Parental communication and collaboration in schools with special educational needs (SEN) programmes in Bhutan

Abstract

This study explored the experiences of communication and collaboration of parents with the teachers of their children with special educational needs (SEN). In this investigation in the Bhutanese context, 26 parents (13 fathers and 13 mothers) of children with SEN, either fully or partially included in 3 schools with SEN programmes in Bhutan located in urban, semi-urban, and rural regions in Bhutan were individually interviewed. The interview data were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using both manual thematic coding semantic mapping and text mining analysis (Leximancer). The majority of parents (n = 21/26) were found to have either minimal or no communication or collaboration with the school. It was mainly a few mothers (n = 4), and no fathers, who reported consistent communication and collaboration with the school, whose children were partially included in the schools and had high support needs. The findings have implications for building channels of communication and collaboration between parents and school staff in order to support their children with SEN in Bhutan.