Including as a target for special education in school : A dilemma between the curriculum and in practice

The society’s view of pupils with needs of special support in nine-year school has changed over time in Sweden. The teachers’ views of the pupils have had an influence of how the special education process is designed. The aim with my paper is to make a comparative study of how special education teachers in rural schools and schools in Stockholm have designed their work with pupils with needs of special support. Another aim is to investigate whether the special educators, that I have interviewed, perceive any change in design of special education while they have been working as teachers. For my study, I have used interview as a method. I have interviewed seven special education teachers from six different schools, which constitutes the empirical material for my analysis. The theory I have used for the analysis of my empirical material consists of two different perspectives on how special education teachers look at pupils and the design of support for them. The first perspective says that the separate, special education should compensate the pupil for its shortcomings (“excluding”) while the other perspective is critical against the first one and points out that the regular education is the best solution for all pupils’ needs and conditions (“including”), with support from relevant resources. The result of the study shows a similarity between the schools included in my investigation. My conclusion of the investigation is that there are no differences how the special education is conducted, regardless geographical differences. The result from my interviews shows also a change of the view of the pupil and how society and curriculum treat pupils with needs of special support