The problem of this study was to identify professional competencies considered essential for the generic special educator. The purpose of this study was to identify competencies essential to the successful performance of a generic special educator to be used in the development of special education personnel. The identified competencies were utilized in the newly developed competency-based generic special education program at North Texas State University. To accomplish this study, a non-proportional stratified random sample of fifty-one school districts was selected from Regions VII, VIII, X, and XI. An instrument was developed, pilot tested, and revised. The instrument was administered to the sample of selected professional personnel within each selected school district. Descriptive data from the questionnaire were compiled and presented in tables by position and sub-group. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was applied as a measure of association among the various sub-groups on the basis of the rank ordering of items. In order to determine significant differences among sub-groups on the variable of importance of competency item, analyses of variance were calculated. Trainability ratings were analyzed using the chi square test of independence to test the degree of agreement of training environment among the four sub-groups.

Bakalauro darbe analizuojama būsimųjų specialiųjų pedagogų nuomonė apie studijose ir praktikose jų įgyjamas funkcines kompetencijas. Tyrime dalyvavo 96 Šiaulių universiteto Socialinės gerovės ir negalės studijų fakulteto studijų programos Specialioji pedagogika (šaka Logopedija; šaka Kūno kultūros pedagogika, kineziterapija) 3 ir 4 kurso studentai. Anketinės apklausos metodu tirta, būsimųjų specialiųjų pedagogų nuomonė apie įgytas kompetencijas kiekvienoje praktikoje, formuojamus gebėjimus, vertybines nuostatas. Analizuojant tyrimo duomenis, ieškota ryšio tarp kompetencijų įgijimo bakalauro studijose ir jų įgyvendinimo praktikų metu. Tyrimu nustatyta kokių kompetencijų būsimieji specialieji pedagogai turi, kokie gebėjimai formuojami praktikų metu, kurie atsiskleidžia kiekvienoje veikloje. Mokytojui ir specialiajam pedagogui keliami aukšti reikalavimai ugdymo institucijoje bei paruošimui aukštojoje mokykloje. Pagrindinės kompetencijų grupės : bendrakultūrinė, profesinė, specialioji ir bendroji, kurios formuoja tam tikrus gebėjimus, kuriuos turi turėti kiekvienas specialistas, ugdantis vaikus. Analizuojant studentų atsakymus paaiškėjo, jog studijose ir pedagoginėse praktikose jie įgyja šias funkcines kompetencijas: informacinių technologijų, organizacijos tobulinimo bei pokyčių valdymo, dalyko turinio planavimo ir tobulinimo, ugdymo/si aplinkų kūrimo, mokymo/si proceso valdymo, mokinių pasiekimo ir pažangos vertinimo ir turi jų formuojamus gebėjimus. Būsimieji specialieji... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Bachelor's analysis of future special education teachers opinion about the study and practice of functional competence is acquired. The study included 96 Siauliai University of Social Welfare and Disability Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy Special education program (Speech therapy branch, a branch of Physical Education Pedagogy, physical therapy) 3 and 4 year students. Questionnaire survey method was studied, the future special education teachers opinion about the competences acquired in each practice formed in capacity values. Analysis of the data sought link between the competencies acquired in their undergraduate studies and the implementation of the practices. The study found what competencies future special educators have, what skills are formed during the practice, which is revealed in each activity. Teachers and special educators to meet high requirements of the educational institution of higher education and preparation. Key competency groups: general cultural, professional, special and general, which forms a number of skills that everyone should have a specialist who educates their children. When analyzing student's answers showed that pedagogical practices in the studio and they are acquired these functional competencies: information technology, organizational improvement and change management, subject content planning and development, teaching / learning environments, teaching / learning process management, pupil achievement and evaluate progress and to forming of... [to full text]

How do special educators work to include children with special needs in preschool? That was the question that our thesis proceeded from, and the purpose was to get an insight in the methods used by the special educators to achieve inclusion.Our questions were:• Is Swedish preschool a place for inclusion?• How are special educators work organized and focused?• Which experiences do special educators have working with children with specialneeds in preschool, and what role do they mean that inclusion plays in this work?Our procedure in this enquiry was to perform semi-structured interviews with 5 different special educators in two different cities.Interpretation and analyis proceeded from three different theories: Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, John Bowlby’s theory of attachment and Karsten Hundeide’s sociocultural theory. The result showed support for the idea of the Swedish preeschool as a place with many opportunities for inclusion. We have also seen how both money and political decisions has an impact on which possibilities the preschools receive to work with inclusion. In addition it became apparent that the methods used by special educators differed depending on both cities and districts. One of the main purposes of the special educators consisted in finding different ways to include children in the everyday activities.

