The national curriculum in Norway emphasize that education should be adapted to the individual students’ needs (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2006). In White paper 18:2010-2011 (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2010) the ministry says that all students should be part of the regular schools and that schools should endeavor to keep the use of special education at a minimum. This has been an official policy in Norway during the last decade. In sharp contrast to this, the percentage of students being granted the right to special education based on formal individual assessment increase year by year. In the academic year 2013-2014, 8,3% of all students receive special education, compared to 6,2% in 2006-2007 (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2013). The number also increases through the school years from grade 1 to grade 10, from 3,8% to 11,2%, a fact that can be regarded to be in conflict with the principle of “early intervention” (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2010).

The class teachers most often initiate the use of special education. Some of the explanation to the increased use of special education can therefore lie in the practice and attitudes of the teachers. In the current project we were interested in testing the hypothesis that teachers in lower schools differ from teachers in primary school in this respect. Teachers in primary and lower secondary schools may also experience external pressure from parents regarding their children’s right to special education differently (Mathiesen og Vedøy, 2012). Our main variables were teachers’ negative attitudes towards inclusive schooling, teacher self-efficacy towards adapting education to individual students’ needs, teachers conceptions of the effect of special education and teachers’ experience of pressure from parents.

Research question: Are there differences between teachers in primary school and teachers in lower secondary schools regarding the way the look upon teaching of students with special educational needs?

Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2006. Læreplanverket for kunnskapsløftet. Oslo: Kunnskapsdepartementet. Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2010. Meld. St. 18 (2010-2011) Læring og fellesskap. Oslo: Kunnskapsdepartementet. Mathiesen, I. H. & Vedøy, G. (2012) Spesialundervisning – driver og dilemma. Rapport IRIS – 2012/017. Skaalvik, E. & Skaalvik, S. (2007) Dimensions of teacher self-efficacy and relation with strain factors, perceived collective teacher efficacy, and teacher burnout. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(3), 611-625. Utdanningsdirektoratet (2013) Tall fra grunnskolens informasjonssysten (GSI) 2013/14. Oslo: Utdanningsdirektoratet.