The overall aim of this licentiate thesis is to increase our knowledge about the division of labor in the work with children in need of special support in preschools as described by the occupational groups of preschool teachers and special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs). This is explored in two separate studies. In the first study, the tasks, perceptions, and roles of SENCOs in preschools are examined. The study is part of a total population study where all SENCOs in Sweden (n = 4252) who were examined by the examination acts of the years 2001, 2007, and 2008 were sent a questionnaire. In a later phase of the procedure, the responses from SENCOs who work in preschools were extracted from the survey. These responses were analysed in Study I involving 523 participants. The results show that SENCOs’ working hours are primarily spent on consultation. SENCOs further report that they are able to influence their colleagues’ views on children's difficulties to a high degree. Most SENCOs in the study believe that the most important reason why children encounter difficulties in preschools is that preschools are poorly adapted to deal with children's differences. The results of this study are theoretically interpreted on the basis of Abbott's (1988) reasoning about jurisdictional control. Persson's (1998) two perspectives on different ways of understanding children's difficulties, namely a categorical and a relational perspective, are also used to interpret the results. Study II analyses how preschool teachers describe which occupational group claims jurisdiction over the work with children in need of special support. The data consist of interviews with 15 preschool teachers. The analysis of the data is based on Abbott's (1988) division of professional work into three aspects: a) formulating a problem, b) reasoning about the problem, and c) treating the problem. The results show that the area where preschool teachers claim jurisdictional control is related to the formulation of the problem. Preschool teachers do not, on the other hand, seem to claim jurisdictional control over the part of professional work that concerns reasoning about the problem. The results show a contradictory image of the treatment of the problem. Preschool teachers sometimes describe themselves as claiming jurisdictional control over treatment and other times describe how SENCOs have jurisdiction over the treatment of the problem. In the licentiate thesis, Abbott's (1988) reasoning about jurisdiction of occupational groups and Persson's (1998) categorical and relational perspectives for understanding children's difficulties are brought together and put in relation to different perspectives on inclusion.

Studiens syfte är att beskriva hur samarbetet upplevs mellan lärare, speciallärare och specialpedagoger i deras arbete med att anpassa och inkludera undervisningen till varje enskild elev. Mina frågeställningar som har legat till grund till min studie är: Hur beskriver läraren samarbetet med varandra? Hur beskriver lärare, speciallärare och specialpedagoger att de samarbetar kring den anpassade undervisningen? Hur upplever lärarna samarbetet med professionerna i skolan och vilken hjälp beskriver de att de får? Studien är relevant eftersom det finns behov av mer kunskap och svensk forskning som uppmärksammar samarbetet mellan lärare, speciallärare och specialpedagoger och hur de arbetar med anpassningar och inkludering så att alla elever ska kunna nå läroplanens mål. Studien är kvalitativ och empirin har samlats in genom semistrukturerande intervjuer med lärare, speciallärare och en specialpedagog. Jag använde mig av tematisk analys för att analysera intervjuerna. Resultatet visar att samarbetet mellan lärarna och professionerna bygger på tät kommunikation, gemensamma problemlösningar, att fördela resurserna rätt och att ge eleverna den trygghet de behöver både kunskapsmässigt och socialt. Det hinder som framkom var att tiden inte alltid fanns för att kunna samtala om enskilda elever. / The purpose of the study is to describe how the collaboration is perceived between teachers, special education teachers and special educational needs coordinators in their work to adapt and include teaching to each individual student. My questions that have formed the basis of my study are: How do teachers describe their collaboration with each other? How do teachers, special needs teachers and special educational needs coordinators describe that they collaborate around the adapted teaching? How do teachers perceive the cooperation with professionals in the school and what help do they describe that they receive? The study is relevant as there is a need for more knowledge and Swedish research that pays attention to the collaboration between teachers, special education teachers and special educational needs coordinators and how they work with adaptations and inclusion so that all students can achieve the curriculum goals. The study is qualitative and the empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers, special education teachers and one special educational needs coordinators. I used thematic analysis to analyze the interviews. The results show that the cooperation between the teachers and the professions is based on close communication, commonproblem solving, allocating resources correctly and giving the pupils the security they need both academically and socially. The obstacle that emerged was that there was not always time to discuss individual students.

Syftet med denna studie är att synliggöra det interprofessionella samarbetet mellan specialllärare i matematikutveckling, specialpedagog och matematiklärare i relation till särskilda utbildningsbehov i matematik, SUM. Studien belyser samarbbetet genom begreppen interprofessionellt lärande, inkludering och tillgänglig lärmiljö. Som teoretiskt ramverk för studien har Engeströms (2001) aktivitetsteori använts. Tre verksamheter i två olika kommuner användes som studieobjekt. En kvalitativ forskningsansats valdes som metod för studien och datainsamlingen genomfördes med hjälp av fokusgruppsintervjuer samt observationer av samtal mellan matematiklärare, speciallärare i matematikutveckling och specialpedagog. Sammantaget framkommer att samarbete mellan professionerna förekommer i stor utsträckning. Dock sker samarbetet ofta mer genom information och enskilda lösningar där professionerna arbetar skilt från varandra än genom gemensam undervisning. Det upplevs mer effektivt att ta ut elever ensklit än att båda professionerna samarbetar i klassrummet samtidigt för att på så sätt lära av varandra och arbeta med en tillgänglig, inkluderande lärmiljö i relation till SUM. Samarabetet stannar på individnivå för såväl professionerna som eleven och utvecklar således varken professionerna eller den inkluderande lärmiljön i stort. / This study aims to identify interprofessional collaboration between special educational needs teachers in mathematics, special educational needs coordinators and mathematics teachers in relation to special educational needs in mathematsics. The stdy has focused on collaboration from the perspective of interprofessional learning, inclusion and an accessible learning enviroment. The research apporoach is qualitative and interviews in focus goups have been conducted as well as observations. The activity theory has functioned as the theoretical framwork through this study. Three public schools from two different municipalities were chosen for this study. The results show that collaboration between the different professions occurs frequently. However, the collaboration tends to relate more to presenting information or producing individual solutions where professins work side by side rather than together in the classroom. It is considered more efficient to extract students frpm ordinary education to provide extra support, than to collaborate within the classroom to develop the learning environment towards inclusion and learn from other professions in relation to special educational needs in mathematics. Thus, the collaboration remains on an individual level both professionally and for the students as opposed to generating new knowledge within the professions as well as an inclusive, learning environment.