The purpose of this study is to acquire knowledge about how interaction, participation and inclusion are affected by individual integration for three students in upper secondary education for pupils with learning disabilities. To be individually integrated means, in this case, that the students from compulsory school for children with learning disabilities are taking part in some of the programme-specific courses together with students from the regular upper secondary school. This study gets its inspiration from the ethnographic research approach, and uses passive observations together with interviews with students and their guardians as main methods to collect information. The school in question has not made any adjustments to make the programme-specific courses more adapted to the different needs, which is typical of integration. This study shows that the school presumes that the students with the help from the vocational teacher, but without any special needs educational help, themselves are to adapt to the conditions at the regular upper secondary school. This, together with the lack of special needs educational competence among the vocational teachers, led to a higher level of exclusion and an enhanced feeling of not being up to standard among the integrated students. The results also show that the integrated students maintain a strong wish to be included with the students attending the regular upper secondary school. However, the integrated students are only formally a part of the class, and the level of inclusion is dependent on how the regu- lar upper secondary school students behave and let them be a real part of the class. Similar to other studies about learning disabilities, this study also shows that the parents of the integrated students with learning disabilities tend to have a more positive appreciation of the social situation than both the regular upper secondary school students, as well as the integrat- ed ones. / Studiens syfte är att få kunskap om hur samspel, delaktighet och tillhörighet påverkas av individintegrering för tre elever inskrivna i gymnasiesärskolan. Att vara individintegrerad betyder i detta fall att eleverna från gymnasiesärskolan läser vissa karaktärskurser tillsammans med elever från ordinarie gymnasiet. Studien hämtar inspiration från den etnografiska forskningsansatsen och har passiva observationer samt intervjuer med elever och deras vårdnadshavare som huvudsaklig insamlingsmetod. Den aktuella skolan har inte gjort några anpassningar för att anpassa utbildningen till de varierande behov som är utmärkande för inkludering som princip. Denna studie visar att skolan förutsätter att eleverna med hjälp av yrkesläraren, men utan specialpedagogisk hjälp, själva ska anpassa sig efter de villkor som gäller på ordinarie gymnasiet. Detta, tillsammans med brister i den specialpedagogiska kompetensen bland yrkeslärarna, har istället bidragit till förstärkt utanförskap och en känsla av otillräcklighet hos de integrerade eleverna. Resultatet visar också att de integrerade eleverna har en stark önskan om att vara delaktiga med eleverna på ordinarie gymnasiet. Eleverna har dock endast en formell tillhörighet i klas- sen på ordinarie gymnasiet och är helt beroende av på vilket sätt övriga elever i klassen väljer att släppa in dem i klassgemenskapen. I linje med tidigare studier om funktionsnedsättningar, visar även denna studie att elevernas föräldrar tenderar att uppskatta den sociala situationen mer positivt än såväl elevernas klass- kamrater utan funktionsnedsättningar som eleverna själva.

