‘We Are Students: Experiences From Our Student Lives at a University in Norway’

Abstract

The pilot project, Higher Education in Human Rights for Students with Intellectual Disabilities was externally funded by the foundation DAM¹, developed in cooperation with the Norwegian Association for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities² and Oslo municipality. It aims to develop study courses for students with intellectual disabilities in Norway's higher education system. The development of the pilot project is based on Article 24 in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations 2006), which reads: “States Parties recognize the rights of persons with disabilities to education. To realize this right without discrimination and based on equal opportunities, States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning” (United Nations 2006, article 24). The change towards a more inclusive education goes back to the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO 1994), an international consensus regarding the need to provide equal educational rights to persons with special education needs. Inclusive education is discussed and presented in different ways. One of the ways of communicating inclusive education is in light of a so-called narrow and broad definition of inclusive education (Haug 2017). While the narrow definition includes children/persons with special needs (Haug 2017), the broad definition includes all marginalised groups in vulnerable positions regarding their access to education (Nelis, Pedaste, and Šuman 2023). The narrow definition sheds light on including persons with special needs in mainstream education and their participation and educational/pedagogical accommodation that allows the students to reach their educational potential (Nelis, Pedaste, and Šuman 2023, 2). The pilot project is a possible contribution within the aspect/field of narrow definition of inclusive education. The development of the courses in the pilot project was otherwise inspired by the work of O'Brien et al. (2018). The book brings knowledge of theoretical underpinnings and practical examples of the development of higher education courses and provisions of higher education for students with intellectual disabilities in different countries. The first chapter of the book lays out models of organisation of higher education for persons with intellectual disabilities and describes three models: The fully inclusive model (where the students attend the same classes as their peers), the both segragated and inclusive models (where the students experience both a segregated and inclusive models), and the segregated model (the students are thought in segregated classes on the university ground) (Neubert et al. 2001 in O'Brien et al. 2018, 11). The pilot project tries out two of the models, the hybrid model and the segregated model as described by O'Brien et al. (2018). In this article, we do not focus on these models but rather on the educational journeys of two of the students at the pilot project to shed light on the importance of identifying students’ experiences to identify and form a higher education offer that is suitable for the students based on their past experiences.

The pilot project consists of two phases, each lasting approximately 2 years. During the first phase (2021–2023), we developed and conducted three courses: Human Rights and Everyday Life; Worldviews, Values, and Professional Relations; and a course called Doing Research Together.

In the second phase, the project group developed two additional courses: Human Rights and Everyday Life II and Practical Placement (vocational pathways). Other project activities shed light on the development of pedagogical tools, course plans, didactic facilitation, social support, and so forth. Formative dialogue research was a part of the project, and experiences from the cooperation with students and the development of the courses are conveyed in different ways. Students took part in development of the courses together with the project group (Chalachanováet al. 2023; Lid et al. 2024). Collaboration and research within this project were represented in varying ways, including conference participation, newspaper articles, radio interviews, and podcasts. We tried to write and present collaboratively (teachers and students) if possible. This article highlights two students' educational journeys and what was found to be critical during their educational process. The students' educational journeys highlight their earlier experiences in education and help us to view their educational journeys in a broader lens and inform development of the activities within the pilot project.

In general, persons with intellectual disabilities in Norway have no access to higher education. Some people with intellectual disabilities take part in postsecondary offerings of Norwegian folk high schools, which provide a variety of courses and subjects without exams or grades (Fokehogskole n.d.). To access higher education institutions, a potential student must acquire so-called general study competence, which means that they must have completed 3 years of secondary school or vocational training and passed qualification subjects. In addition, there is a so-called '23/5' rule, which means that an applicant must be at least 23 years old, have at least 5 years of educational or professional experience, and have completed qualification subjects (Norwegian Universities and Colleges Admission Service's Act relating to universities and university colleges, 2005, Lid et al. 2024). There is also room for exemption from these general admission criteria due to disability or permanent chronic illness. The university must review whether they can provide dispensation based on the applicants' documentation of why they could not acquire general study competence (Regulations on admission to higher education 2023). Persons with intellectual disabilities are in a vulnerable position, because they usually do not receive grades during secondary school, which means that they are considered ineligible for higher education. This article is based on experiences of students at the aforementioned pilot project that aims to explore the possible higher education provisions for these students.

The project is approved by SIKT, Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.