Digital systems for special educational needs documentation in Swedish preschools: new organisational maps for municipalities and professionals

Abstract

This article examines the use of digital documentation systems for preschool special education in Swedish municipalities. Drawing on concepts of organisational learning, the research examines the extent to which municipalities use digital systems and their rationales for such use. A survey of municipalities’ use of digital documentation systems indicated three different system types, and findings from interviews with officials in six municipalities suggest two core rationales that guide documentation systems for special education in preschools. The first rationale focuses on managing knowledge rooted in systems’ formal properties and legal-regulatory frameworks. The second concerns managing professional practice through documentation processes, access, and communication. Digital solutions have consequences for managing and processing documentation and the utilisation of professional knowledge. For the municipality to be a learning organisation, greater interactions are needed between the two, and special educational knowledge needs to play a greater role and be generated and stored through documentation practice.