The aim of this study was to investigate the demands, pressures and needs experienced by teachers in special needs schools (referred to as schools with learners with barriers to learning), with the aim of providing guidelines for teacher support to promote wellness. To attain this aim, the study had the following specific objectives or aims: 1. To determine the demands made on and pressures experienced by teachers as stressors. 2. To determine the needs which teachers experience to alleviate these stressors that arise as a result of the demands and pressures experienced by teachers in a special needs school. 3. The provision of guidelines for teacher support in order to promote wellness. 4. To make recommendations for the promotion of the wellness of teachers in a special needs school. A qualitative research design was considered to be the most appropriate for gaining in-depth insight into the demands, pressures and needs of these teachers. Data was collected through phenomenological interviews and direct observations. This data was then organised into categories and subcategories and direct quotations were presented verbatim. Research findings were compared with the relevant literature to identify existing information and possible differences, and the findings were then recorded in the form of two articles. As explained above, the primary goal of this study was to identify and describe the demands and needs experienced by teachers in special needs schools and to formulate guidelines for support to promote wellness. The study also showed that students need mentally and physically fit adults who can guide them as they find their way in the world. It is thus necessary to develop and promote the use of programmes and instruments to identify specific needs and stressors, so as to more accurately predict, prevent and alleviate demands that can be detrimental to health, and to provide and support guidelines to promote wellness in teachers.. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Das übergeordnete Ziel der vorliegenden Dissertation ist eine Analyse eines Konzeptes der bewegten Schule hinsichtlich seiner Bedeutung, Eignung und Möglichkeiten der Übertragung für die Arbeit mit Schülern mit dem Förderschwerpunkt geistige Entwicklung vorzunehmen, da keine generelle Übertragbarkeit des allgemeinpädagogischen Konzeptes auf die Spezifika von Schülern mit diesem Förderschwerpunkt angezeigt ist. Dafür erfolgen als Teilzielstellungen eine Darstellung der Grundlagen des Konzeptes der bewegten Schule und der Pädagogik im Förderschwerpunkt geistige Entwicklung sowie eine Beschreibung der Bedeutung und Potenzen von Bewegung sowie des Konzeptes für Menschen mit (geistiger) Behinderung. Darüber hinaus wird der Umfang der Integration der Konzeptbereiche in die Schulpraxis erfasst, Umsetzungsprobleme identifiziert sowie die Eignung eingeschätzt. In Ableitung daraus wird eine Erarbeitung erforderlicher Modifikationen, Akzentuierungen und Ergänzungen der Ziele, Inhalte und Methoden des Konzeptes für den Förderschwerpunkt vorgenommen. Zur Untersuchung des Forschungsgegenstandes wurde auf Ebene der Hermeneutik eine Literatur- und Dokumentenanalyse sowie auf der Ebene der Empirik eine quantitative schriftliche Befragung mittels Fragebogen durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse der Forschungsarbeit zeigen, dass Bewegung im Allgemeinen und dem Konzept der bewegten Schule im Speziellen auch im Kontext des Förderschwerpunktes geistige Entwicklung eine besondere Bedeutung zuzuschreiben ist. Das Konzept ist grundsätzlich zur Anwendung in diesem Förderschwerpunkt geeignet, bedarf im Detail jedoch spezifischer didaktisch-methodischer Empfehlungen, die sich u. a. aus den Bedeutungsperspektiven von Bewegung für den Personenkreis, Grundlagen der Pädagogik im Förderschwerpunkt geistige Entwicklung und den konkret auftretenden Umsetzungsschwierigkeiten ergeben.

137 f. / Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-04-25T18:37:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Diana Cardoso.pdf: 643826 bytes, checksum: 24ae80b1e26893a6fc929332fabcefa0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora Lopes(silopes@ufba.br) on 2013-04-30T20:22:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Diana Cardoso.pdf: 643826 bytes, checksum: 24ae80b1e26893a6fc929332fabcefa0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-04-30T20:22:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Diana Cardoso.pdf: 643826 bytes, checksum: 24ae80b1e26893a6fc929332fabcefa0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar a concepção do professor sobre o TDAH (Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade) na identificação, caracterização e gestão dos comportamentos desatento, hiperativo e impulsivo dos alunos em sala de aula. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram quarenta professores que lecionam nas classes de educação infantil, ensino fundamental e ensino médio em escolas públicas e / ou particulares da cidade de Salvador, participantes dos cursos ministrados pela mestranda sobre TDAH entre o 2º semestre de 2005 e o 1º semestre de 2006. O referencial teórico foi construído com base em: Barkley (2002), Mattos (2003), Arruda (2006), Vasconcellos (2002), Vigotski (1998) e outros autores. O método adotado foi a análise de conteúdo obtido a partir das informações contidas no instrumento utilizado para a coleta dos dados: um questionário aberto contendo 11 (onze) questões que foram distribuídas em três categorias: a primeira referiu-se a caracterização dos comportamentos desatento, hiperativo e impulsivo; a segunda dedicou-se ao aspectos social e emocional e a terceira tratou da práxis pedagógica. Diante da análise dos dados, observou-se a semelhança da descrição das características dos comportamentos