Samtal för förståelse : Hur utvecklas yrkeskunnande genom samtal?

Sammanfattning: The present study belongs in the tradition of working-life research. In this tradition, the point of departure lies in working people’s experience in their occupation. Through reflection on this experience and studies in the occupational field the researcher seeks to elucidate and develop occupational knowledge and skills.As a teacher I have long been preoccupied with how teachers may develop their occupational skills. Teachers wish to promote others’ learning, but how do they themselves learn to be good teachers? In the present work I wish to elucidate how teachers can develop their occupational skills through discourse. Equally, I wish to gain a better understanding of my own professional experience as a teacher and supervisor. These two goals are interconnected.I hope to develop an insight that not only shows my dilemma in a supervision situation but also illustrates the teacher’s challenge when he or she is to develop professional skill as a supervisor. On the one hand the supervisor needs to listen with an open mind to the person being supervised; but on the other, given knowledge places so many constraints upon listening that openness becomes impossible. Can the teacher experience his or her situation in such a way that this dilemma may be avoided? To deepen and modify my answer to this question I carried out fieldwork in my own occupational field. I have studied such teachers’ accounts of their meetings with children as have emerged from two discourse situations: child conferences and group supervisions.The teachers’ discourse shows that the issue is to understand what one has experienced – understanding is the starting point for the development of occupational skill. An attitude of open listening, to oneself and in interaction with others, is a precondition for occupational skills to grow. In other words, a space for reflection is needed if understanding is to be achieved through the medium of discourse.