Anksioznost nastavnika i majki kao prediktor doživljaja pripadanja školi dece sa razvojnim smetnjama
Anxiety Of Teachers And Mothers As An Indicator Of The Sense Of School Belonging In Children With Developmental Disabilities

Summary/Abstract: Inclusion in education implies equal rights and opportunities for education of all children, regardless of their race, creed, nationality, or degree of developmental disability. When considering the status of children with developmental disabilities, the author of this paper advocates an ecological and systemic approach. In this paper the author explores the sense of school belonging of children with developmental dis-abilities through the network of microsystem relationships between the children and the persons most important to them – their mothers and teachers. The parents of chil-dren with developmental disabilities face a number of difficulties and afflictions. Stressful experiences accumulate as the children grow older: incertitude about reha-bilitation, difficulties of academic education, problems with interpersonal communi-cation, financial issues, etc. The position and role of teachers working with children with developmental disabilities and their parents are very complex. Emotional in-volvement of teachers is very important but their responsibility for encouraging the children ́s development is far greater. The attitude towards the children with devel-opmental disabilities in our environment istraditionally burdened with negative con-notations: children with developmental disabilities are different and insufficiently prepared to confront everyday life. As a result, they are considered less desirable and worthy and the difficulties of accepting and educating them are far more serious. The main interest of this research was the study of (situational and general) anxiety of teachers and mothers of both children with developmental disabilities and children who develop normally, and of the contribution of their anxiety to the sense of school belonging of children with developmental disabilities who attend regular school. Sta-tistically, the research shows that, in comparison to teachers and mothers of normally developing children, mothers of children with developmental disabilities suffer from significantly higher levels of both situational and general anxiety. The level of situ-ational anxiety of mothers is a significant indicator of the sense of belonging of chil-dren with developmental disabilities to the school they attend – the lower the level of their anxiety, the more positive the sense of belonging to their school. The research confirms the positive effects of inclusion. Mothers who are mentally stable persons and whose level of anxiety is low raise their children in such a fashion that they later develop a positive sense of belonging to their school and society in general and run smaller risk of the secondary consequences of disability.

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