The aim of this work has been to investigate how it is that it sometimes can be difficult for special educators to gain access by teachers to the classroom/lesson to make observations. A partial order has been to determine whether the special educator can curb the negative response from the teacher in question, concerning access to the classroom/lesson.   The survey has a phenomenological perspective as the basis of the test procedures and the analyses made. Phenomenology has as its starting point that the human does not perceive the world in the same way, and that she has different motives and intentions for her actions. In order to understand why the human act like she does, you have to create an image of the personal meaning behind this action. To create this image, I have implemented conversational interviews with five teachers at a high school, in central Sweden.   The investigation revealed that it is missing that the school's teachers are clearly informed of which laws and regulations the special educator is subordinate to. None of the teachers had been informed by their headmaster on the importance of cooperation with the special educator. This means that when the special educator visits and because of confidentiality has been unable to tell us why, the special educator could be perceived as checking the teacher.   To inform before the visit about how the visit should be done, and what the purpose of the visit is are very important factors to make the teachers in the study to feel comfortable with having a special educator in the classroom. There were teachers in the study who demanded answers as to why the visit would take place, in order to let in special educator in the classroom. It was, however, none of the teachers who denied the special educator access to the classroom/lesson due to unwillingness, but there were underlying factors such as to protect students and provide them with an environment conducive to work.   Based on the descriptions, given by the teachers in the study, it appears as if the cooperation between all concerned to create good conditions for the pupils fails.

A large number of due process hearings regarding the delivery of special education services to children with disabilities occur nationally and the number is increasing. Differences of opinion between professionals and parents concerning whether or not a child is disabled, the diagnosis of a disability, and the special services recommended or provided has resulted in parent-professional conflict accompanied by substantial financial and emotional costs to parents, professionals and educational agencies. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the origins and dynamics of parent-professional conflict about special education services and identify promising approaches and strategies for preventing and resolving conflict between professionals and parents of children with disabilities.A comprehensive literature review revealed the major origins of conflict about special education services in the schools. These include (a) legislative mandates; (b) attrition of special education personnel; (c) ineffective leadership in the schools; (d) lack of collaboration between general and special educators and parents; and (e) hidden constraints in educational agencies such as time, money, and resources. The combination of "systemic cracks" in the nation's educational system and the failure of professionals and parents to use effective "communication and collaboration skills" were found to be the major sources of conflict between professionals and parents.Five promising approaches and strategies were identified for preventing or resolving conflicts about special education. First, identify systemic problems, initiate school-wide dialogues, and implement a change process to reform problems through legislation, policies, organizational structures, and operating procedures. Second, follow ten basic principles of dialogue and collaboration while communicating with each other. Third, engage in positive dialogue where each party reflects and takes responsibility for reaching a mutually shared alternative solution by understanding the other person's point of view and conversing as equals. Fourth, train professionals to adopt an interest-based approach to dispute resolution by engaging all stakeholders in a school-wide dialogue, addressing underlying interests or needs rather than reacting to demands. Fifth, use third party intermediaries such as parent-to-parent assistance, dispute resolution case managers, individualized education program facilitators and intervene at the onset of the conflict.

Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om hur specialpedagogen och pedagogerna beskriver handledning i förskolan samt hur specialpedagogen och pedagogerna beskriver vilka effekter handledning kan ge. För att besvara syftet kom vi fram till följande frågeställningar, hur kan specialpedagogens yrkesroll se ut i förskolan, hur beskriver specialpedagogen och pedagogerna handledning i förskolan samt beskriver specialpedagogen och pedagogerna att någon förändring skett i lärmiljön efter handledningen, i så fall vilken. Studien grundar sig på en kvalitativ forskningsansats och metoden som använts är kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer samt fokusgruppintervjuer. I studien har två specialpedagoger som arbetar mot förskolan samt tre arbetslag som får handledning av specialpedagog intervjuats. Som stöd i analysen av resultatet har de specialpedagogiska perspektiven, det kategoriska och relationella perspektivet, använts. Resultatet som har framkommit är att specialpedagogerna har olika arbetssätt och arbetar med handledning på olika sätt. I reflektion med arbetslagen upplever specialpedagogerna effekten av handledningen. Alla arbetslagen beskriver förändring i lärmiljön efter handledningen med specialpedagogen. Samtliga arbetslag beskriver handledning som något positivt. / The aim of this study is to increase the knowledge about how the special educator and the educators describe tutoring in the preschool and how the special educator and the educators describe the effects that tutoring can give. To answer the aim, we came up with the following questions, how can the special educator's professional role look in the preschool, how does the special educator and the educators describe tutoring in the preschool and do the special educator and the educators describe that any change has occurred in the learning environment after the tutoring, if so which one. The study is based on a qualitative research approach and the method used is qualitative semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews. In the study, two special educators working towards preschools and three work teams who receive tutoring of special educator have been interviewed. In support of the analysis of the result, the special educational perspectives, the categorical and relational perspective, have been used. The result that has emerged is that the special educators have different working methods and work with tutoring in different ways. In reflection with the work team, the special educators experience the effect of the tutoring. All the teams describe changes in the learning environment after the tutoring with the special educator. All work teams describe tutoring as something positive.

