Children, youth and social inclusion – in the absence of the idea of an ideal society

Workshop Programme Workshop background by Vibe Larsen Presentation of a research project on youth and social inclusion and exclusion in schools by Tekla Canger Presentation of a research project on collaboration between teachers and social educators in schools by Ditte Tofteng Discussion

The Danish Educational System

Inclusion – Reforms and Acts in the Danish State School System (Folkeskolen) 1993 Act on Individualized Teaching – one school for all 1994 Denmark signed the Salamanca Declaration 2012 Inclusion Act (new delimination of special needs teaching) 2014 The Folkeskole Reform is introduced

The Inclusion Act in the Danish Folkeskole 2012 The Danish folkeskole must become more inclusive A new delimination of special needs teaching Children who need less than 9 special needs teaching lessons per week must participate in a mainstream school class and in mainstream education Inclusion is about children with specail needs

Definition of Inclusion ”…a pupil with special educational needs is considered to be included when the pupil profits from mainstream teaching and participates actively in the social community of a mainstream class.” (EVA 2011)

The Folkeskole Reform – Three Main Objectives To challenge all pupils to reach their fullest potential To reduce the significance of pupils’ social background for academic results To develop pupils’ academic standards and improve the wellbeing of the pupils in the schools http://eng.uvm.dk/~/media/UVM/Filer/English/PDF/140708%20Improving%20the%20Public%20School.pdf

The Minister of Education The Danish folkeskole (primary and lower secondary school) is an open and inclusive school that creates whole human beings The concept of inclusion changes and opens up for an broader understanding – it is not only the children with special needs who must be included in the mainstream classes

An Inclusive School In 1993 it was about one school for all In 2012 the focus was on pupils with special needs and the understanding of normalization In 2014 a broader focus on inclusion was reintroduced – social background, special needs, gender etc. To sum up the different ways of the target group of inclusion ar

The School as a Part of Society The school as an important place for bringing about change in society The marginalization in education produced marginalized positions in the society Inclusion is about a democratic society, the possibility to participate The need for a broader understanding of inclusion This is not only about the school but the society and that’s why it is important to remember why we are talking about inclusion. Inclusion is not only a matter of the Salamanca declaration but about all kind of marginalized positions in the school

First project presentation “Who is in and who is out?” about social communities of youth and inclusion and exclusion in the school

Youth, community and schooling A three year project with the objective of: Understanding the relation between youth’s participation in social communities and their involvement in education; embedded in this, to understand how different forms of participation play a role in inclusion in and exclusion of education An ethnographic and micro-sociological approach: Extensive field work in a selected area Interviews and observations of professionals and young people in the ages 14-18 A focused field work in a graduating class in a school in the selected area A short description of the school and class in question: Located on the outskirts of Copenhagen in an area known as ‘challenged’ Until recently two schools, but due to political decisions a school fusion has taken place 25 students – 5 boys and 20 girls A couple of students absent during the duration of the fieldwork Two home room teachers and furthermore 3-4 subject teachers

Community, network, group(ing), relationships In part we use the terms synonimously Communities being the broader definition Networks being characterized by horizontal as well as vertical networks All terms characterized by being fluid and at times connotate strong dependency and at others connotate weak dependency

Preliminary findings 1 center and periphery – ’in’ and ’out’? A school class with a large center group and a couple periphery groups characterized by either having a loose connection with the center group or no connection The center group have the power to define ’in’ and ’out’ through their understanding and defining of the class culture Belonging to a periphery group as well as to the center group can create insecurity and vulnerability Quotation where the girl from the center group says that she understands the class as a whole and the quotation from the girl from one of the periphery groups where she says that she never knows whether she is in or out Last bullit: because if you’re belonging to the center group you long for belonging and thereby not feeling the insecurity of not knowing (in regards to second quote) and if you belong to center group you know that there is a possibility of being excluded since you do it yourself

”We don’t exclude noone” I always hung out with Marjana and Fatima – we were this small group. But now it’s – I think it’s the whole class and not just me – we are more together… in very large groups – I mean; we don’t exclude anyone […] I like the class as a whole because we stick together and don’t exclude anyone” (Interview with girl from the center group)

