Döfstumlärare - specialpedagog - lärare för döva och hörselskadade : en lärarutbildnings innehåll och rationalitetsförskjutningar

Sammanfattning: (Teacher of the Deaf-Mute – Teacher of Special Education – Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The Content and Rationality Changes of a Teacher Education Program).This dissertation is a study of some aspects of Teachers of the Deaf (ToD) education programs using the theoretical perspectives of symbolic interactionism and concepts of rationalitites. Changes in Swedish ToD teacher education from 1873 to the 1990s are examined through the text analysis of documents such as government regulations and syllabi and other texts such as education journals. It is argued that, parallel with the dominant rationality of the period, strands of other rationalities are to be found. In an ongoing struggle for power, one dominant rationality is challenged and gradually replaced by another. The research indicates the dominance of a patriarchal values-rationality in the decades following 1873, an instrumentaltechnical rationality during the 1930s to the 1960s and a communicative rationality from the 1970s.Research was carried out at the National Upper Secondary School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in order to understand what characterizes Deaf education and the ToDs’ work, and what kind of professional skills are therefore required. The research was based on teacher interviews, student questionnaires and teaching observations in classes. Learning processes within a ToD teacher education course, as perceived by ToD students, are analysed by a study of written reflections, seminar observations and transcipts from tape-recorded seminars. ToD teacher education programs at universities in Washington D.C. and Edinburgh are also analysed.A model for ToD education is discussed. It is argued that even if the dimension of essentialism stressing ToD basic skills and knowledge is important, the main theories for understanding the ToD education process are communicative rationality and interactionism.It is further argued that, at societal level, the dominance of different rationalities implies different meanings of the ToD socialisation process, mediated through different historical and cultural contexts.