Orientador: Maria Salete Fábio Aranha / Banca: Maria Cecília R. de Góes / Banca: Júlio Romero Ferreira / Banca: Kester Carrara / Banca: Sadao Omote / Resumo: Este estudo busca identificar a ocorrência de mudanças na prática pedagógica de uma professora, durante o período em que se fez a reflexão sobre essa prática, à luz de proposições teóricas. Para tanto, foram realizados vinte encontros reflexivos com uma professora da Educação Especial, com a finalidade de propiciar a reflexão sobre a sua prática pedagógica, a partir da análise de gravações das situações ocorridas em sala de aula. As discussões promovidas, ao longo deste estudo, foram embasadas teoricamente nos conceitos da abordagem sócio-histórica, para procurar a compreensão sobre os aspectos relacionados ao processo de ensino e aprendizagem, particularizando as ações da atividade docente. Foram examinadas tanto as locuções verbais, como as ações educacionais da professora, na tentativa de se verificar a ocorrência de mudanças. Observaram-se indícios de mudança no que se refere ao foco de atenção da professora, quando ela analisa seus problemas pedagógicos, na consideração da multideterminação dos problemas de ensino e aprendizagem, na concepção de aluno, no método de ensino, no estabelecimento e valorização, seja da relação professor-aluno, seja da interação de alunos. Os resultados obtidos sinalizaram que a interação reflexiva parece ser um instrumento útil para a formação continuada de professores, indicando caminhos para a sua realização. / Abstract: This study aims to identify the occurrence of changes in a teacher's pedagogical practice during a period that a reflection about this practice was done, based on theoretical propositions. Thus, twenty reflexive meetings were performed with a teacher from the Special Education aiming to propitiate the reflection of his/her pedagogical practice from the analysis of recordings of occurred situations in the classroom. The fostered discussions along this study were based theoretically on concepts of the social-historical approach to look for the comprehension about the aspects related to the educational and learning process, particularizing the actions from the academic activity. Not only the verbal locution was examined but also the teacher's educational actions in the attempt to verify the occurrence of changes. Indications of change were observed about the teacher's focus of attention when he/she analyses his/her pedagogical problems in the consideration of the multi determination of the educational and learning problems, in the student's conception, in the educational method, in the establishment and valorization of the teacher-student relation or students' interaction. The obtained results signalized that the reflexive interaction seems to be a useful instrument for the continued formation of teachers, indicating ways to its performance. / Doutor

