Browsing by Subject "erityisopettaja"

Goals. The purpose of the thesis was to survey expectations and ideas before and after education of separate special education teacher's studies who started study in Helsinki university in autumn 2016. The background theory was the special education teacher's profession. The purpose of the thesis was to clarify why teachers want to qualify to special education teachers and how important professional growth and specialty teacher's profession and expertise are to them. In addition the thesis also clarified if the education was in accordance with the preconceptions and if there were differences in this themes. The research aims at providing a general view of the development needs of separate special education teachers from a students point of view. Methods.The research was carried out as a quantitative survey and the research subject was 100 students from three groups (ELO, EO and VEO), according to the previous degree. The initial survey was carried out in autumn 2016 and it's participants were 63 students whose average age was 40 years. The final survey was carried out in spring 2017 and it's participants were 48 students whose average age was 38,6 years. The statistical analysis of the data was carried out with PASW Statistics 24 –program and the open questions were analysed in a qualitive way. Results and conclusions. The professional growth and expertise / aptitude to special education teacher's work were very important to all the participants measured as a sum variable. There weren't statistically significant differences in age and teaching experience, which would have had impacted the results. The participants wanted to get qualification for special education teachers work and better employment opportunities, through their education. Special pedagogical knowledge and practical tools to strengthen vocational skills were also wanted. The impact of the education was examined as a sum variable, which concluded that expectations weren't always fulfilled in all respects. A small significant difference came out between two groups. Special early childhood educators felt that the education gave little means for supporting pupils compared to special education class teachers. Yet special education teacher's profession was seen as significant with all the participants especially with teachers with the least amount of teaching experience but it wasn't statistically significant.

The purpose of this study is to examine supervision experiences of special education teachers and how supervising affects their ability to carry on in their duties and how their pro-fessional development. The main reason for this subject was the lack of previous studies on the matter and also my own history in the field of supervision.Working as a teacher in special education is often very taxing and for the employees because the work itself requires buil-ding individual relationships with students in a work environment as hectic and yet bureauc-ratic as schools are. Special education teachers are taking care of students and children who are in the most vulnerable positions of society and need the most care and affection in their lives. But who cares for the teachers themselves? Professional supervision is the key in supporting special education professionals in their daily life both mentally and professionally. Regular and accessible supervision services should be viewed as the primary method to se-cure the well being of the special education teachers, which in turn would help to maintain a healthy workforce in the field. The study was conducted as online research through social media. The background survey and research invitations were conducted in the Erityisopettajat Facebook group. The actual study was then conducted in closed Facebook group called “Erityisopettajien pohdintaa” by interviews of the focus group of seven (7) special education teachers. The materials gathe-red from the studies were the analysed by using content analysis methods. The final results of the conducted research enforced my understanding that supervision should be instituted as a regular part of the support structure of special education professi-onals. Based on the results the study, the accessibility of supervision varies a lot between workplaces. The availability of supervision appears to depend mostly on the employers un-derstanding of its benefits for the employee and the work environment itself. The survey succeeded in covering both the good and the challenging parts of special education. The fi-nal conclusion from the study is that the teachers in special education felt that the supervisi-on as a direct impact on their well being and professional development.

The starting point of this master’s thesis is the Act on General Upper Secondary Education, which entered into force in 2019, and the subsequent general upper secondary school reform, which obligates general upper secondary schools to provide special needs education and learning support for their students. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the job description of general upper secondary school part-time special needs teachers, as described by the special needs teachers themselves. In addition, the purpose of this thesis is to understand what kind of support students in general upper secondary school need. The aim of this thesis is to make the job description of general upper secondary school special needs teachers clearer and more approachable. Also, the goal is to make the support needs of general upper secondary school students understandable. Only little research has yet been carried out on these themes. This thesis was qualitative, and the thematic interviews formed the material of the thesis. The data was analysed through data-driven content analysis. Seven general upper secondary school special needs teachers participated in the interview. The results of the thesis conclude that the job description of the general upper secondary school special needs teachers is divided into three categories, each of which have various subcategories. In the job description, the following three categories stood out: identifying support needs, support for studying, and co-operation. Out of the job description, the most amount of the time was spent identifying reading difficulties and writing statements following the identification. Support for studying appeared in the job description as both support for learning and support for general well-being. The job description also essentially included co-operation between different actors. Students needed support in studying relating to both learning and well-being. Students especially needed support in time management and with problems concerning concentration as well as being able to identify and deal with learning difficulties. Students also needed widespread support in maintaining well-being, of which anxiety and depression were especially highlight

