Being open to possibilities : developing a liberatory practice in adult special education

• Main Author: Bjerrisgaard, Linda
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4337

Action research was conducted in a college setting with adult special education students while seeking to answer the question: What do these students really need to know in order to be employable? This paper examines and reflects upon critical incidents, journal writing, transciptions of video sessions and documents of the time involving students and colleagues over a period of six years. Using perspectives from counselling psychology, curriculum theory, and action research six themes emerge as recurring focal points of reflection and change: communication, behavior, patterns, roles, relationships, and structure. Research is concluded through three levels of reflection on person, problem and method. The teacher/researcher moves from a perspective of "doing to students" to one of "being with students" (responsive teaching). It is suggested that Adult Special Education students need to gain an understanding of themselves as learners and as social beings within a social context. Action research methodology became the teaching methodology. === Education, Faculty of === Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of === Graduate