Inspiration from abroad

UKRAINIAN INSPIRATION

Sociální pedagogika | Social Education 119

volume 7, issue 2, pp. 119–126, November 2019

ISSN 1805-8825

Inspiration from abroad

Czech version/Česká verze

Pecularities of the development of personal traits of students under the

conditions of an inclusive educational space

Yevhenii Klopota a & Nataliia Voronska b

a Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of Educational Activities, Zaporizhzhia National

University, Dniprovska St, 33А, Zaporizhzhia, 69061 Ukraine, klopota-ea@ukr.net

b Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of Educational Activities, Zaporizhzhia National

University, Dniprovska St, 33А, Zaporizhzhia, 69061 Ukraine, natalyvoronska@ukr.net

The need for communication is one of the main social necessities. With age, this need becomes more

widespread and conscious. When a child enters a training team, their individual development becomes

closely linked to the group. Therefore, fostering effective communication, a positive classroom

atmosphere, and developing and maintaining a friendly relationship and sense of belonging are

important tasks of inclusive education (Giangreco, 2003).

The introduction of inclusive education in Ukraine has certain difficulties: insufficient development of

a normative framework and underperformance of existing legislative instruments; unpreparedness of

secondary school teachers to work with students with special needs; lack of technical teaching aids

and books printed in Braille; architectural inadaptability of school premises; requirement of extra

financing; overloaded academic programs; negative attitude of parents of ordinary students to

children with special needs; hyper- or hypo-protection of parents of children with special needs;

inadequate attitude of regular students to peers with special needs; lack of psychological support, and

so on.

In our opinion, if we do not provide timely correctional and developmental support to students under

the conditions of an inclusive educational space, it may result in social misadaptation, which is

reflected in the inadequacy of self-perception, immaturity of communication skills and abilities,

inability to assert a viewpoint and establish an interaction with the environment, and lack of an ability

to self-actualize in different spheres of social life (Klopota & Klopota, 2017).

Peculiarities of communication among adolescents in an inclusive educational space may also be

characterized by such negative manifestations as seclusion, self-doubt, decreased cognitive activity,

and an impaired understanding of emotions and their manifestation. Therefore, to improve

intercommunion in inclusive classes, it is necessary to develop students' emotional intelligence

(Trainor, 2008).

In the process of joint learning activities, in order to develop mutual understanding between the

participants of communication, there comes the need to overcome the stereotypes of perception and

behavior, and to consider the positions of partners (Gudonis & Klopota, 2017). The development of benevolence contributes to these tasks.

The level of anxiety has a significant impact on the success of interaction and, as foreign scientists have

noted, when students find themselves in a evaluative situation, comparative and competitive behavior

leads to increased anxiety, which prevents them from focusing on what they need to successfully

complete their educational tasks and build effective communication (Zeidner & Matthews, 2011).

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Methods

The object of our study is the personal traits of students under the conditions of an inclusive

educational space.

The purpose of the article is to conduct an empirical study of personal qualities such as emotional

intelligence, anxiety and the benevolence of students taught in inclusive classes.

The hypothesis of the study is that indicators of emotional intelligence and benevolence in students

with special needs will be lower than in their peers with typical development, while the level of anxiety

will be higher.

The study was conducted in three stages. In the first stage, scientific sources on the subject were

analyzed, basic concepts were outlined, personal traits were analyzed, and the traits that most

influenced the effectiveness of communication were selected. In the second stage, empirical

information was collected. Psychodiagnostic techniques were selected, the study sample was

determined, and the techniques were performed. In the third stage, processing of the received

information, calculation of results, statistical processing, and analysis of the received data were carried

out.

Participants

The study sample group consisted of 240 students (53% boys and 47% girls), 30 of them with special

needs (60% boys and 40% girls), who studied in grades from 6 to 10. Their age was from 11 to 16 years.

The study involved 14 classes from 7 schools in 4 districts of Zaporizhzhia.

Instruments

To measure the level of development of emotional intelligence we used the Diagnostics of "emotional

intelligence" (N. Hall). The methodology consists of 30 statements and contains 5 scales: emotional

awareness; managing one’s emotions (emotional outgoing emotional irrelevance); self-motivation

(just rather voluntary emotions control); empathy; recognizing other people's emotions (more than

being able to influence other people's emotional states).

For the diagnosis of anxiety, the technique for detecting anxiety levels in adolescents (after Kondash)

was used. The methodology consists of 30 statements and includes situations of three types: 1)

situations related to school and communication with teachers; 2) situations that actualize the self

image; 3) communication situations. Accordingly, the types of anxiety that are determined by this

scale: those related to school, to self-esteem, interpersonal, and general (which is the sum of the three

previous ones).