desatento, hiperativo e impulsivo, feita pelos professores, com os critérios diagnósticos do TDAH apresentados pelo Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Transtornos Mentais - DSM IV. Constatou-se, assim, que o conhecimento dos professores sobre o TDAH, consiste apenas em caracterizar os comportamentos desatento, hiperativo e impulsivo. Os resultados mostraram o desconhecimento e despreparo deles para lidar com o aluno que apresenta estes tipos de comportamento em sala de aula; bem como os sentimentos de impotência, intolerância e incapacidade vivenciados pelo professor. Por fim, evidenciou-se a importância de fomentar discussão sobre o modelo de gestão e metodologia usado em sala de aula, pois o estudo revelou a tendência dos professores em atribuir o comportamento inadequado do aluno a causas familiares, emocionais e sociais, esquecendo de refletir sobre a práxis pedagógica adotada nas escolas. / Salvador

In this study the emotional responses of mothers to their children with learning difficulties were identified and explored. A narrative research design was used to capture a chapter in the life stories of eleven mothers whose children were attending a school specialising in ‘remedial’ education, relating their experiences and emotional responses regarding their child’s learning difficulties. Data was collected by means of individual interviews, letters from the mothers, field notes in the form of journal entries written by the researcher, as well as individual feedback and collaboration sessions with the mothers. Data was analysed by means of several phases of theme analysis, after which, through a final analysis, 18 emotional response themes were identified. Three emotional response themes were identified as exception themes. The 18 emotional response themes, along with the three exception themes, were then clustered around joyful, sad, fearful and angry emotional response categories. After feedback and collaboration sessions, the themes were then further interpreted through a final level of analysis to weave a narrative of mothers’ emotional responses to their child with learning difficulties. This study found that mothers experience complex emotions in response to their child with learning difficulties. The strongest emotional response themes that emerged, which were reported by all the mothers were frustration, happiness and love. The more positive emotional responses were mentioned in relation to their child being accepted at the school specialising in ‘remedial’ education, as well as to an increased understanding of their child’s learning difficulties. Mothers mentioned that they experienced frustration and a lack of support as regards being helped to understand their child’s learning difficulties better. It was thus found that an understanding of their child’s learning difficulties appeared to be related to a decrease in negative emotional responses and an increase in more positive emotional responses. All the mothers in the study indicated an emotional response of love towards their child with learning difficulties. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Principals within the Swedish school system have a rather extensive mission, where they lead the inner work of the school, including the organization of how the school work with special needs education. With that said, principals play a very important part when it comes to creating communities of practice, a practice where the pedagogues can participate according to culture standards and within special activities in relation to the special needs education.  In a community of practice focusing on special needs education, one can build a practice based view on how education should be organized and that in turn is a mean for development. There could be some challenges in this work though – challenges regarding visions about special needs education and differences in visions created by principals compared to visions created by SENCOs (special educational needs coordinators). Who’s in charge of special needs education practice when visions differs? It becomes a question in relation to autonomy and autonomous processes within the special needs education practice.  Using a sociology perspective, focusing mainly on social practice, social systems and social facts, but also professional autonomy, this study uses a qualitative method to give more knowledge about principals’ organization of the special needs education practice. The study uses thematically opened interviews of principals in Swedish compulsory schools to collect empirical data and the analytical method uses codes, themes and conclusions related to the central concepts of the study: communities of practice, organizational culture and autonomy.  The results of the study shows that the principals actively work with the creation of communities of practice within the special needs education practice but the result also shows problematic aspects of implementation of special needs education visions in ordinary education and everyday work. The results also show that principals consider themselves to have the outmost responsibility for the decisionmaking in special needs education practice. The results show signs of difficulty in delegation even though the principals show explicit trust in SENCOs.  The conclusion of the study is that there are difficulties in the transfer of visions within a special needs community of practice while organizational conditions play a part in limiting autonomous work. The principals participating in the study face similar problems with student health care not being seen as a part of the regular education work, and there seem to be problems with teachers expressing issues concerning adjustments in the classroom in order to care for the need of each pupil in school.

