Running Head: social validation of services for youth with ebd

The figure presents the egocentric professional network of the SE teacher in a visual form
In the field of education within the principal participant’s school, the other teachers and school assistants functioned as experts regarding particular students he was working with. This student-related information affected the planning and providing of special education. In addition, the school nurse, school curator, and school psychologist were part of the principal participant’s professional network, and were consulted according to their very specialized expert areas. The curator had specific student-, group-, and classroom-related knowledge and expertise whereas the school psychologist carried information from assessments and investigations concerning students. Moreover, the SE teacher considered the school nurse to be an especially important expert on student-related issues, because of the nurse’s long history in the school. The SE teacher’s within-school network also involved the principal and school secretary as experts of administrative issues. The school secretary, especially, was a link to the provincial department of education.
Further, in the field of social work and health care the Centre of Family Counseling and Child Health as well as the Child Psychiatric Outpatient Department represented bodies external to the school organization that had significant expertise concerning student-related issues. In the case of assessing and investigating students, the Child Psychiatric Outpatient department played an essential role. The social worker of the Centre for Family Counseling and Child Health was an expert with whom the SE teacher kept contact according to the problems concerning students in special education.
The SE teacher named as his experts two colleagues (the SE teachers A and B) in the same town representing the same domain of expertise. While addressing their collaboration, the SE teacher highlighted both professional and social dimensions on those collegial connections. On the one hand, the principal participant revised knowledge, materials and experiences of special education, and on other hand the collegial connections provided support and encouragement to do his duties.