Session W2G

Impact of the use of Facebook amongst students of

high school age with Social, Emotional and
Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD)
Frdric Fovet
College Northside, admin@college-northside.qc.ca

Abstract - The paper presents innovative research

findings on the use of Facebook made by students with
Social Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, of high
school age. It examines the impact of this online
platform on their peer relations and their adaptation
within school. The working hypothesis of the study was
that this technological platform might enable students
experiencing a variety of difficulties in the classroom to
rectify and address these by technological means,
particularly with regards to representation of self and
relations with peers. A mixed methodology framework
has been adopted for this study, involving both
quantitative semi-directive questionnaires addressed to
students themselves and a qualitative content analysis on
the Facebook platform used by the students more
particularly the Wall application. Findings suggest that
Facebook has become of extreme importance for
students with SEBD in their adaptation to school and
their management of peer relations. They show complex
patterns of modification of self image, on the part of
SEBD students, and dynamic involvement with peers
occurring on the Facebook platform. The outcomes are
numerous as (i) teachers must become aware of these
complex and subtle mechanisms, (ii) impact on
behaviour and learning may be substantial and must be
monitored, (iii) this may offer rich lessons with regards
to use of technology by children experiencing difficulties
at school, or Millenium learners generally. This has
important repercussions for SEBD students and their
mode of inclusion, but also for students generally in the
mainstream context.
Index Terms
representation.

Facebook,

Inclusion,

SEBD,

self-

EXISTING LITERATURE
I.Facebook and social networking online platforms
There is a large body of literature focusing on the creation of
an online persona in chat rooms but this has mostly focused
to date on the gender [1] or ethnic differences [2]. The more
recent phenomena of Facebook [3] has also been
investigated with respect to persona development within the

context of in-faculty use [4] but not with respect to social

contact between peers even though it advertises itself
primarily as a social networking tool. The idea of analysing
online exchanges between students is particularly appealing
due to the casual nature of the exchanges that occur in such a
forum [5]-[6]. The application known as the Wall also has
the added appeal of recording and archiving exchanges [7].
Research has shown furthermore that Facebook use is
closely clustered around school affiliation for teenagers [8][9] which in itself increases curiosity as to its potential
impact on the schooling of users; impact of social networks
used at home on the professional environment has for
example been documented in the past in this way [10].
II. Online representation of self
The creation and development of an online persona has also
been the focus of a body of literature. This has mostly
involved the online learner and usually, more specifically,
the graduate student [11]. The lesson has mostly been that
some face to face engagement remains indispensable within
a hybrid format for this online persona to appear [12]. Short
of this, online chat rooms and bulletin boards offering virtual
meetings or interactive discussions seem to be the next best
thing when it comes to encouraging online presence [13].
This format has proved tangibly successful in the field of
acquisition of languages [147].
III. Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
When one uses the term Social, Emotional and Behavioural
Difficulties one generally relies on the conceptual tool
defined by the British Government, as cited in Travell [15],
meaning that children with SEBD are children who, as a
result of hitherto undefined factors, require additional
resources (as defined in the 1996 Education Act) to meet
their social, emotional and behavioural needs. It is difficult
to clarify this notion further than to say that it covers a
spectrum ranging from unacceptable behaviour to mental
illness, serious mental illness being excluded from the
definition [16]. There is clearly an element of subjectivity in
such a definition, which will have a crucial impact on
assessment and may have a bearing on the observations
made in this study. Reid [17] and Cronk [18] have shown in
their research how SEBD students often have a perception

