ABSTRACT
Based on ethnographic observations in special education dispositifs in primary and secondary schools, this chapter questions the vision of the special education environment as a cocoon by showing that pupils are not exempt from the standards and requirements that usually govern regular classes. After a description of the context of the study and the theoretical framework and methodology, a third section shows how autonomy works as a criterion in order to gauge whether or not to reorient pupils. Far from being sheltered places, special education classes appear as “airlocks” for discriminating between the pupils deemed capable of returning to an ordinary class and those who will remain in a separate system. Autonomy in particular, understood in a narrow sense (as the capacity of sitting still, working alone), serves as a “gold standard” for promoting pupils to ordinary classes or relegating them to separate classes or institutions. The fourth and fifth sections present the situations of two special education pupils. The first example of Sylvain highlights how a student can be prepared for a return to a regular classroom and how he can be put back to work and taken into control. This preparation appears to be mostly a facade to present the pupil in the best possible light for him to be accepted in a regular class. The second example presents the situation of Esmeralda, a student who decided to seek vocational training on her own. This situation highlights a paradox: while the school advocates student autonomy, it is unable to let go of its role in controlling and monitoring students.
