Browsing by Author "Haatainen, Ida"

This master's thesis aims to find out the attraction and retention factors of the work of a special education teacher in early childhood education. I interviewed seven special education teachers in different job descriptions. The research was carried out as a semi-structured pre-themed interview. Seven qualified early childhood special education teachers from a large southern Finnish city participated in the interview. All of them had worked in the city for several years. Early childhood special education teachers working in three different job descriptions were able to talk about the central and pleasant tasks of their work, the things that reduce the meaning of the job, their values, strengths, and the attractive and retentive factors they experienced in the field of early childhood education. The work of early childhood education special teachers was positioned at three different levels. Two special education teachers worked in a reduced group, where half of the children were under support and half were peer children. Two special education teachers worked in units consisting of one or more kindergartens. Three coordinating early childhood education special teachers operated across several early childhood education units, coordinating the placement of children in need of support in early childhood education, as well as the allocation of support resources. The interview material was analyzed as a content analysis and four categories were formed from the retention factors described by the special education teachers, which were the profession of the early childhood education special education teacher, work resources, work modification and social relations. Lately, it has been difficult to find qualified personnel for the post of special education teacher working in groups. Based on the data, qualified special education teachers easily flow into positions where the special education teacher's skills and knowledge are distributed differently. The thesis gives perspectives on modifying the job description of a special early childhood education teacher working in a group, to increase the attraction and retention factors of the work.