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that their behaviour is in fact normal and an appropriate
response to bad teaching. Cooper, Smith & Upton [19]
point out that teachers themselves in fact often disagree as to
what is acceptable or unacceptable behaviour. The display
of anti-social behaviour is not rare in itself and will not be
sufficient to define a child as being affected by SEBD. A
large number of children and teenagers, 60 to 85%, will take
part in difficult behaviour before the age of 20, while 40% of
youth will display long lasting anti-social behaviour [20]. It
is therefore not the behaviour itself that identifies SEBD
students, but the severity of the behaviour and the length of
time during which it manifests itself:
It has often been said that students with emotional
and behavioural problems differ from other
students only in the frequency, intensity, and
duration of their behaviours (p71)[21]
The margin for error is further increased if one considers
that teachers tend to retain the first impression they have of a
child and his/her behaviour [22]:
with the passage of time, teachers perceptions become
increasingly stereotyped and children become hardened
caricatures of an initial discriminatory vision (p86)
IV. Suspected social benefits for at risk children
There is a growing body of literature focusing on the
relationship between the social and emotional wellbeing of
teenagers and their use of online networking tools [23]-[24].
Some studies have looked more specifically at selfrepresentation within social networking sites. There seems
to be evidence to support the idea that the personality
created online on these platform differs from their social
image in the daily context [25]-[26]. Research also seems to
imply that the availability of this different platform for selfrepresentation may be therapeutic for some [27]-[28].
Mazer, Murphy and Simonds [29] have explored further the
potential benefits for at risk students and studied the impact
of teacher self-disclosure on Facebook on student
motivation, learning, and classroom climate. They believe
that the use of Facebook in the educational context can have
a positive effect on the student-teacher relationship, which
can in turn lead to positive student outcomes. Teachers using
Facebook are indeed perceived by students as attempting to
develop positive relationships. Use of Facebook as part of
the student-teacher relationship was seen as creating a higher
level of motivation and a more comfortable classroom
climate.
METHODOLOGY

I.Framework
Permission was sought to access the walls of 12 SEBD
students. Participants were identified and selected on the
basis of snowball sampling [30]. While this is a convenient

and efficient way to secure a large of pool of participants in

studies on SEBD children, it does mean that the samples
chosen are not random and that the study in some respect
lacks a degree of objectivity. Social study research does
however lean towards snowball sampling in the case of
specific sub-groups and justifies this compromise as an
acceptable bias [31].
Quantitative data collection in the field of educational
research, and particularly Special Needs, can have its
shortcomings and is seen by many as limited in scope and
unable to take into account the wider factors pertaining to
the childs environment [32]- [33], as:
too narrow and limiting too focused on the
specific and measurable, to account for the range
of human phenomena associated with the broad
field of education [34] (p214).
The explicit choice made in this study of adopting a
systemic perspective [35] also imperatively demands the
collection and the analysis of a large amount of qualitative
data, from varied sources.
Though the project has set itself some quantitative
objectives, the main body of the data collected is hence
qualitative; the study is still based on a working hypothesis
and there is no intrinsic contradiction in this [36]. A certain
amount of figures and quantitative data has been gathered
though the sample is not representative; the study has
nonetheless the objective of establishing some numerical
patterns and relationships as is characteristic of this
methodological framework [37]-[38]. As is often the case in
social sciences, the project as a whole has therefore made
use of mixed methodology principles for reasons of
practicality and ease in the context at hand [39]. This
conceptual choice however often goes further than mere
convenience and the model is now thought highly
appropriate to the field of social sciences [40] and more
particularly to educational contexts concerned with
interactions and relationships between participants [41]. As
such, mixed methodology is increasingly being
conceptualised and redefined as the most subtle and
adequate methodological approach to phenomena involving
perceptions of a context, of an environment or of human
interaction[42].
II. Qualitative content analysis
Online exchanges scoping a period of one year were then
examined and analysed. As the data appearing in online
Facebook exchanges between students is wide ranging in
scope, it seemed overly resource intensive to apply textual
analysis methods to the entire body of the exchanges being
observed. It was instead thought easier to identify specific
passages that amounted to exchanges with school peers and
to record the various components of these exchanges
through qualitative content analysis [43]. This is defined
by Weber [44] as

