‘Nobody really knows – maybe you can tell us’ overrepresentation of children with migration background in Swedish schools for students with intellectual disability

The study explores overrepresentation of children with a migration background in Swedish schools for children with intellectual disability. Theoretically positioned within the framework of a critical approach to education policy analysis, ontologically and epistemologically rooted in a Foucault-inspired poststructural tradition, the aim is to describe, analyse and problematize how 23 local educational stakeholders in six Swedish municipalities understand and respond to overrepresentation. The main axis of understanding overrepresentation is framed as a social problem and formed around the notion of unknown normalcy. Migration flows, for what reasons migrants are coming to Sweden, and some cultural practices among migrant families are understood as the main causes of overrepresentation. Furthermore, cultural differences, trauma and language deficiency are aspects of migration background that interfere with the referral process, ‘confusing’ the operations of an otherwise, as understood, meticulous and robust system. One of the study’s major implications is that constructing overrepresentation as an ‘immigrant problem’ and as a social problem overshadows the policy and practices of the referral process as another potentially powerful cause of overrepresentation. Moreover, this dominant framing narrows the scope of institutional responsibility in efforts to address overrepresentation.