Research aim

The aim is to present and discuss data from interviews with counsellors from the educational and psychological services in a municipality regarding their experiences with organizational changes in schools aiming at increased inclusive education.

Theoretical framework

There is a growing concern to develop measures to curb the trend towards increasing special education in recent years. In this respect, one area of focus has been pupils needing limited, but immediate measures in schools.

The right to special education in Norway is a matter of substantial attention, both among politicians and academic researchers. According to the law, the right includes pupils who “either do not or are unable to benefit satisfactorily from ordinary teaching” (Education Act, §5-1). However, before considering such an action, schools are obliged to try out possibilities for providing help within ordinary educational provisions.

There is a lack of studies exploring organizational changes in inclusive schools promoting early intervention and flexible, action-oriented support for pupils needing minor educational measures. This presentation is a study of the experiences of counsellors from the educational and psychological services at the municipality level in their collaboration with municipality schools in their efforts to develop and implement school-based measures. The study focusses on the recent implementation of "resource teams" at the school level and the altered work and roles of the counsellors in relation to the individual schools. Issues regarding the aims and ambitions of the resource team as organizational structure is presented and discussed, including the roles and functions of the counsellors. The main focus of analysis, however, will be on changes in organizational culture as responses to structural changes. The interpretational framework draws extensively from a community of practice perspective.

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