Att skapa förutsättningar för delaktighet i grundsärskolan

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the study was to investigate the special teacher's work with participation in compulsoryspecial schools for children with intellectual disability. The study also highlighted how the special needs teacher ensures that the student feels involved. Participation is a concept that is complex and can be interpreted in different ways depending on the context. In this study, participation was about being part of a context and by making one's voice heard. The empirical material was collected via semi-structured interviews with special teachers. A total of eight interviews were conducted with special teachers from four different special schools. The starting point has been the socio-cultural perspective where the keyis that learning, and development arise in interaction with each other. The study also had a relational perspective, where the meeting between student and teacher and the surrounding environment are contributing factors for school success. The results showed that structure and clarity in the teaching were conducive to students' participation as well as an adapted learning environment. The lesson content was individually based according to the students' conditions and needs, and student influence was considered by all teachers to be important from a participation perspective. The results indicated that student influence at the special primary school was often about different arranged choices where students, for example, choose the order in which tasks are to be performed. Students' participation is dependent on the teachers creating conditions for the students to feel involved in their learning environment. The teachers agreed that participation was about giving students the opportunity to participate in a social interaction with friends and the creation of relationships. Participation in the special primary school was also very much about the teacher capturing the student's interests and opinions in the teaching. Being involved could look different depending on the student's conditions and needs. Sometimes it was about participating in a group work or participating through parallel play. For some teachers, it was about making interpretations for the students who lacked verbal language.