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| 2. |
- Göransson, Kerstin, et al.
(författare)
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Voices of special educators in Sweden : a total-population study
- 2015
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Ingår i: Educational research (Windsor. Print). - London : Routledge. - 0013-1881 .- 1469-5847. ; 57:3, s. 287-304
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: There are two occupational groups in Sweden that are expected to have significant impact on educational work related to children in need of special support. These two groups are special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) and special education teachers. In this paper, we use the collective name special educators' to refer to both groups. Special educators are expected to have specific knowledge regarding the identification of, and work with, school difficulties. However, there is noticeably little research concerning these occupational groups. This study was undertaken in order to further our knowledge about special educators' work.Purpose: The overall purpose of the present paper is to provide a first overview of special educators' work. The paper investigates these special educators' perceptions of their occupational role, of their preparedness for the role and of how their role is practised. The paper also illuminates questions about SENCOs' and special education teachers' knowledge and values as well as the grounds for the occupational groups to claim special expertise related to the identification of, and work with, school difficulties.Design and method: A questionnaire was sent out in 2012 to all SENCOs and special education teachers in Sweden who received their degree from 2001 onwards and in accordance with the Swedish examination acts of 2001, 2007 and 2008 (N=4252, 75% response rate).Results: According to the results, special educators state that they are well prepared to work with some tasks, such as counselling, leading development work and teaching children/pupils individually or in groups. Concurrently, there are tasks that the groups are educated for (e.g. school-development work), which they seldom practise in their daily work.Conclusions: Primarily using reasoning concerning jurisdictional control, we discuss SENCOs' and special education teachers' authority to claim special expertise in relation to certain kinds of work, clients and knowledge and thus, their chances of gaining full jurisdictional control in the field of special education.
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| 3. |
- Göransson, Kerstin, et al.
(författare)
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Speciella yrken? Specialpedagogers och speciallärares arbete och utbildning : En enkätstudie
- 2015
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Forskningsprojektet ”Speciella yrken? Ett projekt om speciallärares och specialpedagogers arbete och utbildning” är finansierat av Vetenskapsrådet. I den här rapporten redovisas resultat från delprojekt 1. Syftet med rapporten är att ge en övergripande och representativ bild av specialpedagogers och speciallärares yrkesroll. Det empiriska materialet utgörs av data från en enkätundersökning som omfattar alla som tagit specialpedagog- eller speciallärarexamen från och med 2001 års examensordning (4252 personer, svarsfrekvens 75%). I rapporten redovisas vilka kunskaper och värderingar yrkesgrupperna bedömer att deras utbildning har resulterat i, vilka arbetsuppgifter de menar kännetecknar deras praktiserande av yrkesrollen, och även vilka förutsättningar yrkesgrupperna har att hävda en specifik expertis vad gäller att identifiera och arbeta med skolproblem. Rapporten riktar sig i främsta hand till praktiskt verksamma inom skolverksamheten på olika nivåer, lärarutbildare och blivande specialpedagoger och speciallärare.
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| 4. |
- Masoumi, Davoud, et al.
(författare)
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Mapping Children’s Actions in the Scaffolding Process Using Interactive Whiteboard
- 2023
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Ingår i: Early Childhood Education Journal. - : Springer Science and Business Media B.V.. - 1082-3301 .- 1573-1707.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aims to examine children’s actions in relation to the preschool teacher’s scaffolding action in a context where an interactive whiteboard (IWB) is used. Over five months, 22 children aged between 4 and 6 years old, along with their five preschool teachers, were video observed. The study of these teaching moments has provided a rich seam of evidence that details the ways children act in relation to their teacher’s scaffolding. The results show that children manifest 12 distinct actions including: Giving short responses, Approaching the IWB to engage in the teaching activities; Explaining, Experimenting; Smiling and laughing; Pointing and showing; Working together; Challenging each other; Solving a problem; Using language in meaningful contexts; Expressing emotions; and Comparing the similarities and differences. By mapping children’s actions in the scaffolding process, which are often undermined or ignored in the existing research, the findings of this study have expanded and deepened our understanding of the scaffolding process and the notion of scaffolding itself. The findings, further, exemplify how just providing support can contribute to early childhood education, since early interventions, such as the ways preschool teachers scaffold children’s actions, are particularly crucial for children’s learning and development. © 2023, The Author(s).
