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This qualitative in-depth study is a follow-up and evaluation of the “intervention guarantee” in the city of Västerås, Sweden. The work based upon that task is the starting point for this report. The aim of the study is to deepen the understanding of the problems linked to the question: Why do some children, despite interventions, not attain the goal – the ability to read, write, and do arithmetic by the end of the third grade? An interpretive approach was applied to fulfill the aim of the study. Empirical data were collected in two ways: qualitative interviews with teachers and special needs educators, and an ethnographic case study including participant observation, interviews with teachers, and collection of documents. Supported by the interviews with each teacher category – special needs educators and classroom teachers in grades 3 and 4 – and the results of the case study, a picture emerges of how the schools respond to children who do not attain learning objectives in the relevant areas of knowledge and what may facilitate or prevent their positive development. The study shows that concerted efforts are being made in the “reading, writing, arithmetic” area in the schools. Many of them have comprehensive educational programmes intended to ensure that children who face obstacles in the language, writing, reading and arithmetic process will attain learning objectives. Constructive cooperation between classroom teachers and special needs educators is usually found in the most successful schools. Another “picture” also emerges in the interviews about the schools’ capacity to meet all the needs of different children: respondents identified factors including lack of resources and inadequate teaching skills development as explanations for why various children do not achieve goals at school. Borderlands, Bridges and Rites of Passage – Understanding Children’s Learning Journeys from Preschool into School |
