In Swedish schools, ‘the Participation Model’, PM, is used as a tool to observe and analyse participation in order to support an inclusive learning environment. The PM is treated as an important tool, recommended to teachers and schools by three separate government agencies. However, it has not been verified as to how well the PM is aligned with inclusion.

This paper presents a theoretical study where Göransson’s and Nilholm’s (2014) four levels of inclusion (levels A-D, where (A), placement, is the lowest and (D), community, is the highest) were used as a tool to find out coherence between PM aspects and inclusion.  Göransson and Nilholm identified these four levels when analysing the concept of inclusion, within the most cited articles from the US and Europe in the subject area.  

In order to investigate the alignment between the PM and inclusive education I map the four inclusion levels to the six aspects of the PM (Szönyi & Söderqvist Dunkers 2015). The six aspects of the PM, belonging, accessibility, interaction, autonomy, involvement and acceptance, are considered as “participation criteria”, meaning that each aspect is contributing to higher overall participation and hence that each aspect is a necessary condition for optimal participation. The mapping of the four inclusion levels to the six aspects of the PM is performed through an examination of which of the six participation criteria must be met in order to fulfil each respective level of inclusion A–D.

The result of this study shows that the PM could be a tool to be used in order to support inclusive education, even on level D. The study will 1) contribute to the understanding of each definition of inclusion, through spelling it out in terms of the conditions from the PM, 2) shed light on the relations between the concepts of inclusion and of participation, and 3) if a mapping is complete, suggest how we can use the PM to measure inclusive education, and 4) perhaps then even show how talk of inclusion can be substituted with talk of participation.

References      

Nilholm, C. & Göranson, K. (2017). What is Meant by Inclusion? – An Analysis of High Impact Research in North America and Europe. Eur. J. of Spec. Needs Edu., 32(3), 437-451.         

Szönyi, K. & Söderqvist Dunkers, T. (2015). Delaktighet: ett arbetssätt i skolan. Härnösand: SPSM.