Drawing on theories about and previous research on second language (L2) motivation and   students with special needs, the present study adopts a content analysis approach to examine how L2 English teachers, in Swedish secondary schools, motivate students within Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to develop their English language. This topic was investigated by interviewing three teachers at different schools with experience of working with ASD students. A semi-structured interview format was used. The findings revealed that the teachers used many different methods in order to motivate their students. They deliberately planned for their students to feel included in the plan for their respective education in English and often connected assignments to individual students’ interests. Further, they praised their students’ positive qualities and tried to work so that the students saw that there was a ‘profit’ from completing each assignment. Furthermore, the investigation revealed that different study materials could be useful for students within ASD. One of the teachers had received advice from The National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools to apply to the teaching of students in special needs education; she found the suggested advice complex.

Studien syftar till att undersöka hur lärare i grundsärskolans ämnesområde kommunikation undervisar och vilka läromedel/modeller lärarna använder. Frågeställningen lyder: - Hur beskriver lärare undervisningen ämnesområdet kommunikation?  - Vilka läromedel/modeller använder lärarna i grundsärskolan för undervisning i ämnesområdet kommunikation?  Studien lutar sig mot det sociokulturella perspektivet (Vygotskiji,1978) där språk, kommunikation och interaktion med andra är grunden för lärande. Studien antar också ett didaktiskt perspektiv som stöd där lärarens undervisning i grundsärskolans ämnesområde kommunikation är central. Didaktiska frågorna vad/innehåll samt undervisning/hur skapar ett ramverk i sorteringen av intervjudata.Studien använder kvalitativ metod med semi strukturerade intervjuer. Fem ämnesområdeslärare i fyra olika kommuner deltar i studien. Studien har ett målstyrt (Bryman, 2018) urval av informanter som är verksamma i olika kommuner för att få en vidare bild av hur undervisningen ser ut. Resultatet visar att lärarna använder eleven och kursplanen som stöd i utformningen av undervisningen. Eleven har ett starkt inflytande i skapandet av undervisningen som kan utövas enskilt eller i grupp. Undervisningen lärarna använder – hur de undervisar - är träning i AKK, meningsfulla vardagsaktiviteter, rutiner/strukturer för att skapa kommunikativa mönster Olika läromedel som återkommer är böcker, bokstäver, digitala hjälpmedel som smartboard, Ipad samt olika kommunikationsmodeller som är individuellt anpassade. Upplevelser anpassade efter eleven använder samtliga lärare, upplevelserna kan vara utflykt till skogen eller enkla sinnesupplevelser. Undervisningen har även olika förutsättningar organisatoriskt vilket bidrar till hur undervisningen utformas, exempelvis beroende på andra professioner och samverkansformer. Resultatet visar även att lärarna använder olika schemastrukturer som påverkar val av läromedlen och undervisning. / The study aims to investigate how teachers in the special need school's teach ​​communication and which teaching aids/models the teachers use. The question is: - How do teachers describe teaching ​​communication?- Which teaching aids/models do the teachers in special needs school use for teaching​​ communication? The study leans towards the socio-cultural perspective (Vygotskiji, 1978) where language, communication and interaction with others are the basis for learning. The study also adopts a didactic perspective as support where the teacher's teaching in the special needs school's ​​communication is central. The didactic questions what and how create a framework for sorting interview data.The study uses a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews. Five special needs teachers in four different municipalities participate in the study. The study has a goal-directed (Bryman, 2018) selection of informants who are active in different municipalities in order to get a broader picture of teaching.The results show that the teachers use the student and the curriculum as support in the design of teaching. The student has a strong influence on the design of the teaching which can be practiced individually or in groups. The teaching the teachers use is training in AKK, meaningful everyday activities, routines/structures for creating communicative patterns, books, letters, digital aids such as smartboards, iPads and various communication models that are individually adapted. Experiences adapted to the student are used by all teachers, the experiences can be trips to the forest or simple sensory experiences. The teaching also has different organizational prerequisites, which contributes to how the teaching is designed, for example depending on other professions and forms of collaboration. The results also show that the teachers use different schedule structures that influence the choice of teaching materials and teaching.