Benevolence Diagnosis (after Campbell's scale) consists of statements of opposite importance.

Respondents are asked to choose the statement most appropriate to their opinion. Benevolence in

this diagnosis consists of such components as trust in people, mutual aid, and friendliness. The result

is low, medium, or high benevolence.

Results

The results of the study of general emotional intelligence showed that low levels of general emotional

intelligence prevail in both students with typical development and students with special needs (Table

1). This indicates that schools pay little attention to the development of emotional intelligence. No

significant difference was found between girls and boys. Girls with disabilities have a higher high score,

which is because having a relationship with other children is of the utmost importance to them. Girls

pay more attention to interaction between people, relationships, and establishing friendships.

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Table 1

Distribution of responses, by the level of general emotional intelligence, between children with typical

development and children with special needs, percent

Overall level of emotional intelligence

Gender

High

Average

Low

Typical development

Male

3.60

29.73

66.67

Female

3.03

27.27

69.70

Overall

3.33

28.57

68.10

Children with special needs

Male

.00

33.33

66.67

Female

16.67

16.67

66.67

Overall

6.67

26.67

66.67

Let us consider the results in more detail according to the components of emotional intelligence (Table

2).

Children with special needs have higher scores on the scales: emotional awareness 10% vs 5.24%;

empathy level 20% and 13.81% for children with typical development. This indicates that children with

special needs have to make greater efforts to join the team. It is necessary to better understand

emotions themselves, and to feel the emotions of other children, teachers, and parents. Effective

communication is impossible without this.

In children with typical development, the indicators are higher: emotion management is 8.10% vs.

3.33%; self-motivation is 19.05% and it is 13.33% in children with typical development; emotion

recognition is 10% vs. 3.33%. Therefore, emotion management and emotion recognition work better

in students with typical development. This is due to the inability of children with special needs to assess

emotions in the education process adequately. There is also a lack of experience in dealing with typical

children.

Self-motivation in children with typical development is higher, since children with special needs are

more likely than others to experience hyper-protection, which does not allow for the development of

intrinsic motivation.

In total, summarizing the results of all students, the highest indicator is empathy: 16.90% is the high

level of development, while the lowest emotion management is 67.14%. Thus, teaching children

together promotes empathy. Low levels of emotion management are associated with adolescence.

During the formation of an adult, there are often problems with controlling anger, despair, joy, and

other emotions.

Table 2

Distribution of responses, by the scale of emotional intelligence, among children with typical

development and children with special needs, percent

Children with

typical

Children with

Scales

Levels

development disabilities

Overall

Emotional awareness

High

5.24

10

7.62

Average

35.71

40

37.85

Low

59.05

50

4.52

Managing emotions

High

8.10

3.33

5.71

Average

24.29

30

27.14

Low

67.62

66.67

67.14

Self-motivation

High

19.05

13.33

16.19

Average

34.29

46.67

40.48

Low

46.67

40

43.33

Empathy

High

13.81

20

16.90

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Average

30.48

43.33

36.90

Low

55.71

36.67

46.19

Recognition of emotions

High

10

3.33

6.67

Average

38.57

56.67

47.62

Low

51.43

40

45.71

Let us consider the difference in indicators, according to the age of the study participants (Table 3.)

The lowest overall intelligence is in grade 9 in children with special needs, and in grade 10 and grade 8

in children with typical development. There is a clear tendency, with age, toward a decrease in the

high rate of development of emotional intelligence and to an increase in the average rate. The reason

for this is that, at an older age, teens begin to evaluate themselves more critically, understanding the

need to develop emotion-related skills. With age, the average rate increases, as older teens perceive

their skills in a more adequate way.

Table 3

Distribution of responses, by the level of overall emotional intelligence, according to age and inclusivity,

percent

Grade

Inclusivity

High

Average

Low

6

Typical development

7.89

15.79

76.32

Special needs

16.67

33.33

50

7

Typical development

6.45

25.81

67.74

Special needs

14.29

28.57

57.14

8

Typical development

0

31.25

68.75

Special needs

0

28.57

71.43

9

Typical development

4.55

36.36

59.09

Special needs

0

0

100

10

Typical development

0

30.30

69.70

Special needs

0

50

50

When doing the statistical analysis, a weak positive correlation between the scales of emotional

intelligence was detected. Empathy – self-motivation is p = .52. This indicates that the better a person

feels the emotions of another person, the better they can motivate themselves. That is, such children

have a higher level of self-control, of understanding themselves and others. Self-motivation is also

related to emotional awareness ( p = .46), which confirms the conclusion that self-motivation directly

affects self-control and emotional awareness ( p = .34). If a child realizes his emotions better, he also

understands his peers' emotions better.

