Browsing by Author "Väänänen, Tuomo"

Social and emotional problems in school have increased in the 21st century. According to the local school principle, every student has the right to sufficient support for their devel-opment and learning. The idea of inclusion has changed teachers’ everyday work in schools. Teachers need a variety of special pedagogical skills and ability to cooperate The purpose of this research was to study teachers’ experiences on supporting pupils with socio-emotional challenges. The aim was to map out their everyday challenges and functional forms of cooperation. There were two research questions: 1) what kind of problems teachers face in their work when dealing with challenging students, and 2) what kind of methods teachers have found useful in dealing with challenging situations? The research was carried out as a case study. The researcher interviewed an experi-enced special education teacher who was responsible for teaching a challenging small special education group. The researcher was interested in the interviewee’s expertise and long experience in guiding students with socio-emotional challenges. The interview was carried out during the spring of 2019. An in-depth interview was utilized to bring forth the teacher’s voice and thoughts. In addition to the interview, the teacher wrote down his thoughts afterwards. The research showed that there are numerous reasons behind the socio-emotional chal-lenges of the students. Functional interaction between teacher and student turned out to be the most influential thing in predicting problem situations. An experienced teacher aims to create a trust-based relationship both with the students and their guardians.