Understanding Social and Emotional Development and Behavioural Difficulties

Introduction to Topic

The well-being of children in any given society depends largely on the ability of change agents in their environment to enable them to be adaptable, emotionally intelligent and self-sufficient individuals who can live a content life.  Schools are therefore expected to be responsive to the needs of all learners and enable them to experience a sense of belonging and success, regardless of the difficulties they may experience.  The starting point for this responsibility is to understand children through their developmental stages and challenges. Social-emotional difficulties are widespread, for example the World Health Organisation posits that about 40 million people across the world are described as being affected by conduct-dissocial disorders (WHO, 2019) characterised by persistently disruptive behavioural problems, which may present as antisocial or impulsive behaviour. Individuals with social-emotional and behavioural difficulties struggle regarding mental, sensory, physical, communication and/or social-emotional abilities and capabilities (www.southampton.gov.uk/schools-learning/send-local-offer/intro-send/send-conditions/semh/). Some of these behaviours can be linked to certain diagnoses; however, many are influenced by a range of factors including; the home environment, the school setting, teacher-learner relationships, socio-economic backgrounds and stressors in society.

Children with social and emotional difficulties often find themselves confronted with exclusion and ostracisation. Firstly, it is important for us to understand the motivation behind the behaviour both as an expression of underlying needs and difficulties. Social-emotional difficulties should explore the wider context of a child’s environment including the emotional, social and societal influences. This raises the question of what different experiences learners need in their environment to develop different behaviours. Secondly, we will identify the educational tools and strategies designed to help teachers dealing with learners presenting with SEBD. We will explore real educational experiences across different countries to facilitate our understanding of social-emotional and behavioural difficulties. Finally, we will conclude the Chapter with recommendations for teachers on how to care for the wellbeing of learners.

Key aspects

Defining SEBD

According to Zhang and colleagues, Social Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD) are described as behaviours or emotions that deviate so much from the socially defined norm that they interfere with the child’s own growth and development and/or the lives and wellbeing of others (Zhang et al., 2013). The term Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties is an umbrella term and covers a complex range of divergent behaviours which can be extremely challenging for young learners, their caregivers, and educators. In particular, they have been associated in childhood with increased risks of educational underachievement, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, unemployment, and are also predictive in adulthood of outcomes like delinquency, mental health difficulties, and social marginality (Wren et al., 2022). There is evidence that SEBDs are influenced by various bio-psychosocial factors such as gender, age, and family income level, and an increasing number of children with such difficulties live in settings characterised by social, economic, and cultural disadvantage (UKG, 2015). For example, Maria, a previously high-achieving learner, faced a dramatic life change due to family loss and subsequent caregiving responsibilities, putting her at risk for academic and social challenges that may be interpreted as SEBD.

Regarding social-emotional difficulties, a distinction is made between so-called internalising and externalising forms of expression. Internalising difficulties are characterised by anxiety, somatisation, and depression (Grubert, 2016, p. 3; Scherreiks and Schwalbe, n.d., p. 4). Internalising symptoms are often less noticeable to outsiders but can lead to a high level of stress for the affected young learners affecting their socioemotional development, and severely impairing their participation in learning. In the context of anxiety and depression, this can manifest itself in a variety of physical and psychological symptoms, including suicidal behaviour (ibid). In Maria’s case, her withdrawal from social interactions and school activities could be seen as an internalising response to her overwhelming responsibilities and the profound loss she experienced.

Externalising difficulties, on the other hand, are much more visible to the outside world. This category includes attention and social behaviour disorders, whereby the latter is usually referred to as behaviour that violates social norms, e.g. through aggressive, impulsive or oppositional behaviour (Mingebach, 2018, p. 5).

The described manifestations make it clear that there is a large variety of SEBDs which we can frequently – knowingly or unknowingly – encounter. It is important to underline at this point that the educational intervention must aim at managing the behaviour the child is presenting with, and not with changing the child her/himself. We will elaborate on how to achieve this, including various methods and case studies, in the following chapter.

Childhood development and attachment needs

Social emotional development in early childhood is closely related to the attachment process and to the development of the stress-regulation system (Kain et al., 2020, p. 31). According to Bowlby, attachment is an emotional bond that connects people across time and space. (Bowlby, 1969). Children develop a strong bond with those who are in close proximity to them, and who provide a ‘secure base’ when they are scared or distressed, even if they are not in the same place at that moment.

The need for attachment is one of the basic human needs. We are unable to survive without attachment. In situations where an infant feels insecure, the emotional connection with the attachment figure helps the infant to self-sooth and regulate his/her emotions, thus creating a secure attachment. Responding consistently and sensitively to the infant’s needs is important and infants who are securely attached explore objects in the safety of the caregiver’s presence. Safety in attachment is therefore necessary for learning and development. Through attachment we develop the ability to control our own emotional state, so that we learn to deal with situations that trigger feelings such as fear, anger, sadness, etc. (Kain et al., 2020, p. 32).

