Abstract:

Education of pupils with profound intellectual disability places various demands on the specialists, children and parents. It is a complex process conditioned by the individual’s internal resources (intellectual, physical, social and communicative potential, degree of self-reliance) and the external resources of the environment (social attitudes, readiness of the community and institutions to accept and support individuals with profound intellectual disability, financial support...). Education generates also various expectations of the family towards the child, the child’s development in various domains (such as cognitive, social, emotional, physical and communicative). The main purpose of the research conducted in Poland in 2018 and 2019 was theoretical, empirical and practical analysis of various aspects of fatherhood in the families raising children with profound intellectual disability. The paper presents and analyses the expectations of fathers toward the system of education at different stages of the child’s life from early childhood to adulthood. The study involved 15 fathers raising children with profound intellectual disability. The interviewees were from 55 to 74 years old. Each interviewee signed a written consent to participate in the study. The analysis concerned their various experiences over the years and their impact on their role as fathers through the key question: What is it like to be father? The interviews lasted from 120 to 240 minutes and were recorded on a voice recorder. We used a narrative interview which is similar to in-depth, free conversations. Through follow-up questions, we were trying to encourage the interviewees to tell a story of their experience of social exclusion. We analysed the information shared during the participant interviews using analytical methods that align with a grounded theory because it involves building a theory on the basis of systematically obtained data that directly relate to the observed aspect of social reality. Our analysis of the transcribed interviews was guided by GT principles, which include limiting the researcher’s pre-conceptualisation and focusing on theoretical sampling. We divided the data into smaller units, called incidents, which we then conceptualised and related to other incidents. Our general analytical procedure was to constantly and iteratively compare incidents. The research findings show that the fathers’ expectations towards the system of education evolve as the child grows older. The reports given by fathers indicate that they have expectations relating not only to the child’s development but also expectations relating to their own fatherhood, their role and father and husband in the family. At every stage of their children’s education fathers had a number of expectations and needs which, as the study shows, have not always been satisfied. This was conditioned, for example, by: The structure of education system for people with profound intellectual disability in Poland, stress experienced over the years, emotional experience, the fathers’ characters, the way in which they have interpreted challenging situations experienced by them.

Keywords:

Father, education, profound intellectual disability, expectations.