The education system in Sweden expects everyone to attend school up until the age of 19. Still about 10 % of those who leave comprehensive school do not pass the requirements for one of the subjects: Swedish, English, or Mathematics. This fact shuts the door for their continued studies in the national upper secondary school program. Meeting these young people who have failed in comprehensive school puts new demands on the pedagogical work in upper secondary school. In an average-sized Swedish municipality a new pedagogical model has been worked out for the individual program with a focus on restaurant and catering where character and main subjects are integrated and only two teachers are responsible for a small group of pupils. The motive for this is that the pupils are slow learners and are difficult to motivate for the main subjects. The goal is to give the pupils possibilities to develop their learning and that they should leave the program with approved certificates. The group of pupils and their two teachers are observed by a researcher for a period of three years. The goal is to learn how the upper secondary school should handle the need from the pupils. The research originates from a life world approach which has a focus on the lived experience of the pupils and teachers.