Babies are unable to self-regulate but rather need an attachment figure to co-regulate them. This means that caregivers support the baby’s self-regulation in situations where the child’s stress level increases. Therefore, it is necessary for the caregiver to recognize the cause of the increase in stress and respond to it promptly and sensitively (Kain, et al., 2020, p. 32). Caregivers must also be able to regulate children’s stress and emotions. In order to do this, they must have first learnt how to manage their own emotions and stress levels. The autonomic nervous systems of people influence each other. A calm and well-regulated person unconsciously sends out emotions via facial expressions, eye contact, muscle tone, sweat production, and signals of safety, which are also unconsciously picked up by other people to calm their own system. Likewise, the signals of stress in another person can also cause their own stress level to rise (Levine, 2011). This is a challenging task for parents, as stress and emotional distress of the child initially cause their own stress levels to rise.

Consistent co-regulation is crucial for social and emotional development: the process of co-regulation (between caregiver and infant) allows the infant to regulate her/himself. According to Schore, this is one of the main mechanisms of early childhood (Schore, 2001) (Kain et al., 2020, p. 33). Without this, the nervous system becomes overstimulated leading to unregulatable emotions and resulting in stressful behaviours labelled as challenging by others. The real challenge is borne by the children who face a difficult situation in several respects. They do not have caregivers who are available to them as a “safe haven” in difficult situations, and are incapable of managing their own emotions. Their failure to respond appropriately to difficult behaviour, provokes angry or aggressive responses which may be compounded by a stressful environment for which they feel unable to control. Consequently, they may substitute strategies that provide them with a sense of control and safety. This can result in very specific behaviours that compensate? for the lack of emotional regulation? cannot be changed by cognitive explanations, “if – then” interventions or so-called “consequences”, as these interventions do not consider the underlying lack of regulatory strategies.

Every person finds their own ways and needs different things to feel safe. Here are some examples:

A seven-year-old pupil tried to be in constant contact in different ways. She was constantly checking in or just talking in class. She often sought physical closeness to her teacher and wanted to sit in front of her and hold her hand. If the teacher refused, she took every opportunity to come to the front. She liked to look for misbehaviours of the other pupils so that she could run to the teacher and tell her about it. In other situations, she felt the need to check every few minutes if what she was doing was right. 

Her behaviour was understood as “seeking attention” and was responded to by ignoring her efforts as much as possible so as not to make her feel successful with her strategies. The goal, of course, was to get her to stop these behaviours. The result was different. She repeated these behaviours because the need for security had been reinforced. This behaviour must be understood by teachers as a form of communication if they are to give her what she needs: the feeling of being seen, the certainty of being safe with her teachers, after several very insecure life experiences in early childhood in her family.

The second example shows a different behavioural strategy, which was developed through the experience of domestic violence.

An eight-year-old boy showed great difficulties in concentrating, he was constantly in a state of movement, his reactions were very impulsive and with a high level of aggression. In addition, he had great problems learning the content which was taught. He was given the diagnosis of ADHD. On closer observation, however, it became clear that the boy had no problem with a lack of attention, quite the opposite. He was able to pick up everything that was going on inside the classroom, every conversation between two pupils, every movement, every emotional change in individual pupils, he perceived every need of each individual pupil. And even things outside the classroom, in the corridor, on the school grounds, he was extremely aware of. If something happened somewhere that was perceived as threatening by his highly activated and not well-regulated nervous system, he left his seat and ensured that the situation could be brought under his control through behaviour that was judged as aggressive from the outside. Since the detection of potential dangers and the reaction to them required his entire capacity, he hardly had any capacity left for the subject matter and was perceived as inattentive, unfocused and impulsive. (Julia Bialek, Counsellor in different schools )

Questions and tasks to reflect and discuss:

• How can understanding a child’s need for safety shift a teacher’s approach to classroom behaviour?
• How might recognizing the root causes of behaviour help create a supportive learning environment?

These are just  two examples, to which many more could be added, which highlight how forms of expression described as SEBD arise out of a dynamic that is always related to experience. One underlying developmental dynamic was described here, yet, a multitude of possible causes could be summarised under the term SEBD from attachment research, developmental psychology, neurobiology and various other fields.

Young learners’ problems with the system?

The importance of a strong relationship between learners and teachers has been widely acknowledged (ref?). Research has underlined some fundamental differences between teachers’ and young learners’ points of views: for example, teachers may attribute behavioural difficulties to young learners’ personality, their lack of motivation or disruptive nature, or family problems. Meanwhile young learners complain about unfair treatments, prejudiced attitudes and lack of empathy or listening capabilities and they may exhibit difficult behaviours to resolve problems (Spera and Wentzel, 2003; Cooper and McIntyre, 1993).

