This study aims to investigate primary school teachers' perceptions of mainstreaming pupils in special needs to distinguish obstacles and the teachers’ perspective on pupils’ differences. Through qualitative interviews with a phenomenographical approach, four teachers' perceptions about individual integration obstacles and opportunities have been analyzed. The result has been sorted into description categories to visualize different aspects of obstacles and opportunities for individual integration. These are then analyzed on the basis of perceptions of pupils' differences in order to distinguish between the teacher's perceptions of pupils in special needs and inclusion and segregation. From an inclusive perspective, all teachers emphasize the social benefits of individual integration. The teachers' perceive individual integration as an opportunity to normalize differences and disabilities. At the same time, teachers perceive that individual integration requires including values in the classroom. Three of the teachers perceive the knowledge-sharing of specialists as more effective in the lesser teaching group. Three of the teachers perceive that teaching of SEN pupils requires individualized tuition and that a shortage of resources constitutes an obstacle for individual integration. The teachers' perceive individual adaptation as a balance between knowledge-orientation and social participation in the classroom. At the same time, they recognize that this adaptations also benefits other pupils. Analysis based on inclusive and compensatory perspectives on pupils 'differences shows that the teachers' perceptions varies and that none of them can be said to represent one perspective. There are both compensatory and critical perspectives in all teachers' perceptions. My analysis shows a connection between teachers' compensatory perceptions and the experienced lack of resources as an obstacle to individual integration while an inclusive view tends to lead in to less material and more value-focused challenges.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kau-62617 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Boström, Jens |
| Publisher | Karlstads universitet, Fakulteten för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap (from 2013) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
Page generated in 0.0055 seconds