Perspectives of Parents of Children with Special Educational Needs: Self-Efficacy and School Supports During COVID-19

The role of parents in supporting at-home learning increased dramatically in the spring of 2020. Schools in most Canadian provinces closed physically due to COVID-19, and remote-learning options were quickly developed to ensure continued education for students. Many students with special educational needs, who typically benefit from a range of supports from school, became reliant on parents to provide means of access to and participation in remote learning. Using an online survey, we explored the perceptions of 263 Canadian parents of children with special education needs with regard to their self‑efficacy and supports from schools. We conducted multiple linear regression analyses for each of three dependent variables (academic supports, parent self‑efficacy, and social-emotional supports); independent variables included student grade level, education placement, and total school-provided supports prior to the pandemic. Findings indicated that most parents engaged in remote learning and lacked confidence in their ability to support the learning of their child. Parent self-efficacy was related to social-emotional supports from schools and not to academic supports. Parents of children in elementary grades, and of those who had received more supports from school prior to COVID‑19, reported feeling better supported in social-emotional areas by the school. Schools should explore ways of building strong collaborative relationships between educators and parents, as well as continuing to find ways of supporting families and students in both in- and out-of-school places. The pandemic, and school-building closures, have reminded us how partnerships between parents and schools are crucial for the well-being of all involved.

Keterlibatan Siswa SMK dalam Pembelajaran Jarak Jauh dan Dukungan Akademik: Sudut Pandang Guru

Kurangnya keterlibatan siswa sering menjadi permasalahan dalam pembelajaran jarak jauh (PJJ). Dalam situasi tersebut, siswa membutuhkan adanya dukungan akademik. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui bagaimana perspektif guru terkait keterlibatan siswa dalam PJJ serta melihat dukungan seperti apa yang diberikan guru kepada siswa dalam PJJ. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif. Subjek penelitian merupakan 23 guru SMK yang melaksanakan PJJ. Pengambilan data dilakukan menggunakan kuesioner yang berisi pertanyaan-pertanyaan terbuka mengenai pengalaman guru selama pelaksanaan PJJ. Data kemudian dianalisis menggunakan metode analisis tematik. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa guru melihat siswa kurang terlibat dalam PJJ. Selain itu, dalam PJJ ini diketahui bahwa guru masih dapat memberikan dukungan-dukungan walaupun secara fisik terpisah dengan siswa. Dukungan yang diberikan dapat berupa dukungan emosional, dukungan informasi, dukungan instrumental maupun dukungan penghargaan. The lack of student engagement often becomes the problem of distance learning. Amid this situation, students need academic supports. This research aims to investigate the perspective of teachers on student engagement and to investigate supports that the teachers give to students. This research employed a qualitative approach and thematic analysis method. Participants of this research were 23 Vocational High School teachers who implemented distance learning. Data was gathered by means of a questionnaire containing open-ended questions. Research results revealed that students have low behavioral engagement. For emotional engagement, some students showed negative feelings, but other students showed positive feelings. The same case with cognitive engagement. Although some students had low motivation, other students showed their efforts in distance learning. In addition, results showed teachers provide supports to students such as emotional support, informational support, instrumental support, and appraisal supports.

Ecological Counseling as an Integrative Cognitive Complexity Intervention Framework for Students with COVID-19 Pandemic-Caused Mental Health Challenges

This article aims to present a practical conceptual perspective on ecological counseling as a theoretical framework for counselors' integrative cognitive complexity to work with students who experience mental health challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The transition of educational activities into virtual learning has caused various challenges for students worldwide that risk their mental health. Indonesia is one of the countries implementing virtual learning for more than a year with various social, technical, and environmental obstacles. Besides the benefit of distanced learning, this online learning model has widely caused mild to severe anxiety among students. Although researchers have investigated the impacts of virtual learning on mental health problems, the intervention strategies to help students with mental health issues remain lack attention. Ecological counseling has been known for its principles of seeing individuals' mental health issues involving a broader milieu that allows counselors to understand clients according to their contextual living systems. This framework offers a culturally sensitive perspective to help counselors withdraw appropriate and best available information for intervention purposes. This article also includes an application illustration of the ecological counseling framework in the Indonesian community as a practical guideline. It is expected that this article provides academic supports for academics to work with students dealing with their mental health challenges during this pandemic adhere to the counselors' integrative cognitive complexity functions.Keywords: ecological counseling, cognitive complexity, COVID-19 mental health, counselors, Indonesia