A study (Cefai and Cooper, 2010), that sought the views of secondary school students exhibiting SEBDs in Malta, has identified five main themes which represent barriers to learning, well-being and inclusive education:

• Poor relationships with teachers; in which young learners perceive a lack of understanding and support, or feel humiliated and inadequate when teachers ignore them. The lack of connection may prevent them talking about their emotions or problems;
• Sense of unfairness and injustice; especially when young learners are identified by, and labelled for, their own behaviour and sometimes punished for their peers’ misbehaviour;
• Sense of oppression and powerlessness; young learners may not feel they have a right to a voice their opinion, leading to feelings of alienation and disengagement from the system;
• Unconnected learning experiences; due to boring and unrelated to real-life situations and curricula;
• Exclusion and stigmatisation; due to teachers’ inability to understand young learners’ social and emotional needs. Young learners become vulnerable and stop believing in themselves, and disengagement emerges as a self-protective mechanism.

Negative perceptions of young learners can also pose barriers to young learners hindering not only personal development, but the entire learning process. In the next section, we will identify factors which can enhance educational strategies and facilitate inclusion.

Methods and strategies for an education for all

Teachers 

Co-regulation, Externalisation

Forming stable relationships within the school setting is crucial to the development and education of young learners. These relationships provide stability, safety, and co-regulation, all of which are essential for effective learning. Building these connections goes beyond being reliable and trustworthy; it requires a genuine acceptance and appreciation of students, regardless of any challenging behaviours they may present with. Such behaviours often serve as coping mechanisms developed in response to previous traumatic experiences or difficult challenges, and should not be viewed simply as problems to be resolved. For learners presenting with SEBDs, addressing these behaviours requires an understanding of their root causes, including family dynamics and home environment, values, and any past traumas. Observing and gathering insights into each learner’s background respectfully and empathetically helps foster a deeper connection and trust, forming a foundation for effective support. This approach enables teachers to respond not only to behaviours but also to the underlying needs of each learner (Zimmermann, 2017, p. 23).

Co-regulation

If children do not have the experience of being calmed by their parents in a situation of stress, or negative emotions, they do not learn to regulate their nervous system and emotional situation hence they must learn to co-regulate in adulthood. Co-regulation is the process by which adults support the child’s emotional regulation during situations of stress and strain thus ensuring the regulation of emotion and the activation of the sympathetic nervous system to a more desirable state?. The transfer of this regulation into a self-directed ability is one of the main tasks of childhood and the prerequisite for learning social skills (Kain et al., 2020, p. 33).

How can teachers support the regulation of young learners:

1. Recognise the alarm signals that occur when the stress system is activated;
2. Remain calm themselves and radiate calmness;
3. Identify the causes of stress, show understanding, find words together for what has happened and what is needed, offer alternatives such as short breaks, exercise, etc. 

It has also proven to be very helpful to get close to the learner more often, to make “soft” eye contact, i.e. to look at them in a friendly manner and with as little confrontation as possible, as a direct gaze can very quickly appear threatening. We would also recommend going on walks with young learners who are experiencing distress. Any kind of interaction or mundane activity which can happen side-by-side, (rather than directly facing each other) is much less confrontational.

Externalisation

The externalisation approach, developed by Michael White and David Epston (White and Epston, 2009), states that ‘it is not the person or the relationship that is the problem, but the problem that is the problem’ (White and Epston, 2009, p. 57). This approach separates the problem from the person allowing the person to take control over their life. The following questions may bring about a more productive outcome rather than focusing on the individual. When did the problem start, was it always there, in what situations was it problematic, what is the goal of the problem, what positive things could the problem have in mind for the person?

This approach reduces feelings of shame and guilt and enables the person and those around them to act together in a differentiated way and to change the problem together.

Beyond general trauma-informed principles, which are safe and resonate with young learners with SEBDs, there are a few “life hacks” that can be very helpful when working with these students. The general idea is to make yourself as unthreatening as possible. It is also important to bear in mind that, for young learners with SEBDs, anything can be perceived as threatening, particularly as they are often navigating an unknown environment which is not tailored to their needs. Small details such as personal space, direct eye contact or sudden sounds and movement can feel unsafe or threatening, even though you may have the best intentions.

