The Power Dynamics in Mainstream Schools in Guyana: Resistance and Oppositions to the Placement Children With SEND in the Two Primary Schools

Abstract

This paper presents the power dynamics in two mainstream primary schools in Guyana. It highlights the resistance and opposition to the placement of children with SEND. The discourse extends the discussion on the sociocultural experiences of children with SEND in mainstream primary schools in postcolonial Guyana. Ethnography was the microscopic approach employed to situate me in the lived experiences of the participants. The qualitative data gathered through interviews and participant observation was mapped and analysed using a postmodern approach to grounded theory called situational analysis. Situational Analysis was employed due to its elasticity and thoroughness in qualitative data analysis, as posited by Adele Clarke. There is an intricate power relationship in the two mainstream schools. Children with SEND felt their autonomy in mainstream school was disrupted by the new placement of children with SEND. Teachers and parents were invested in the discourse that posited that mainstream schools were unsuitable for children with SEND. The discourse influenced the experiences of bullying and a collision of power expressions