There is ansubstantial increase worldwide of Ad/Hd diagnoses which seems to be closely related to schooling and higher demands of academic attainment. There seems however to be a paucity of knowledge about educational arrangements and teaching for students with Ad/Hd diagnosis in schools as pedagogical research focusing on such issues is sparse. A nationwide questionnaire study among Swedish municipalities (response rate 76%) showed that 40 municipalities (17 %) have established special classes for students with Ad/Hd diagnoses. A follow up study based on case studies will be presented. The objective with this follow up study was to further explore response patterns received in the questionnaire study by doing semi-structured interviews. Ten municipalities were chosen, five with classes especially designed for students with Ad/Hd and five without. A pairwise match were done which were based on the sizes of the municipalities and response patterns from the questionnaire. Interviews were done at two levels within the municipalities. Half of the interviews were done with educational leaders with overall responsibility for the work with special needs within the ten municipalities. They possessed knowledge about decision making of importance for the establishment of special classes. Five interviews were done with school leaders with responsibility for Ad/Hd classes in the municipalities with such classes. These school leaders possessed knowledge about pedagogical work within these classes (teaching, communication with parents, collaboration between teachers etc.) and about the students with the diagnoses. The remaining five interviews were done with school leaders in municipalities without Ad/Hd classes but with responsibility for students with Ad/Hd diagnoses. Motives for andagainst special classes for students with Ad/Hd diagnoses together with comparisons of the school situations for students in special classes or in other educational arrangements (as regular classes) will be the main focus in this presentation. Preliminaryresults will be related to a theoretical framework containing a relational perspective in opposition to a categorical perspective. A contrast table have been used for data analysis.
Congress theme: "Marketisation and Differentiation in Education"