Browsing by study line "Special Education"

The aim of this thesis was to explore teachers' perceptions and experiences of normative whiteness and white power. This is important because whiteness is built into the education system, and it is a way of maintaining racist perceptions and values. It also allows for the maintenance of ableist values and perceptions, as whiteness has historically been associated with notions of intelligence, efficiency, and ability, for example, thus justifying racism through categories associated with disability. The thesis therefore drew on an intersectional framework identifying "race" and disability to identify the ways in which ideologies of whiteness are manifested in the education system, producing multiple, overlapping forms of oppression. The examination of the issue from the perspective of teachers is essential, as teachers are in a position of significant power in producing and maintaining categories of "normal" and "non-normal". The study was conducted as a systematic literature review. Through narrative synthesis, 7 themes describing teachers' perceptions and experiences emerged from the data. Themes were divided into two groups (perceptions and experiences of white teachers and perceptions and experiences of PoC teachers) to find the widest possible range of findings about the ways in which ideologies of whiteness manifest in teachers' perceptions and experiences. The division was made in line with the anti-racist agenda of the study and the Disability Critical Race Theory framework. The findings of the study confirmed previous research findings on epistemologies of white innocence, which manifested in white teachers as fear and avoidance of talking about "race", downplaying racism, exploiting ignorance, defensiveness, focusing on whiteness, and emphasizing their own white goodness, among others. PoC teachers' perceptions and experiences were related to multiple experiences of racism. PoC teachers also described several ways in which normative whiteness and white power were implemented in the education system, manifested in eurocentric and whiteness-centered examination structures and materials. The groups' findings complemented each other in that while white teachers described their ignorance of racism, PoC teachers described their experiences of white teachers not taking responsibility or recognizing oppression in the education system. The findings also mirrored each other in that as white teachers used trendy words ("woke") to elevate their own social status, PoC teachers expressed concern that challenging racism would be a trend for the privileged, rather than a sustainable, anti-racist activity. The findings of this study reflect the multiple ways in which normative whiteness and white power are manifested in the education system. To be truly equal, we need to look critically at the power structures in the education system and challenge what are perceived as "normal" perceptions and values.

The goal of my research is to find out which factors affect the success of elementary school-age pupils with autism spectrum in schooling in the general education class and which factors prevent success. This study was carried out as a qualitative study using a phenomenological research sample, because this method is well suited for exploring experiences of the research participants. The data was collected in the spring of 2023 by interviewing five parents of pupils on the autism spectrum. The answers of the interviews were analyzed in search of factors that would help satisfy the three basic psychological needs defined by self-determination theory. Based on the experiences of the interviewees, the reason for the delay in getting help for children on the autism spectrum was often that school was waiting for the child to receive a diagnosis. Getting tested and getting a diagnosis can be a process lasting many years. If the child does not get the support he/she needs at school during this time, it will have a negative effect on his/her well-being and ability to attend school. Cooperation with families and meeting the child was clearly influenced if the teacher has previous experience with pupils on the autism spectrum or understanding of these different pupils. Factors facilitating the cooperation were the school staff's understanding of the child and family, the teacher's positive attitude, the effective interaction between home and school, and the tailoring of support measures according to the child's needs. Obstacles to cooperation were radically different views on the child's need for support, seeing the child and the family in a negative light, and meetings, the end result of which was that the child was still left without the support he/she needed.

According to the Pisa assessments, the number of students with poor reading skills has increased in Finland in recent years. Because of the poor reading skills, approximately one in ten students will struggle with their upper secondary studies and will not achieve an active social status. However, international studies have shown that reading comprehension interventions can improve students’ reading skills even in adolescence. The purpose of this study was to explore how the upper secondary school teachers experienced the teaching of reading comprehension skills for students with reading comprehension difficulties. The study focused on the teachers’ views concerning support of learning Finnish language and social studies. The study answers in three research questions: first, how theory-based reading comprehension support is organized, second, how do the reading comprehension difficulties affect Finnish language studies and social studies, and third, how the reading comprehension support could be improved. The study was carried out by using qualitative methods and following the principles of phenomenological-hermeneutical approach. The data was collected by interviewing seven upper secondary school teachers. Three of them were Finnish language teachers and four of them were special education teachers. The data was analyzed by using theory-based con-tent analysis and data-based content analysis. Based on the results, teachers use theory-based reading comprehension methods, such as reading strategies. However, there were differences between the schools’ structures of sup-port systems. Reading comprehension difficulties were connected with other multidimensional problems. The reading comprehension support can be improved by offering further training for teachers and promoting their co-operation. Besides that, positive attitude might have an important role on reading comprehension support.

