Inclusion through exclusion: teachers' perspectives on teaching students with autism

Today the number of Swedish students attending schools for students in the need of special educational support, due to their difficulties to reach intended learning outcomes, has increased. The article describes some challenges teachers working with children with high functioning autism face. The study is based on interviews with six-form colleges teachers working in a Swedish school for students with high functioning autism. Questions that are raised in this study are: How do teachers interpret students’ needs and experiences? Which educational considerations dominate teachers’ reflections about educational practices? In which ways their school contributes to the implementation of ‘education for all’? The analysis shows that teachers advocate personalised teaching solutions, extra resources and methodological clarity. Teachers are expected to be highly adaptable and their work centres on students’ social skills, behavioural training and socialization of youth, rather than only helping students to achieve learning outcomes. Educational policies of inclusion are partly based on exclusionary processes.