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| 5. |
- Bourbour Hosseinbeigi, Maryam, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Putting Scaffolding Into Action : Preschool Teachers' Actions Using Interactive Whiteboard
- 2020
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Ingår i: Early Childhood Education Journal. - : Springer. - 1082-3301 .- 1573-1707. ; 48:1, s. 79-92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aimed to explore preschool teachers' actions in order to support children's learning processes in a context where an interactive whiteboard (IWB) is used. Five preschool teachers and 22 children aged 4-6 were video observed in 2017 and early spring 2018 over a period of 5 months. The findings of the study revealed 21 scaffolding actions which preschool teachers used including: Concretizing, Questioning, Instructing, Providing space, Affirming, Providing feedback, Inviting, Watching, Laughing together, Approaching, Standing/sitting beside, Simplifying, Filling in the blanks, Confirming, Participating, Challenging perception, Challenging thought, Explaining facts, Displaying, Explaining solutions, and Referring back. By characterizing teachers' actions in relation to different scaffolding functions, the relationship between action and scaffolding function was particularly clarified. Six of the functions, including recruitment, direction maintenance, marking critical features, reduction in degrees of freedom, frustration control and demonstration were aligned with Wood et al.'s (Child Psychol Psychiatry 17:88-100, 1976) theoretical framework. By identifying two additional functions, i.e., mutual enjoyment and participation in the activity, more importantly the study contributed to the development of Wood et al.'s (Child Psychol Psychiatry 17:88-100, 1976) theoretical framework. It can be said that the findings of the study expanded and deepened our understanding regarding scaffolding processes and the ways they can be implemented in teaching practices.
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| 6. |
- Bourbour, Maryam, 1977-
(författare)
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Digital technologies in preschool education : The interplay between interactive whiteboards and teachers' teaching practices
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is aimed at exploring the ways in which a digital technology, the interactive whiteboard (IWB), interplays with preschool teachers’ teaching practices. In the literature and ongoing debates there are different claims about if and how digital technologies can contribute to children’s development and solving preschool educational challenges. The ways children learn from and by digital technologies have been widely studied, however, there is relatively little research on how digital technologies interplay with teachers’ teaching. Correspondingly, the approach taken here to the ways in which digital technologies contribute to early childhood education is based on preschool teachers’ practices and reasonings.In particular the focus is placed on the following research questions. How do preschool teachers reason about the embedding of IWB into their teaching practices? How do preschool teachers use IWB to structure their teaching practices? How do preschool teachers scaffold children’s learning processes in a context where IWB is used? How do IWBs mediate teaching actions? and What is privileged in the IWB-mediated teaching actions?To address these research questions, three sets of empirical data have been collected. These datasets, including interviews with preschool teachers and video observations of their teaching using IWB, were collected in 2012-2013 within the frame of the licentiate thesis and in late 2017 and early 2018 within the framework of the PhD thesis. Analytically, the study is built on a sociocultural perspective that assumes that learning is a constant social process.The findings of this study provide empirical knowledge regarding how preschool teachers reason about their use of IWB in teaching. The findings of the study, further, show that preschool teachers use diverse strategies to structure their teaching practice using the opportunities that IWB offers. The teachers’ use of IWBs exemplifies the ways they take into account the available technological features to support children’s learning within their ZPD.In its identification of scaffolding actions, this study provides rich details about how preschool teachers use a particular digital technology, IWB, in their teaching to support children’s learning and development. Scaffolding is seen as a collaborative process where preschool teachers’ active participation and emotional support plays an important role in fulfilling the given practices, and leads children’s learning to a higher level. By exploring how teachers’ teaching actions are meditated by the mediational aspects of IWB and what is privileged in the IWB-mediated teaching actions, the current study, moreover, contributes to mapping the desirable or undesirable consequences of using digital technologies in early childhood education. It also exemplifies how the use of IWB interplays with preschoolt eachers’ teaching practices.The new dimensions to scaffolding theory constructed in this thesis, further, contribute to expanding of Wood et al. (1976) theory. This can have significance for other studies using digital technologies in educational settings and can contribute to early childhood education, since early interventions, such as the ways preschool teachers support children, are particularly crucial for a child’s learning and their development later on in life.
