The Student under the Gaze of Norms : A Theoretical Thematic Analysis of PedagogicalDocumentation Focusing on Identity Construction, SpecialEducational Perspectives, and Gender Differences inDescriptions of Students in Need of Special Support

The aim of this study is to investigate how students in need of special support are described in pedagogical documentation. Focusing on the concepts of identity and gender, the study aims to examine whether there are differences in how boys and girls are portrayed, as well as whether students' identities risk being shaped and constructed according to how educational staff describe students in need of special support. The study also seeks to explore whethe rspecial educational perspectives are made visible in the pedagogical documentation of students in schools. The pedagogical assessment, which constitutes the material for this empirical study, aims to describe students' school situation. The pedagogical documentation serves as a tool for mapping and assessing the students’ need for special support on multiplelevels. The method for this study is qualitative document analysis based on collected student documentation from various schools in different municipalities in Sweden. The collected material has been analyzed through theoretical thematic analysis. This methodological approach is grounded in choosing gender and identity as theoretical starting points and frameworks. The results of the study indicate that students' identities risk being shaped by educators' subjective perceptions of norms and age-appropriate behavior, which is reflected in their linguistic expressions regarding students in need of special support. The findings show that a compensatory perspective permeates the educational staff's views of students in the pedagogical documentation. It appears that the responsibility for challenges arising in the school situation is placed on the student as an individual rather than in the learning environment, and what educational staff need to do to meet the student’s needs is overlooked.Furthermore, the study reveals that descriptions reflecting interpretations of the differing conditions of boys and girls risk cementing gender patterns that schools are mandated to counteract.