Uncovering the Role of School-Age Educare During the Covid-19 pandemic: Support for Pupils with Disabilities and Special Needs
Hauptsächlicher Artikelinhalt
Abstract
This study examines the challenges that school-age educare (SAEC) staff faced during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on support provided to pupils with disabilities and special educational needs. The empirical material consists of qualitative interviews with staff from compulsory schools and special needs compulsory schools. In total, 19 interviews were conducted, ten individual and nine group interviews, comprising a total of 39 informants. The study draws on symbolic interactionism and the framework of inhabited institutions. The analysis was carried out using constructivist grounded theory as the methodological approach. The findings indicates that SAEC staff often work across both school and SAEC, acting as a consistent link across pupils’ daily activities and making them pivotal in shaping pupils’ everyday experiences and support structures. This positions them as central actors in pupils’ lives. During the pandemic, extensive organisational changes challenged SAEC’s mission to offer alternative practices and experiences, as restrictions made collaboration between groups and school forms impossible. Furthermore, SAEC’s role as a meeting and transition place was undermined by high teacher absenteeism and the prohibition of parental access to school premises. For pupils in need of support, these circumstances created significant difficulties for SAEC in providing adequate assistance and in maintaining a holistic approach to pupils’ needs.
Bibliographie: Elvstrand, Helene/Lago, Lina/Hellberg, Kristina: Uncovering the Role of School-Age Educare During the Covid-19 pandemic: Support for Pupils with Disabilities and Special Needs, IJREE – International Journal for Research on Extended Education, No. 1-2026, S. 128-140.
Artikel-Details
Literatur
Ackesjö, H. (2022). Fritidshemmets ideologiska vändning. I H. Elvstrand & L. Lago (Red.), Barn i fritidshem (s. 189–204). Liber.
Augustsson, G., & Hörnell, A. (2021). “Vi gör så gott vi kan”: Fritidspedagogers konflikt mellan omsorgsansvar och utbildningsansvar. Educare, (4), 164–191. https://doi.org/10.24834/educare.2021.4.6
Bae, S. H., Jo, M. G., & Han, S. I. (2023). Unmasking student dynamics: The impact of COVID-19 on social-emotional development and learning engagement. International Journal for Research on Extended Education, 11(2), 46–71. https://doi.org/10.3224/ijree.v11i2.05
Bagattini, A. (2019). Children’s well-being and vulnerability. Ethics and Social Welfare, 13(3), 211–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2019.1647973
Beaton, M. C., Codina, G. N., & Wharton, J. C. (2021). Decommissioning normal: COVID-19 as adisruptor of school norms for young people with learning disabilities. British Journal of Learning Disabilities. 49, 393–402.https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12399
Björkman, A., Gisslén, M., Gullberg, M., & Ludvigsson, J. (2023). The Swedish COVID-19 approach: A scientific dialogue on mitigation policies. Frontiers in Public Health, 11(1206732). https://doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpubh.2023.1206732
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Englewood Cliffs.
Boström, L., & Elvstrand, H. (2025). What about extra adaptions and special support in Swedish School Age Educare Centers? Frontiers in Education, 10:1496609. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1496609
Boström, L., Elvstrand, H., & Lundbäck, B. (2024). Om extra anpassningar och särskilt stöd i fritidshemmet. Specialpedagogiska rapporter och notiser, 22. Högskolan i Kristianstad.
Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing grounded theory. Sage Publications.
de Oliveira Major S., Cristina Palos A, Silva O. (2023). Attending (or not) after-school programs during the COVID-19 pandemic: What happens to children’s social skills and behavior problems? Child Youth Serv Rev. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106929
DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101
ECDC. (2023). Sweden’s advice-making process on schools during the COVID-19 pandemic: Good practices and lessons learnt. (ecdc.europe.eu).
Elvstrand, H., Lago, L., & Lundqvist, J. (2022). Fritidshemslärares arbete, trivsel, inkluderande arbetssätt och samverkan: – en enkätstudie i svensk fritidshemskontext. Forskning i Pædagogers Profession og Uddannelse, 6(2), 15. https://doi.org/10.7146/fppu.v6i2.134278
Falkmer, M., Anderson, K., Joosten, A., & Falkmer, T. (2015). Parents’ Perspectives on Inclusive Schools for Children with Autism Spectrum Conditions. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 62(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912X.2014.984589
Finnvold, J. E. (2018). School segregation and social participation: the case of Norwegian children with physical disabilities. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 33(2), 187–204. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2018.1424781
Glaser, B. (1978). Theoretical sensitivity: Advances in the methodology of grounded theory. Mill Valley.
