The study addresses the social participation of integrated students with special educational needs (SEN) in upper primary regular classes in Greece alongside their perceptions of best friend quality. Social participation was defined as consisting of four key dimensions: students’ acceptance by classmates, friendships, social self-perceptions, and social interactions. Participants were 457 students with a mean age of 11.04 (SD = .83), of which 45 were diagnosed as having moderate learning difficulties. Fieldwork involved implementing a sociometric technique, conducting systematic observations and administering two psychometric instruments: the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Friendship Qualities Scale (FQS). In line with previous studies, students with SEN received fewer nominations of peer acceptance, had fewer friends and fewer social interactions with classmates than their typically developing peers. The social self-perception and the perceptions of friendship quality of both groups of students did not differ. Contrary to expectations, the social self-concept of students with SEN was not related to their acceptance by peers but it was positively related to the ‘companionship’ dimension of friendship quality. These results highlight the need to direct the researchers’ attention from measuring the social participation of students with SEN within their class network towards examining the quality and durability of their friendships.

This qualitative study explores what contributes to the development of differentiated instruction (DI) through the use of curriculum modifications for the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in three primary Singaporean schools. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, descriptive observations, lesson plans and focus groups. Five teachers, six allied educators, and two learning support teachers (n = 13) participated in this research focusing on five students as “cases” for the professionals to provide individualized examples. Participants often provided restricted understandings about DI as an ability driven approach, which mainly requires modifications in the content of teaching based on staff perceptions of student readiness. However, undifferentiated learning objectives and assessment methods were commonly used. The participants described an overreliance on the use of instructional modifications and lack of curricular and alternative modifications, which they deemed as inadequate and unfair for the students. The findings indicate resounding evidence that contextual constraints, such as class size, a common standardized curriculum and national exams constitute critical impediments that affect the types of curriculum modifications used. The participants proposed an “exams-free” pedagogy to enhance diversity in modifications. The research implies a need to consider the contextual features that impact upon the quality of learner-centred instruction internationally.