”Pre-school teachers’, other professionals’, and parental concerns on cooperation in pre-school: All around children in need of special support: The Swedish perspective”.

The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the experiences of parents, child carers and other professionals working together in relation to children who require special support at Swedish daycare facilities.

The author concludes that parents, child carers and professionals place emphasis on consensus and knowledge as important factors for constructive collaboration. There are big differences in the degree to which parties were able to cooperate. Child carers and professionals emphasised that knowledge as one of the most important parts of their cooperation. In practice parents considered they were inadequately informed by the professionals with regard to special care and their rights. All parties experienced that the routines of the institution enhanced their collaboration. The child carers mentioned that it is important to speak with parents when they dropped off and picked up their children at the institution. The lack of time, personnel cuts and large groups of children were considered to be problematic for collaboration. Stability of the staff is seen as an important factor for constructive collaboration.

Twenty interviews of 40 to 70 minutes with eight parents, seven child carers and five professionals were conducted. The professionals included a special-needs teacher, three speech therapists and a psychologist. During the interviews, participants were asked about their experience in cooperating with each other and what they regard as obstacles and opportunities for their collaboration.

Sandberg, A. og Ottosson, L. (2010). ”Pre-school teachers’, other professionals’, and parental concerns on cooperation in pre-school: All around children in need of special support: The Swedish perspective”. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14(8), 741-754.