Syftet med vår kvalitativa ansats var att undersöka de olika anpassningsstrategier som verksamma pedagoger använder sig av på grupp och individnivå för att främja alla barns delaktighet i samlingen på förskolan. Med vår studie hade vi för avsikt att besvara följande forskarfrågor; “Vilka strategier använder pedagoger för att anpassa samlingen för att främja deltagandet hos alla barn?” och “Vad anser pedagoger som väsentligt i anpassning av samling?”. Våra teoretiska utgångspunkter för vår studie var Bronfenbrenners ekologiska systemteori och delaktighetsmodellen, som vi använde som ramverk i analysen av resultatet. Som metod använde vi oss av fokusgruppsintervjuer och i analysen av data använde vi tematisk analys som metod. Vi gjorde ett kriteriebaserat urval och ett snöbollsurval, där våra deltagare var verksamma förskollärare, barnskötare och pedagoger inom förskolans verksamhet. Resultaten från studien visade på dels hur viktigt det relationella aspekterna är, för utan att ha en relation till barnen så blir det svårt att anpassa och hitta anpassningar som fungerar. En viktig slutsats är att anpassningar som görs på grupp och individnivå, görs utifrån barnens förutsättningar i den utsträckning som pedagoger har möjligheten att göra, och detta kan se olika ut beroende på var man befinner sig. / The purpose of our qualitative study was to investigate the different adaptation strategies that active educators use at group and individual level to promote the participation of all children at circle time at preschool. With our small-scale study, we intended to answer the following research questions; "What strategies do educators use to adapt circle time and support participation for all children?" and "Which adaptations are the most essential to according to the educators?". Our theoretical starting points for our study were Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory and the participation model, which we used as a framework in the analysis of the results. As a method we used focus group interviews and in the analysis of the data we used thematic analysis as a method. We made a criterion-based selection and a snowball selection, where our participants became active preschool teachers, childminders, and educators within the Swedish preschool context. The results from the study showed how important the relational aspects are, because without having a relationship with the children it becomes difficult to adapt and find adaptations that work. An important conclusion is that adaptations made at group and individual level are made based on the children's conditions to the extent that educators can do, and this can look different depending on where you are.

This study was aimed to explore challenges of students with disabilities in higher education institutions in Namibia, as narrated and illustrated by themselves. Mixed methodologies, with specific reference to a small-scale quantitative survey and extensive qualitative design were employed as tools to understand the prevalence, extent and nature of challenges of students with disabilities in their pursuance of higher education in Namibia. Data was thus collected in two phases. The first phase consisted of a ten-item quantitative-survey which was largely used to determine the prevalence of students with disabilities in higher education institutions, and basic information regarding institutional standpoints pertaining to students with disabilities. Data acquired through this survey confirmed the prevalence of students with disabilities in Namibian higher education institutions. The second phase represented the qualitative design whereby data was collected through three main methodologies namely a narrative diary-based approach, a photo-voice and individual interviews. These methodologies ensured reliability of the data through triangulation. The study confirmed that inclusive education at the higher education level in Namibia was largely achieved through the goal of access, as all higher education institutions have admitted students with observable as well as hidden disabilities. However, a major finding of the study was that support and provision for students with disabilities was rendered in fragmented portions within and across institutions, and that the goals of equity and equality have not yet been achieved to the desired degree, if inclusive education was to become a reality for students with disabilities in higher education in Namibia. Students reported challenges related to physical accessibility of institutions; unavailability of educational material in alternative, as opposed to traditional formats; lack of sensitivity and skills of staff; as well as lack of structured support systems. The study also revealed that, notwithstanding the challenges students faced in their institutions, students with disabilities continued to perform their academic duties to the best of their abilities and were driven by their individual personal philosophies, many of which spoke of perseverance and courage, to make a success of their studies. / D. Ed. (Inclusive Education) / Language Education Arts and Culture