Voices of students with intellectual disabilities: Experiences of transition in “inclusive schools” in Indonesia

Accessible summary● This paper reports the experiences of primary school students with intellectual disabilities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, during transitions within various contexts such as from “regular school” to “inclusive school,” from special class to regular class and from one year level to the next year level after experiencing year(s) of grade retention. ● Students with intellectual disabilities together with their typically developing peers were involved as co‐researchers using drawings and photographs to research their educational and social experiences and report their views. ● Educational transitions are rarely discussed or taken into account in the Indonesian context. ● The views of the students with intellectual disability in this study are a significant contribution to the development of meaningful inclusive education in the Indonesian context, which at this time continues to represent exclusionary practices or divisions between “regular children” and “inclusion children.”Abstract Background Within the emergence of inclusive education in Indonesia, transitions take on various forms impacting the educational and social lives of students. This paper reports the experiences of primary school students with intellectual disabilities during transitions in various contexts. Methods An initial period of research used arts‐informed methods to support the students to capture their journey in education. While the voice of students about inclusive education was captured through photographs, drawings and conversations, students were supported to undertake a personal research project. Results Students shared a range of experiences and feelings in the interviews using the photographs and drawings as prompts. Some reported on being expelled from regular school as a result of failure to meet academic standards and transitioning to “inclusive school.” These “inclusive schools” moved the students from special to the regular classroom, and back, based on their academic performance. While students valued the opportunity of having more friends in the regular class, they voiced a preference for the special classroom for social interactions. Some students reported their experiences of being retained at year level for lack of progress in a rigid curriculum. Students expressed their conflicting emotions of sadness when retained, of happiness when promoted and despair at the level of learning support provided to “survive” in the higher year level. The students also provided insight into the identity of students with intellectual disabilities as impacted by transition experiences. Conclusions Transitions, and barriers to transitions, come in varying forms, and students with disabilities contextualise and report them in different ways.