With the amendment to the Act on Upper Secondary Education that came into force in 2019, students have the right to receive special needs education in upper secondary school, which is why the need for upper secondary school special education teachers will increase in the future. In the last decade, there have been only little research on special education in upper secondary schools in Finland. The purpose of this study was to find out the work assignment of upper secondary school special education teachers and the challenges they experienced in carrying out their work. The aim of the study is to look at high school special education from the perspective of high school special education teachers and to create an overall picture of what kind of tasks the job description of a high school special education teacher consists of and what kind of challenges they face in their work. This is a qualitative study, where was interviewed six high school special education teachers who worked in three different municipalities. The research material was collected through semi-structured thematic interviews, which were analyzed using content analysis. Based on the results of the study, the job description of special education teachers consisted of three broad areas, which were collaboration, student support, and written work. In the job description of a high school special education teacher, the most employment-related tasks emphasized issues related to supporting reading difficulties, making reading statements and writing learning support plans. The most challenging things for high school special education teachers were the lack of resources and time in their work, as well as the ambiguity of their own job description. According to special education teachers, these results show that current resources are not sufficient to provide ongoing and adequate support in upper secondary school. In order to organize special education in upper secondary school, clearer frameworks would also be needed to make the provision of support more uniform and equal in every upper secondary school throughout Finland.

Aims. The study examined teachers' self-compassion in relation to burnout, work engagement and the meaning of work. Previous studies have shown the positive effects of self-compassion on well-being. Little is known about the teachers' self-compassion and how it is related to work well-being. Studies have shown that a self-compassioned teacher has more positive attitudes towards inclusion and they are socio-emotionally more capable. Methods. The data was collected via an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to special education students at the University of Helsinki. All the students had a degree in education, and at least three years of work experience in the education sector. Answers were received from 85 students. The questionnaire measured self-compassion, work engagement, meaning of work and burn out. The analysis of the data was done by statistical methods using the SPSS program. Results and conclusions. More than half (61.2%) of the respondents (N = 85) were in the group's average self-compassion level. The high self-compassion level was 14.1% of the respondents, and the low self-compassion level was up to about one quarter of the respondents (24.7%). A comparison between the three groups showed that the average level and high self-compassion level groups had better protection against burnout and higher work engagement than the low self-compassion teachers. The study showed that the meaning of work was in relation to self-compassion. High self-compassion level is in relation to lower burnout levels and higher work engagement. Teaching self-compassion skills to future teachers improves the well-being of teachers and could lower their levels of burnout. Teachers' well-being also increases the well-being of students.

Aims. Changes in society and educational development of the school have brought new challenges to the teacher's work. Studies in the past have shown that special education teachers experience stress more than other teachers. The aim of this study was to gain information on special class teacher's experiences of the succeeding and the challenges they encounter in their job in the special class and how they cope with the challenges. This study also examines the kind of views that special class teachers have towards the changes of their work. Methods. Themed interviews were used as a method of this qualitative research. The research material comprised of five interviews with special class teachers who had at least ten years' experience in teaching pupils at the special education class. The data were collected and transcribed in January 2017 and analyzed by using theory-based content analysis. Results and conclusions. The results showed that the special class teacher's work involves a wide range of challenges, but also the experiences of success. The experiences of succeeding were related mostly to the interaction between the special class teacher and the student. The main advantage of special class teaching was seen as a better chance of taking individuality into account and the challenges associated with socialization problems. The challenges of the special class teacher's work was seen ia pupils' heterogeneity and problem behaviour, increased non-teaching tasks and too demanding parents. Special class teachers felt that pupils have changed more challenging in recent years and the valuation of their work has weakened. With inclusion special class teachers' work was seen lying ahead of co-teaching in the future. Coping at work was seen to vary depending on a range of one's own life or the work strains. Special class teachers showed up a wide variety of ways to cope with the challenges and to improve their coping at work.

The aim of this study was to identify the challenges that teachers of special education face in their work in a heterogeneous classroom with pupils with special needs and different learning difficulties. The goal was to identify the challenges they experience on a daily basis and what things bring joy to their work as teachers of special needs children. I also wanted to find out how special education teachers justify the need for special education and whether it should be developed or do they think that special needs education should be discontinued entirely and pupils should be transferred to ordinary classes in primary schools. The study selected teachers working in Swedish speaking schools in Finland with pupils in grades 7.–9. in special education. Methods. The study was conducted as both a quantitative and a qualitative study. The quantitative study was conducted using a structured e-questionnaire, which I sent by email to the target respondents. The e-survey form asked at first questions about the background information of the special education teachers, then the form was divided into four sections: (1) the respondents' experiences of their daily work and whether they feel their knowledge and professionalism are sufficient to teach pupils with special needs, (2) what kind of issues are part of their daily work, (3) what are the challenges related to pupils and finally (4) questions related to collaboration. I analyzed the quantitative data using IBM SPSS Statistical data editor version 28 software. In the last two questions of the questionnaire, the respondents were free to write their opinions about what things bring them joy in their work and how special education teachers justify the need for special education.I analysed the responses using qualitative data-driven content analysis. Results. I received 39 responses to the e-questionnaire, of which 61 % had a special education teacher’s qualification and the rest had a special education teacher’s qualification, other pedagogical qualification, or other qualification. The results of the survey showed that special education should be continued but practical changes should be made to ensure that special education is appropriate and that pupils in special education receive the support they are entitled to. The special education teachers provided many suggestions for improvement, many of which were profitable and even feasible without additional financial supp