Social integration consists of the four following elements: interaction, friendships, the student’s own perception and acceptance by classmates. The subject is relevant in developing special education system, as social integration is known to play a key role in pupils’ education and wellbeing. It is also known that the level of social integration is weaker within students with special education needs, than with other students. The aim of this master’s thesis was to find out how social integration appears in a certain primary school in Helsinki from the teaching staff’s point of view. The participants in this master’s thesis were a principal, a special needs teacher and six class teachers from grades 1-6. The research data was collected by interviewing the participants with a thematic interview in May 2020. The data was transcribed and then analysed qualitatively with both theory-based and material-based content analysis. The results of this study showed that the level of social integration within students with special needs is described to be lower than within other students. However, the teachers were aware of the methods supporting social integration, and were implementing these actions in their classroom work. The participants felt it was one of their most important tasks to support students’ social integration, and according to this study, the ways of supporting it were for example pedagogical co-working with colleagues, mutual pedagogical structures in teacher committee, and practical classroom work.

Achievement goal orientations depict studying motivation and they are related to academic achievement. Yet, the means to support the developing achievement goal orientations in childhood require further examination especially in the case of children with special educational needs (SEN). Musical and physical activity may enhance learning but the associations with achievement goal orientations remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine what kinds of goal orientation groups occur among 3rd to 4th graders within one and half years, and how integrated music and physical education are related to the achievement goal orientations. Migrant background and SEN were observed as demographic factors. Finally, between groups comparisons were analyzed in terms of academic achievement in mathematics. The participants (N = 52) were comprised of four classes of which three received integrated music and physical education three times a week for two school years. The fourth class received usual curricular education during the experiment. Twenty students had special educational needs and eleven spoke some other language than Finnish as their first language. Teacher questionnaires were used to collect data from students’ achievement goal orientations and mathematical achievement was evaluated using RMAT and MATTE tests in three time points. Goal orientation groups were formed using K-means cluster analysis and between groups comparisons were analyzed with cross-tabulation and nonparametric tests. Three distinctive goal orientation groups were found in each time point: mastery, performance and avoidance goal oriented. No significant difference was found between the integrated education group and the usual curricular group in their achievement goal orientations. Instead, goal orientations tended to develop more maladaptive among students with SEN – especially if their first language was other than Finnish. Mastery oriented students’ mathematical achievement differed significantly from the avoidance oriented ones’.

Objectives. Challenging behavior or behavioral challenges among students are commonplace in schools. Various behavioral challenges, which manifest in many different ways including violent behavior, adversely affect the classroom atmosphere and learning. Because challenging behavior is prevalent in primary schools, solutions need to be found. This master's thesis examines how the quality of intervention studies influencing the behavior challenges of primary school-aged children. Specifically, I focus on intervention studies aimed at positively impacting students' behavior through the actions of classroom adults. Methods. This research was conducted as a systematic literature review. The search material was from the Helsinki University Library's advanced search function, logged in with Helsinki University credentials. Six interventions out of eighteen were evaluated that met the criteria. The method used for quality assessment was the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP), originally developed for use in healthcare, which guides the examination of research in various domains. The EPHPP method is suitable for assessing the quality of intervention studies conducted in special education. Results and conclusions. As a main result, is concluded that the reporting quality of intervention studies varies. Selection bias, study design, data collection methods and withdrawals and drop-outs were reported as strong or moderate in all intervention studies evaluated using the EPHPP method. In intervention studies, there was variation in the confounders from weak to strong. Additionally, the observation was made that the blinding of intervention studies varied in quality from weak to moderate. As a result of the analysis, two out of six intervention studies were rated overall as strong, and three intervention studies were rated as moderate. One study was rated overall as weak because EPHPP was not the best method for evaluating this intervention.

The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine the discourses of disability in the equality plans prepared in primary schools. The aim is to find out the meanings of disability in the material, as well as the positions and possibilities offered to a disabled student in discourses. Although disability is a fairly widely studied phenomenon, previous research on disability in the context of equality plans is not available. In this master's thesis, the construction of disability in inclusive educational documents was examined critically, recognizing that the educational equality of students with disabilities cannot be considered to have been achieved in the Finnish education system. The material used in the dissertation consisted of thirty equality plans drawn up in primary schools. The material was approached using the perspectives of discourse analysis. The concept of discourse refers to the relatively established use of language in a particular field or situation. With the help of discourse analysis, it is possible to study both the organization of the text and the consequences of language use. Disability was constructed in the research material in four different discourses, which were named the discourses of support and need, accessibility, difference, and health status. The discourses describe disability in a predictable and culturally established way. The positions offered to a student with a disability appeared to be limited and narrow. On the other hand, a student with a disability remained in the material as invisible, which appears to be problematic in the documents that are supposed to describe the inclusiveness in the education.

