Identities of special needs education in the discourse of Finnish professors of the field

Abstract

This article examines both the discourses upon which Finnish special needs education professors draw when speaking about their field, and the consequent identities for it. The research material consists of theme interviews with 10 professors of special needs education and is analysed from a socio-constructionist, discourse analytical perspective. The results show that the professors defined special needs education from two separate viewpoints: on the basis of their own personal views, or on the basis of the classical definitions of special needs education. The professors spoke about the field through five different discourses: professional, emancipatory, relativistic, autonomous and critical. The majority of these discourses constructed special needs education as an important part of the science field, although the relativistic discourse problematised its position as an independent discipline.

Keywords:

• special needs education
• academic identity
• discourse analysis
• professor

Acknowledgements

This study was partly funded by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Academy of Finland.