Med elevens ögon: resan från grundskola till särskola

Today in Sweden the concept of the greyzone students that stands between the nine-year compulsory school and special school for mentally retarded children is recognised in different studies and reports. It is not obvious for this group of students to decide which category best can comply with their needs. Should they go in nine-year compulsory school or special school for mentally retarded children? In the last years there have been alarming rapports about how the share of students in special school increases. A study shows that the greyzone students are a group that distinctly is on the increase in the special school. It lies in the phenomena's nature that these students learning problems are discovered very late in the school years, very often in the last years of the nine-year school. The purpose of this study was to examine how these greyzone students experienced that their self image was affected by the transfer from the nine-year school to the special school. The study was based on four interviews with students that provide the study with a subjective perspective. By adding one interview with a keyperson an objective perspective from a professional's point of view has been given to the study. The analysis was based on theory around self image, identity, norm, deviation and recognition. The result was gathered around two themes. The first based on images of the special school. The images were sorted out in two groups; the surroundings image and the student's image. In the analysis a connection appears between these two images that affect each other. The material gives a shade of meanings of these images. In the analysis of how these images affect the student's self image we have to look into each individual case to make conclusions. The second theme was based on the student's journey between two categories, from the nine-year school to the special school. The analysis of the material shows how the student identifies itself with the new category. A conclusion is that students experience the special school as something positive for them. Not until the special school is placed in a bigger perspective that also involves other categories do the students tend to experienced there belonging to the special school as something negative