Vad kommunikation vill säga : En iscensättande studie om specialpedagogers yrkesroll och kunskapande samtal

This thesis is about the role of special educators in (pre)school and about developing democratic communication. It is based on the theory of argumentation developed by Jürgen Habermas. The aim of the study was to describe the conditions that create possibilities for deliberative communication between special educators, parents, students and colleagues in (pre)school. My overarching aim was to contribute to a more distinct description of special educators´ field of knowledge. I have used a social constructionist approach. The project has been based in the field of action research. A precondition for deliberative dialogues in (pre)schools is to start out from a communicative perspective. That means that (1) some theoretical conditions have been made apparent, (2) knowledge about these conditions have been shown to be crucial for using an aware communicative perspective in a speech act, (3) an aware communicative perspective is revealed through procedures of knowledge. These procedures were understood by and made evident to me as a result of network meeting discussions. A communicative perspective, a special educator as facilitator and procedures of knowledge are found to be crucial for collaboration using a deliberative attitude in (pre)schools. Today there is often a lack of pedagogical professionals in (pre)schools who can act as a link between authorities, organisations, professionals and parents, and who have the authority to pose challenging pedagogical questions. This can be changed if the role of special educators is, instead of teacher, defined as communicative special educators working with dialogues on different levels.

Att lämna en värld : Om utgångsprocesser ur Jehovas vittnen

It is an everyday experience to realize that things do not turn out the as expected. But what if you realize that everything you have so far experienced as reality is illusion? This article is about former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who have had doubts about what they previously believed to be the Truth. The article also treats the exit process, from being a Jehovah’s Witness to becoming an ex-Jehovah’s Witness. The data consists of twenty qualitative interviews with ten Jehovah’s Witnesses and twenty qualitative interviews with ten former Jehovah’s Witnesses. The data also include a diary written during four years preceding an exit from the organization. The analysis was made through thematic concentration. Ontologically the analysis and the article are based on a constructionist view though it is mainly empirical with no further theoretical assessment. However, to be able to understand the results a contextual frame is sketched with two factors affecting members who make an exit. First there are tying factors that bind the person closer to the organization; these are closeness and friendship and confirmation. A secluding factor is something that secludes the member from the outside society; these factors are the work situation and »closed doors«. With high values on these factors the exit process will be more arduous. The results are presented through a process model in which different phases or steps in the exit process are described. The following steps in the process are: (1) different levels of doubts; (2) trying out doubts; (3) turning points; (4) different decisions; (5) different steps in execution; (6) floating; (7) relative neutrality. The process is defined as an altogether ambivalent and emotionally tough experience, but other parts of life may be affected as well, such as employment, social life, family life and career.