Session Information
04 SES 12 A, Cooperation between Regular and Special Teachers
Paper Session
Contribution
In 2008 the Swedish government initiated a restart of the education of special education teachers with the aim of focusing their work on the individual level (SFS 2008:132). This means that from 2010, there are two different but similar special education professions in Sweden. The similarity between them is that both special educators and special education teachers are required to be qualified dialogue partners (kvalificerad samtalspartner). One important difference, however, is that for special education teachers the government´s expressed focus is on individual-level interaction in preschool classes, schools and adult education, in contrast to the broadened role of special educators´ which includes work at the organization-, group- and individual levels in preschool, preschool classes, school, leisure centres and adult education (SFS 2007:638; SFS 2008:132). Special education teachers specialize in development in reading and writing or mathematics, while the function of special educators is broader, as they are qualified to work with all kinds of special educations issues.
How can the two professions cooperate and complement each other in a way that will provide for the right of participation in education for all? In my opinion, it is an issue of professional knowledge about what it means to approach from a communicative perspective, and about the different responsibilities of the two different professions.
According to SFS 2008:132, special education teachers’ work focuses on narrow and close perspectives while special educators, according to Ahlefeld Nisser (2009), use a more distanced perspective. I argue that if their professions´ different functions are understood from perspectives of nearness and/or distance, they can complement each other in a way that could better benefit children in need of special education.
The aim of this paper is to describe and understand how the function of the qualified dialogue partner in special education develops when the two professions, special education teachers and special educators, are faced with the realities of pedagogical practice.
Research Questions: How do they handle their role as qualified dialogue partners? How do special education teachers cooperate with special educators? How do the preschool/school principals experience the similarities and differences between the two professions?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
von Ahlefeld Nisser, D. (2009).´´Vad kommunikation vill säga. En iscensättande studie om specialpedagogers yrkesroll och kunskapande samtal´. (What communication says. An engineering study on the role of special educators and knowledging dialogues).Doctoral Dissertation. Stockholm University. Ainscow, M. & Sandill, A. (2010). ´Developing inclusive education systems: the role of organisational cultures and leadership´. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14: 4,401-416. Habermas, J. (1995/1981). ´Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns´. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag Helldin, R: (1998. ´Kommunerna och den specialpedagogiska verksamheten´. Stockholm: HLS Förlag Helldin, R., Lucietto, S. & Völkel, B. (2003). ´Pupils´ School Failure or Schools´ Failure?´ IOL/Forskning 16. Stockholm: Lärarhögskolan i Stockholm
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.