This article presents the validation of the Multidimensional Teachers’ Resilience Scale (MTRS) for Portuguese teachers and proposes a hierarchical model to represent teachers’ resilience. Participants were 334 Portuguese teachers from elementary to secondary school who responded to the MTRS and a global measure of teachers’ resilience. Confirmatory factor analysis provided acceptable fit for a 13-item solution distributed by four factors. Results support the hierarchical structure of teachers’ resilience. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, and correlation analysis between the MTRS global score and the global measure of teachers’ resilience suggest that the MTRS is a valid and reliable instrument to assess teachers’ resilience.

Keeping students back in the same grade – retention – has always been a controversial issue in Education, with some defending it as a beneficial remedial practice and others arguing against its detrimental effects. This paper undertakes an analysis of this issue, focusing on the differences in student motivation and self-related variables according to their retention related status, and the interrelationship between retention and these variables. The participants were 695 students selected from two cohorts (5th and 7th graders) of a larger group of students followed over a three-year project. The students were assigned to four groups according to their retention-related status over time: 1) students with past and recent retention; 2) students with past but no recent retention; 3) students with no past but recent retention; 4) students with no past or recent retention. Measures of achievement goal orientations, self-concept, self-esteem, importance given to school subjects and Grade Point Average (GPA) were collected for all students. Repeated measures MANCOVA analyses were carried out showing group differences in self-esteem, academic self-concept, importance attributed to academic competencies, task and avoidance orientation and academic achievement. To attain a deeper understanding of these results and to identify profiles across variables, a cluster analysis based on achievement goals was conducted and four clusters were identified. Students who were retained at the end of the school year are mainly represented in clusters with less adaptive motivational profiles and almost absent from clusters exhibiting more adaptive ones. Findings highlight that retention leaves a significant mark that remains even when students recover academic achievement and retention is in the distant past. This is reflected in the low academic self-concept as well as in the devaluation of academic competencies and in the avoidance orientation which, taken together, can undermine students' academic adjustment and turn retention into a risk factor.

Teachers play a key role in creating effective conditions for students to succeed in school. The quality of student–teacher relationships is consistently associated with social, emotional, behavioural and academic adjustment, and this is even more relevant for students with special educational needs (SEN), considering these students’ emotional, social and learning vulnerabilities. This study aimed to examine the associations between students’ externalising and internalising behaviour, social skills and academic performance, and teachers’ perceptions of conflict and closeness in their relationships with students with and without SEN. Data regarding 360 students in Year 3, Year 5 and Year 7 (169 students with SEN) were collected. Teachers (n = 74) reported on the student–teacher relationship and students’ social skills, behaviour problems and academic performance. Special education teachers (n = 38) provided information regarding the diagnosis and profile of functioning of students with SEN. Results showed that teachers’ reports of students’ social skills and externalising problems were the strongest predictors of closeness and conflict. Internalising problems and SEN status also predicted decreased closeness, despite smaller effects. Taken together, findings support the importance of professional development opportunities focusing on facilitating teachers’ relationships with students with perceived challenging behaviour.

One main argument for inclusion refers to the social benefits that students with SEN might have from being in contact with typically developing classmates. Students' sense of belonging to the classroom is also a relevant dimension of inclusion, given its importance for positive emotional and social development and academic motivation. Yet, studies specifically focused on students with SEN show mixed results regarding their sense of belonging. While some studies have highlighted the effect of classroom social networks on peer‐related social experiences, to our knowledge no study has examined its effect on the sense of belonging. Thus, the goal of the current study is to examine the associations between the structure of classroom social networks, peer‐related social experiences in the classroom and the sense of belonging of students with and without SEN. The participants were 914 students (56% boys, 10% SEN, average age 12.68) attending Portuguese schools. Contrary to what was expected, although students with SEN were, on average, more rejected and less accepted by the peer group than students without SEN, they did not differ in their levels of sense of belonging. In addition, the structure of classroom social networks was associated with students' belonging in unexpected ways. Results point to the importance of creating social conditions in the classroom to facilitate positive peer interactions and relationships, and the need for teachers to pay attention to the social structure of the classroom in order to create a positive atmosphere where all students feel accepted, respected, valued and a part of the classroom.

Grade retention is a common practice applied to academically struggling students within the Portuguese context. Studies investigating the psychological experiences of grade-retained students are still scarce. In addition, most studies tend to neglect the multilevel nature of the school context. This study examines the effects of grade retention in grades 1–9 on Portuguese students’ psychosocial outcomes by the age of 15, using PISA 2018 data. Using a quasi-experimental design through full matching, we reduced the bias between 1362 retained and 4189 promoted students in relevant background variables. Results from the multilevel models showed that retained students, by the age of 15, present lower task orientation and school belonging. In addition, we found that the high retention rates negatively relate to students’ reading self-concept, task orientation, and school valuing and that school retention rates moderate the relationship between students’ retention and the psychosocial variables considered. Overall, these findings suggest detrimental effects of grade retention and that grade retention also affects the promoted peers of retained students.