Vad ska vi göra med de ”bildbart sinnesslöa” barnen? : En studie av folkskoleinspektörernas berättelser i Värmlands västra inspektionsområde.

Sammanfattning: Background & Aim: The main focus of this thesis was on the education for children with special needs in western Värmland's region during the period 1946 - 1951. Reports by the school inspector describing the organisation, and the work by different disciplines in the school were studied. The aim of the investigation was to simplify and clarify the picture of the complex activities regarding work on establishing ways to handle these children, described as having lower educational ability, within the school system. Methods: The underlying theory used the concepts of classification and framing to examine the conditions that the school system established for students with special needs. A qualitative research methodology has been leading the work with the source material.  Results & Conclusions: The most important finding in the reports by the school inspector is that we can clearly distinguish how the presence of students described as having low educational ability was considered a serious problem, both for themselves but mainly for the other children. The idea that students with "low educational ability" were considered a hindrance originates from the 1932 seminary experts’ advice and references, where several common positions are possible to make visible in the school inspector's annual reports and the experts' texts. However, I would argue that a more inclusive approach is taken through the later 1940 school investigation and the 1946 school commission, which explicitly show the advantages of a unitary school.  I believe this is reflected in the inspectors later reports and recommendations. The study’s results show that the work with special education is developed to be less strongly classified with a strong framework of control.