Two schools in different worlds: A qualitative case study of school culture and social inclusion in two schools with polarized sociodemographic profiles

Helene Moe Olsen

The aim of this master thesis is to study the way schools located in different sociodemographic areas understand social inclusion in a school context, and how these schools adapt to their environment. The work is based on 15 in depth interviews with teachers and special educators at two schools, performed in 2002 and in 2019/2020.

Arfwedson’s theory on school culture is used to shed light on how the schools prioritize their work with inclusion, while the school organization’s communication with other systems is analyzed in a system theoretical view.

The analysis shows that the school in the socioeconomically privileged area has a school culture focused on academic performance and a narrow understanding of what is considered “normal”. The school is based on an organizational identity anchored in long traditions. The school in the less privileged area prioritizes social competence and social inclusion highly. Diversity and inequality is here embraced. The contrast between the schools’ orientation towards the students’ academic and social development is manifested in their practical work of social inclusion. Increased time constraints and expanded scope of work contribute a higher pressure on prioritization in the teachers’ daily work. As a result school culture has a stronger influence on teachers’ work with social inclusion.

The schools’ orientation and understanding of social inclusion has been remarkably stable, based on the interviews in 2002 and 2019/2020. Therefore, it is not given that context factors connected to changes in the school’s environment and in local and national general requirements have a significant effect on individual school cultures.

Even though the culture and the structure of the schools potentially can contribute in reproduction of social differences, there is nevertheless a sense of community suited to the needs of the students at both schools. This indicates that the valuable work the schools do regarding social inclusion is undercommunicated in a sociological context.

"Discovering the best system" A qualitative study on the special education system with explicit focus on social inclusion

Maud Sønderaal

The aim of this master thesis is to study how the special education system is organized with an explicit focus on social inclusion, and how this translated and perceived at the school level in a vulnerable district and in a more resourceful district in a larger Norwegian city. This thesis is based on 16 qualitative interviews and official local policy documents related to special education for children and adolescents. By investigating the special education system, I look closer into the relationship between formal official goals and everyday practice.  

The thesis is built on an extended case method approach aimed to explore the role the special education system. This is both based on a reading of how the representatives of the special education system portray their goals and missions, and how the teachers and other groups at school level perceive the role and job of the special education system. The analysis is theoretically informed by New Institutional Organizational theory and Luhmann’s System Theory.  
 
This master thesis shows that the formal goals are contradictory as visions of strong children’s communities and social inclusion do not correspond with organizational and bureaucratic tasks. This contributes to pressure on and conflicting expectations for the special education system. The loose links between the system and schools do not only result in communication problems, but also contributes to distrust and systems that primarily focus on the individual and not on an inclusive children’s community. In absence of well-functioning assistance systems, schools create their own parallel welfare systems to cover the pupils in need for special education. The result therefore also shows how the special education system face a challenge in giving children an equal offer, depending on school and district. In addition, the study indicates that the special education system is in closer dialogue with the schools in a sociodemographic more vulnerable district compared to the school from a more resourceful district.

"Great Expectations". The Potential of Informal and Formal Organization to Promote Resilience and Educational Equity within Bounded Spaces

Markus Lynum

The theme of this thesis is resilience and risk in childhood with a focus on factors beyond the individual and family levels. Taking the individual- and family-centric literature on risk and resilience in childhood as its point of departure, this thesis examines the potential for resilience and risk embedded in the local context childhood takes place within. This is investigated by comparing the factors at the individual, family and community levels that predict increased/decreased mental well-being and ability to cope at school among children from three schools in Northtown. The schools are located in different socioeconomic contexts, and special attention is given to the differences between them.  
The thesis has an interest in two community level factors. The first is in the potential capacity of school organization to mitigate risk and the second is in informal social organization among community members to promote social inclusion and well-being in the community. They are investigated through a comparative case approach, with a focus on how local community level factors may mitigate or amplify potential risks to children’s mental well-being and ability to cope at school. Robust linear and logistic regression is applied in order to assess trends in the overall population before examining what predicts at-risk levels of perceptions of low mental well-being and ability to cope. This approach puts the lifeworld experiences of children into context with the local organization of childhood within bounded spaces.

The results suggest that individual and family level characteristics exert little influence on children’s experience of well-being, compared to community-level factors. They suggest the importance of more attention being given to how the organization of schools can mitigate differences between areas that have different levels of embedded resources. However, the results also show that the increasing complexity of risks in schools’ surrounding environment may increase external pressure on their organizational capacity to effectively moderate risks in local areas. On the other hand, the role played by experiences of social inclusion and community well-being draws attention to social interaction systems as central sites where children may have access to resilience-promoting resources derived from positive social relations and experiences. This is linked to the term personal social capital, which this thesis develops as referring to benefits of group/network membership for the individual experiencing them.