My go-to are mundane everyday tasks and activities which allow us to move around each other in our space and while giving us something to do, also allow room for conversation. One of the young learners I worked with frequently exhibited violent and aggressive behaviour when he was triggered or generally overwhelmed with things going on around him. While he and I were trying to navigate everyday life in school with this additional challenge we quickly found that he had no strategy to deal with this feeling of overwhelm and unwind in a safe and healthy manner which did not include harming himself or others. This made him feel extremely ashamed and self-conscious since he felt he had no control of his actions and felt misunderstood. He would often hang back and be apprehensive of going home and so he would spend a lot of time following me around school after hours watching me do the everyday chores, such as washing up, wiping the tables down or making copies for the next day. The company of me or my colleagues seemed to soothe him and while he stayed in the background, he began to take an interest in what was going on around him. With time he became bolder and would ask for me to give him tasks to help out and soon enough he learned to make copies, do the dishes and his personal favourite was hoovering the carpets in our classroom. He started taking pride in these tasks and was very particular about them being done correctly. It became obvious that these things were helping him decompress as he had some co-regulation, mild exercise and a sense of achievement. We began to incorporate these strategies into our class routine, and he learned to express that he needed to unwind and ask whether he could go and hoover the carpets. Now, having someone vigorously hoovering the carpet while you are working is not as distracting to most people as you would expect and the other children were unphased by it, knowing to keep their distance while he was cleaning since it was his way of relieving pressure. Of course some of my colleagues needed some getting used to this newfound strategy since admittedly it is quite unorthodox. To me it was an absolute life saver since we had finally found something that worked and which he responded well to and on top of that proved to be very useful. (Christine Carstens, teacher)

Questions and tasks to reflect and discuss:

• Have you developed specific strategies working with young learners exhibiting SEBDs?

• What are situations in which these methods or strategies could be useful?

• Do you require resources, support or further information in order to apply the aforementioned strategies?

• How can everyday tasks and routines serve as tools for helping young learners manage overwhelming emotions and find a sense of control and achievement?

Parents 

Collaboration between families and teachers

Even though there are many contributing factors, it’s safe to say that parents and caregivers are key players in the development of young learners. They are experts when it comes to their children, and yet they are often disregarded or excluded by the system. Having a stable and trusting relationship with a teacher is of vital importance, especially as children cannot be viewed in isolation from their families and backgrounds.

Parents or caregivers, especially of young learners who are exhibiting SEBDs, may face many challenges and are often subjected to the judgement of others. That being said, we are fully aware of the limits of teacher training, and some may not feel well-equipped for the task at hand. The collaboration we are referring to here, however, does not necessarily require extensive training or specific qualifications. Rather, it focuses on building relationships with the young learners and understanding the contextual factors which impact their learning/education.

If you feel self-conscious or are not quite sure how to get started, active listening is a quick and simple approach which can be easily incorporated into your practice. This approach also works well with parents. For example, teachers tend to talk a lot, and we would recommend giving parents more time to tell their stories which may be helpful in identifying the difficulties facing the young learner in the home environment. An 80/20 percent ratio is ideal . When speaking with the parent or caregiver, be attentive, ask questions, validate their feelings and try to learn everything about the family situation. Not only does this build a deeper understanding and trusting connection with them, but, it includes them in the process and hopefully empowers the parent to make changes to support their child? (Zimmermann, 2017, p. 75).

I would like to give you a relatable example of an encounter that I had with a mother which happened to be one of the many stories that stuck with me. So, this mother’s son was transferred to my group at the age of 16 after having been expelled from numerous schools. For reasons of anonymity, I won’t give you an exact number but it was in the double digits. The mother had a reputation of being what most people might refer to as “difficult”. Due to her own biography and her experiences concerning the education of her son, she had many negative associations with the educational system, child protective services, institutions and people in general. She was apprehensive of leaving her flat at all and had isolated herself and her son completely. In doing so it seemed that she herself had become a barrier to her son’s development and was depriving him of many opportunities he could have had otherwise. 

So, I made it my priority to go and visit them in their home regularly. Luckily my school’s policy worked in my favour as visiting every family in their home once a year is a mandatory requirement. These visits aren’t meant to be any kind of examination but are merely another chance to get a different perspective and form a connection. It took many phone calls and a lot of convincing for her to agree to me coming over. Also, I made a point of explaining and describing to her, in great detail, what exactly would happen during the visit and what to expect. So I literally told her:” I’m going to ring your doorbell, you will let me in and tell me where to sit and that’s exactly where I’ll be. I won’t touch anything, check for dust or otherwise invade your personal space. If you have a cup of coffee for us, that’s lovely and if not that’s also fine.” That seemed to put her mind at ease a little and when I visited her, I was very careful to stick precisely to what we had previously agreed on. 

When we finally sat together on the couch in her living room, the appearance of the flat made it obvious that she was struggling. I kept my thoughts to myself, however. This visit was meant to be about establishing a relationship and not berating her or giving her unsolicited advice about her living situation. I simply let her talk and as it turned out she had so much that she wanted to get off her chest. Feelings about being misunderstood, unjustly treated or simply the perception of being abandoned by the school system. Many school and institutional representatives had initially contacted her and made grand promises about wanting to work with her son. Usually however, a couple of months after these conversations, she would receive a call, telling her that she and her son were no longer wanted and that he was being expelled from this or that school for varying reasons. At some point she had given up on trusting the educational system altogether. 

