Specialpedagogens mångfacetterade uppdrag i förskolans praktik

: ”alla” förskollärares guru och räddare i nöden

Abstract

Previous research within the field of special education shows that there doesn’t seem to be clear directives in the governing documents regarding the role and mission of the SENCo, therefore the possibilities for interpretation are excessive. If the assignments are understood in different ways by the actors of the preschool and the school, and if SENCos' themselves have different understandings of what to work with and in what way the assignments should be carried out, there are consequences for the pedagogical practice. In this study, the aim was therefore to highlight preschool teachers' and SENCos' perceptions and expectations of the SENCo's professional role in preschool practice, with the intention of increasing knowledge about obstacles and opportunities in the SENCos' mission. To get answers for the research questions, qualitative semi-structured interviews were used. The selected group consisted of two SENCos' and four preschool teachers in one municipality. The data material was processed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis, supported by system-theory as well as relational and categorical perspective. The empirical material was structured by compiling the interviews based on the two professional categories, preschool teachers and SENCos', separately. The result is presented in two sections where each professional category describes their experiences of, expectations and wishes for the SENCos' professional role in preschool practice. The results show that the preschool teachers' beliefs and expectations are to some extent in line with the SENCos' perceptions and expectations of their professional role in preschool practice. However, reality does not always look as they wish, which may be due to the design of the service of SENCo as well as different conditions and needs in preschool practice. The conclusion was that (1) the SENCos' supervising mission to develop the learning environments of the organization, group and individual level needs to be made understandable in practice, (2) how close collaboration with the SENCo can be expected, but also what kind of collaboration that can take place needs to be developed and (3) what the SENCos' preventive work means needs to be clarified in the pedagogical practice.

Date of Award	2022-Jun
Original language	Swedish
Supervisor	Annika Cederlund (Supervisor), Daniel Östlund (Assessor) & Daniel Östlund (Examiner)