Browsing by Author "Krohn, Siiri"

The goals: The aim of this study is to examine primary school teachers' perceptions of inclusion, co-teaching, and their interconnections. The study aims to explore teachers' understanding of the meaning of inclusion, their experiences with co-teaching, and the factors that they perceive to influence co-teaching and the implementation of inclusion. The goal is to determine the impact that teachers perceive co-teaching to have on the realization of inclusion. Methods: For the study, Finnish primary school teachers (N=10) were interviewed. The interviews were conducted as semi-structured thematic interviews and were held remotely using various video call services. One interview was conducted as a paired interview, and the remaining eight were individual interviews. The data was analyzed using phenomenographic analysis. Results and conclusions: According to the teachers' perceptions, successful co-teaching has positive effects on the implementation of inclusion. From the students' perspective, co-teaching was seen as beneficial. Students felt supported from the perspective of multiple adults, instruction was more individualized, and their needs were addressed more quickly compared to teaching alone. The ability to identify the need for support and find effective learning methods for individuals was also highlighted as a benefit of co- teaching. In co-teaching, instruction was flexible and adapted well to the student population. The allocation of adult time and resources was perceived to be better for individual students or smaller groups compared to teaching alone. Assessment was also seen as more objective when multiple teachers were involved. Successful co-teaching was also found to lighten teachers' workload and support professional development. However, co-teaching requires certain prerequisites. The study resulted in three different understandings of inclusion that influenced teachers' practices. These understandings were: inclusion as a cost-saving measure, inclusion as a phenomenon of equality, and inclusion as a phenomenon similar to integration. These understandings appeared in the data as separate, overlapping, and intertwined. The results of the study provided indications that positively perceived co-teaching supported the implementation of inclusion, while neutrally or negatively perceived co-teaching weakened the conditions for inclusion. However, due to the relatively small data and the focus mainly on positive co-teaching experiences, reliable conclusions cannot be drawn.