Segregated and yet inclusive? the application process for upper secondary school in Iceland for students labelled as disabled through the lens of social justice

“We Kind of do not Dare to Tell Everybody that we are in a Program for Disabled Students, Because Some are Afraid that they will be Made Fun of”

“…Responding to students' resistance and acquiring a school system that is socially just entails abandoning the view of students as static entities and no longer focus on their placement within schools. Additionally, defining general and special education as separate (and static) units is an equally important stance to depart from, since its distinct conceptual foundation continually produces and reproduces social injustice, as experienced by various students within schools (Gabel & Connor, 2009;Naraian, 2021;Sverrisdóttir & Van Hove, 2021). The focus should rather be on recognizing and acknowledging students' differences and, in the process, supporting their becoming within inclusive and social just school settings by, as Goodley (2007a) points out, viewing the interconnectedness and the productivity of becoming learner/educator, instead of the separateness of being a (special education) student/teacher.…”

“…Being a special education student and having to spend time apart from her class each day in order to go to a special education unit had cost her the opportunity to build a relationship with her peers. When applying for upper secondary school she found herself in a new territory, a new set of power relations which required her to define herself as being disabled (Sverrisdóttir & Van Hove, 2021) in a rather public way because she was, in the process, assigned to a special education unit within upper secondary school. In doing so, she had to deal with her own prejudice, indicating the discursive norm of special education (Lilja & Vinthagen, 2014) present in the society.…”

“…In recent years, however, more emphasis has been placed on supporting and enhancing students with disabilities' participation in regular classrooms as well as that of other students who can be distinguished by various social categories, for example race, gender, or other types (crpd, 2006;Naraian, 2011;Slee, Corcoran & Best, 2019). Thereby added weight has been given to inclusive education as a social justice issue and not merely a school reform to include students who have been labeled as disabled (Connor, 2014;Gabel & Connor, 2009;Sverrisdóttir & Van Hove, 2021).…”

“…Inclusive education, however, as accepted within disability studies in education (dse) means promoting meaningful access to all aspects of society for people who have been labeled disabled and that entails rejecting deficit models of disability (including the extreme emphasis on medical diagnosis) and most importantly assuming competence (Connor, 2019;Taylor, 2006). That, however, is not the scenario in Iceland because students are segregated when it comes to applying and attending upper secondary school, based on medical diagnosis and support needs (Sverrisdóttir & Van Hove, 2021), through a process that highlights the ableist structure of the system (Sverrisdóttir & Jóhannesson, 2020). This process also creates a group believed to be less able than other students and this is sometimes reflected through teachers' and students' reaction to "the labeled student" (Allan, 1996;Biklen & Burke, 2006).…”

Áskoranir og tækifæri í skipulagi náms nemenda með þroskahömlun á framhaldsskólastigi í ljósi kenninga um inngildandi menntun og félagslegt réttlæti

“…Blöndun vísar til þess að aðlaga nemanda að því kerfi sem fyrir er en birtingarmynd blöndunar var í formi aðgreindra sérkennsluúrraeða innan almennra skóla (Avramidis o.fl., 2000). Þetta fyrirkomulag er enn til staðar í framhaldsskólum á Íslandi (Anna Björk Sverrisdóttir og Ingólfur Ásgeir Jóhannesson, 2020; Anna Björk Sverrisdóttir og van Hove, 2022van Hove, , 2023. Það útskýrir hvers vegna umraeða um menntun fatlaðra nemenda snýst oftar en ekki um staðsetningu þeirra innan skóla og hvers vegna skipulagið gerir ráð fyrir að sérkennsla og almenn kennsla séu aðskilin kerfi (Naraian, 2021).…”