‘Everybody knows’: students labelled as having learning disabilities in the Indonesian education setting

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper presents a study that investigated how students labelled as having learning disabilities experienced attributions from their teachers and the impacts of the attributions for these students’ learning and interactions. The article explores the phenomena from an attribution theoretical lens. Ethnographic case study underpinned the research as it allowed us to fully immerse and to gain in-depth understanding of what was happening in one public school in Indonesia. We undertook interviews and participant observations, involving two students labelled as having disabilities (aged 10–11). The two key themes emerged: (1) the negative way being recognised by others and (2) being learning disabled marks a student as being different. The attributions assigned to students labelled with learning disabilities are circulated in the classroom and have significant effects on how these students perceive view themselves and participate in learning. As a result, the attributions create and shape their self-worth in their classroom communities.