In Sweden, all students with intellectual disabilities are offered education in special schools, which are called särskola. Särskola, as all schools, has the goal to educate for skills and knowledge essential for participation in a democratic society. Having possibilities to practice human rights is an essential part of the education for democracy. However, previous research (e.g. Hägglund, Quennerstedt, Thelander, 2013) shows that educational settings have formal structures that make it hard for students to practice their rights. Moreover, our limited literary review (unpublished) indicates that research on children’s rights in education rarely address students with ID. We found studies including persons with ID and human rights in family contexts (e.g. Saaltink, MacKinnon, Owen & Tardif-Williams, 2012), but not in educational contexts. From our point of view, this implies that further attention needs to be directed towards these students and their rights in education.

We are interested in the experiences students in särskola make, with special regard to interpersonal relations and practice of rights. Presently, we conduct a minor field study which will be ended in spring 2014. Our present research questions are: What possibilities, for students to practice their rights, emerge in interpersonal relations in the särskola? What qualities in the relations are important for the possibilities to practice rights?

The study is inspired by a life-world phenomenology perspective from Merleau-Ponty’s (2002) and Løgstrup’s (1997) views. In Løgstrup’s view, relations contain basic trust which serves as a foundation for human existence, i.e. without relations, no human existence. He claims that human beings express actions of mainly two kinds; actions that unite people and actions that create distance between people. Løgstrup’s way of thinking guides us to pay attention to interpersonal relations as crucial for the possibilities and limitations in practicing rights. According to Merleau-Ponty, all human beings are intentional and create meaning instantaneously. Human experiences emerge in bodily actions, both verbal and non-verbal. For our study this means that we employ an open mind to diversity of actions and contexts that the students are involved in.

Bengtsson, J. (2005). En livsvärldsansats för pedagogisk forskning. I J. Bengtsson (red.), 2005. Med livsvärlden som grund. (p. 9-58): Lund: Studentlitteratur. Hägglund, S., Quennerstedt, A. & Thelander, N. (2013). Barns och ungas rättigheter i utbildning. Malmö: Gleerups. Løgstrup, K. (1997). The ethical demand. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. Merleau-Ponty, M. (2002). Phenomenology of perception. London: Routledge. Saaltink, R., MacKinnon, G., Owen, F., & Tardif-Williams, C. (2012). Protection, participation and protection through participation: Young people with intellectual disabilities and decision making in the family context. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 56 (11), 1076-1086.