Browsing by Author "Mäkelä, Sonja"

Objectives. The aim of this Master's thesis is to map the job description of a special education teacher in early childhood education and to consider it in relation to the benefits and wishes of other early childhood education staff. In addition, the aim is to find out how inclusion succeeds in the VEO model. The current problems of early childhood education and early special education in Finland include, for example, too loose legal and documentary guidance and even the fact that the job description of a special education teacher in early childhood education is not properly defined. Early special education is implemented on an inclusive basis at a time when there is an acute shortage of resources in the field. With a re-resource-based perspective, I aim to unlock what resources really are. Methods. My Master’s thesis has been part of the Early Childhood and Early Childhood Education Research Group’s project “Special Early Childhood Teacher in Kindergarten Groups: Supporting the Development and Learning of Children with Special Needs in Inclusive Early Childhood Education”. The research material was collected in Helsinki in the spring of 2018 and has been attended by 22 special early childhood education teachers and 76 other early childhood education employees. The material has been analyzed using content analysis based on both material and theory. Results and conclusions. My conclusions are summarized in the fact that the time of a special early childhood education teacher in the VEO model is not sufficient to organize support properly. From the responses of other early childhood education staff, there is a desire that the special needs teacher should have more time in their children's groups and consult them on the implementation of support, despite the fact that early childhood teachers say that their work tasks are mostly divided into working groups.