Will college promise programs improve or reduce equity? Understanding the contextual conditions that influence program implementation

Although “free tuition” programs are politically popular, some worry that these programs will exacerbate inequity. Scholars note that program outcomes depend on implementation, but few have probed the contextual conditions that contribute to differences in implementation or the consequences of implementation for equity. To address this knowledge gap, we draw on conceptual models of implementation fidelity and case studies of last-dollar, free tuition programs at four community colleges. The consequences of an implemented program for equity depend on program content and coverage and are moderated by programmatic and organizational conditions. For the studied programs, implemented content includes the financial award and non-financial academic supports. Coverage is determined by eligibility requirements. Program content and coverage are moderated by programmatic characteristics, including program goals and placement in the organizational structure, program staffing, and recruitment strategies. Organizational conditions, including sources and availability of funding, availability of synergistic programs, capacity for data collection and evaluation, and perceptions of the community college also moderate implementation. The results inform understanding of how to implement programs at community colleges that increase equity in particular contexts.

Impactful Academic Supports for Students Enrolled at Military Colleges

Military colleges have historically been respected and viewed as results-driven institutions of higher learning. These colleges have strong reputations for producing both leaders and scholars. Though gaining admission to a military college is usually somewhat more formidable than the admission process at many civilian colleges, students are accepted with varying academic abilities, skills, and backgrounds. Most of these students, however, are retained, experience academic success, and graduate. The author describes distinct military college academic support initiatives that promote scholarly success among college students, from those who struggle to pass a course to those who want to turn a satisfactory grade into a better grade. Included in those initiatives are tutoring, advising, and mentoring. A case study of the establishment of the Academic Success Center at Marion Military Institute is included, along with data markers indicating the success of the center and its programs.

The role of the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) in strengthening the capacity and performance of supreme audit institutions in developing countries

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to contribute to dialogue between practitioners and academics. The article discusses the importance of supreme audit institutions (SAIs), challenges and opportunities facing SAIs (also in light of COVID-19) and how the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) supports SAIs in developing countries in enhancing their performance and capacity.Design/methodology/approachThis is a practitioner’s viewpoint which reflects IDI’s publicly available documents and the opinions of a practitioner involved in the work of the IDI and that of INTOSAI.FindingsThe work of SAIs is ensuring effective public sector auditing matters, and it is increasingly recognized that strong and well-functioning SAIs can be key pillars in developing effective states, democratic development and trust in governments. At the same time, SAIs face challenges and opportunities in ensuring that they are effective and independent institutions that produce reports that have impact and add value to the life of citizens. The IDI supports SAIs in overcoming these challenges and seizing opportunities through support for all SAIs in developing countries. The IDI model is based on facilitated support that is need based and provided through peer-to-peer cooperation.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of this article (which are also its strength in terms of fitness for purpose) are that as a practitioner’s viewpoint, it provides a brief overview and personal judgements rather than an empirical analysis of developments applying a theoretical framework.Social implicationsA practitioner’s engagement with academic supports increased understanding of the respective views leading to better outcomes for practitioners and academics working in the area of public sector auditing.Originality/valueThe article provides a practitioner's input on the important work of SAIs.

Network models of learning and cognition in typical and atypical learners

Mutualistic theories suggest that the mastering of a skill, either cognitive or academic, supports and amplifies the development of other such abilities. A mutualistic network framework was applied to map the interrelations between identical cognitive and academic tasks in two age-matched developmental cohorts (age range 8 to 18). One cohort was drawn from the general school population and the other included struggling learners (N= 350 per cohort). The community sample outperformed the struggling learners across all cognitive and academic tests, yet tasks were similarly interrelated across groups. Some differences in association strength were also observed: academic skills were more closely coupled in typical relative to struggling learners, while maths was more strongly related to cognitive skills in the struggling learners.