Browsing by Author "Visti, Ruut"

Aims. The purpose of this master’s thesis was to study how the chosen theoretical frame-work of inclusion (by Ainscow et al, 2006) fits to describe news about special education and the need for support in comprehensive school. Both nationally and internationally, inclusion is one of the main values that guides the organization of education. In research inclusion and special education are usually linked together and inclusion has different definitions. In this thesis special education is seen as a part of inclusion and it is analyzed through the chosen inclusion model. The aim is to find out what different dimensions of inclusion can be found in the data, which groups are mentioned in the news and what kind of similarities and differ-ences can be found between the groups. Methods. The data was collected by using selected topic tags from the website of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). The news that was used as a data in this thesis was published 2011–2021 (N =164). The method used in this qualitative thesis is theory-based content analysis. Results and conclusion. The selected inclusion model suited well to describe different dimensions of news about special education and need for support. The analysis was based on the inclusion model by Ainscow et al (2006) and the dimensions of the model were found in the data. In the model, special education and the need for support are seen in two different ways. First, inclusion can be seen as support for different groups of pupils, that need support for their learning and schoolgoing. On the other hand, inclusion can be seen as values and actions towards more inclusive school for all. In the data inclusion was seen in both ways, but more often by groups than by values and actions that make school more inclusive for all. There were more similarities than differences between the groups, and it was found that news handled pupil groups by three dimensions: 1) ways to support pupils, 2) how to recognize need for support and factors that are behind the need for support, and 3) the lack of support. In studies, inclusion is often understood by the placement of students with special educational needs (SEN) and therefore the placement of SEN-students dominates discussion. The discussion about the placement of SEN-pupils was also strongly present in the data of this thesis.