<p>The aim of this study was to describe, explain and understand the importance of preschool and leisure pedagogy for special education. Knowledge was therefore generated concerning teacher’s reflection on three themes: 1) the view of knowledge, people and society, 2) special education as organisation, activity and content, 3) a gender perspective and its implication for their realisation of a professional practice. An analytical aim was to understand the content of the teachers’ reflection process in a critical social perspective. The group included 14 persons. The empirical material consists of eleven analysed group meetings, two sets of interviews with the participants, educational policy documents, archive material and two background interviews. The study is based on a participatory research approach and on democratic knowledge processes guided by critical social theory. The participants formulate the importance of sensory experiences, multiple forms of knowledge and on all people’s equal value. The qualification structure of the group includes overview as well as direct work with an interior and exterior organisation. The participants associate questions from the field with revealed opportunities and obstacles, relations, processes and contexts. The analysis shows that solely acceptance of the different child is not enough. Recognition precedes the appreciation of the unique and absolute Subject. The analysis by the group reveals a reproduction of subordination. The qualification structure of salaried employee and service production demands critical consciousness to avoid exploitation and control in a capitalist and market-oriented society. The double subordination of the group in the school world contains the power of recognising this partly as an opportunity for a counter power based on the justified participation on equal terms, partly as a counter power to the current tendency to split pedagogical and collective work on value issues. </p>

The aim of this study was to describe, explain and understand the importance of preschool and leisure pedagogy for special education. Knowledge was therefore generated concerning teacher’s reflection on three themes: 1) the view of knowledge, people and society, 2) special education as organisation, activity and content, 3) a gender perspective and its implication for their realisation of a professional practice. An analytical aim was to understand the content of the teachers’ reflection process in a critical social perspective. The group included 14 persons. The empirical material consists of eleven analysed group meetings, two sets of interviews with the participants, educational policy documents, archive material and two background interviews. The study is based on a participatory research approach and on democratic knowledge processes guided by critical social theory. The participants formulate the importance of sensory experiences, multiple forms of knowledge and on all people’s equal value. The qualification structure of the group includes overview as well as direct work with an interior and exterior organisation. The participants associate questions from the field with revealed opportunities and obstacles, relations, processes and contexts. The analysis shows that solely acceptance of the different child is not enough. Recognition precedes the appreciation of the unique and absolute Subject. The analysis by the group reveals a reproduction of subordination. The qualification structure of salaried employee and service production demands critical consciousness to avoid exploitation and control in a capitalist and market-oriented society. The double subordination of the group in the school world contains the power of recognising this partly as an opportunity for a counter power based on the justified participation on equal terms, partly as a counter power to the current tendency to split pedagogical and collective work on value issues.

This inquiry is the exploration and understanding of a case study: the nine-year-old learners of an inner-city school in South Africa and their experiences of democratic South Africa as citizens. Their expressions informed me on how they perceived their democratic identities and their understandings of their citizenship. From the acquired understandings and identities I sought to extend the current conceptions of citizenship education. This study was informed by the interpretivist paradigm and guided by a conceptual framework. <p.The literature on citizenship and citizenship education concerning the young child highlighted associated concepts and theories. I employed Dewey’s theory on building a learning community and Waghid’s expansion of compassion and imaginative action. Theories used concerning young children and their construction of citizenship were the postcolonial and transforming society theory, informing that children as young as nine years can engage in notions such as citizenship and democracy. From the literature, I identified the knowledge, skills and values needed for a child to participate as an active and accountable citizen; content also offered by the South African national curriculum. This curriculum envisages the future citizen as the responsible citizen who will embrace democratic values in their everyday lives and contribute to nation-building. The data collection methods and data collection instruments were designed in a child-centred way to facilitate selfexpression. The constructivist grounded theory analysis assisted in generating significant insights. The nine-year-old learners expressed their identification with the South African democracy and its values such as social justice, which aligned with the South African ideal of social cohesion and nation-building. However, they expressed little knowledge about and no active participation in democratic processes. They expressed concern about their unsafe neighbourhood and the social injustices they encountered in their community. The young learners expressed the desire for change to transform South Africa into a ‘better nation’ to secure their and other citizens’ future. Key findings confirmed statements made by scholars in this field: citizenship education has to acknowledge the life experiences of children in order to be meaningful (thus contextualize citizenship) and to assist young children to contribute to democracy. However, the democracy can only be sustained and strengthened if the learners are knowledgeable about democratic processes and possible threats to these processes. In addition, young children need to be participants in the democracy and not only observers. The nine-year-old learners expressed the passion to do what is expected of them but seemingly lacked the participatory skills and opportunities they needed. / Thesis (PhD (Learning Support, Guidance and Counselling))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Early Childhood Education / unrestricted

