An exploration of autistic adolescent female’s educational experiences within mainstream secondary school

Research exploring education and autism has become oversaturated with the perspectives of non-autistics (Nicholas et al., 2019; Richards & Crane, 2020; Tesfaye et al., 2019). Previous studies have highlighted the unique challenges autistic adolescent pupils’ experience within mainstream secondary school (Symes and Humphrey, 2011; Brede et al., 2017; Moore, 2006; Humphrey and Lewis, 2008). Moyse and Porter (2015) explored what it was like being an autistic girl within regular primary education, however limited studies have solely concentrated on the voices of autistic adolescent females. The project explored the following research questions: -
1. What is school like for autistic females in a mainstream secondary school?
2. How can personal experiences and knowledge of autism support the development of a fully collaborative research approach to allow the voices of autistic females to be heard?
3. How can creative and personalised approaches be used to engage autistic participants
This topic is particularly important to me, as an autistic female I really struggled in mainstream education. I believe that this doesn’t have to be the case for the next generation of autistic females.

A group of 4 autistic adolescent girls from a mainstream secondary school within the UK took part in the project. A mixed method approach was utilized, adapted to the individual needs of the girls. A variety of data was collected and analysed using thematic analysis.

The data gathered from the girls provided a unique insight into their school experiences at the time of this study. Interestingly all the girls were talented in various areas of creativity, providing them with stress relief, expression of self, as well as escapism. All the girls reported the importance of having friends, however, they often felt misunderstood by their peers and staff. Worryingly, the girls reported bullying and stigmatisation, it was clear that this had a detrimental impact on the girl’s well-being. An unexpected finding was the solidarity found in meeting and interacting with other autistic girls, as well as having an openly autistic teacher within the school.