Swedish education in upper secondary schools for students with intellectual disabilities: from a student perspective

Abstract

Swedish upper secondary education includes special secondary schooling for students with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of students’ experiences of attending special secondary schools. An interpretative approach was used to analyse data from repeated in-depth interviews with 14 female and 12 male students from 5 different schools. Analysis revealed participants’ school experiences could be categorised in three different ways; having a sense of awareness, a sense of confidence, and a sense of uncertainty, while their overarching attitudes towards school attendance were characterised by dejection, determination, or a combination of these. These different experiences of school and attitudes towards it demonstrate the complexity of the participants’ situation, the advantages and disadvantages of this type of schooling, and the participants’ experiences of being categorised as deviant by others.

Keywords:

• intellectual disability
• students’ experiences
• upper secondary school
• Swedish special schools
• categorisation

Notes

1. The national special secondary school programmes are: Administration, Commerce and Goods Handling, Esthetical Activities, Property and Construction, Vehicle Care and Cargo Handling, Crafts and Production, Hotel, Restaurant and Bakery, Health and Health Care, Society, Nature and Language, Forest, Land and Animals (Swedish Statute Book, 2012:402).

2. A nationwide web-based survey was sent out to 252 head teachers in special secondary schools during the 2008/2009 school year. The questionnaire was primarily mapping the different ways of organising teaching in the special secondary school (Mineur, 2013). The differences that emerged primarily concerned the extent to which inclusive teaching solutions and workplace training were offered to the students.