Emotional control and emotional awareness also have a weak positive correlation ( p = .37). There is

no doubt that the better a child understands emotions, the better he/she manages them. The weakest

positive relationships were found between empathy and emotional awareness ( p = .27) and empathy

and emotional control ( p = .26). Understanding and controlling one's emotions affects the

understanding of other people's relationships and feelings.

Having analyzed the results of anxiety as a personality trait, in Table 4 we see that adolescent girls have

a lower level of overall anxiety than boys do. This is because at this age, girls behave in a more socially

expected way, are quieter, and learn better. However, until they have reached adulthood, there are

far fewer reasons for concern. For boys, by contrast, adolescence is more difficult. Boys grow up later

than their female peers do, so their emotional state is more volatile. They are more likely to conflict

with their peers and teachers, and they have worse grades in their studies more often.

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Table 4

Distribution of responses, by the level of general anxiety, between children with typical development

and children with special needs, percent

Overall level of

Excessive

anxiety

Gender

Normal

Higher

High

Very high

calm

Typical

Male

67.57

16.22

5.41

3.60

7.2

development

Female

74.75

8.08

5.05

0

12.12

Children with

Male

50

27.78

11.11

0

11.11

special care needs

Female

91.67

8.33

0

0

0

Concerning the distribution of responses on anxiety scales (Table 5) for children with special needs,

the level of school anxiety and self-esteem is slightly higher than for children with typical development.

73.33% versus 68.57%, and 70% against 67.72, which is partly due to hyper-protection, and partly to

the mental retardation of some of the children surveyed. The lower indicator of the normal level of

interpersonal anxiety indicates the problems in interpersonal communication of children with special

needs.

The highest level of "Excessive calm" on the scale "Self-rated anxiety" is 13.37%. Such insensitivity is related to a compensatory, protective nature. The student does not realize the negative experience. It

is an inadequate attitude towards oneself, a rejection of oneself. This "excessive calm" often hides an

increased anxiety about which the student does not want to tell anyone for various reasons.

Table 5

Distribution of responses, by the level of anxiety, among children with typical development and children

with special needs, percent

Children with typical

Disabled

Scales

Levels

development

children

Overall

School Anxiety

Normal

68.57

73.33

70.95

Higher

15.24

20

17.62

High

8.10

6.67

7.38

Very high

1.90

0

.95

"Excessive calm"

6.19

0

3.09

Self-esteem

Normal

67.62

70

68.81

Anxiety

Higher

9.52

6.67

8.09

High

5.24

10

7.62

Very high

3.81

0

1.90

"Excessive calm"

13.81

13.33

13.57

Interpersonal

Normal

57.62

46.67

52.14

Anxiety

Higher

25.71

26.67

26.19

High

5.24

16.67

10.95

Very high

3.33

0

1.66

"Excessive calm"

8.10

10

9.05

When compared by age, the normal level of anxiety prevails in grades 6, 8, and 9 in children with

special needs. Very high rates of anxiety can be found in 7 classes in children with typical development.

This is due to the fact that adolescence begins from the seventh grade; in the sixth grade, the

adolescent period begins for girls, and in the 7th grade boys are already beginning to grow up (see

Table 6).

It is interesting that a high score of "Excessive calm" of 25% is found in grade 10. This is the beginning

of early adolescence and the beginning of self-identification; self-recognition becomes paramount.

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During this period, there is often a low level of self-esteem. A high result for excessive calm may

indicate latent anxiety.

Teenagers who enter early adolescence analyze their childhood, trying to understand themselves,

make plans for the future, and begin to decide on a future profession. Targeting negative aspects of

the past and perceiving the present in a fatalistic manner are also causes of increased anxiety according

to Roşeanu, Marian, Tomulescu, and Pusta (2008).

The analysis revealed a weak positive correlation between self-reported anxiety and school anxiety p

= .53. This indicates that a student's self-esteem is influenced by their attitude to success or failure in

learning. The relationship between school and interpersonal anxiety, p = .49, has been identified,

indicating that students' attitude toward the learning situation affects their attitude to interactive

situations. Therefore, the more effective the interaction is, the lower the anxiety in learning.

The relationship between self-esteem and interpersonal anxiety, p = .56, indicates a link between

success in communicating and a child's self-esteem.

