중학교 통합교육 환경에서 특수교육대상학생이 경험한 학교생활과 의미

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the school life of middle school students with special needs, focusing on general classes, special classes, and peer relationships, using the photovoice research method. Based on this, the study aims to examine the educational needs and supports needed by students with special educational need in middle school. To achieve this, five students from a special education class in the second year of middle school were selected as the research subjects. They participated in the photovoice study for four months from March to June 2023. Participants took part in orientation once, nine interviews on the topics of general education, special education, and peer relationships, photovoice exhibition once. Eleven individual and group interviews were conducted over a period of about four months, and the collected qualitative data were analyzed according to Wang & Burris’s the three steps of photovoice analysis. The analyzed data were categorized into four major categories, 11 sub categories, and 40 semantic units: “Half-hearted school life”, “My lonely day at school”, “Moments when I'm happy to have a friend”, and “the future I dream of”. The names of each category are based on the words, sentences, or parts of sentences expressed by the research participants themselves. The research process yielded the following findings: First, students with special educational need in middle school were experiencing both difficulties and pleasures in their academic performance during school. Second, students with special educational need in middle school had difficulty forming peer relationships and social interactions in the general classroom. Third, students with special educational need in middle school were experiencing intimacy through positive social interactions at school. Fourth, students with special educational need in middle school had expectations for those around them in school and dreams of what they wanted to be in adulthood.