Session Information
04 SES 12 A, Cooperation between Regular and Special Teachers
Paper Session
Contribution
Background: This study is about describing and developing special educational consultation in Swedish-speaking primary schools in Finland. Inclusive education is a way to ensure equal right in education and more active citizenship for SEN pupils. Meeting the needs of student with diverse learning needs is challenging and the cooperation between special education teachers and classroom teachers is important in the inclusion process. In Finland special education teachers mostly work as remedial teachers and give direct support individually or in small groups to the pupils with special educational needs (Takala, Pirttimaa & Törmönen, 2009). In the name of inclusion and democracy we should find other special educational ways of working in order to support SEN pupils. One indirect way to support the pupils is the consulting teacher model. The consulting teacher model is a form of indirect special teacher service in which a special education teacher serves as a consultant for a classroom teacher (Idol 2006).
Theoretical framework: Consultation is defined as a voluntary problem-solving process with the primarily purpose of assisting consultees to develop attitudes and skills that will enable them to function more effectively with a client (Brown, Pryzwansky and Schulte, 2011). There are a number of different models of school consultation. The models are grounded in different theories and differ in their idea of directiveness and focus in the consultation and in their description of the relationship between the actors in the consultation. According to Gutkin and Curtis (2009) the key models are: a) mental health consultation, b) ecological-behavioural consultation and c) process and organizational consultation. Idol, Paolucci-Whitcomb & Nevin (1995) as well as Brown, Pryzwansky and Schulte (2011) propose an alternative model of teacher consultation which they call collaboration. According to Brown et al. (2011) collaboration is linked to consultation. The difference is that collaboration demands both professional to be active in the process and responsible for the client intervention. In the theoretical background of this study these different “paths” or perspectives of consultation are described. In the Nordic countries the mental health model is the most common (Skagen 2007) whereas for example in the USA and UK the ecological-behavioural model has been popular (Larney 2003). In USA the use of collaborative models has grown in popularity in recent years (Conoley and Conoley 2010) while collaboration is not so far a common way to describe the consultation process between teachers in the Nordic countries.
Aim and central questions: The aim of the study is to deepen the knowledge of how special education teachers and classroom teachers describe the phenomenon of special educational consultation. Central questions are:
- How do teachers describe conditions for implementing the consulting teacher model in school?
- How do teachers describe the form, focus and function of special educational consultation?
- How do teachers describe the relationship between the actors in the consulting process?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bladini, K. (2004). Handledning som verktyg och rum för reflektion. En studie av specialpedagogers handledningssamtal. Karlstads Universitet. Brown,D. , Pryzwanksy, W.B. & Schulte, A. (2011). Psychology consultation and collaboration. Introduction to theory and practice. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Conoley, J.C. and Conoley, C.W. (2010). Why does collaboration work? Linking positive psychology and collaboration. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation. 20: 75-82. Gutkin, T.J. & Curtis, M.J. (2009). School-based consultation. The Science and Practice. In Gutkin T.J. & Reynholds, C.R. . (ed.) The handbook of schools psychology.(4nd ed.) 591-621. New York: Willey Idol, L. (2006). Toward inclusion of special education students in general education. Remedial and Special education. Vol. 27 (2), 77-94. Idol,L. Paolucci-Whitcomb , P. & Nevin, A. (1995). The Collaborative Consultation Model. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation. Vol. 6 (4), 347-361 Larney, R. (2003). School-based consultation in the United Kingdom: Principles, practice and effectiveness. School Psychology International 24 (5), 5-19 Graneheim, U. H. & Lundman, B. (2008). Kvalitativ innehållsanalys I: Granskär, M. & Höglund- Nielsen, B. (red). Tillämpad kvalitativ forskning inom hälso- och sjukvård. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Sahlin, B. (2005). Utmaning och omtanke. En analys av handledning som utvidgad special-pedagogisk funktion i skolan med utgångspunkt i tio pionjärers berättelser. Stockholm: SHI-förlag. Skagen, K. (2007). Ett tema av yttersta betydelse. I Kroksmark & Åberg. Handledning i pedagogiskt arbete. Lund. Studentlitteratur. Takala, M. , Pirttimaa. R. & Törmänen, M. (2009). Inclusive special education: the role of education teachers in Finland. British Journal of Special Education. Vol. 36 (3), 162-172.
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