I let her talk and vent about her experience for the entire time that I was there, listening and observing. Then, when it was time to go, I remember us, standing in the door frame together and her asking me out of the blue when I would be back. That was the moment I realised that I had a foot in the door. I asked her when she wanted me to be back, and she suggested that I come back at the same time the following week. From that moment onward our visits became a regular thing which she began to look forward to and our relationship slowly progressed. It was obvious that I alone did not have the expertise or resources to support that woman, I could however install a support system of experts who did. So, with each visit, little by little, I would begin to make suggestions and offers as to how we could improve her and her son’s situation and because of the relationship we had built she was able to agree to them. 

There were several aspects of her situation that needed to change – for legal, medical or other reasons, which were non-negotiable. Instead of confronting her with that however I would always make sure to give her options to choose from which made the entire procedure more respectful and much less invasive, giving her a sense of control over the process. When presenting her with options I, again, would go into much detail about what would happen at which time and what exactly to expect. Eventually it was even possible for me to bring other people into the equation. She didn’t trust those people but was prepared to accept them into her personal space because she trusted me, and I had told her it would be alright. 

Her son is no longer attending our school, not because he got expelled, but because he graduated. He is now enrolled in a training programme for young adults preparing them for the job market. His mother is a lot more stable now than she used to be. She has moved to a different apartment, has taken up a job and actively seeks help when she feels that she needs to. Her and I are still in contact, and I receive a Christmas and birthday card every year. I personally see this case as a success and believe that it shows that relationships between teachers, learners and their families go a long way. It wasn’t so much about having specific qualifications or being an expert in anything in particular. It was about reaching out to somebody and making a connection. (Christine Carstens, teacher)

Questions and tasks to reflect and discuss:

• Are there examples where you can include active listening in your performance at school?

• How could you structure a support system in similar cases where you are from?

• What are resources available to you to help you collaborate with parents successfully?

• How did the teacher’s approach of consistent visits, active listening, and offering choices in the example above empower the mother to trust the school system again and support her son’s path to success?

Peer education

The importance of peers in the process

Peers play an important role in influencing the behaviour and values in the peer group (McWhirter, 2013). Young people form peer clusters which can be a good or bad influence. If the influence is negative, it can jeopardise efforts made by the school. However, if the peers share positive values, schools can identify, and  mentor learners in peer support strategies that could have lasting, positive impacts on the wellbeing of the young learner, the peers and the teachers.

According to a guide by Pennsylvania State University (2018), compared to teachers, young learners are better able to understand the life experiences of their peers. This is not unsurprising given the generational difference. In other words, children can relate more to the experiences of their peers. Issues such as your culture, language, socioeconomic background, or being subject to gossip or being excluded from a friend group are important to young people. Children should therefore be allowed, and empowered, to step into the peer support structures to help manage the dynamics of childhood Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD) more generally. Schools should not only promote positive peer relations and social-emotional development through prevention and intervention initiatives, but should also engage in teaching and modelling diversity-sensitive peer engagements and peer support. These initiatives may include efforts in two interrelated areas. One is the creation of a positive school environment that promotes belongingness and acceptance, which in turn builds social-emotional skills (this will be covered in more detail in the next topic). The second one is the creation of peer support groups and activities that promote positive and inclusive interactions – these can reduce the marginalisation of those who struggle with forming social relations, or managing emotions due to genetic, neurological and/or socio-ecological factors.

Let’s look at this Case Scenario.

A 12-year-old boy somewhere in Asia was fascinated by online games which he played since early childhood. He could easily access these games through his smart phone and was a pro.  These games involved challenges, and if one played till the end and managed the challenge, you got awarded an online medal which you could print and hang on your wall.  The boy played a certain game every day and received 13 medals in two weeks. He introduced the games to his friends, and they started competing for medals. It became a status thing in the peer group to have the most medals.  Sometimes they played the whole night until they overcame the challenge and got the medal. The challenges became more and more complicated, and he managed to complete them all. There was one more game left to receive the award of an overall hero. He was leading with medals and told his friends that he was going to become the hero.  One of his friends showed the game to his teacher and the teacher discovered that the challenges were becoming more dangerous and weird. The teacher also discovered that the final medal actually required the player to kill himself to become a hero. At that moment, the boy alarmed the teacher that they had to go to his friend’s house because he was sure the friend would do whatever the game told him to do because he really wanted to become a hero. Unfortunately, it was too late!  By the time the police and emergency services made it to the house, the hero had no pulse! (Cynthy K. Haihambo)

Questions and tasks to reflect and discuss:

