Students negotiating the borders between general and special education classes: an ethnographic and participatory research study

Abstract

Although Finnish basic education is based on inclusion, 37% of students receiving special support still study in either separate schools or separate classes in comprehensive schools.In this study we explore how policies of inclusion are implemented in a school with separated special educational needs (SEN) and general education (GE) classes. More specifically we conducted a two-year ethnographic study focusing particularly on exclusion and the sense of belonging in a lower secondary school (students aged 13-16) in the capital region of Finland. During the fieldwork, several students attending the SEN-class expressed an interest in changing from the SEN-class to a GE-class, or in breaking the borders between SEN and GE classes in other ways. As part of the negotiations with the school, students who criticised the GE-and SEN-class division were offered an opportunity to transfer to GEclasses but in the end, all of them wanted to stay in the SEN-class. In this investigation, we focus on the students' reasoning and the teachers' reactions when students negotiate the borders between SEN and GE-classes. In this study we found a clash between integration and inclusive thinking.

Rethinking family (dis)engagement with augmentative & alternative communication

“…Finally, ethnography foregrounds the power of the ‘micro’ to instantiate the ‘macro’ – that is, how everyday stories, anecdotes and recorded observations of seemingly trivial matters can display telling traces of legislation, policy and practice (Riitaoja et al, 2019). As Thomson et al, (2010) argue, policy ‘is articulated and re‐written in a myriad of local settings all of which have their own ongoing tangle of histories, competing narratives, mores, teleologies and actors’ (p.639).…”

Inclusive education and the law in Ireland

“…In Sweden, to avoid segregation, the model of 'A school for all' has been put into practice (Lindqvist and Nilholm, 2013, p. 98). This approach is also endorsed in Finland, where the right to educational success, individual and flexible support, and a sense of belonging are stated in both the Basic Education Act 628/1998 and the core curriculum for Basic Education 2014 (Riitaoja et al, 2019).…”

Barreras y facilitadores para la inclusión educativa de personas con discapacidad intelectual

“…Investigadores como Riitaoja et al (2019) evidenciaron que los estudiantes tienen una percepción negativa de las clases de apoyo debido a la falta de contenidos académicos que se impartían en ellas y a la división entre las clases regulares y las clases de apoyo. Sandoval et al (2019) relacionan esta práctica con el modelo médico-terapéutico, concibiendo el aula de apoyo como un recurso diseñado exclusivamente para alumnado con DI.…”