Abstract/Summary

The majority of identified autistic children in the English state school system are educated in mainstream settings. However, many autistic children and young people in such settings have difficult school experiences and impoverished educational outcomes. While a great deal is known about the particular difficulties school-aged autistic children face, how they make sense of these challenges has received less attention from researchers. Much of the extant research relating to the school experience of autistic children involves standardised testing or parent and teacher reports, with the perspectives of autistic children occupying a less prominent position in the literature. Furthermore, the experiences of younger autistic children who attend mainstream primary schools are significantly underrepresented in the literature, especially those who do not meet the criteria for specialist support and resources. The research in this thesis aimed to address this gap in the literature and amplify the voices of autistic children by conducting an inductive qualitative investigation into the subjective everyday experiences of autistic children in mainstream primary schools in England. Specifically, the research focused on autistic children without access to specialist support or resources and took a neurodiversity-affirming approach to exploring how such children describe and make sense of their everyday experiences of mainstream primary school. In total, three studies were conducted which provided insight into the everyday experiences of autistic children in mainstream primary schools from three different viewpoints: 1) from the perspective of the extant qualitative literature, 2) from the perspective of autistic young adults reflecting back on their primary school years and, 3) from the perspective of autistic children currently attending mainstream primary schools. The first study comprised a systematic review and metasynthesis of the extant qualitative literature relating to the everyday experiences of autistic children and young people in mainstream schools. The second study used a focus group methodology and thematic analysis to explore the reflections of autistic young adults on their primary school experiences. The final study used interpretative phenomenological analysis and creative methods to investigate the educational experiences of autistic children in mainstream primary schools in England. The findings of these studies suggest that autistic children frequently feel overwhelmed by the pressures of spending long periods of time in an environment which is not only not designed for autistic ways of being, but in many ways can be overtly hostile towards them. The findings also suggest that the adaptations that could make school more accessible for autistic children are likely to be environmental, cultural and attitudinal rather than interventionist in nature.