The development of peer support groups can assume various formats. One common format is delivering a workshop on peer support and at the end asking for volunteers who would like to be trained in peer support. Children can therefore develop agency to not only speak up and speak out, but also to represent themselves and others. Another format is to create a culture of care, openness, and friendliness in which mistakes and imperfections are viewed as stepping-stones and not as punishable offences. In this environment, there should be safe disclosure and support procedures as well as horizontal relationships between learners and teachers, learners and learners, teachers and teachers, teachers and communities (Jansson, 2012). Modelling these kinds of relationships enables spontaneous peer support because children feel comfortable and safe to share information and develop their own support systems (as previously seen in the Case Study of Maria presented in the introduction of this chapter). Many schools have peer counsellors who are trained in active listening, problem identification, positive feedback and who to tell when someone needs support. From our experience, the peer support method has a number of important components: a) ensure young learners in this role have continuous support, affirmation and rewards and b) teachers are key facilitators in this process and should monitor the wellbeing of children at all times.

Positive peer culture

Developed by Vorrath and Bendtro (1985), Positive Peer Culture (PPC) aims to give children and young people the opportunity to support each other and in doing so, allows them to experience and develop their own strengths and skills. In PPC, regular group meetings are organised and attended by the young people themselves but  in the presence of a specialist, who maintains a low profile. Each person in the group is given the opportunity to talk about the difficulties they are currently facing and the group then chooses which topics to work on and suggests up ideas for solving the difficulties based on their own experience. This approach has proven to be very effective as it empowers the young people to resolve issues through group communication, conflict resolution strategies, self-efficacy and social behaviour.

Learning environments

Creating safe spaces in school

Learning environments are crucial when working with learners from our target group. Creating a safe space within a school can be challenging particularly as school buildings are often designed for academic purposes, and may not appear as a welcoming and safe environment.  On the other hand, a positive learning environment is essential for working effectively with young learners who struggle with social and emotional regulation. This extends beyond just the physical building and includes cultivating a culture of empathy, respect, and support through consistent interactions, clear communication, and predictable routines that help young learners feel secure. Often, school systems emphasise changing the learner, frequently through categorisation or diagnosis, or focus primarily on curriculum content. Shifting some of this focus toward adapting the learning environment can be transformative, fostering a setting where young learners feel understood and included (Naukkarinen, 2018).

Building and customising a workspace that meets the needs of the young person also presents an opportunity to bond and form authentic working relationships, especially as everyone is working towards a shared goal. When young learners are involved in designing and personalising their classroom – whether through creativity in layout, painting, or choosing resources – they feel a sense of ownership and pride. This sense of autonomy often translates into greater respect for the space and can reduce tendencies toward vandalism, a frequent issue among young learners with challenging behaviours. By creating safe, welcoming, and adaptable learning environments, teachers can significantly enhance SEBD young learners’ ability to regulate emotions, focus on tasks, and engage with peers and learning materials. For many SEBD young learners, feeling secure in their environment is a prerequisite for meaningful participation and academic progress. When young learners have access to spaces that accommodate their sensory needs, or a private retreat to decompress, they are better equipped to manage overwhelming emotions and re-engage with the class when they’re ready. Additionally, involving young learners in personalising the classroom fosters a sense of ownership and belonging, reducing feelings of alienation or distrust. As a result, these environments empower young learners to be more active, collaborative, and invested in their learning, positively influencing both their social and academic development.

I personally have a strong dislike for school buildings and can only sit on an uncomfortable chair under a fluorescent light for so long. So, I greatly enjoy remodelling classroom spaces with learners because I too benefit greatly from it. Remodelling my current classroom however was a big undertaking because we wanted to include a new building structure into the available space. This was a necessity because the room had become too small and confining for the group it was supposed to house. So, we needed to get creative in order to use all available space. By chance I remembered a conversation I had the previous year with Frank Müller, the initiator of this project. He had mentioned a Swiss company that produced custom-built beehive like structures that can be vertically bolted up against a wall giving each learner an individual honeycomb as a safe space. They are lined with felt which forms a protective barrier against outside noise (great for learners with sensory issues) and have little collapsible chairs and tables so you can either sit down and work or cuddle up with a cup of tea and a blanket when you feel overwhelmed. 

When I told my group about the idea, they were thrilled with it even though for legal reasons it wasn’t something we could build ourselves. What we could do however was design it digitally and of course sort out the necessary funding. We were amazed to actually find a private foundation that was prepared to finance our idea and contribute three-quarters of the sum necessary and especially the young learner could not believe that a group of strangers they had never met before were willing to support them with such a huge amount of money. When our own beehive was finally set up, we had a small celebration which even the head of department and the press attended. It was a very proud moment for the group to be able to present their design to the public. Since its instalment the structure has changed the group dynamic greatly because the learners now have the option of withdrawing when they feel overwhelmed, need some space or simply want to work in peace. They still take great pride in our classroom and enjoy showing it off to the occasional visitor.  (Christine Carstens, teacher)

Questions and tasks to reflect and discuss:

• Are you efficiently using the space available to you and your group?
• Are there safe spaces available for young learners?
• Have you taken sensory issues, which are often associated with SEBDs, into account?
• On what level do you believe safe spaces would impact young learners’ performance?

