Voices in and beyond speech

This paper aims to explore and develop an understanding of special needs support from the student’s perspective in upper secondary vocational education and training (VET). Research has shown that students in vocational programs are in high need of accommodation and require increased special needs education (SNE), especially in activities and subjects with an academic focus. Recent research reviews focusing on special education show that more inclusive assessment practices are needed (Öhman, 2022) as well as more research in the area of special needs education in vocational education. This qualitative study was inspired by a phenomenological approach interested in understanding social phenomena from the participants’ perspectives and lived experiences. Following this approach, the analysis uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a tool to map and interpret participants’ expressions in their daily context. The empirical material is drawn from seven semi-structured interviews with students in special needs support, undertaken in two upper secondary vocational schools in two separate municipalities and regions in Sweden. To analyse and widen the understanding of the informants’ descriptions of their possibilities and hindrances to participate in their educational activities, the following theoretical perspectives are used: Klafki’s critical constructive Didaktik, Persson’s categorical and relational perspectives on special education, and Lawys theorized concept of voice. The analysis shows that the students’ experiences of special needs support are ambivalent. The results display not only a division between the teaching of vocational and academic subjects and support in upper secondary VET, but the analysis leads to a need for further exploration of SEN in vocational education and the role of didactics that include students’ voices.