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| 7. |
- Cameron, David Lansing, et al.
(författare)
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A comparative study of special educator preparation in Norway and Sweden
- 2018
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Ingår i: British Journal of Special Education. - : Wiley. - 0952-3383 .- 1467-8578. ; 45:3, s. 256-276
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this study was to explore similarities and differences between special educator preparation in Norway and in Sweden. Graduates of special education programmes at two Norwegian (n = 320) and two Swedish universities (n = 425) who completed their training between 2001 and 2012 responded to surveys. Findings indicate that both Swedish and Norwegian graduates felt prepared for their current work and that teaching approaches employed in the different programmes were similar. However, there appears to be a stronger focus on pupils’ social goals in Sweden, as well as on advising teachers, school development and promoting inclusive environments. In contrast, Norwegian participants reported a greater focus on preparation to work with specific types of learning and behavioural difficulties. Findings are discussed in relation to differing political and social structures, such as national regulations for steering special educator preparation in Sweden, which are absent in the Norwegian context.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Göransson, Kerstin, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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Professionalism, governance and inclusive education – A total population study of Swedish special needs educators
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Inclusive Education. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1360-3116 .- 1464-5173. ; 23:9, s. 559-574
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prior research shows that special needs educators (SNEs) have had problems defining their occupational roles and jurisdiction, particularly regarding inclusive education. There are two occupational groups of SNEs in Sweden, namely special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) and special education teachers. In this paper, we use the collective name SNEs to refer to both groups. Here, results from a total population study of Swedish SNEs are presented (N = 3367, response rate 75%). The aim is to explore differences in SNEs’ interpretation of school difficulties and if these differences are influenced by SNEs’ employment in different parts of the school organisation. Statistical cluster-analysis was used to categorise SNEs into five distinct groups based on how they view the problems of pupils in school difficulties. Key concepts employed in the analysis are, primarily organisational vs occupational governance in relation to professional jurisdiction. Findings suggest that SNEs are less unanimous in their views of school problems, than prior research indicates. The variance is partly due to where they work in the school organisation, but we also find indications that different groups of SNEs experience different forms of governance with regard to their professionalism. The results are important due to the scope of the data and method of analysis as well as the illustrated variance of professional values and situations of SNEs and the potential consequences for the development of inclusive education.
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| 10. |
- Göransson, Kerstin, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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Segregated education as a challenge to inclusive processes : a total population study of Swedish teachers' views on education for pupils with intellectual disability
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Inclusive Education. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1360-3116 .- 1464-5173. ; 26:14, s. 1367-1382
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many pupils with disabilities receive schooling in segregated contexts, such as special classes or special schools. Furthermore, the percentage of pupils educated in segregated settings has increased in many European countries. Studies suggest that there is high commitment to the general ideology of inclusive education among teachers in 'regular' education in many countries. This survey study investigates the views of teachers in segregated types of school about education. A questionnaire was sent out, in 2016, to all Swedish teachers (N = 2871, response rate 57.7%) working full time in special classes for pupils with intellectual disability (ID). On a general level results show that there is a strong commitment to preserving a segregated school setting for pupils with ID, a limited desire to cooperate with colleagues from 'regular schools' and a view that schooling and teaching are not quite compatible with the idea of inclusive education. The results highlight the importance of investigating processes of resistance within segregated schools to the development of inclusive schools and education systems. We argue that, while research and debate about inclusive education are important, both are insufficient without analyses of existing types of segregated schooling.
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