The background for this study is the lack of research and knowledge about extra adaptions and special support in School Age Educare Centers (SAEC) (Skolinspektionen, 2023). Early and adequate interventions are prerequisites for pupils to reach the educational goals. Since many pupils who need extra adaptations and special support require more time to be able to reach the goals, it becomes even more important to support works during the pupil's entire day in school and in SAEC. SAEC - teachers have the responsibility for meeting pupils needs, but individual solutions for pupils are problematic since SAEC is not a compulsory part of the school system and the foundation of the SAEC is participation, togetherness and community (Wernholm, 2023). However, a consequence of the SAECs supplementary and compensatory assignment is that SAEC-teachers need to assess which pupils need extra adaptations and special support and what teaching is required.
As a theoretical framework, the relational perspective (Nilholm, 2020) will be used.
This study has a quantitative approach. It is based on one part of a web-survey answered by 400 participants from five professional groups in Swedish SAEC and their experiences about extra adaptations and special support. The aim is to find out how the various professional groups meet pupils in need of support and what adaptations are made, as well as distinguishing perceptions between the groups. Descriptive statistics presented an overall picture of the various claims on a group-level. The Mann–Whitney test investigated the distinctions between professional categories. The results are still under processing, and it will be reported with descriptive statistics and significance testing.
The preliminary results highlight that different occupational groups experiences the role of special education in SAEC differently. The result also shows different conditions for working with extra adaptations and special support in SAEC.
For Nordic educational research the study is of importance because it draws attention to a research area where research is totally lacking (Skolinspektionen, 2023). Further, it combines perceptions of special education related to different actors in SAEC. The study also problematizes the prerequisites of special education and the SAEC to include all children in the regular after-school activities. It also has a quantitative approach, which is quite unusual for research in this field. In addition, it makes a unique contribution to SAEC-research in combination with special education. For all professionals in SAEC, this study makes an important contribution because special teachers/pedagogues are predicted to receive an increased importance in the SAEC, to compensate and supplement school (Karlsudd, 2022).
2024.
extra adaptations, professional groups, school-age educare centres, signifi-cant differences, special support