Drawing upon an ongoing PhD project this paper will present and discuss ways of organizing the learning environment and what it means for pupils possibilities for participation. The project examines what it means for the pupils participation, when we organize and conduct their learning communities in age-specific classes or in mixed age groups. The project also aims to focus on the transition from the schooling to the middle school. In relation to this, the research question is:

What kind of possibilities or constraints for participation do the pupils experience in their learning communities and what does the organization in age-specific classes or mixed age groups means for the teachers’ inclusion efforts?

The Ph.D. project is part of the debate of inclusion, which is going on in relation to the elementary school. It is based on a broad understanding of inclusion, which means, that the inclusion is not only about single and vulnerable pupils participation and learning in classes. Instead inclusion is related to the community of the whole class, where all pupils – in spite of conditions and qualifications – experience themselves as participants with possibilities for involvement, contribution and influence on the communities, which they are a part of. The inspiration of using the concepts involving, contribution and influence in relation to the concept of inclusion comes from the work of Charlotte Højholt (2011), where she describes development as a question of developing conditions for participation. When using the three concepts to understand inclusion, it points out, that inclusion is not only about, that pupils are together with each other. Instead inclusion is about qualitative ways of being together where the pupils can contribute to and have influence on the social life which they are a part of. It is an important part of the project to develop a concept of inclusion which makes it possible to analyze and gain knowledge of a child’s participation in social practices.

The theoretical framework of the project consists of critical psychological theory concepts and understandings, which also include situated learning theory. In this theoretical perspective learning is connected to participation in social practice. Participation is a key concept in order to understand the relation between human beings and their social possibilities (Dreier, 2008; Lave & Wenger 1991). The concept may be seen as an attempt to develop dialectical concepts, which may help us to focus on what the pupils participate in, and how the pupils participate in their personal ways (Højholt, 2006). It entails investigations of differences and changes in personal ways of taking part and analyses what characterizes the social practices in which children participate. The concept of participation provides a focus on the participant and the social practice, where the participation takes place.

To gain insight in what the children participate in and how the conditions contain possibilities for the children’s involvement, contribution and influence, we must use a perspective of the children. This is an endeavor to conceive the child as a subject, who has to be seen and understood in relation to the specific context, where it participates. It is a fundamentally theoretical standpoint that people have to be understood through their actions together with other people. Therefore, instead of focusing at the child as an object we have to use an analytical perspective from the position of the child (Kampmann, 2000; Røn Larsen, 2011).

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