The aim of this study was to provide more understanding and information about school-ing and school support about young people who have experienced out-of-home place-ment. Previous studies have shown that children in foster care face more challenges in school. The aim was to identify, analyse and describe the challenges in school and schooling outcomes of young people who have experienced foster care. In terms of support at school, factors related to effective support and issues where children per-ceived a lack of support where highlighted. The data for the study consisted of six young people who have experienced placement at some point in their lives and who spoke about their experiences in thematic inter-views. The interviewees were reached through the Nuorten turvasatama and the inter-views were conducted anonymously by using the Discord messaging application. The interview data was produced in November 2022. The study is qualitative, and the study design is phenomenographic. The analysis of the data was carried out using a data-driven content analysis. The results of the study implicated that mental health challenges were strongly present and hampered the school performance of youth who have experienced foster care. Mental health challenges impacted young people´s school careers from primary school onwards, with an increase in challenges in secondary school. The results of the study showed that young people had limited access to school-based help for mental challeng-es. Another factor that strongly emerged in the data as a barrier to schooling was school bullying. Bullying was linked to school satisfaction and in addition to school and group changes contributed to poor school adherence. Many of the problem areas identi-fied in the study could be addressed by modifying the school environment to facilitate school attachment. In addition, recourses are needed to ensure that there is time for genuine encounter and for identifying and responding to support needs.

The aim of this study was to identify the challenges that teachers of special education face in their work in a heterogeneous classroom with pupils with special needs and different learning difficulties. The goal was to identify the challenges they experience on a daily basis and what things bring joy to their work as teachers of special needs children. I also wanted to find out how special education teachers justify the need for special education and whether it should be developed or do they think that special needs education should be discontinued entirely and pupils should be transferred to ordinary classes in primary schools. The study selected teachers working in Swedish speaking schools in Finland with pupils in grades 7.–9. in special education. Methods. The study was conducted as both a quantitative and a qualitative study. The quantitative study was conducted using a structured e-questionnaire, which I sent by email to the target respondents. The e-survey form asked at first questions about the background information of the special education teachers, then the form was divided into four sections: (1) the respondents' experiences of their daily work and whether they feel their knowledge and professionalism are sufficient to teach pupils with special needs, (2) what kind of issues are part of their daily work, (3) what are the challenges related to pupils and finally (4) questions related to collaboration. I analyzed the quantitative data using IBM SPSS Statistical data editor version 28 software. In the last two questions of the questionnaire, the respondents were free to write their opinions about what things bring them joy in their work and how special education teachers justify the need for special education.I analysed the responses using qualitative data-driven content analysis. Results. I received 39 responses to the e-questionnaire, of which 61 % had a special education teacher’s qualification and the rest had a special education teacher’s qualification, other pedagogical qualification, or other qualification. The results of the survey showed that special education should be continued but practical changes should be made to ensure that special education is appropriate and that pupils in special education receive the support they are entitled to. The special education teachers provided many suggestions for improvement, many of which were profitable and even feasible without additional financial supp

Objectives. According to previous research, challenges related to behaviour are connected to teachers’ negative emotions and test the limits of their competence. This thesis approaches behavioural themes through special pedagogy and biopsychosocial, holistic thinking, and looks for perspectives to strengthen teachers' skills. The research consists of a methodological evaluation of peer-reviewed research articles and an analysis of the used models in accordance with the biopsychosocial model. The articles were retrieved from the ERIC, SCOPUS and EBSCO databases in September 2022, and the search was carried out without limiting the date of publication. The target population of the analyzed interventions were 11–18-year-old students who had behavioural challenges in everyday school life. Methods. The research was carried out as a systematic literature review. The reports of the interventions screened through the systematic database search were subjected to a methodological evaluation as a preliminary analysis.Evaluation was conducted with to the MMAT (Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool). Most of the analyzed studies (N=15 altogether) were case studies analyzed with quantitative methods, but the data included also two quantitative and two mixed-method studies. The question was what kind of biopsychosocial factors have been tried to be influenced by the behavioural interventions implemented in the school. The answer was sought by analyzing the articles that passed the quality assessment and their connection to biopsychosocial intervention planning was studied. Results and conclusions. According to the results of the analysis, four studies used a comprehensive assessment of the student's situation to support intervention planning. In two studies, evaluation was not used for planning, but it was used in interpreting the results. In other studies, no evaluation was performed. When the evaluation is not done as part of the intervention planning, the goal of the intervention is to influence the behaviour. When planning uses a biopsychosocial perspective, the goal is to influence the factors that lead to challenges related to behaviour in the student's school life and thereby ease the behaviour related challenges.