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Although parental involvement is known to be crucial for the academic and social development of students, especially those with learning difficulties, little is known about the relationship of schools’ invitations with parents’ motivational beliefs. A sample of N = 881 German parents of secondary school students, of which N = 119 were identified as parents of children with learning difficulties, participated in the study. Structural equation models were analysed to examine how different aspects of family–school partnerships are related to parental motivational beliefs. Our findings suggest that a welcoming culture and the quality of parent-teacher collaboration are positively associated with higher parental motivation, regardless of students’ learning difficulties. These results highlight the need for inclusive secondary schools to foster not only individual contacts between teachers and parents but also a positive and welcoming school culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents are under pressure to perform well in both professional and family life while simultaneously remaining involved in their children's development. This pressure is reflected by the prevalence of parental burnout, which is of concern in numerous societies. Drawing upon the demands-resources framework, we investigated parental burnout, parental involvement, and their antecedents (i.e., gender, socioeconomic status, single parenthood, the number of schoolchildren, in-group collectivism, self-esteem, and parent–teacher collaboration) in a cross-cultural setting. Analyses were based on 856 Chinese and 421 German parents' self-reports. The results of latent mean comparisons showed that Chinese parents reported more parental burnout symptoms, less parental involvement, lower global self-esteem, and higher quality of parent–teacher collaboration in comparison with German parents. Multigroup structural equation models revealed that the relationships between parental burnout, parental involvement, and presumed factors of influence were comparable between the two cultural groups. Furthermore, self-esteem and parent–teacher collaboration can be seen as factors that protect against parental burnout and should encourage parents to get involved in their children's education. This study provides evidence of the cross-cultural validity of the demands-resources framework and novel insights into the roles of resilience and engagement as a protective function of parenting resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the emotional and social development of students with and without special needs is a central goal of implementing inclusive education in the school system. The entry into school, and thus into the formal education system, is accompanied by emotions and changes in self-image and social relationships. For assessing emotional inclusion, social inclusion, and academic self-concept, the Perceptions of Inclusion Questionnaire (PIQ) is a widely used instrument. To date, the paper-pencil questionnaire has been used from third through ninth grades but has not yet been used with younger ages. This paper presents an adapted version of the PIQ for first-and second-grade students, which was used on two measurement time occasions (T1, N = 407, MAge = 7.2; T2, N = 613, MAge = 7.6). Information on students’ reading and listening comprehension was collected from the class teachers to verify whether the adapted questionnaire can be used for all students with different levels of language competencies. Measurement invariance was demonstrated to be at least scalar for all groups considered in the analyses. Students with higher rankings of reading and listening comprehension skills reported significant higher levels of emotional inclusion and academic self-concept while there were no significant differences in social inclusion. The findings suggest that the PIQ-EARLY is a suitable instrument for assessing self-perceived inclusion in first- and second-grade students. The results also highlight the importance of students’ language competencies for adjustment to school in early school years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]