Browsing by Author "Marjoniemi, Minna-Mari"

The foundation of our school system lays on the perceptions of normality and deviant. Special education and the dual system are structured in classification, choosing and naming the special. The ontologies of special or normality are yet to be defined, instead they are being understood as self-evident. The equality of students does not actualize. The ideological goal of the inclusive education is de- and reconstructing these othering structures. Furthermore, it aims for reinventing the ways of thinking and talking in relation to what has been named as deviant. Tanzania is among the poorest countries in the world. Since gaining its’ independence there has been efforts in building the school system more inclusive. Yet approximately two million disabled children are still left outside the school system. Superstitious beliefs about disability and its’ background factors are still prevailing in Tanzanian society. Consequently, this causes the discrimination and even violence towards people with disabilities. The purpose of this study is to explore the descriptions of Tanzanian educational science students about inclusive education. In addition, it aims to examine how ‘special’ discursively constructs and positions in these descriptions. This study is qualitative in nature and is positioned in the field of social constructionism. Two students from the university of Dar es Salaam were interviewed using theme interviews. Interviews were analyzed using the method of discourse analysis. The interviewees produced contradictory descriptions about inclusive education. The discourse about special was characterized by normal – abnormal –dichotomy, in which disability was referred as abnormality. Inclusive education had both conditional and unconditional forms in interviewees’ descriptions. The dichotomy of normal and abnormal dominated both descriptions. In their descriptions, the interviewees operated in the field of special. Depending on how they contextualized themselves within their descriptions, they positioned themselves either in or outside the field of special. The results suggest that the societal prejudices toward people with disabilities and the idea of inclusive education creates contradictions which affect the interfaces of professionalism of the future educational professionals in Tanzania.