense is because of the extra ordinary role that the teacher plays in shaping the psychological development of the student. To make this proposal possible, it will be important for the National Teacher Education Division to be targeted. As part of a national programme or policy, the division must make the training of all teachers in special needs education a priority. This must be done not as an optional decision in the training of teachers but as a compulsory one. For teachers to be certified, they must possess a very high sense and level of knowledge for special needs education. This is the only way to ensure that the earlier suggestion of having a national inclusive education can be materialised (Fox et al, 2003). Once each class is going to be made up of a mixture of students, it is important that each teacher in every school will be in a position to handle all of these students. Local Policies and Interventions At the local level, policies and interventions will be focused directly on the schools and for that matter, the classroom setting. This is more a narrowing approach to the larger national level policy and intervention which seeks to have all schools and teachers equipped for inclusive education. First, the target would be the social environment of the classroom. The classroom has been identified as an important social environment for the student with psychological difficulties because the classroom is made up of different people with different social characteristics and principles (U.S. General Accounting Office, 2001). Teachers are therefore expected to take advantage of the diversities that exists in the classroom to ensure that students with psychological challenges have models to learn from and others to share themselves with. To do this, a number of specific activities may be employed by the teacher. Mixed personality groupings are a typical example of ways in which the teacher can ensure that students share their different personalities whiles undertaking various classroom activities and experiments (Qi & Kaiser, 2003). Cooperative learning has also been suggested as an important way of taking advantage of social environment of the classroom as well as the use of mix talent and skills to support classroom activities. Once the teacher is able to create an accommodating social environment in the classroom and actual teaching starts, teachers are again expected to use social and emotional teaching strategies to satisfy the different needs of their students, especially those with psychological difficulties (Pires, 2002). Social and emotional teaching strategies have been identified to be those teaching strategies that focus the teaching experience around the very self of the study without the need of being too abstract in the presentation of lessons (Hayden, Frederick & Smith, 2003). One typical way to do this effectively is for teachers to ensure that teaching is presented from the known to the unknown. By this, they are expected to give out classroom lessons by focusing on aspects of the concepts being taught that the students can easily make meaning from within their environments. The reason social and emotional teaching strategies are important interventional and corrective measures for an inclusive education is that it gives each student the opportunity to independently investigate the immediate world around him and make judgements for him or herself (Qi & Kaiser, 2003). West, Denton and Germino (2000) argued that teachers cannot find any other polite ways of pointing out wrong aspects of lifestyle to students than using social and emotional teaching strategies to help these children make the discoveries for themselves. Influence of Policies and Interventions Once all the policies and interventions that have been described above have been implemented and effected, it is expected that a number of influences of them will take place. On the whole, these influences are expected to take place at the individual level, academic level and national level. At the individual level, changes that are targeted at an improvement over the psychological difficulties of students are expected. By this, reference is being made to the effect that on a very natural basis, children with relatively mild levels of behavioural, social and emotional difficulties are expected to be able to develop coping mechanisms once they continue to mingle with others and imitate from them. For those with relatively severe cases of psychological difficulties, the proposed special needs training that teachers are to receive is expected to be aid in professional adaptive values that the teachers will emit to the students. At the academic level, such students who would have otherwise being left behind in their educational prospects will become better endowed in society by becoming part of the educational model of the state. There is no denying the fact that academic enlightenment leads to other forms of enlightenment for a person. As children grow with academic competence, their chances of becoming more responsible because they will get settled down with well paid jobs is higher after receiving the said intervention. Other concepts that are learned typically from the educational setting such basic interactive skills, decision making skills, critical reasoning and interpersonal relations are all independent skills that can aid in making these children gain control over their psychological challenges through self tuition. Finally, the benefit that the nation will derive from a population that includes all its citizens in educational ambitions cannot be overemphasised. This is because of the place that education has been found through research to have in national development. Most often than not, cases of unemployment and underemployment leading to deviant behaviours and various forms of delinquencies have been associated with low levels or total absence of education in individuals. With such interventions that lives none behind in the education of the populace, it presents a well modelled hope for the future that the nation’s future will be secured and guaranteed. Conclusion From every indication, disability is not inability and that children with various forms of psychological difficulties can easily be helped to lead a very integrated social and academic life. But to do this and do it effectively, it is important that very key principles be followed and crucial professional understanding be developed on the perspectives of change that exists for the affected children. This essay has been useful in establishing the kinds of views, opinions and perceptions that people hold about psychological difficulties. With the understanding on views that has been developed in the paper, it can be concluded that not much has been done so far to correcting misconceptions and straightening the ideas of the public. The need for professional advocacy and education and would thus be continued to be championed. Again, it has been established that there are several stakeholders of change with each having a unique role to play in ensuring that the interventions of change work out. Indeed, it can be concluded that the availability of as many stakeholders as possible should be a motivating factor for interventions and policies that have been discussed to work. As much as possible, there is the need for each stakeholder to acknowledge their roles and stay committed and focused to leading up to their roles to the letter. Finally, the national and local level policies and interventions of change clearly suggest that there have been some level of efforts that have been started, which must be allowed to grow to levels at can be appreciated as acceptable. This will be that time when having a psychological difficulty will not be considered a threat to a child’s academic success. References Campbell, S. 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