Cooperation between parents and teachers in the early identification of mental disorders and problem behaviour of pupils at the primary level of education

Abstract

The increase in the incidence of mental disorders and problem behaviour in students and their negative impact on their social life in the classroom and academic performance require increased attention to diagnosing various attributes of children's mental health. The first level of primary school is an ideal environment for implementing screening procedures to detect early symptoms. The aim of our contribution was to identify how to combine the views of teachers and parents on the child's behaviour in diagnosing mental health problems and behaviour disorders. Therefore, we compared and analysed the views of teachers and parents on the symptoms of mental and behavioural problems of students using the SDQ questionnaire. The results of our research confirmed the usefulness of using multiple informants in school screening and, in the context of the findings, we were able to identify ways to combine the teacher and parent perspectives in diagnosing externalizing and internalizing manifestations of sleep problems in primary school students.