This study of institutional categorisation analyses how municipalities, psychiatric clinics and schools conceive of and act on school difficulties in the Danish school system. The research analyses the responses of municipalities and schools following changes in institutional practices for the allocation of special educational support. The main…

In educational systems around the world, there is a long tradition of using psychiatric diagnoses when providing support in the special educational field. For instance, many countries have special schools and special classes for students with psychiatric diagnoses such as Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism spectrum disorder and…

This study of institutional categorization reports an investigation of the practices, procedures and assumptions of psychiatric staff members when diagnosing ADHD. The main data upon which the study is based consist of transcribed audio recordings of meetings in the psychiatric clinic. Here children referred from primary schools on the suspicion…

In parallel with a national school policy on an inclusive school with a marked reduction in the number of pupils who, due to their disruptive behaviour, are referred to educational provisions outside of the ordinary school environment, a sharp rise has been seen in the number of children and teenagers who are given a clinical diagnosis, first and…

The theoretical framework of this paper is inspired by governmentality studies in education. The key concepts are problematization, formatting technologies, and dispositive. The paper begins with an empirical study conducted in Denmark of forty-four files from educational psychologists and articles from journals concerning schools and education.…

This study examines how teachers of young children in Denmark perceived challenging behaviours in children who have characteristics consistent with Deficit in Attention, Motor Control and Perception (DAMP) or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This study was conducted in schools and kindergartens in three demographically different…