Browsing by Author "Rewell, Cecilia"

In Finland, the literacy issue is currently being hotly debated, partly due to the deteriorating PISA results. Literacy is the basis for all learning and a prerequisite for participatory citizenship. For example, The City of Helsinki wants to invest in early efforts to support literacy and has budgeted for this purpose. The Board of Education is launching the new Läsande skola model. The purpose is, among other things, to develop support for literacy. Dyslexia is about difficulty with words. According to the Basic Education Act, those who participate in education have the right to a safe study environment and to support or special education. According to the law, the student should receive sufficient support for learning and schooling as soon as the need arises. First, the existing working methods, teaching arrangements and learning environments are examined, as well as how they are suitable for the student. On the basis of this, it is decided whether it is a matter of finding better pedagogical solutions for the student. The purpose of the dissertation was to investigate which working methods the special needs teacher uses in his teaching for students in grades 3–6 to support learning in students with dyslexia. The research questions were thus formulated as follows: - What working methods does the special needs teacher use to support students in grades 3–6 with dyslexia? - How does the special needs teacher choose his working methods for students in grades 3–6 with dyslexia? The dissertation was a qualitative study and the material was collected with the help of semi-structured interviews. Five special needs teachers participated in the interviews. The thematic analysis with abductive approach was used to analyze the interview data. The results of the dissertation state that the special needs teachers used various individual solutions to support their students with dyslexia and that the starting point for choosing the most suitable forms of support was the individual student, the special needs teacher's professional knowledge and testing of different alternative solutions. The student, the home and the school are key participants and actors when it comes to finding the best solutions. The result shapes what the support can mean in practice and which factors can influence the choice of forms of support. A data base would systematize and ease special needs teachers´ access to researched knowledge. An interesting theme for further research could be to investigate dyslexia students' experiences of the support they receive from school.