The aim of this thesis is to, based on teachers’ experiences, describe and analyse meanings of teachers’ leadership in general, and in relation to children in need of special support in particular. The study was carried out within the tradition of participatory-oriented research, a research circle. The dialogues in the circle were based on the participants’ questions, experiences, interests, and knowledge. The circle included a researcher and nine teachers from the following types of schools: preschool, preschool class, compulsory school, and compulsory school for pupils with learning disabilities. The study is based on an understanding of leadership as a relational practice. Leadership is practised in the interaction between teacher and child. Both parties exert influence over the practice of leadership. A central assumption in the study is that knowledge can develop through and in interactions between people, that knowledge and power are connected, and that knowledge and actions are intertwined. Another central assumption is that learning is a complex phenomenon. In the analysis of the research circle’s dialogues, the following meanings of teachers’ leadership emerge: to facilitate learning and discipline, and to promote different interests. The practice of leadership involves teachers handling complex situations in their interactions with ‘all’ children, i.e. children in need of special support and children without such needs. Leadership is practised between teachers and children, and the teachers have to consider the group of children as a collective in relation to the individual children. At the same time, the teachers have to consider their intentions versus what happens during the interactions. In addition, the teachers have to pay heed to the fact that their own actions and the children’s actions influence one another. Finally, the teachers have to consider the individual child’s ‘best interest’ in relation to the requirements of the policy documents. Furthermore, the results indicate that the practice of leadership is perceived as both unpredictable and, to some extent, predictable at the same time, which adds to the complexity of leadership. The teachers cannot know for sure what the children understand or if the children’s actions facilitate learning. However, the teachers can make certain assumptions about how to practice leadership in order to facilitate learning and discipline in children with different needs. The meanings of leadership were expressed in different ways in the circle’s dialogues; both as enabling and limiting in interactions with children in need of special support. One of the study’s conclusions is that leadership seems to be particularly complex in interactions with children in need of special support. The research circle’s dialogues served to promote a democratic knowledge process. The dialogues were characterised by respect for the participants’ different opinions; however, this does not mean that they were free from power structures.

The aim of this thesis is to, based on teachers’ experiences, describe and analyse meanings of teachers’ leadership in general, and in relation to children in need of special support in particular. The study was carried out within the tradition of participatory-oriented research, a research circle. The dialogues in the circle were based on the participants’ questions, experiences, interests, and knowledge. The circle included a researcher and nine teachers from the following types of schools: preschool, preschool class, compulsory school, and compulsory school for pupils with learning disabilities. The study is based on an understanding of leadership as a relational practice. Leadership is practised in the interaction between teacher and child. Both parties exert influence over the practice of leadership. A central assumption in the study is that knowledge can develop through and in interactions between people, that knowledge and power are connected, and that knowledge and actions are intertwined. Another central assumption is that learning is a complex phenomenon. In the analysis of the research circle’s dialogues, the following meanings of teachers’ leadership emerge: to facilitate learning and discipline, and to promote different interests. The practice of leadership involves teachers handling complex situations in their interactions with ‘all’ children, i.e. children in need of special support and children without such needs. Leadership is practised between teachers and children, and the teachers have to consider the group of children as a collective in relation to the individual children. At the same time, the teachers have to consider their intentions versus what happens during the interactions. In addition, the teachers have to pay heed to the fact that their own actions and the children’s actions influence one another. Finally, the teachers have to consider the individual child’s ‘best interest’ in relation to the requirements of the policy documents. Furthermore, the results indicate that the practice of leadership is perceived as both unpredictable and, to some extent, predictable at the same time, which adds to the complexity of leadership. The teachers cannot know for sure what the children understand or if the children’s actions facilitate learning. However, the teachers can make certain assumptions about how to practice leadership in order to facilitate learning and discipline in children with different needs. The meanings of leadership were expressed in different ways in the circle’s dialogues; both as enabling and limiting in interactions with children in need of special support. One of the study’s conclusions is that leadership seems to be particularly complex in interactions with children in need of special support. The research circle’s dialogues served to promote a democratic knowledge process. The dialogues were characterised by respect for the participants’ different opinions; however, this does not mean that they were free from power structures.