<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.

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.