Learners between the age of 10 and 16 with hearing loss in inclusive education in Sweden were the main focus of the HODA study (Hörteknik och dess användning i skolan). During this project carried out in 2013, pupils and teachers responded to a variety of questions, lessons were observed and technical devices as well as classrooms settings were examined. Conditions for learning were analysed in terms of:
- technical support given and, in particular, access to educationally relevant and functioning microphone systems;
- physical aspects of classrooms, especially acoustics;
- pedagogical issues, such as teaching methods and teachers’ awareness of the needs of learners with hearing loss;
- social environment during class, for instance supportive and non-supportive behaviour of people in the classroom.
The results reveal inadequacies and the fact that stakeholders are required to take major steps to improve the pupils’ learning situation.
In December 2016, the Swedish National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools published the findings of the HODA study in English. You can download the report in Swedish or English from the HODA project web area.