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FINDINGS
a research method that uses a set of procedure to
make valid interferences from text (p.9)
It is thought a particularly appropriate analysis method for
text appearing on websites or through electronic means [45].
This coding was done manually rather than through a
software application as the attribution in itself was fairly
simple: the topics appearing on each Facebook page were
categorised dependent on their relation to 12 pre-determined
themes.
The content analysis was carried out on each
students Wall on a monthly basis. The caveats expressed
by Palmquist [46] with respect to content analysis were
taken into account, particularly those concerning intentions,
biases, prejudices of the authors of the text being analysed
coming into play and it is readily accepted that these
concerns might be highly relevant in the case of the
unmonitored, private online exchanges between teenage
students. Visual content analysis [47] was also attempted on
the videos, photos and music posted by the students in
questions and on the visual composition of their Profile.
Importantly weekly reports from class teachers and specific
subject teachers were also obtained which detailed ongoing
academic difficulties, behavioural difficulties and current
issues with peers. These were correlated monthly with the
findings obtained through the content analysis.
III. Semi-directive questionnaires
Semi-directive questionnaires were also used with students
participating in the study in an effort to gauge their own
perceptions on their use of Facebook. These constitute a
simple descriptive survey [48](p.108), as opposed to crosssectional or longitudinal design surveys. These semidirective questionnaires were completed face to face or by
email, depending on availability of participants and due
consideration was given to the concerns reviewed by James
& Busher [49] surrounding the use of email interviewing.
Face to face contact was preferred, not just because of these
caveats but also because beyond the quantitative objective
of the survey - it was hoped that interviewees would open up
during the process and offer more information than
requested [50]. It can be argued too that the level of
researcher bias is reduced in semi-directive questionnaires
completed face to face, as the interviewer exerts less control
over the data collection process [51]. The caveats, expressed
by Glesne & Peshkin [52], with regards to possible bias from
participants when the research topic is of interest to them, is
relevant here and was taken into account.
IV. Informed consent
Although the online mechanism which allows access to a
persons Facebook page requires an express permission,
informed consent was still explicitly sought from the SEBD
participants in questions, expressly stating the purpose of the
study.

The most crucial observation was that students who

experienced fairly major set backs at school and were
experiencing academic difficulties were never mentioning
this information during social networking. The Profile
facility in particular allows a user to publish a message or
sentence which summarizes his or her actions or state of
mind of mind. The participants never published profile
information that allowed difficulties at school to transpire.
There existed therefore a very systematic and efficient
process of information selection when entering social
networking. An intentional decision was made by all
participants to censor information reflecting their difficulties
at school.
As a result and as a rule, the published state of mind
seemed to be in opposition to the climate at school or mood
displayed in that context. Hence words, but also visual
content, tended as a rule to suggest happiness and well being
when reality was quite the opposite.
Peer relations can be a source of great stress and
unhappiness for SEBD students, especially those with
ADHD who find it difficult to obtain any tangible level of
acceptance at school [53]. It appears from the data collected
that Facebook is being used a platform to rectify these shaky
peer relationships and repair some of the damage which it
would appear often occurs in social exchanges due to
impulsivity, a lack of verbal control or perceived social
clumsiness.
Furthermore, relationships were seen to occur during social
networking which had no reality within the classroom walls,
according to the corroborating feedback or teachers.
Sometimes dialogue and conversations were seen to occur
between students who would not actively speak to each other
during the day at school. The social networking tool was
used to, not only repair damaged peer relations, but to create
entirely new ones. Though these seemed to not be
entertained live during school hours, they still allowed the
child in question to gain a degree of recognition within his
peer group and his virtual community. Specific topics of
exchange were for example music, video games, media
extract extracted from other sources (such as the Internet it
self or Youtube). A level of expertise and recognition was
gained by these participants through these online relations.
It was quite clear that succeeding in obtaining certain key
members of the school community to appear on ones
Friends list, though not equivalent to entertaining an active
relationship at school with these individuals, represented a
tangible and supportive connection. This in turn was seen to
lead to increase self-confidence.
In interviews, the majority of participants were monosyllabic
and volunteered little information. The students valued
Facebook as a networking tool but were not conceptual or
analytical about its function in their life. They could rate its
importance and relevance to their life and ability to function
but did not as a rule understand how and why it
complemented their social interaction at school.
Importantly, the subjects were seen to be making no