Table 6

Distribution of responses, by levels of overall anxiety, including age and inclusiveness, percent

"Excessive

Class Inclusivity

Normal

Higher

High

Very high

rest"

6

Typical development

73.68

2.63

5.26

2.63

15.79

Special needs

83.33

0

16.67

0

0

7

Typical development

77.42

12.90

0

6.45

3.23

Special needs

42.86

28.37

14.29

0

14.29

8

Typical development

75

7.81

7.81

0

9.38

Special needs

85.71

14.29

0

0

0

9

Typical development

75

18.18

2.27

0

4.55

Special needs

83.33

16.67

0

0

0

10

Typical development

48.48

24.24

9.09

3.03

15.15

Special needs

25

50

0

0

25

Let us turn to the results of the diagnosis of benevolence.

When comparing the results of the diagnosis among children with typical development and children

with special needs (Table 7), the difference in results is small, i.e. the level of benevolence development

is independent of nosology. Children who are enrolled in inclusive classes are as supportive as their

typical peers.

Overall, the average benefit development rate is 65.71%. Therefore, in the process of learning, the

education of a child’s personality and the development of benevolence takes place, but 10% of low

levels of development indicates that it is not sufficient.

Table 7

Distribution of responses, by the level of benevolence, between children with typical development and

children with special needs, percent

Inclusivity

High

Average

Low

Normal development

24.76%

64.76%

10.48%

Special needs

23.33%

66.67%

10%

Regarding the gender distribution of responses (Table 8), a high level of development of goodwill,

27.93%, was found in girls, versus 21.71% in boys. Girls make more contact than boys do, they are

more often responsive, and their social contacts are wider. Nevertheless, they also have a higher

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percentage of low level, namely 14.41%. Most likely, this has to do with emotionality. Most girls are

likely to answer the question in a sharper way.

Table 8

Distribution of responses, by the level of benevolence, considering gender

Gender

High

Average

Low

Male

21.71%

71.32%

6.98%

Female

27.93%

57.66%

14.41%

Regarding age (Table 9), adolescents with typical development have a higher level of benevolence by

35.48% and a lower level by 16.13% in grade 7. This difference in answers is due to the fact that in the

seventh grade the relations between peers become more important for children, conflicts are not

infrequent, some students' perceptions in the collective do not occur, and phenomena such as bullying

occur during adolescence.

Children with disabilities have a high level of benevolence – 48% in grade 10. This is due to the fact

that in early adolescence children have already overcome the main difficulties of adolescence. But the

high percentage of low indicators shows that there are difficulties in interaction between peers,

parents and teachers.

It is interesting that the correlation between goodwill and self-motivation is p = .14. This leads to the

conclusion that the attitude of children towards others influences their attitude towards themselves.

If a child has a low level of benevolence, he or she has a low level of self-motivation. However, children

who are more sensitive and are tolerant to others can motivate themselves better. There is an obvious

connection between the attitude towards oneself and the attitude towards others.

Table 9

Distribution of responses, according to the levels of benevolence, taking into account age and inclusivity

Class

Inclusivity

High

Average

Low

6

Typical development

28.95

65.79

5.26

Special needs

33.33

66.67

0

7

Typical development

35.48

48.39

16.13

Special needs

14.29

71.43

14.29

8

Typical development

18.75

71.88

9.38

Special needs

0

85.71

14.29

9

Typical development

20.45

68.18

11.36

Special needs

33.33

66.67

0

10

Typical development

27.27

60.61

12.12

Special needs

48

27

25

Conclusions

Having analyzed the results of the study of the features of the development of personal traits of

students in an inclusive educational space, we found that the hypothesis that children with special

needs have lower scores in terms of emotional intelligence, kindness and anxiety as compared to

children with normal development has not been confirmed. In fact, these children have even higher

scores by some factors. As for the development of emotional intelligence in children with special

needs, there are strengths, more developed empathy, especially in girls, and emotional awareness.

Children with disabilities have a higher level of anxiety, and their level of benevolence is equal to that

of children with typical development.

In general, all children had a low level of emotional intelligence. According to anxiety, students showed

an increased level of "excessive calm", which indicates a hidden anxiety, rejection of themselves, and

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low self-esteem. We also found that for benevolence, the average level prevails, but a low level, on

average, is found in almost 11% of students.

Analyzing correlational relations, we identified a relationship between emotional intelligence scales,

anxiety scales, and benevolence and self-motivation. We found that successful communication affects

attitudes and learning success. Self-esteem is influenced by attitudes to other people. If a child

understands his emotions better, then he also understands his peers' emotions better.

Therefore, creating an atmosphere of productive, friendly communication is an important task. There

is an obvious need to develop the communication skills of all children in inclusive classes in secondary

schools. A resolution to the problem can be facilitated by the development and implementation of

specific trainings in communicative competence for inclusive classes.

This research could be useful for special psychologists, educators and social workers, and applied for

further research on the topic.

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Table of Contents

(Giangreco, 2003).