In most countries, children pass through several transitions during their years in the educational system. Characterized as being more or less marked, these transitions might be considered as natural, something everyone has to pass, or regarded as critical, with risks for the well-being of the individual. In previous research, we found how marked transitions between primary and lower secondary school, from young peoples’ perspectives, might be interpreted as an important step between childhood and adolescence, a rite of passage recognized by the adult world. Applying a perspective of inclusive education, our current research is focused on the part of the transition process where the individual meet the new setting. We have chosen to scrutinize four transitions during the educational career. In this presentation (Part II) we will focus on two of them: a marked transition within the compulsory school (age-group 12-13), in particular, the challenge meeting a new environment with demands on students taking responsibility for their own learning and personal development; and the transition from the compulsory school to the secondary school (age-group 15-16), in particular, the new demands to cope with for a group of students diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. The other both examples of transitions will be presented in Part I. The aim of our research (Part I+II) is, to deepen our understanding of what transitions during the educational career mean for the diversity of children/young people involved, especially meeting the challenges in a new educational setting with reference to learning, participation and marginalization. Data will be collected from one school class, formed after the a transition to the upper level of the compulsory school, in the first case, and from a group of students in their first year of the secondary school in the second case. The data material collected will be scrutinized from the actors’ perspectives as well as the field workers’. Through a comparative analysis we hope to get an even deeper understanding of the meaning of these transitions for children and young people from a student as well as a life perspective, especially with reference to the concept “Rites of passage”.

To deepen our understanding of what transitions during the educational career mean, for the young people involved, especially meeting challenges in the new setting, with reference to learning, participation and marginalization, we apply an interpretive approach. We are interested in the perspectives of the young people as well as the teachers and the educational institution. In the research, we work as ethnographers using data collection methods, as i.e. interviews, focus groups, participant observation, audio- and video-recordings and taking photos. A research overview of the field is also conducted.

At the conference, we will report on some results from both case studies. From a perspective of inclusive education, we stress on the meaning of transitions, especially with reference to learning, participation and marginalization. In the first case, data from the beginning of a school class in the upper level of the compulsory school, indicates the challenge the diversity of students meet, encountering a new demanding environment, where they are supposed to take responsibility for their own learning and personal development . In the second case, the results reveal what the transition to secondary school means for students, placed in a small special needs teaching group, based on them being diagnosed with Asperger´s syndrome. An expected outcome of this research could be to identify trajectories of the diversity of students and identify if and how transitions functions as critical incidents from a student as well as from a life perspective.