Classroom management and differentiated teaching

Helpful adjustments 

At this point, the need to use educational methods and strategies which allow all young learners to achieve academic success, and to consolidate the personal and social skills useful for realising themselves, in life is evident. It seems useful here to speak of didactic differentiation understood as “a basic methodological perspective capable of promoting significant learning processes for all the young learners present in the classroom, aimed at proposing targeted educational and didactic activities, designed to meet the needs of individuals in an educational climate in which it is customary to approach the didactic work in different ways” (D’Alonzo, 2016, p. 47). In the essay The differentiated classroom: responding to the needs of all learners (Tomlinson, 1999), Tomlinson suggests implementing a methodology guided by general principles such as: scheduling activities that respect the needs and timing of young learners, creating small flexible work groups, constant monitoring and verification of the results obtained and of the young learners’ perception of the work carried out. In particular, he suggests distinguishing across three areas:

• Differentiate the content; i.e. the knowledge and skills that the young learner will have to master with experience and competence, using written and oral communication, non-verbal language, the use of images and multimedia files, and therefore of IT tools;
• Differentiate the knowledge-building process; planning the functional activities to acquire the knowledge and distinguishing the learning phases;
• Differentiate the expected product; by favouring that the young learner demonstrates in an original and adequate way to the person, that they are able to competently activate their knowledge in significant and demanding activities (Castoldi, 2012, p. 190).

The distinction of these three areas therefore requires, alongside careful planning by each teacher, an in-depth knowledge of each young learner and their characteristics, passions and interests, abilities and potential. This lays the foundations of differentiated teaching and makes it possible to develop motivation and curiosity on the part of the young learners, presenting them each time with new challenging but possible and accessible tasks, from the simplest to the most complex.

D’Alonzo (D’Alonzo, 2016, p. 97-103) identifies practical suggestions to guide the action of didactic differentiation, which we deem useful to summarise:

• Organise the classroom environment by choosing elements that can be diversified; using the classroom flexibly, including the arrangement of desks and chairs, based on educational needs and choices. The use of visual signs (billboards, posters, images) which can enrich the walls of the classroom, reminding everyone of the rules to follow, shared objectives, daily steps to achieve, is particularly useful.
• Design with clarity; the objectives, tasks, phases and ways of working by answering the questions: what do I want the young learners to learn? How to know that they have learned it? How will I design teaching and assessment to support learning? (Wiggings and McTighe, 1998).
• Promote the social construction of learning; promote community experiences and the common good, alongside the personal experiences such as improving the sense of belonging, active participation and motivation, and reducing behaviours considered to be challenging.
• Provide more differentiated activities; respecting the different learning styles and times of the pupils and offering alternatives that satisfy the different needs.
• Emotionally involve; create an educational relationship based on trust and mutual support. Involve young learners in choosing the rules to be respected in the classroom and in planning activities and tasks to be performed.

Incorporating all of the above in your daily lessons at school may seem overwhelming at first – even more so in a group of young learners presenting with SEBDs. The chances of the groups you will face in the field being homogenous enough to work on the same tasks is near zero, so it is unavoidable for you to make some adjustments. The key is to find something reliable that works for you and the group of young learners you work with. 

Personally, I often struggle being organised and keeping up with small details for example – I happen to have a young learner who is on the autism spectrum who excels in these tasks however and enjoys nothing more than crossing points off to-do lists and writing evaluations. That is of course a win/win situation, since we achieve our shared goal of keeping organised and the child can make a meaningful contribution. Generally, I have had the experience that apart from a clear structure which needs to be present within the classroom in whichever way works best for you (visualisation, organised and accessible materials, flexible seating arrangements), the tasks themselves are crucial. In order for young learners to emotionally engage, tasks have to be meaningful and relatable (i. e. they need to understand why they are doing what they are doing). Merely working on differentiated materials or tapping menus on a tablet holds no merit and may quickly result in frustration. If possible, I would always favour a complex problem-based approach which is easier than you may think since in a public school with a group of young learners you never fall short of real-life problems which require solving on various levels. 

