I was treated like a person and not a lost cause Young people’s experience of an alternative to school exclusion Deborah Júlía Robinson Faculty of Health Sciences University of Akureyri 2016 I was treated like a person and not as a lost cause Young people’s experience of an alternative to school exclusion Deborah Júlía Robinson 60 credits thesis for a Magister Scientiarum degree in Health Sciences Supervisors Guðrún Pálmadóttir Hermína Gunnþórsdóttir Faculty of Health Sciences University of Akureyri Akureyri, June 2016 I was treated like a person and not as a lost cause. Young people’s experience of an alternative to school exclusion. An alternative to school exclusion. 60 credits thesis of Magister Scientiarum degree in Health Sciences Copyright © 2016 Deborah Júlía Robinson All rights reserved Faculty of Health Sciences University of Akureyri Sólborg, Norðurslóð 2 600 Akureyri Tel: 460 8000 Registration: Deborah Júlía Robinson, 2016, I was treated like a person and not a lost cause. Young people’s experience of an alternative to school exclusion, Master’s thesis, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Akureyri, 92 pgs. Printing: Prentstofan Stell Akureyri, June 2016 Abstract Students with special educational needs (SEN) are diverse and mainstream schools are finding it challenging to include them successfully. Inclusive education is an approach that expects schools to adapt to students’ needs and has been developing as an ideology at mainstream school level for about forty years. Some SEN students are more challenging than others and students with serious behavioural issues or Emotional Behavioural Disorder (EBD) may find themselves in alternative education outside of the formal compulsory education system. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of the experiences of young people when attending an alternative school that specialises in working with students with serious behavioural issues. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) was used as a theoretical framework as it allowed the researcher to pay special attention to the importance of contextual factors when considering student participation in learning and acquiring knowledge. The research approach was qualitative and ten interviews were taken with nine former students attending the school during the years of 2000-2010. Data collection lasted over a period of one year in 2015. Data analysis was supported by grounded theory processes of coding and identification of evolving themes. The results showed that the participants’ experience of the alternative school was generally positive. However, sweet success was often prec eded by blood, sweat and tears. The major finding was the impact environmental factors had on improvements in learning and behaviour o f the former students. Study findings indicate the importance of integrating caring teacher/student relationships, appropriate teaching strategies and diverse curricula into the learning process. There is a need for real alternative education for students with behavioural issues and it must be borne in mind that changes in student behaviour result from a combination of adaptations of environmental factors and a shared responsibility and not just one or the other. Key words: Former students, alternative ed ucation, serious behavioural issues . Útdráttur Nemendur með sérþarfir eru fjölbreyttur hópur og mikil áskorun er að finna þeim stað innan almenns skólakerfis. Skóli án aðgreiningar byggist á hugmyndafræði sem gerir kröfur um að skólar lagi sig að sérþörfum nemenda sinna. Hugmyndafræðin hefur verið notuð í grunnskólakerfi nu í allt að 40 ár. Sumir nemendur með sérþarfir eru meira krefjandi en aðrir og nemendur með alvarleg hegðunarvandamál finna sig betur í sérnámi utan við hið formlega skólakerfi. Tilgangur rannsóknarinnar var að öðlast skilning á reynslu nemenda sem höfðu sótt skóla sem sérhæfir sig í að vinna með nemendum með alvarleg hegðunarvandamál. Alþjóðlega flokkunarkerfið um færni, fötlun og heilsu (The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)) var notað sem kenningarlegur rammi þar sem það gerði rannsakandanum kleift að beina sjónum sérstaklega að mikilvægi samhangandi þátta hvað varðar þátttöku nemenda í námi og að öðlast þekkingu. Valin var eigindleg rannsóknaraðferð og tekin voru tíu viðtöl við níu fyrrum nemendur sem stunduðu nám við skólann á árunum 2000-2010. Gagnasöfnun stóð yfir í eitt ár og við gagnagreiningu var stuðst við aðferðir grundaðrar kenningar og gögnin kóðuð og umbreytt í þemu. Niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar sýndu að reynsla þátttakenda af námi í sérskóla var almennt jákvæð. Samt sem áður var vinnan að baki góðum árangri oft fengin með blóði, svita og tárum. Meginniðurstaða rannsóknarinnar sýndi fram á áhrif umhverfisþátta á framfarir í námi og hegðun nemendanna. Niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar benda til að mikilvægt sé að samþætta einlæg samskipti milli kennara og nemenda, viðeigandi kennsluaðferðir og fjölbreytta námskrá í námsferlinu. Nemendur með alvarleg hegðunarvandamál þurfa að hafa raunverulegan valkost hvað varðar nám. Hafa ber í huga að breytingar á hegðun nemenda verða bæði vegna aðlögunar umhverfisþátta og sameiginlegrar ábyrgðar beggja aðila (kennari/nemandi). Lykilhugtök: Fyrrum nemendur, sérskóli, alvarleg hegðunarvandamál. A Philosophy for Weaving I With the swiftness of a shuttle, trouble sometimes darts across our lives, its steel-tip trailing sadness, pulling threads that tie and fasten knots in our existence, snags and snares that either tear within us like a wound or else grant us resilience, the folded cloth prepared to protect us on our journey from all life’s cuts and bruises, each day’s relentless wear. Weaving Songs By Donald S. Murray