Consultation as a shared, ethical practice: judgement ability in special needs educators’ consultation practice

The ability to make wise judgements is critical in today's school as new public management (NPM) has had a strong influence on the public sector in recent decades. Judgement ability is necessary in all professions and this article turns to judgement ability in consultation, as described in interviews with eight special needs educators (SNE). Specifically, the purpose is to contribute to knowledge of consultation in special needs education by illustrating the use of different knowledge types together with the ethics in Aristotle's concept phronesis, focusing on situational judgement in SNEs' consultation. Theoretically, the article draws on different knowledge categories in combination with the ethics in phronesis. The results picture judgement ability as a multifaceted ability, with ethics as a prominent element as there is strong concern for the teachers in the SNEs' consultation. Consultation appears as a shared, ethical practice. NPM is absent in the results, which may depend on the focus on ethics. Implications for practice for schools and for education of teachers and SNEs are to recognise and discuss ethics in combination with practical and theoretical knowledge in teaching professions.