”Sometimes we feel that the class hates us” Sometimes we just feel that the class hates us. - I don’t know if it’s only us, it’s like a feeling – but sometimes it’s also the way they look at us – and sometimes you’re used to them saying ’hi’ and then you go past them and they completely ignore you […] sometimes you just don’t want to be in that class because you feel that they hate you – it doesn’t feel nice to be in there […] sometimes they’re really nice to you and the next day they ignore you (interview with girl for one of the peripheric groups)

Preliminary findings 2 social community as ever-changing The social communities in the school class are characterized by being fluctuos and dynamic – this is seen in the students understanding of ’time’. This fluidity in the pupils sense of belonging can be understood through the notions of horizontal and vertical networks (Putnam) That it can be a reason for the difficulty teachers and other professionals can have for supporting social community We used to be a very divided class but now we’re one… we used to be best friends but now we don’t see each other… Horizontal networks being those strongly associated Vertical networks being those that are loosely associated

Preliminary findings 3 local community – social community The local community plays an important role in the pupils’ understanding of the social community in the school The pupils’ narrations of local community are characterized by an understanding of safety, belonging and its ability to link different communities It also plays a role in social community as it offers a horizontal network that can work as an entity that defines itself in opposition to other communities Eg. Whenever they speak of those with whom they have a good relationship, with whom they engage in a horizontal network, thus the local community becomes important because it provides at connection between life inside and outside of school The way they talk about their local community becomes a way of positioning themselves… they talk about how others understand their local community, and how they themselves have a hard time recognizing that understanding. They also enhance how local community offers space and place for cultivating social community in ways that governmental initiatives haven’t been able to

Final remarks That we need to focus on social community in order to understand school belonging It can be seen as a challenges that certain conditions hinder this focus: School fusions The pupils changing of schools primarily in lower secondary A political pressure on scholastic results and achievements – PISA and other testing tools, narrow curriculum etc.

Second project presentation The Yes and the No – and the in-between An action research project in a state school in the Copenhagen area.

The project Title: Towards inclusion: Cooperation between professions in Danish state schools. Themes: Inclusion, school, inter-professional cooperation, democracy… Project from 2014-2016. All employees (about 50) as participants. Aprox. one meeting every month during the project Main aim – (the joined research topic) – is to: Develop new ways of thinking, understanding and working with inclusion at the school. Research question and objective: Which drafts for change towards a good school does the professionals put forward as meaningful and transgressive for cooperation concerning inclusion and learning? Embedded in this: Which challenges , barriers and possibilities does this kind of development raise?

The research approach Action research Key features: Participation: joint research processes – cooperation between practitioners and researchers about developing new practices. Democracy: shared knowledge production – privilege all types of knowledge (not only the experts) Change: change is part of the research processes – research and development go hand in hand

Activities Workshops defining: critique, barriers and utopian ideas and possible developments Working in (local)experimental groups around utopian (projects) defined by the participants Joined evaluation. And joined discussions about success criterias and the sustainability of the project.

Status The project develops in three phases: The idea phase The experimental phase Presentation, evaluation and ways to sustain developments Research as part of all phases Just finished the idea phase – and the participants are now working in experimental groups around these topics: inclusion in everyday teaching, interdisciplinary work concerning inclusion, flexible rooms, and school bus (teaching differentiation)

Preliminary findings 1 Different strategies that do not fit The PR for the school – about keeping the pupils at the school and having a school known as creative and open. Curriculum discourse – better results - PISA The agenda of including 96% of all Danish children in the Danish state school. These strategies are seen as simultaneous demands which for the teachers in their everyday practice does not fit…

Preliminary findings 2 Working across professional boundaries The wish to bring social educators (pedagogues) into the school seems nascent and difficult because of quantitative differences – many teacher few pedagogues. Other professionals – the teachers and the school have some difficulties getting an overview over which other professionals are connected to the school and with what task and purpose.

Preliminary findings 3 In times of change The participants at the school are fatigued – by all the new changes in the organization, the group of children… they are still trying to find their way. For the teachers/pedagogues it is not a question of saying yes or no – but to navigate and act in the reality defined by complex structures.

Questions Part (10 min.) Which questions come to mind when getting to know the preliminary findings? What did you notice? What does this knowledge mean for the way you think inclusion in a the context of the society? 2. part (10 min.) Discuss which are the 3 most important issues of your group talk?