Förskolechefers syn på specialpedagogens yrkesroll : En studie av specialpedagogikens funktion och specialpedagogens yrkesroll i förskolan

Abstract The aim of our study was that from a Preschool Manager’s perspective to describe, analyze and understand the function of special education and the Special Education Teacher’s profession within preschools. We conducted twelve interviews with Preschool Managers in two northern Swedish municipalities. From a theoretical base, we used both the relational and categorical perspectives. All answers from these interviews have been analyzed from these perspectives. The result showed that the majority of Preschool Managers considered that, above all, the contribution made by special education was in the form of additional competence – the Special Education Teacher. Furthermore, the results showed that the Special Education Teacher was considered to have the skills to further develop the preschool operations by mentoring other teachers. The mentoring could contribute to the development of working methods directed to the entire group of children thereby facilitating working with individual children in need of special support. In some preschools, the Special Education Teacher was principly used to address and fix an individual child’s problems. Even though the Preschool Managers described the Special Education Teacher as an everyday developer, the result however showed that the Special Education Teacher was most often used to directly intervene with individual children. The result also showed that a good cooperation between Preschool Managers and Special Education Teachers strengthened the special education function within the preschool. Keywords: Special education teachers, preschool, preschool managers, special education