Allies of inclusion or agents of normalcy? student voices exposing the paradox of SETs in secondary mainstream schools

This study examines how Greek secondary school students construct the role of special education teachers (SETs) within the context of inclusive education. Fifteen students from mainstream secondary schools participated (seven assessed as having special educational needs [SEN] and receiving support, and eight peers without SEN support). Data were generated through in-depth semi-structured interviews, complemented by a two-year researcher journal. Analysis drew on reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke Citation2006) alongside Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough Citation2013) to explore students’ meaning-making and the institutional conditions shaping these accounts. Findings indicate that students constructed SETs as sources of care and emotional support, as agents of regulation and normalisation, as largely invisible actors within the school, and as figures on whom some students became dependent. These constructions illuminate tensions within inclusive schooling, where support may simultaneously enable participation and reproduce forms of control.