Ideas about occupational roles and inclusive practices among special needs educators and support teachers in Sweden

• Special needs educators and their counterparts are expected to play a significant role in schools' work towards inclusive practices. Studies do, however, indicate a rather diversified picture regarding the occupational groups assigned to work with special support and their workroles, within and between different countries. In Sweden, one can differentiate between two such occupational groups, special needs educators (SNEs) with qualifications in special educational needs at advanced level and support teachers (SuTs) with varying teacher education and education in special educational needs. The aims of this paper are to investigate the occurrence of SNEs and SuTs within the compulsory school system in ten municipalities in Sweden and the occupational roles of those SNEs and SuTs in relation to the inclusion agenda. A questionnaire was sent out in 2012 to all SNEs and SuTs in ten municipalities (n=511, response rate 61.6%). Main results indicate that: a) there is wide variation between municipalities regarding the extent to which SNEs or SuTs are assigned to work with special support; b) the characteristics of the occupational role of SNEs are more in line with inclusive practices than those of the role of SuTs; c) there is consensus between the two occupational groups regarding what they think should characterize the occupational role of SNEs; and d) SNEs consider, more than do the SuTs themselves, that the role of SuTs should be more in line with that of a ‘traditional special-education teacher’. Results are discussed in relation to Skrtic’s (1991, 1995) theoretical accounts of inclusive education and Abbott’s (1988) notion of jurisdictional control.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogiskt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogical Work (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Special needs educators

support teachers

jurisdictional control

occupational roles

inclusion

work tasks

Pedagogik

Education

Utbildning och lärande

Specialpedagogik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)