Research Environment
Children and young people in vulnerable situations need supportive learning communities and opportunities for educational mobility. Our research contributes to this.
The ambition of the research environment, across its various themes, is to contribute to developing schools that foster participation for all children and young people, and especially to promote meaningful change for those who experience vulnerability in their daily and school lives.
The research environment ‘Special Education and Vulnerability among Children & Young People’ addresses two interlinked research themes.
Within the research theme “Special Education,” we focus on pupils whose academic and social participation in school requires special consideration, organisation, and attention. This spans a wide range of challenges and educational settings, encompassing inclusive mainstream schools, children’s well-being, intermediate forms, special classes, and special schools.
A key focus within this theme is inclusive subject didactics, where we explore how specific subjects and subject-related pedagogies create unique opportunities and challenges for participation and inclusion of all students.
Another focus under the Special Education theme concerns children and young people as participants in various everyday and school-related activities, as well as in transitions between contexts. This includes, for example, children moving between mainstream and special education settings, or transitions between school levels — situations that may present particular challenges and opportunities for children.
We contribute to practice-oriented knowledge about how schools can foster participation within classroom communities, support students’ well-being and learning, and thereby create the best possible conditions for development.
Our research is grounded in close collaboration with students, their parents, and the professionals around them, as well as external stakeholders such as municipal administrations, educational-psychological services (PPR), and child and adolescent psychiatry. The aim is to integrate diverse perspectives to promote mutual learning and knowledge exchange between the research environment and professional practice.
Within the research theme “Vulnerability among Children and Youth,” we recognise that many different factors can place children and young people in vulnerable positions, and that a student population characterised by social, ethnic, and academic diversity poses significant demands on schools. Vulnerability may arise in relation to, for example, poverty, illness, bullying, violence, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. However, vulnerability is not tied to specific student categories — all children and youth may experience situational vulnerability at some point in their lives.
We investigate how vulnerability arises and how different students experience vulnerability. At the same time, we are concerned with how school norms and practices shape the boundaries of experiences of being inside, at the margins of, or outside social and academic communities at school. We also examine how the Danish public school system, as a historical and cultural institution, creates the conditions that determine who can participate fully, partially, or not at all in these communities.
Our research contributes insights into children’s own perspectives on vulnerability, belonging, and participation — exploring how these perspectives influence their opportunities and positions. Furthermore, we study how schools and other actors can help reduce vulnerability and support children and young people in moving from more to less vulnerable positions.
Our research projects span a wide range of topics related to special education and vulnerability among children and young people.
Projects are co-created with practitioners and user groups to ensure relevance and sustainability. We work in partnerships with national and international universities and other research institutions, as well as with regional and municipal authorities, general practice, and other local stakeholders, alongside patient associations, and other interest organisations.
