Conceptualising ‘learning barriers’ in educational research: a scientific concept analysis

Researchers need accurate and appropriate terminology to appropriately analyse the continuous marginalisation of substantial groups of the student population, as well as the resulting reproduction of social inequalities. In the present article, we therefore propose that researchers should distinguish between personal pathologies as ‘learning disabilities’ and environmental hindrances as ‘learning barriers’. However, it is also necessary to investigate whether such a distinction can be supported by the current definition and application of the term ‘learning barrier’ in the existing research. Hence, we investigate the following research question: How is the concept of ‘learning barriers’ conceptualised in international educational research? This research question is investigated through a scientific concept analysis in the form of a systematic review of 40 scientific journal articles published between 1990 and 2020 that were written in Danish, English, and Swedish. This analysis shows that 40% of the articles contain a conceptualisation of learning barriers that emphasises structural factors outside the learner, 37.5% emphasise an interaction between internal and external factors, and 22.5% emphasise individual factors within the learner. As a result, we argue that there is support from international research for distinguishing learning barriers from the learning difficulties associated with personal predispositions.