SENCOs’ lived experiences of working through the COVID-19 pandemic in Swedish upper secondary schools

ABSTRACT This article explores nine SENCOs’ lived experiences of the changes, challenges and opportunities which arose when working in Swedish upper secondary schools through the spring term of 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article provides further insights into the particulars of the SENCOs’ line of work and also aims to say something about the existential aspects of the SENCO profession. The study draws on empirical material generated from semi-structured lifeworld interviews and open-ended diaries. The study design and analysis were conceived and performed using a lifeworld phenomenological approach and hermeneutics. The lived experiences of the SENCOs reveal that they took on new tasks during the pandemic and, at the same time, long-standing issues regarding their professional role seem to have been exacerbated. These findings give insights into the difficulties faced by SENCOs in claiming professional jurisdiction and ask whether SENCOs inadvertently contribute to this problem when driven by a sense of moral obligation towards students with special educational needs. This moral obligation might stand at the heart of what it means to be a SENCO, and is possibly thoroughly intertwined with SENCOs’ agency.