School connectedness, school climate and emotional and behaviour disorders in students: Examining relationships

Abstract

Students with emotional and behaviour disorders (EBDs) have challenging school connectedness experiences related to their social, behaviour and academic problems. They need accommodative school climate. Therefore, it is necessary to know the relationship between variations in EBDs, school connectedness and school climate. This was a survey research on students with EBDs (N = 60) from 14 inclusive elementary schools. Questionnaires about EBD types, school connectedness and school climate were filled out by teachers as data. The data analysis technique used was descriptive statistics with product–moment correlation test. The results indicate that EBDs have a medium significant negative correlation with school connectedness (−0.591) and school climate (−0.521). School climate has a positive correlation with school connectedness (0.438). This study suggests positive school climate improvement to increase school connectedness of students with EBDs, because it can affect the reduction of problem behaviour.        

Keywords: Student, emotional disorder, behaviour disorders, school connectedness, school climate, inclusive schools;