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Furthermore, home-instruction sessions of four
of these children were observed and two other
children were observed during a school re-entry
activity such as a museum trip. Each observation
was video-taped and completed with field notes.
The data were qualitatively analyzed by listing
all relevant observations per child and subse-
quently grouping the results into categories.
Finally, a survey was administered by 24 par-
ents and 25 teachers. The survey questions were
based on findings of an earlier empirical explora-
tion (Lombaert, 2006). From parents data were
gathered on topics such as the perceived extent
of involvement of their child with school during
a period of school absence, the way their child
keeps in touch with classmates and teachers, and
the appreciation of the home-based or hospital-
based instruction which is received by their child.
The classroom teachers completed a questionnaire
similar to the parents' survey. The survey data was
analyzed using SPSS 12.0 for Windows.
to all instructional components distinguished by
Valcke (2005), except for the learning objectives
pursued. However, the needs of these children with
regard to instruction seem to be predominantly
related to the subject matter they are being taught
at home and the didactical strategies used to do
that. With regard to subject matter most attention
in home-based and hospital-based instruction of
long-term sick children is paid to the instruction of
main subjects (mathematics and language acquisi-
tion). The needs of long-term sick children seem to
be related to the courses which they are no longer
able to attend due to health-related problems,
such as gymnastics and craftwork. Only the girl
who was not instructed at all (Table 2, child 6),
missed the main courses. Most of them expressed
a need for class-based instruction regarding at
least one of the main subjects (see also Table 2).
This indicates that instruction is very important
for children in one way or another, even if they
are not able to attend school.
In addition, an excessive use of individual
didactical strategies in a hospital or home-bound
instructional setting was found in this study. With
regard to the needs of long-term sick children
concerning didactical strategies our results are
consistent with Maheady et al. (2001) who found
in several studies that students consistently prefer
peer-teaching practices over traditional instruc-
Results
The results are subdivided into needs with regard
to instruction on the one hand and needs with
regard to socialization activities on the other hand.
With regard to instruction, we found that home-
bound instruction of long-term sick children is
unlike regular class-based instruction with respect
Table 2. The official Flemish curriculum subjects and which of them are being taught during the child's
school absence. The asterisks (*) in the table represent the subjects the same children reported as the
three (or less) subjects they miss most.
Course/Child
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Dutch
X
X
X
X
X
*
X
French (from 10 years)
X
X
X
*
Mathematics
X
X
X
X
X
*
X
Religion
*
X
Social Studies
X
X
X
*
*
X
Handicraft & Music
X
*
X
X
*
X
Gym
*
*
*
*
*
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