Embedded Files
We developed a program that aims to promote the social participation of children of social minority backgrounds, including children with special educational needs and children with a migration background.
The children read our illustrated storybook in which a group of diverse children face the challenge of saving a kidnapped parrot with special skills (author: Katja Alves, illustration: Daniel Müller, script and idea: Jeanine Grütter). The story offers a model for friendships between very different children and takes up central themes such as the value of diversity, the choice of friends, the quality of friendship, dealing with conflicts and civil courage. Around this story, teacher training and specific teaching units of six double lessons have been developed.
Before starting the program, teachers take training and receive evidence-based counseling on how to improve social classroom dynamics in their classes. They conduct the program with their school class for six weeks and follow up with second evidence-based counseling.
The effectiveness of the program was evaluated in a randomized control trial (RCT) with prospective teachers who conducted their internships in 66 primary school classes and revealed positive effects on the social dynamics in the school class.
Since the RCT study, we have improved and further developed the program and its content in a participatory approach with schools and are currently conducting research in order to better understand the moderators and processes involved.
A free version of the first part of the program and former teacher manual are open access and available here: Promoting Friendships - an intervention for the classroom
We are going to publish the full program and content soon and will provide updates here. If you currently wish to participate in the program, it is possible to register for the teacher training at the university of Lucerne.
Research team:
Jeanine Grütter, Carmen Barth, Alois Buholzer, Stephanie Farah, Zoran Kovacevic, Esther Krukowski, Andrea Weber, & Cécile Tschopp
Publications:
Grütter, J., Barth, C., Farah, S., & Weber, A. (in press). Fostering cross-ethnic friendship and inclusion in schools: Potential avenues for educational programs, in A. Bergamaschi & C. Pica (Eds.), Intergroup Friendship and Prejudice Reduction in Multiethnic Schools.
Barth, C., & Grütter, J. (2024). Inclusive classroom norms and children’s expectations of inclusion of peers with learning difficulties in their social world. Journal of School Psychology, 104, 101312.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2024.101312
Tschopp, C., Barth, C., & Grütter, J. (2022). Bewertung eines sozialen Ausschlusses aufgrund eines sonderpädagogischen Förderbedarfs mit Schwerpunkt Lernen oder Verhalten durch Lehrpersonen und Lehramtsstudierende: Befunde auf Lehrpersonenebene aus der Intervention" Freundschaften fördern in heterogenen Lerngruppen". PraxisForschungLehrer* innenBildung. Zeitschrift für Schul-und Professionsentwicklung., 4(5), 170-188.doi.org/10.11576/pflb-5735
Conference Proceedings:
Farah, S., Barth, C. & Grütter, J. (2024). Understanding Bystander Responses to Social Exclusion: Prosociality, Extraversion, and Aggression Management. [Poster session]. 25th International Society for Research of Aggression World Meeting, Munich, Germany, 29.07- 3.8.2024.
Farah, S. & Grütter, J. (2024). Resource allocation following peer inequalities: balancing desire for fairness with concerns about peer status. [Poster session]. 27th Biennial Meeting of the ISSBD, Lisbon, Portugal, 16 – 20.6.
Barth, C., Krukowski, E., & Grütter, J. (2024). Promoting Peer Inclusivity in the Classroom: The Role of Teacher-Student Relations and Responsibility for Classroom Social Dynamics. In A. Hitti & L. Elenbaas (Chairs), The role of authority figures in supporting children’s and adolescents’ intergroup interactions [Symposium]. 27th Biennial Meeting of the ISSBD, Lisbon, Portugal, , 16 – 20.6, 2024.
Grütter, J. & Barth, C. (2023). Children’s evaluation of bystander behavior in intergroup situations: The role of peer group dynamics and first insights from a school-based intervention program. Paper presentation at Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Salt Lake City, USA, 23-25.3, 2023.
Grütter, J., Barth, C., & Kovacevic, Z. (2023). Fostering cross-group friendships and inclusion in schools: Recent findings from the Friendship Project – A multilevel intergroup intervention. Paper presentation at Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Salt Lake City, USA, 23-25.3, 2023.
Tschopp, C., Grütter, J. & Buholzer, A. (2022). Soziale Teilhabe durch Intergruppenkontakt: Wie Freundschaften von Kindern mit heilpädagogischem Förderbedarf unterstützt werden können. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Heilpädagogik, 28, 35-41.
Grütter, J., Tschopp, C., Barth, C., & Buholzer, A. (2022). The friendship project: Promoting cross-group friendships in heterogenous classrooms. Paper presented at the 3rd Conference on Social Inclusion, Zurich, Switzerland, 9-10.6, 2022.
Grütter, J., Barth, C., Tschopp, C., & Buholzer, A. (2021, online). Teachers’ emotional reactions and reasoning about social exclusion based on learning difficulties and hyperactive behavior. 47th Annual Conference of the Association for Moral Education (AME).
In cooperation with the University of Teacher Education Lucerne in Switzerland.
Funded by the Federal Office for the Equality of People with Disabilities [Eidgenössisches Büro für die Gleichstellung von Menschen mit Behinderungen, EBGB] .
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