‘They would be bullied in ordinary schools’ – exploring public discourses on inclusionary schooling

Abstract

Though research on inclusive education makes up a considerable part of the special education research field, very few studies have explored how beliefs and ideas about inclusion and exclusion emerge in general media discourses of education and schooling. Using positioning theory as a theoretical framework, this paper explores public discourses on inclusionary/exclusionary schooling by analysing newspaper articles about a segregated type of school in Sweden for pupils with intellectual disability. Seventy-nine articles meeting the criteria for inclusion and published between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2018 were identified in the two national daily newspapers of Sweden. Four general storylines and associated positions were identified. The four storylines, together and in different ways, construct a rationale for a segregated school system based on notions such as equality, equity, justice, and democracy. We argue that this rationale is embedded within a discourse that we propose calling a discourse of ‘segrequality’.

Points of interest

• Education plays an important role in the development of an inclusive society and inclusive education is a goal supported by many countries and their school systems. Even so, the percentage of pupils educated in segregated settings have increased in many countries in Europe.

• This article explores how Swedish news media portrays education for pupils with intellectual disability.

• The research found a dominant rationale where segregated educational settings are seen as essential. Four main narratives were identified. All of them, in different ways, argue for the importance of segregated education in order to give every child an education based on notions such as equality, equity, justice, and democracy.

• Researchers of inclusion are suggested to take a more active part in a public discussion of education as well as in policy-making on both national and local levels.

Keywords:

• Inclusion
• special education
• media discourse
• positioning theory
• intellectual disability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

A list of the articles included in the analysis and tables of complete analysis of positions in the four storylines are available from the first author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Sävstaholm Foundation.