Due to different challenges associated with the teaching profession, there is an increasing focus on skills that support teachers in dealing with them. In this context, teachers’ intrapersonal and interpersonal mindfulness is considered an important ability to meet the diversity of the students and manage the classroom proactively. The concept of mindfulness refers to the teachers´ ability to shift their attention from the whole classroom to individual student’s needs, while also being aware of their own feelings and bodily sensations (Frank et al., 2016). Research has highlighted the beneficial impact of teachers' mindfulness on their social-emotional competencies, that in turn play a central role on students' wellbeing through student-teacher relationships (Emerson et al., 2017; Grant, 2017). Accordingly, teachers who treat their students with compassion and respect can create an environment that is conducive to students' self-esteem and prosocial behaviour (Cooper, 2016). In this regard, their emotional self-efficacy and relational skills are crucial for developing and maintaining supportive student-teacher relationships (Muris, 2001; Vidmar & Kerman, 2016). Social-emotionally competent teachers model pro-social behaviour and facilitate an environment conducive to social participation among students (Cooper, 2016). Research indicates that students with special educational needs (SEN) experience difficulties in their social participation. Accordingly, this group of students has a significantly lower number of friends, fewer interactions with peers and is more often rejected by their classmates compared to students without disabilities (Avramidis, 2010; Bossaert et al., 2013; De Leeuw et al., 2018; Koster et al., 2010). Among learners with SEN, students with social, emotional or behavioural difficulties (SEBD) are particularly at risk of social exclusion due to behavioural characteristics associated with SEBD. Teachers have reported difficulties in supporting students with SEBD in inclusive settings and apply a limited repertoire of strategies to promote their social participation at school (De Leeuw et al., 2018; De Leeuw et al., 2020). Due to these findings, the aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between the teachers´ above mentioned abilities (mindfulness and social-emotional competencies) and the social participation of students with SEBD. To gain deeper insights into the current situation in Austrian primary schools on that matter, we collected data on teachers' self-assessments of their mindfulness in teaching, relational competence and emotional self-efficacy and asked them about strategies they apply to promote the social participation of students with SEBD. Therefore, the following research questions were addressed:

1. How do Austrian primary school teachers perceive their mindfulness in teaching, their relational competence, and their emotional self-efficacy?
2. What strategies do they apply to foster the social participation of students with SEBD?
3. To what extent are teachers' self-rated mindfulness in teaching, relational competence, and emotional self-efficacy related to their strategies applied to foster the social participation of students with SEBD?

From March to April 2022 an online survey was sent by email to all primary schools in three federal states in Austria (Upper Austria, Styria, Carinthia). In total, 155 general and special education teachers filled in the questionnaire, 81.9% of whom worked in rural schools. The respondents were predominantly female (95.5%) and had a mean age of 45.72 years (SD = 11.09, range = 24–64). The mean teaching experience was 19.75 years (SD = 12.49, range = 0–43 years) for general education teachers and 14.22 years (SD = 11.92, range = 1–38 years) for special education teachers. To assess mindfulness in the context of responsive teaching behavior the Mindfulness in Teaching Scale (MTS) was used (Frank et al., 2016), which consists of 14 items and is divided into two subscales representing teachers’ intrapersonal (9 reversed items, α =.79) and interpersonal (5 items, α =.61; 5-point Likert scale: 1=“never true” to 5=”always true”) behaviours within the school setting. To examine relational competence among teachers, we used an adapted version of the Teachers’ Relational Competence Scale (TRCS) focusing on dimensions of responsibility (4 items, α =.66) and individuality (3 items, α =.77). Participants rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1=“Never true” to 5=“Always true”). To explore teachers' capabilities to deal with negative emotions, we used the subscale emotional self-efficacy (8 items, α =.85; 5-point Likert scale: 1=“not at all” to 5=”very well”) from the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C; Muris, 2001). Finally, teacher strategies to foster the social participation of students with SEBD were collected using the Teacher Strategy Questionnaire on Social Participation in the Classroom (TSQ-SPC; De Leeuw et al., 2020). The TSQ-SPC consists of 38 items each of which relates to a specific strategy, and refers to strategies directly (teacher social participation strategies, 20 items) or indirectly (pre-conditional strategies, 18 items) applied by teachers. Participants rated whether they applied the strategies (1=“Yes”, 2=“No”, 3=“‘Not possible’”). Strategies applied by teachers entailed follow-up questions to rate the frequency of application and perceived effectiveness. All English scales were translated into German by the research team. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 27.

On average, teachers rated their mindfulness in teaching as rather high in terms of both intrapersonal (M = 1.91, SD = .56) and interpersonal behaviour (M = 3.95, SD = .57). Similar results were found with regard to teachers' self-assessments of their relational competence, which was found to be rather high in both sub-dimensions (responsibility (M = 3.69, SD = .66), individuality (M = 3.91, SD = .72)). Teachers´ assessments of their emotional self-efficacy were slightly above the scale mean (M = 3.37, SD = .74), indicating a rather moderate level of competence. If teachers reported applying strategies to foster the social participation of students with SEBD, they used strategies aimed at directly improving students’ social participation (M = 11.68, SD = 2.84, range = 2–18 strategies) and those related to students' environment (M = 10.53, SD = 3.13, range = 4–17 strategies) equally. Our results illustrate that no teacher applied all (direct or indirect) strategies. Most of them used between 10 and 14 direct strategies that refer to making class agreements about desired social behaviour (98.8%), ensuring an open atmosphere for conversations within the classroom (96.4%) and explicitly addressing positive behaviour of the student (96.4%). In terms of indirect strategies, the majority of teachers applied between 8 and 12 strategies that concern keeping parents informed about their child's problems, concerns and progress (94.5%) and actively working on a trusting teacher - student relationship (93.2%). Our findings indicate that there is a relationship between teachers' interpersonal mindfulness, their relational competence and the number of direct as well as indirect strategies used to foster the social participation of students with SEBD. In summary, our results highlight the impact that teachers' mindfulness and relational skills can have in promoting the social participation of at-risk students.

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