家成、業就？擔任特教老師的非障礙手足之邊界跨越經驗探究

Double Special: A Qualitative Exploration of Work-Family Border-Crossing Experiences of Nondisabled Siblings With a Career in Special Education

工作與家庭這兩個生活領域具備相異的角色預期跟文化，卻又相連及互相影響。社會觀感中仍慣於將身心障礙者家庭視為需要幫助的對象，但有一群非障礙手足受到家庭經驗影響，選擇進入特殊教育領域成為老師，接著又將專業訓練帶入家中。在工作與家庭研究持續成長的今日，這群在工作及家庭領域都屬特殊的族群會有加倍的需求還是能夠成為兩個生活領域間的橋樑，仍沒有充分的研究資訊。本研究奠基於工作－家庭邊界理論，聚焦在擔任特教老師的非障礙手足身上，旨在探究其工作與家庭間的邊界跨越經驗。研究團隊訪談五位障礙者的姊妹，藉由持續比較法分析深度訪談逐字稿並與理論及文獻對話進行編碼與架構修正。作為第一篇探索我國特教領域中邊界跨越者經驗的文章，本研究發現整體而言，受訪者提及之邊界跨越經驗多為正向陳述。其次，受訪者的工作與家庭領域混合區域大，易出現障礙相關知能的雙向滲透。再來，受訪者的邊界跨越經驗影響與領域中重要人物的互動，進而幫助他們劃分不同情境中的角色定位。最後，受訪者在混合區域中對於障礙的觀感不斷變動，反應出兩個生活領域邊界的彈性變動，但這個變動亦受個人背景影響。根據研究結果，在未來研究上建議持續探究擔任助人工作之非障礙手足經驗；實務上則建議將非障礙手足視為資源，支持他們從個案倡權走向理念倡權，使他們成為家庭與專業人員間的橋樑。

Purpose: Studies have documented work and family as two interconnected domains with distinctive sets of values and cultures. Despite the expansion of the work-family literature, the experiences of individuals who have a brother or sister with disabilities and are currently working as special educators (hereinafter “special educator siblings”) are understudied. For nondisabled siblings who choose to pursue special education-related careers, this life choice could be attributed to their experience of growing up with someone with disabilities. Furthermore, their identity as nondisabled siblings may in turn affect how they interact with students with disabilities. On a societal level, families of individuals with disabilities are often considered objects of assistance. On the other hand, special educators require unique pedagogical training to educate students with additional learning needs. Whether special educator siblings require higher-intensity support and whether they actually benefit from merging what they have learned from work and home have thus far remained unclear. Therefore, this study explored the work- family border-crossing experiences of special educator siblings. Methods: Grounded in work-family border theory, the researchers interviewed five participants who met the predetermined criteria (i.e., working as a full-time special educator and being a nondisabled sibling of at least one individual with disabilities). The five participants were all women aged between 27 and 37 years. Only one was married but had yet to have her own children. Among the five participants, three worked in elementary schools, one worked as an itinerant teacher, and one served at a day center. The types of disability of their brothers or sisters included visual impairment, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, and multiple disabilities (i.e., intellectual disability with cerebral palsy). The research team, consisting of three nondisabled siblings and one family researcher, analyzed the interviews verbatim. Results/Findings: A constant comparative analysis of the semistructured interview transcripts revealed the following main themes: (a) According to the participants, their border-crossing experiences were generally positive; (b) overlaps in disability-related knowledge and skillsets enlarged the blending area of the two domains, providing a higher level of permeability; (c) participants' border-crossing experiences influenced how they interacted with other domain members (i.e., colleagues, students, and students' parents at work) and border-keepers (i.e., parents and siblings with disabilities at home), which defined their roles in each domain respectively with the flexibility of such borders; and (d) border-crossing experiences in the blending area shaped participants' perspectives of disabilities, but they might also have varied by their demographic backgrounds. Conclusions/Implications: This study serves as the initial exploratory research on this unique population and calls for further investigations into how special educator siblings become resilient when they pursue helping professions. Additionally, the findings suggest that special educator siblings have the potential to foster trusting family-professional partnerships. They may use their border-crossing permeability and flexibility to help facilitate communication and translate their professional knowledge into information for families to comprehend more easily. Professional organizations may establish a list of special educator siblings as a workforce for hosting workshops or founding sibling support groups.