Conflicts and communities among children in school

Perspectives on inclusion as a continuous challenge

Abstract

This article is a slightly edited version of the lecture I gave defending my thesis “Conflicts and communities among children in school – perspectives on inclusion as a continuous challenge”. The defence was held on August 27^th, 2021, at Danish School of Education, Aarhus Universit­­y. The thesis’ contributions, empirical and theoretical work and analysis is summed up in relation to two discussion points on why inclusive education in the Danish school system seems to be a continuous challenge. One of the main points in this article is that conflicts and communities among children in school are interconnected and constitutes one another. Conflicts are a part of developing communities and communities are a part of developing conflicts and it is all a part of the work that is necessary for children to do when they are in school. This point is connected to the other main point of the article that conflicts among children are more than just issues and problems regarding personal relations. They are often connected to broader political and historical conflicts in relation to developing public school practice. Investigating these two points both theoretical an analytical, the article concludes that continuous challenges in Inclusive Education must be understood in regard to historical and present structures and practices in school – and how they produce contradictory and many-facetted demands and expectations for children (and grown-ups) that they must work every day to handle and balance in their everyday life. In here lies the pedagogical potential in making school more inclusive but on the other hand it also seems a barrier because many of these structures and practices are difficult to change.

Keywords:
Inclusive Education, conflicts, communities, children, elementary school, historical analysis