The social position of pupils with special needs in regular schools

Inclusive education places much value on implementing the conditions that foster good relationships between students. Research has shown that pupils with special needs can have difficulty in building relationships with peers without special needs. This study describes their social position in regular education. It applies different indexes for social position and compares these with each other and with other judgments of the social position of pupils with special needs. The analyses show that pupils with special needs are less popular, have fewer friendships and participate less often as members of a subgroup. Compared with their peers, pupils with special needs are over-represented in these at-risk categories by a factor of two to three. Teachers have a more positive view on the relationships in the group and the number of friendships pupils with special needs have. Also pupils' own subjective experiences are more positive. The results of the present study stress that physical inclusion only is a very basic condition, that becoming part of the group is not an automatism and that especially pupils with special needs may need extra support in participating in the group.