Available resources and bullying experiences of pupils with and without special educational needs: A pilot study in inclusive settings

Available resources and bullying experiences of pupils with and without special educational needs: A pilot study in inclusive settings Abstract. International studies found that students with special educational needs (SEN) have a higher risk of experiencing bullying than students without SEN. In Germany, bullying has rarely been studied in the context of inclusive education. Previous studies found that pupils experiencing bullying as well as pupils with SEN have fewer personal and social resources in comparison to their peers. Therefore, a pilot study was conducted to examine whether bullying experiences and the availability of personal and social resources differ for pupils with and without SEN. Questionnaire data from N = 420 pupils in grades 3 to 10 was analysed after they had indicated that they either had or had not experienced bullying. To investigate whether the available resources differ depending on bullying experiences and SEN status, n = 45 pupils without SEN were selected from the total sample using propensity score matching to be compared to the pupils with SEN (n = 45). The results showed that pupils affected by bullying had especially fewer social resources. However, in the presence of victimization experiences, pupils with SEN did not differ from pupils without SEN in the availability of resources.