It is agreed to consider that living with chronic diseases might interfere with normal activities representing less quality of life in multiple contexts (Stanton et al, 2007). Regarding the school context, the literature reveals inumerous difficulties that contribute for that, such as the attendance of school with regularity, the adjustment to the inflexible demands of school … (Sexson & Madan-Swain, 1995). In addition, students with chronic illnesses might also face social and cultural barriers, such as the discrimination and the intolerance, which may limit their school performance (Thies, 1999, Telford et al, 2006). Although all of these obstacles, the school context can be genuinely relevant to improve these children and adolescents life experiences (Boekaerts & Roder, 1999; Lear, 2007). It might supply several formal and informal opportunities where students with chronic illness can share their fears and experience the benefits of social acceptance and understanding (Kyngas, 2004; Peebles-Wilkins, 2006). Clay and colleagues (2004) elucidate that children with chronic illnesses report that peers’ and teachers’ increased knowledge of diseases and amplified teacher support in social and academic activities would be well-founded for them. Likewise, parents and teachers admit that a better understanding of chronic illnesses could also increase the level of support school staff provides a child (Clay et al, 2004). In fact, a supportive school context might be extremely important in order to reconfigure these students’ thoughts and feelings about school and to promote their critical consciousness concerning to their needs and rights in the school setting.

This paper explores the life experiences of children and adolescents with chronic illness and their main difficulties and strategies at school, based on a qualitative methodology. It focuses in the role of schools in Portugal as contexts that clearly appear in daily experiences of chronic illness children and adolescents. Therefore, recognizing current discrimination situations and multiple barriers that these students face to, this includes semi-structure interviews with students and teachers.

It is expectable that the results will enable a better understanding about daily experiences of students with chronic illness, concerning to the various barriers they find and the alternatives that exist to handle. We hope to regard the dialogue between school and family contexts, assuming that the first one might have influence in what concerns improving the seconds’ life. We also expect to be able to identify the major constraints students with chronic diseases face to and, in this sense, the resources that educational agents provide in order to promote their academic performance and personal development. Additionally, is our aim to focus on the empowerment vision, highlighting the evidence of rights rather than needs perspective in school settings.