Les auteurs qui se sont intéressés à la pratique des éducateurs sociaux s’accordent à penser que l’agir de ces derniers procède avant tout d’un engagement quotidien, d’un souci de l’autre porté par des gestes actualisés en situation, pratique dont la mise en intelligibilité fait appel à une logique plurielle. Or, depuis l’introduction de la gestion managériale et de la sémantique des compétences dans le champ de l’éducation sociale, l’activité des éducateurs se trouve placée sous un éclairage réducteur qui s’intéresse aux seuls faits et gestes mesurables. Aussi, afin de rompre avec une pensée positiviste binaire, nous avons opéré un changement de paradigme en optant pour une approche esthétique qui conçoit l’agir humain non pas morcelé, mais envisagé comme une globalité. Une telle approche coïncide particulièrement bien avec l’activité des éducateurs qui se singularise par un entremêlement des dimensions corporelle, affective et réflexive. Cette hypothèse, nous l’avons mise à l’épreuve grâce à une enquête de terrain menée au travers d’une observation participante dans deux structures éducatives de la région genevoise. Nos analyses reposent sur les contributions de chercheurs, majoritairement situés dans le courant esthétique et pragmatiste, qui se sont intéressés aux théories de l’action. Nos observations ont dans une large mesure permis de crédibiliser notre hypothèse, nous permettant, d’une part, d’identifier quelques axes majeurs qui contribuent à la construction d’une épistémologie de l’agir des éducateurs et, d’autre part, d’ouvrir quelques perspectives pour la formation des praticiens. / Writers who are interested in the practices of special educators agree that their work proceeds above all else as a daily commitment to their concern for others undertaken as context adaptive moves. Making sense of this practice calls for multiple sources of logic. However, since the introduction of management skills and the semantics of those competences in the field of special education, the work of educators has been reduced to a singular focus on measurable acts. Therefore, in order to move away from this positivist binary thinking, we undertook a paradigm shift that opted for an aesthetic approach, one that views human action as whole rather than fragmented. This approach meshes particularly well with educators whose activities are distinguished by their intermingling of physical, emotional and reflective dimensions. We tested this hypothesis through a field survey conducted while engaged in participant observation in two educational facilities in the Geneva area. Our analysis rests on the contributions of researchers interested in the aesthetic and pragmatic dimensions of theories of action. Our observations have in large measure helped to give credibility to our hypothesis. We can, on the one hand, identify some major areas that contribute to the construction of an epistemology of educators’ actions, and, on the other hand, present some possibilities for training practitioners.

<p>När specialpedagogen använder handledning som verktyg söker hon åstadkomma förändring genom att ge pedagogerna råd. Fokus i samtalet riktas framförallt på barnet och på pedagogens arbete. Specialpedagogen kan ses som en slags expert på området barn i svårigheter och den pedagogiska praktiken. När specialpedagogen använder handledning som rum för reflektion söker hon åstadkomma förändring genom att ställa frågor för att stimulera pedagogens tänkande och stödja hennes utforskande av hur problemet kan förstås. Specialpedagogen kan då ses som en slags expert på att föra reflekterande samtal och samtalets fokus riktas huvudsakligen mot pedagogen. Specialpedagogernas repertoar innehåller därmed såväl förmåga att handleda genom att ge pedagogerna råd med utgångspunkt i det enskilda barnet som att stimulera pedagogernas reflekterande över aspekter av sitt arbete.</p><p>Avhandlings syfte är att undersöka hur elva specialpedagoger beskriver och genomför handledning med pedagoger i förskola och grundskola. Intresset riktas mot samtalens innehåll och mot de påverkansprocesser som äger rum i samtalet. Handledningssamtalen studeras ur specialpedagogens perspektiv.</p><p>Specialpedagogers handledningssamtal kan bidra till att vidga synen på objektet för den specialpedagogiska verksamheten såväl som befästa ett individperspektiv på området. I denna studie dominerar användningen av handledning som verktyg. Utmaningen förefaller ligga i att söka skapa villkor som även gynnar användningen av handledning som rum för reflektion.</p>

När specialpedagogen använder handledning som verktyg söker hon åstadkomma förändring genom att ge pedagogerna råd. Fokus i samtalet riktas framförallt på barnet och på pedagogens arbete. Specialpedagogen kan ses som en slags expert på området barn i svårigheter och den pedagogiska praktiken. När specialpedagogen använder handledning som rum för reflektion söker hon åstadkomma förändring genom att ställa frågor för att stimulera pedagogens tänkande och stödja hennes utforskande av hur problemet kan förstås. Specialpedagogen kan då ses som en slags expert på att föra reflekterande samtal och samtalets fokus riktas huvudsakligen mot pedagogen. Specialpedagogernas repertoar innehåller därmed såväl förmåga att handleda genom att ge pedagogerna råd med utgångspunkt i det enskilda barnet som att stimulera pedagogernas reflekterande över aspekter av sitt arbete. Avhandlings syfte är att undersöka hur elva specialpedagoger beskriver och genomför handledning med pedagoger i förskola och grundskola. Intresset riktas mot samtalens innehåll och mot de påverkansprocesser som äger rum i samtalet. Handledningssamtalen studeras ur specialpedagogens perspektiv. Specialpedagogers handledningssamtal kan bidra till att vidga synen på objektet för den specialpedagogiska verksamheten såväl som befästa ett individperspektiv på området. I denna studie dominerar användningen av handledning som verktyg. Utmaningen förefaller ligga i att söka skapa villkor som även gynnar användningen av handledning som rum för reflektion.