Additional workload or a part of the job? Icelandic teachers' discourse on inclusive education

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the discourse of Icelandic compulsory school teachers on inclusive education. From 1974 and onwards, the education policy in Iceland has been towards inclusion, and Iceland is considered to be an example of a highly inclusive education system with few segregated resources for students with special educational needs. In particular, the article focuses on what characterises and legitimises teachers' discourse on inclusive education, the contradictions in the discourse and how teachers have involved themselves in the process. We use the approach of historical discourse analysis to analyse the discourse as it appears in interviews with teachers and media articles on education as well as in key documents issued by the Parliament. The article provides an insight into the complexities of this topic and draws attention to underlying issues relevant to inclusive education.

• inclusive education
• discourse
• teachers' discourse
• historical discourse analysis
• educational policy and practice

Acknowledgements

Hermína Gunnþórsdóttir thanks the Icelandic Research Fund (RANNÍS) and University of Akureyri Research Fund for supporting this research. We also thank Gunnþór Gunnþórsson for reading a first draft of the analysis; Dóra S. Bjarnason and Gretar L. Marinósson for a thorough reading of some of the final drafts; Rafn Kjartansson for the translation of the citations and proofreading; and finally the interviewees, as well as the anonymous referees for their critical and supportive comments.

Notes on Contributors

Ingólfur Ásgeir Jóhannesson PhD, Professor, School of Education, University of Iceland & Faculty of Education, University of Akureyri. His main areas of research are educational policy and politics of education, gender and education, teacher expertise and professionalism, and historical discourse analysis. He taught history in upper compulsory and upper secondary schools for a few years.

Hermína Gunnþórsdóttir is a lecturer at University of Akureyri, Icelandand, PhD student at the University of Iceland, Reykjavík. She finished her research training programme at the Institute of Education, University of London. Her research field is related to inclusive school and education; school, society and culture; educational policy and practice; teacher education; disability studies; the education of minority and marginalised groups. Hermina is responsible for courses and teaching on above issues.

Notes

1. We prefer to use the term individualised learning instead of differentiated learning for the Icelandic term einstaklingsmiðun or einstaklingsmiðað nám as it presents a direct translation of the term and has in the discussion a strong reference to individual-based learning. In the Icelandic discussion, the Icelandic term seems to refer incidentally to either differentiated learning or individualised learning.

2. The final tests in grade 10 have now been made obligatory which they were not when the interviews were taken. They also used to determine whether students obtained access to certain secondary schools or not. This was abolished by The Compulsory School Act No. 91/2008.