The identity making of teachers, pupil assistants and the diagnosed pupil: discourses in the context of segregated special education units

ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore how the perceptions held by pupil assistants (PAs) and teachers regarding their professions shaped the identities of PAs and teachers belonging to segregated special education units (SEUs), as well as pupils with neurodevelopmental diagnoses (NDs). A qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews and Critical Discourse Analysis inspired by Fairclough with an emphasis on members’ resources was conducted in two educational teams composed of PAs and teachers. Two overarching discourses emerged in which the PAs presented themselves as spokespersons of the pupils’ thoughts and feelings, which created an identity of the diagnosed pupils as less capable and the PAs as caretakers. The teachers represented a view less affected by NDs; the pupils were identified as individuals capable of learning. The results illustrated the importance of member resources as an explanatory factor in the creation of discourses and identity making of occupational groups and pupils with NDs.