Inclusion in Norwegian schools: pupils’ experiences of their learning environment

ABSTRACT

Schools in Norway are supposed to meet the ideals connected to inclusive education. The most common definition of inclusive education in Norway is multiple-oriented, meaning that inclusive education is a product of a variety of values, processes and experiences. Learning environment is a particularly central element in inclusive education. The article deals with how varying groups of pupils with special educational needs experience their learning environment in school in Norway, compared with other pupils. The experiences of the learning environment are important for well-being in school and to benefit from teaching. Pupils’ experiences have not been widely studied as a basis for educational policy and practise. This goes especially for pupils with difficulties and pupils receiving special education. Data were collected by a net-based survey with about 10,000 pupils answering the questionnaire. The results indicate that pupils with difficulties in school and those in special education experience a learning environment of lower quality than other pupils.

KEYWORDS:

• Special education
• social justice
• adapted teaching
• behavioral difficulties

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 My translation.

2 My translation.

3 Grades 1–3 have less than 30 lessons a week in Norway.

4 It is of utmost importance to make clear that these ‘reasons’ cannot necessarily be defined as individual pathology. The reason for pupils being in special education is that they do not benefit from ordinary teaching. The need for special education, therefore, can be both due the ordinary teaching environment as well as the pupil’s individual characteristics.

5 This explains the differing number of levels of item responses.