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differentiation about Facebook use at home and its use at
school. Both social networking contexts were perceived as
mingled and combined.
OUTCOMES
The outcomes of this study are important and far reaching.
Three major possible developments can be identified: (i)
teachers must become aware of these complex and subtle
mechanisms, (ii) impact on behaviour and learning may be
substantial and must be monitored, (iii) this may offer rich
lessons with regards to use of technology by children
experiencing difficulties at school, or Millenium learners
generally.
I. Teacher training
Teachers within the high school context are usually reluctant
to use Facebook as part of their pedagogical approach and
are usually banned from using it on school premises [54].
Add to this the fact that teachers are usually shown by
research to be well behind their students in technological
terms and it becomes clear that a change of mentality is
required. Training teachers to use technological tools
effectively is a long and difficult process. Literature has
documented the five separate stages required for IT
development amongst teachers: entry stage, adoption,
adaptation stage, appropriation and invention stage
[55]. Technology only becomes a medium for exchange,
collaboration and creative thinking in the last of these five
phases [56] and it is assumed that teachers will not feel
comfortable and empowered enough to freely devise
approaches that incorporate Facebook till they have
themselves reached this last stage of technological
integration. Indeed these findings suggest Facebook may
offer the opportunity to re-engage students who are already
at risk in class. If this re-engagement occurs through social
networking platforms and outside the class, it may be
essential for teachers to be made aware of the impact of this
tool and to take time to consider ways of bridging the gap
between class and private sphere to reach out to the students
in questions. Further research is clearly needed to identify
exactly what form this training should take and in what
format it is best delivered. For such a change to occur,
teacher training must be radically rethought and
transformed. Competence must replace fear.
II. Impact on behaviour
One study [57] conclusively already establishes a correlation
between the use of Facebook by children at risk and an
improved behaviour in class. The element identified in that
study was the willingness of teachers to use the platform
with reciprocity. Other variables, highlighted here, should
not be ignored either: the effective transformation of selfrepresentation through online social networking, the
establishment of relationships which would fail to flourish
through every day contact, as well the ability to reach a
networks that go beyond systems that are often failing
(school, family etc). These all require further examination in

future research for it may well become the role of the

classroom teacher to monitor the transformations that occur
in students at risk through the use of social networking
platforms and to encourage and nurture this process in the
classroom enironment.
III. Using technology for inclusion
Children with SEBD have the characteristic of often having
above average abilities on technological tools. The wide
spread use of Facebook amongst SEBD students evidenced
in this paper and the clear appeal this networking tool has for
these children may have impact beyond the mere social
context. It is conceivable indeed that Facebook, once
analysed in its social function, may be integrated into
academics and pedagogy. What appeals to many SEBD
teens in the use of technology is the fact that the media they
are using is as versatile and fast moving as their own
attention span is. These students successfully integrate ICT
use, internalize its operations and achieve an intuitive
understanding of its complex capacities. Cuthell explains
that
(hardware and software) are a tool, a vehicle for
combining motor skills, language, images and
symbolic manipulation through practical activities
[58].
In practical terms, teenagers with SEBD finally have with
ICT a thought vehicle that moves as fast and as intuitively as
their fast but easily distracted minds. Fast multi-tasking
suddenly becomes a productive thought completion as
opposed to an erratic and incomplete process [59].
It is often wrongly assumed that SEBD learners,
such as ADHD students, should be maintained in an
environment where stimuli are limited for them to be able to
listen and focus. In fact, in many such cases, the cerebral
cortex is under-stimulated. Hence over-stimulation, such as
increased light, use of colour, background noise and music,
may in fact trigger cortex stimulation and increase attention
[60]. Multi-tasking on ICT is one of the most efficient
methods some learners with SEBD can use to self-arouse the
cerebral cortex [61]. In the case of SEBD students, online
multi-tasking, and particularly the use of Facebook, may
therefore be the key to remaining engaged in class and
succeeding academically in the inclusive context [62].
SEBD students, despite their lack of adaptation at school
or perhaps because of this -, often highlight in an
exacerbated manner features of the mainstream learner.
Research has started to describe the Millenium learner as
technologically discriminate and demanding [63]. Little
surprise therefore that the majority of SEBD students should
choose to use Facebook as a learning crutch.
DISCUSSION
There are obviously specific fears surrounding the use of
Facebook by high school students. The conservative view

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remains that such social platforms monopolize attention
away from academic priorities [64].
Literature also
evidences issues of bullying, invasion of privacy and
victimization linked with the use of Facebook [65]- [66].
The legal literature on the risks of Facebook use in schools is
also sizeable [67] and has led to the social networking tool
being blocked from school computers in many countries and
within many school boards. This fear has for too long
hindered a detailed analysis of the benefits of the use of
social networking for children at risk and while legal issues
and detrimental impact cannot be disregarded and must be
carefully monitored, it is the assertion of this paper that the
benefits with regards to successful inclusion of all learners
far outweighs potential risks. It is suggested that in the
current context of inclusion legal imperatives on school
should guide administrators and policy makers but not at the
detriment of successful experimentation with new
technological tools which risk changing radically the face of
the 21st century classroom.
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978-1-4244-4714-5/09/$25.00 2009 Crown

October 18 - 21, 2009, San Antonio, TX
39th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
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