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Year of grant: 2019 Research Area: Samfelag Project type: Ph.d.-verkætlan Project title: Inclusion in the Faroese public school: From political vision to practice in tension between general education and special needs education Grant number: 0525 Project manager: Frida Poulsen Institution/company: Námsvísindadeildin, Fróðskaparsetrið Other participants: Lotte Hedegaard-Sørensen, Kirsten Baltzer, Erika Hayfield Project period: Planned: 01.09.2019-31.08.2022 Actual: 01.09.2019-12.04.2023 Total budget: 2.142.322 Grant from the FRC in DKK: 1.096.552 Project description: Original From an international and Nordic viewpoint, a large amount of research has been conducted with regards to inclusion and exclusion processes. The research has been conducted at a social, at a welfare-institutional level, at the individual level and in the interaction between the levels (Hansen, 2019). However, Faroese research does yet not exist on the conveyance of the inclusive principles into general practice in the schools. The project will thus be focusing on exploring the relationship between the translation of political visions and implementation across special pedagogy measures and general pedagogy, seen in the light of different discourses and external influence. In 2006 the United Nations pronounced the Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities. Given that the goverment of the Faroe Islands has signed this convention, this project seeks information concerning the effords of implementation of these principles in the Faroese Public School system. With an offset on the notion of inclusion, the paper examines how said notions evolve or halt in the process from the political- to the practical implementation. Furthermore. The project presents dilemmas tensions between the disciplines of Special- and General Pedagogy regarding the implementation of the principles of inclusion. Given the fact that this project concerns the Faroese school system, it also examines external influences on the process, such as Danish and Global trends. Despite major efforts and a relatively large budgeting of the general- and special educational field in the Faroese Public School, there are challenges in the field, which transletes into some criticism of the lack of implementation of inclusive school culture, as well as the organization of the special educational field. These factors serve as background, inspiration and motivation behind this PhD project. The PhD project therefore has a societal relevance, as it seeks to gain knowledge to contribute to the general- and special educational field, which intend to lead towards increasingly inclusive school culture, inclusive strategies and inclusive practices. With a theoretical framework based on work based on works concerning inclusion in education and teaching, the project leans on a systemic ecological research approach. The project will be executed with the case study as a primary research strategy. The empirical evidence will be gathered through the means of participatory observation, focus group interview sand the access to relevant documents. The analytical approach will also be executed using the method of document analysis and discourse analysis. Final The research focused on exploring inclusive education development in the Faroese public school from political vision to practice. The study used Situational Analysis as its theoretical and methodological framework and involved interviewing 97 actors in the Faroese school system and analysing school policy documents. The study aimed to understand how the global vision of inclusion is transferred, translated and transformed in the local environment of the Faroe Islands as a very small society. The study revealed the absence of overarching initiatives and leadership to promote inclusive education in the Faroese school system. This is partly explained through the Faroese culture and the close relationship between culture/practice and the political sector in a small society like the Faroe Islands. The research raises the question of where the impetus for initiating and motivating inclusive development processes should come from. Although the Faroe Islands is a small society with a historical dependency on Denmark, it is also part of the global world and inspired by international policies and research that affect its practice. Hence, despite being subject to the basic conditions of a small society, there are also points of similarity with the international environment. The findings reveal that the development of inclusive education in the Faroe Islands finds itself caught in the middle of cross-pressures from different and divergent global school policy trends and special features of local policy practice and local traditions and culture. The study argues that inclusive education should be an issue for an overarching school policy that applies to the entire school environment. It provides insights into pupils' perspectives, which can contribute to developing inclusive education. If pupils are listened to and heard as experts in their school lives, we can understand what it takes to achieve inclusion. In our search for effectiveness and quality of school life, pupils' perspectives can serve as a "directional indicator" for inclusion. This study advocates a whole situational approach that has allowed me to develop and propose “situated inclusion” as a new concept in the global and local discourse on inclusive education. “Situated inclusion” addresses the four core involvement elements of community involvement, negotiating involvement, policy and administration involvement and argument involvement. This may be the direction to take to develop inclusive education in the Faroe Islands. Project status: Liðug Project output: The PhD Project was defended on 25 September 2023. Thesis For full list See PURE << Back |
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