In my case a good example would be an event my group had voted on hosting a couple of years ago. Since many of the children themselves have migrational backgrounds, topics such as migration and deportation were always close to their hearts and often a matter of discussion in our class. During one of these discussions the children realised that the political stakeholders making decisions in these matters, more often than not, have never actually met the people on whose behalf they are deciding. So, in an effort to change that, the children suggested inviting the politicians in question to an event they wanted to host in one of the refugee camps nearby. It was decided that it should be a party for adults and children alike, so that everybody could meet up and have a good time. So, we began to put together the event which required funding, food, drinks, activities, invitations and permits. During this process the fact that the children were so very heterogeneous and many of them were often academically challenged due to SEBDs or other difficulties that they may have been facing, became secondary because we quickly realised that every one of them had their own unique set of skills which made them invaluable to our undertaking. The children who were structured and good with numbers took responsibility for the organisation, children who were experienced with household duties were in charge of food and drinks, others with many siblings got busy planning activities for our young visitors, pupils who were physically able were in charge of setting up the location  and others with a political interest accompanied me on my mission of inviting the local politicians (which turned out to be a mission indeed!). The children quickly realised that the usual structural disadvantages and differences which are quite prominent in regular school life, suddenly became secondary as all of us worked towards a common goal. 

The event turned out to be a huge success with the number of visitors ranging somewhere around 100 and even a handful of local politicians showing their faces – something the children were extremely proud of since they didn’t believe anyone would show up or be interested in what they had to say. With this event we also managed to make a fair sum of money which we intended to donate to charity completely. To our surprise the charity however refused to accept the entire sum and insisted on our group keeping half of it because the students had worked so hard and deserved a reward. We took a vote on what to do with the money and it was unanimously decided that we would buy two armchairs for our classroom for us to have a safe space to sit and chat. This event was one of many which considerably changed the group dynamic because not only did the group get to experience self-efficacy and agency, they also came to understand that every group member had a specific skill set, which even though admittedly not always useful within a school context, is often indispensable when it comes to tackling the real world. Needless to say that behavioural issues were almost non-existent during this project. 

Now obviously you cannot spend your school days planning events, however there are many problems and situations to be dealt with inside and outside of school. Problems which are authentic and have many levels and different tasks, offering opportunities to you and your pupils to collaborate to reach your shared goal.

Questions and tasks to reflect and discuss:

• Are you emotionally involving young learners in your lessons?

• What is necessary for you to do so?

• How can meaningful tasks be constructed in order to educate young learners?

Conclusion

Young learners with SEBDs, as well as their parents and caregivers, face numerous challenges adapting to the rules and regulations across various societal structures. They are often misunderstood or rejected especially when the reasons for their behaviours are not visible at first glance, and require a deeper level of connection, understanding or even expertise. A gap often exists separating them from the rest of society which only deepens when they are repeatedly confronted with failure or punishment within school contexts. Schools may risk reproducing feelings of disconnection or misunderstanding among young learners, but they also possess the skills and knowledge to bridge the gap by exploring different approaches and avenues to supporting to young learners. There are many methods and strategies which teachers and other staff can utilise, but at the core of this approach is a positive attitude and deep understanding of their difficulties. When working with young learners who present with SEBDs, it is crucial to not only have an open mind, but also the willingness to educate oneself on the topic in order to gain get a better understanding of how best to manage their needs, and to find the suitable resources and approaches to enable the young learner to thrive. We have listed a handful of approaches in this chapter nevertheless, a plethora of possibilities exist to support and educate young learners in school. Developing the skills and mindset to support young learners with SEBDs is a life-long process, and ideally not a journey that should be embarked on alone. Resources are limited, but remember there are many people researching, working and advocating for this specific group of young learners and multiple opportunities exist to share knowledge and practice. Networking and connecting with others and striving to work in multi professional teams, while difficult, can be enormously rewarding. Remember to be patient and understanding, not only with the young learners, but also with yourself, and don’t hesitate to reach out and connect with others.

Local contexts

Literature

About the authors

name: Julia Bialek

Julia Bialek is working as a research assistant at the University of Bremen in the “All Means All!” project. She is a pedagogist, has a degree in special education, and has been working in the field of trauma-sensitive education for many years. She teaches this topic at the university, in training courses for educational professionals, and works as a trauma therapist.

name: Christine Carstens

Chris Carstens, based in Bremerhaven, brings extensive experience in teaching English and German, alongside certification as a trauma educator with a specialization in supporting children and young adults facing social and emotional challenges.

name: Cynthy K. Haihambo

Cynthy Kaliinasho Haihambo Ya-Otto is a teacher-educator at the University of Namibia. Her teaching and research areas are in Educational Psychology and Inclusive Education.

name: Francesca Mara Santangelo

Francesca Mara Santangelo is a pedagogist with expertise in disability, marginality, and Behavioral Neuroscience. Her research focuses on Special Education and Inclusion. As a musician and teacher trainer, she also works on designing and implementing early educational interventions coordinating networks of schools, institutions, families, and various stakeholders. Her professional experience combines solid expertise with a continuous commitment to promoting inclusive education and fostering neuropsychological well-being starting with children.