”Att kunna få vara sig själv bland andra” : En kvalitativ studie om fem pedagogers definitioner av begreppet inkludering och barn i behov av särskilt stöd

The purpose of this study is to investigate how five educators define the concepts of inclusion and children in need of special support. The purpose is also to see in what way they in the discursive practice design an inclusive curriculum. The research questions posed were: 1) in what way do educators define the concept of children in need of special support, 2) in what way do educators speak when describing an inclusive preschool and 3) in what way do educators design an inclusive curriculum based on their understanding of the definition of children in need of special support. To answer these questions, we have used a qualitative method where we conducted observations and interviews. The study was based on post structural theory. We analyzed the results based on the educators' linguistic expressions and definitions. The conclusions in this study showed that educators have similar definitions of the concept of inclusion and children in need of special support. Some of these definitions concern children with diagnoses and children without, children with difficulty, special children, children who run away, children who do not follow instructions, children with various physical and cognitive barriers. Furthermore, the results showed that all participants believe that the environment is the most important factor in creating an inclusive curriculum thusly that it is the environment that should be adapted to the child and not the child to the environment.