Between Reflection and Intervention: The Relevance of Organisational Structures for the Social Construction of EBD on Inclusive Schools

Author(s):

Julia Gasterstädt (presenting / submitting) Michael Urban (presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 03 C, Particular Groups, Needs and Migration

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-22

17:15-18:45

Room:

W6.21

Chair:

Fabio Dovigo

Contribution

In school, special needs in the field of emotional and social development normally are identified when a routine is disturbed. The challenging behaviour of a student interrupts instructional processes, classroom or peer interaction turns into a conflict, or a teacher is concerned about a reclusive child. After identifying a phenomenon like this as a problem, specific processes to handle this problem do start. Through these processes, the emotional and behavioural disorder and the respective special needs are socially constructed. This paper asks for the relevance of specific organisational structures for the construction of emotional and behavioural disorders in inclusive schools. It aims to analyse the organisational possibilities of treating irritations and troubles related to emotional or interactional conflicts by two case-study schools. The location of these two case studies in different federal states in Germany allows reflecting on the importance of different legal and governance contexts and on the influence of this context on the specific arrangements and processes used within the organisational structure of the specific schools. This integrated consideration of the trans-organisational context allows a transfer of these research results produced with relation to the German school system into the European context, and it shall be part of the discussion of the paper to broach its findings’ relevance for the [processing] treatment of emotional and behavioural disorders within the context of other national school systems.

On the one hand, the theoretical framework of this research draws on a systems-theoretical understanding of organisations (Luhmann 2000, 2002) which allows the understanding of specific forms of professional reactions to emotional and behavioural irritations as a differentiational process of establishing specific organisational structures like the reflexive structures described by Urban (2009, 2010). Reflexive structures in this sense can also be analysed by theories of organisational learning (Senge 1990) and are related to concepts of professional learning communities (Dufour 2004, Hord 1997). On the other hand, the organisational and professional modes of treating emotional and social irritations can be analysed by theories based on the reading of organisational and professional practices as elements of a dispositive shaping the conditions of subjectivity in institutional contexts (Foucault 1975, 1978). Such theoretical perspectives have already been applied to the social construction of emotional and behavioural disorders in school contexts (Harwood & Allan 2014). Both forms of conceptualizing the organisational processes dealing with emotional and interactional disturbances in schools stand in a theoretically complex relation and can benefit from an empirically reconstruction of the concrete processes in the two case studies.

Method

The project is following the grounded theory methodology (Strauss & Corbin, 1996). The sampling strategies were based on assumptions laying on the existing literature, especially about school development, inclusive education and educational governance, and our own previous research to the development of special education in inclusive settings. We decided to cooperate with two schools in different federal states and regions (Frankfurt in Hesse and Flensburg in Schleswig Holstein). Of importance for this decision have been the insights we do have about the local forms of organisation of special education and inclusive education as context for the later analysis. Both schools were highly recommended by the local authorities as inclusive schools. Our aim was to get insides in developed structures of the organisation and forms of action between teachers and students and between the staff (for example forms of cooperation) from the perspective of teachers. We used a semi-structured form of focus group discussions. After the initial question participants were free to discuss aspects important to them. This open discussion was followed by a part focused on research questions. Both special education teacher and regular schoolteacher took part in the discussion. The interpretation of the group discussion followed the methods of grounded theory. For the coding procedures we used a variations by Flick (2007) to focus on the thematic structures of the discussions in both groups. Following Flick (2007) we have been analysing the thematic structure of both discussions using open and axial coding without comparing them in the first place. Afterwards the comparison of those thematic structures helped to select the main themes respectively categories. This structured use of comparison helped us to identify the main categories in both cases (schools in the specific regional contexts) and across them.

Expected Outcomes

In the paper we are going to discuss our findings with a focus on questions about the development of special (reflexive) organisational structures and specific ways of the social construction of students as having EBD in inclusive schools. Both schools developed organisational structures to work in a cooperative way on the cases of students with EBD or a similar problematic. But the way those structures work and the expectations the teachers discussed for those structures seem to be rather different. Also the way those teachers describe their own role is different. We are going to discuss the complex relations between organizational structures, the social construction of EBD and the role teachers describe for themselves. With this discussion we would like to develop insides in possible ways for teachers and other professionals in inclusive schools to handle irritations and troubles related to emotional or interactional conflicts with students that are described as EBD. The social construction of students as having special educational needs in their emotional or behavioural development is the basis for developing special actions by teachers and other professionals. They are also a basic condition for subjectivity in those developed structures in schools. Understanding those processes lead to a better understanding of possibilities to develop schools that follow the values Ainscow et al (2006) described as principle approach the education and society. With discussing those findings, we would like to affiliate the discussions about inclusive education, school development and schools as learning communities and, on a theoretical level, the discussion about processes of subjectivization and organizations. Also we would like to discuss our findings with colleagues with other national backgrounds to develop our ideas in an international perspective.

References

Ainscow, Mel, Booth, Tony & Dyson, Alan (2006). Improving Schools, Developing Inclusion. London, New York: Routledge. DuFour, Richard (2004). What is a 'professional learning community'? Educational Leadership 61(8): 6–11. Flick, Uwe (2007). Thematisches Kodieren. In Qualitative Sozialforschung eine Einführung. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verl., S. 617. Foucault, Michel (1978). Surveiller et punir. La naissance de la prison. Paris: Editions Gallimard. Foucault, Michel (1978). Dispositive der Macht. Über Sexualität, Wissen und Wahrheit. Berlin: Merve. Harwood, Valerie & Allan, Julie (2014). Psychopathology at School. London: Routledge. Hord, Shirley M. (1997). Professional learning communities: Communities of continuous inquiry and improvement. Austin: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Luhmann, Niklas (2000). Organisation und Entscheidung. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Luhmann, Niklas (2002). Das Erziehungssystem der Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. Senge, Peter (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday. Strauss, Anselm & Corbin, Juliet (1990). Basics of Qualitative Research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Urban, Michael (2009). Form, System und Psyche. Zur Funktion von psychischem System und struktureller Kopplung in der Systemtheorie. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Urban, Michael (2010). Beratungsdienste der schulischen Erziehungshilfe als Ausdifferenzierung reflexiver Strukturen im Schulsystem. In Michael Göhlich, Susanne Weber, Wolfgang Seitter & Timm Feld (Hrsg.), Organisation und Beratung. Beiträge der AG Organisationsberatung (203-211). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

Author Information

Julia Gasterstädt (presenting / submitting)

Goethe-University Frankfurt

Education

Frankfurt

Michael Urban (presenting)

Goethe university

Frau

Hannover

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