PEER RELATIONSHIPS AND SCHOOL BELONGING AS KEY DIMENSIONS OF THE SOCIAL INTEGRATION OF STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS IN MAINSTREAM SCHOOLS
Keywords:
special educational needs, peer relationships, school belonging, social integration, inclusive educationAbstract
Social integration constitutes a central outcome of inclusive education because school participation is shaped through everyday relationships, reciprocal interaction, acceptance and a meaningful sense of membership in the school community. This article examines peer relationships and school belonging as interconnected dimensions of the social integration of students with special educational needs in mainstream schools. A focused literature review was conducted through targeted searches of peer reviewed educational and psychological literature, with emphasis on publications from 2021 to 2026 and selected foundational studies that established the conceptual structure of social participation and belonging. The synthesis shows that students with special educational needs frequently experience smaller friendship networks, lower peer acceptance and fewer reciprocal interactions, while the quality of a close friendship can remain a substantial source of companionship, support and positive self perception. School belonging emerges as a broader psychosocial experience through which students perceive acceptance, respect, safety, recognition and connection with peers and adults. Recent evidence further links inclusive teaching practices, supportive teacher relationships, peer understanding and deliberately structured opportunities for interaction with stronger social and emotional inclusion. Studies from Greece indicate comparable priorities around peer acceptance, friendship quality and inclusive classroom practice. Across the reviewed evidence, belonging appears to operate both as an outcome of positive relationships and as a condition that supports further participation. The most consistent pattern concerns the interaction between individual experience and classroom ecology, since students' opportunities for friendship depend on peer attitudes, teacher mediation, activity structures and the social accessibility of formal and informal school spaces. This perspective supports evaluation models that combine sociometric information with students' own accounts of connection and safety. The findings support a relational view of inclusion in which successful participation is evaluated through both the structure and the quality of students' social connections. Schools are therefore encouraged to combine inclusive pedagogy with peer mediated activities, cooperative learning, friendship sensitive practices, student voice and systematic attention to belonging. Future research in Greece can examine these dimensions longitudinally and across different categories of special educational needs.
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