Marginalisation processes in inclusive education in Norway: a longitudinal study of classroom participation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to describe the classroom participation of primary school children with disabilities who attend regular schools in Norway; to explore how relations between children with disabilities and their environment change, and further to chart how schools act in response to such change. The analyses are based on a life course study with data gathered from interviews and questionnaires given to the parents of children with disabilities born in the period between 1993 and 1995. The results show an increasing marginalisation of children with disabilities who receive their primary school education at regular schools. Despite the fact that public policies in Norway are based on a relational understanding of disability, thus suggesting that educators would make considerable efforts to accommodate children with disabilities in regular schools, the reality is that schools take an individual approach to children with disabilities which reflects a medical understanding of disability.

Keywords:

• inclusion
• disabilities
• marginalisation
• longitudinal
• classroom participation

Acknowledgements

The authors want to express their gratitude to the Nordic Centre of Excellence in Welfare Research ‘Reassessing the Nordic Welfare Model’ and NTNU Samfunnsforskning for valuable support. This research was supported by The Research Council of Norway. Grant 164498/S20.