Haglund, B., & Boström, L. (2022). Everyday practices in Swedish school-age educare centres: a reproduction of subordination and difficulty in fulfilling their mission. Early Child Development and Care, 192(2), 248–262. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.1755665
Hallett, T., & Ventresca, M. J. (2006). Inhabited institutions: Social interactions and organizational forms in Gouldner’s Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy. Theory and Society, 35(2), 213–236. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-006-9003-z
Hjalmarsson, M., & Löfdahl Hultman, A. (2015). Confirming and resisting an underdog position – leisure-time teachers dealing with a new practice. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 23(4), 434–443. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2015.1087139
Karlsudd, P. (2020). Looking for special education in the Swedish afterschool leisure program construction and testing of an analysis model. Education Sciences, 10(21), 359. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10120359
Kvale, S., & Brinkman, S. (2014). Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. Studentlitteratur.
Lago, L., Elvstrand, H., Antesten, B., Källman, J., Rydell, E., Vall., K., & Waldeck, A.-S. (2022). Ett gemensamt fokus: Att bygga kulturer för samverkan mellan förskoleklass, fritidshem och grundskola. Nordisk tidsskrift for utdanning og praksis, 16(2), 22–40. https://doi.org/10.23865/up.v16.3737
Lindqvist, H., & Forsberg, C. (2023) Constructivist grounded theory and educational research: constructing theories about teachers’ work when analysing relationships between codes, International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 46(2), 200–210, https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2022.2095998
Lipkin, M., & Crepeau-Hobson, F. (2023). The Impact of the COVID-19 School Closures on Families with Children with Disabilities: A Qualitative Analysis. Psychology in the Schools, 60(5), 1544–1559. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22706
Lundbäck, B. (2022). Specialpedagogik i fritidshemmet: Från samlat forskningsläge till pedagogisk praktik [Diss.], Linnaeus University.
Montgomery, D. (2022). Meeting the needs of young people during the COVID-19 pandemic through program adaptations in creative youth development programs. International Journal for Research on Extended Education, 10(2), 54–72. https://doi.org/10.3224/ijree.v10i2.05
Van Mieghem, A., Verschueren, K., Petry, K., & Struyf, E. (2020). An analysis of research on inclusive education: a systematic search and meta review. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 24(6), 675–689. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2018.1482012
Simonsson, M. (2026). Samverkan med hemmet. In: Fritidshemmets mö jligheter: Att arbeta fritidspedagogiskt [eds.] H. Elvstrand, L. Lago, M. Simonsson, Studentlitteratur AB, pp. 97–114.
[SNAE] The Swedish National Agency of Education. (2022). Covid-19-pandemins konsekvenser för skolväsendet. Skolverket.
[SNAE] The Swedish National Agency for Education. (2024). Curriculum for the compulsory school, the preschool class and school-age educare. Skolverket
[SNAE] The Swedish National Agency of Education. (2025). Elever och personal i fritidshem. Läsåret 2024/2025. Skolverket.
The Swedish Research Council. (2024). God forskningssed. Vetenskapsrådet.
The Swedish Schools Inspectorate. (2024). Elevens hela dag som utgångspunkt för stöd. Arbetet med extra anpassningar och särskilt stöd i skola och fritidshem. Skolinspektionen.
Sliwa, S. A., Lee, S. M., Gover, L. E., & Morris, D. D. (2022). Out of school time providers innovate to support school-aged children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Preventing Chronic Disease, 19, E12. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd19.210347
Walker, R., Salway, R., House, D. et al. (2023). The status of active after-school clubs among primary school children in England (UK) after the COVD-19 lockdowns: implications for policy and practice. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 20, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-023-01499-x
Wernholm, M. (2023). Undervisning i ett fritidshem för alla? Pedagogisk Forskning i Sverige, 28(4), 64–88. https://doi.org/10.15626/pfs28.04.03
Zhang, S., Hao, Y., Feng, Y., & Youn Lee, N. (2022). COVID-19 pandemic impacts on children with developmental disabilities: Service disruption, transition to telehealth, and child wellbeing. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(6), 3259. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063259