INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AND PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNING FACILITATORS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN A SCHOOL IN SWEDEN

This study examines the concept of inclusion and the degree to which it is being practiced in Swedish municipality schools and tries to draw some conclusions about the nature of pedagogy practiced in Sweden. This is a qualitative case study where primary data are collected from only five facilitators of children of special needs in one school in Sweden. Data were collected with an open-ended questionnaire, the variations in their responses are considered valuable in order to get a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the phenomena under study. Perceptions of the respondents indicate that they were participating in both organizational and pedagogic differentiation. The administrators were more vocal about the value of the segregated education. Integration was perceived as being the ideal because it made it possible to both compensate the child as well as facilitate their involvement in the general class room. Inclusion was seen as a higher form of integration and was associated with capital intensive specialized equipment and materials. Respondents feared that children with special needs would not be able to cope with the general curriculum in an inclusive educational situation. I conclude in this study that every fifth student in the middle school in Sweden is probably in need of differentiated activities, and there is a need for another form of teaching than what is being currently practiced in Sweden