What is the meaning of special education? Problem representations in Swedish policy documents: late 1970s–2014

Abstract

In Sweden, as in many other countries, inclusion has been on the political agenda for a long time and has served as a blueprint and guiding principle for practical work in school. However, inclusive education has, by and large, been associated with special education measures, which seriously limit the chances of achieving the vision of inclusion. In this article, we analyse how the meaning of special education is constructed in policy documents from four distinct time periods of Swedish education policy from the late 1970s to 2014. The paper draws on an approach to scrutinise the process of problematisation in public policymaking. Based on the analysis, we argue that there are prospects of a hegemonic intervention regarding the meaning of special education during later years in Swedish education policy, emphasising an individual perspective and individual deficiencies. In contrast to inclusive ambitions, this perspective advocate segregated support measures. Finally, based on previous research and tendencies within the field, we present arguments in the concluding discussion why this hegemonic intervention in education policy also might attract the support of school personnel at the local school level and some potential consequences of the expansion of special education in Sweden.

Contextualizing inclusive education in educational policy: the case of Sweden

“…We attend to our aim with a two-step approach. First of all, we build upon a foundation of prior policy analyses, namely Lundahl's (2005) analysis of education policy in Sweden, and Isaksson and Lindqvist's (2015) analysis of special education policy. Lundahl's analysis provides an overview of political prioritizations in Swedish education politics with a chronological framework.…”

“…If these trends outlined above constitute overarching tendencies in education politics in Sweden, the question becomes how inclusive education as a policy is affected by them and other fluctuations of education politics. First of all, it seems that despite its international reputation as an inclusive education system, Swedish education policies are far from clear in their expressions of inclusive goals for education (Göransson et al, 2011) and emphasis has altered in varying degrees over time (Isaksson & Lindqvist, 2015). Göransson et al (2011) analyzed several education policy texts, including legislation, ordinances, reports, curricula and government proposals.…”

“…Following this some important variations of the definitions of inclusive education are illustrated. We then present and align analyses by Lundahl (2005) and Isaksson and Lindqvist (2015) to demonstrate political fluctuations in education politics and special education policies respectively. Finally, after adding our own analyses of government statements from the past 23 years to illustrate political fluctuations in education policies, we summarize our argument and draw some conclusions as regards implications of this article for future research and policy.…”

Habilitation Service Utilization Patterns Among Children With Mild Intellectual Disability

“…There is already a considerable amount of research about school policy and practice in relation to children in need of special support (e.g. Avramidis & Norwich, ; de Boer, Pijl, & Minnaert, ; Göransson & Nilholm, ; Isaksson & Lindqvist, ; Ruijs & Peetsma, ) and about children with ID in Swedish schools (Roll‐Pettersson, ; Westling Allodi, ). However, to our knowledge, how type of school setting for children with mild ID is related to healthcare service utilization outside school has not been investigated.…”

Inclusive education and school choice lessons from Sweden

“…Inclusive education is not mentioned in the Swedish legislation (Göransson et al, 2011;Isaksson and Lindqvist 2015) but the legislation stipulates that special educational support should primarily be provided in the 'regular' classroom if possible. If segregating measures are deemed necessary, they should be temporary and restricted to particular school subjects.…”