Browsing by Subject "erityisopetusjärjestelmä"
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(2010)The number of Finnish pupils attending special education has increased for more than a decade (Tilastokeskus 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005a, 2006b, 2007b, 2008b, 2008e, 2009b; Virtanen ja Ratilainen 1996). In the year 2007 nearly third of Finnish comprehensive school pupils took part in special needs education. According to the latest statistics, in the autumn of 2008 approximately 47 000 pupils have been admitted or transferred to special education and approximately 126 000 pupils received part-time special education during the 2007-2008 academic year. (Tilastokeskus 2008b, 2009b.) The Finnish special education system is currently under review. The Reform, both in legislation and in practice, began nationwide in the year 2008 (e.g. Special education strategy document, November 2007 and the development project Kelpo). The aim of the study was the statistical description of the Finnish special education system and on the other hand to gain a deeper understanding about the Finnish special education system and its quantitative increase, by analysis based on the nationwide statistical information. Earlier studies have shown that the growth in special education is affected by multiple independent variables and cannot be solely explained by the pupil characteristics. The statistical overview and analysis have been carried out in two parts. In the first part, the description and analysis were based on statistical time series from the academic year 1979-1980 until 2008. While, in the second, more detailed description and analysis, based on comparable time series from 1995 to 2008 and from 2001-2002 to 2007-2008, is presented. Historical perspective was one part of this study. There was an attempt to find reasons explaining the observed growth in the special needs education from late 1960s to 2008. The majority of the research was based on the nationwide statistics information. In addition to this, materials including educational legislation literature, different kind of records of special education and preceding studies were also used to support the research. The main results of the study, are two statistical descriptions and time series analysis of the quantitative increase of the special needs education. Further, a summary of the plausible factors behind the special education system change and its quantitative increase, is presented. The conclusions coming from the study can be summarised as follows: the comparable statistical time series analysis suggests that the growth in special education after the year 1999 could be a consequence of the changes in the structure of special education and that new group of pupils have been directed to special needs education.
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(2010)The rise of Special education numbers in Finland has caused a situation where Finland's ten largest LEA's so called kymppikunnat (ten communes) have expressed their growing concern of organizing the special education in the current institutional settings. The LEA's started the conversation of redefining special education system in 2004. Their aim was to target the governments attention to the problematics of special education. By the request of the Ministry of Education the LEA's prepared a final report concerning the central questions in the Finnish special education system. On the basis of the LEA's survey it became even clearer that the legislation, funding system and curriculum are tightly linked together. The following LEA's took part into the writing process Espoo, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Tampere, Turku and Vantaa. The report was hand over to the Ministry of Education at 18.8.2006. After the delivery the Ministry organized special education development group meetings 17 times in the year 2007. The result of the LEA's report and the development meetings was a new Special Education Strategy 2007. I am observing the dialogue between administrational levels in governmental institutions change process. The research is a content analysis where I compare the "Erityistä tukea tarvitsevan oppilaan opetuksen järjestämisen uudistaminen osana yhtenäistä perusopetusta- kohti laatua ja joustavuutta" (The renewal of the organization of teaching for student with special educational needs as part of unified education for all - towards quality and flexibility) document to "Erityisopetuksen strategia" (Special education strategy) document. My aim was to find out how much of their own interests have the LEA's been able to integrate into the official governmental documentation. The data has been organized and analyzed quantitatively with Macros created as additional parts in Microsoft Excel software. The document material has also been arranged manually on sentence based categorization into an Excel matrix. The results have been theoretically viewed from the special education reform dialogue perspective, and from the angle of the change process of a bureaucratic institution. My target has been to provide a new viewpoint to the change of special education system as a bureaucratic institution. The education system has traditionally been understood as a machine bureaucracy. By the review provided in my pro gradu analysis it seems however that the administrational system in special education is more of a postmodern network bureaucracy than machine bureaucracy. The system appears to be constructed by overlapping, crossing and complex networks where things are been decided. These kinds of networks are called "governance networks . It seems that the governmental administrational - and politic levels, the third sector actors and other society's operators are mixed in decision making.
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(2014)Special education in Finland is carried out in various approaches and objectives. Planning and creating overall guidelines for special education has been challenging. However, in late autumn of 2013 the Kelpo-project introduced distinct guidelines for special education programs all over Finland. As a result, special education students are evaluated and a three-step personalized support plan is created for each individual. The support provided as well as the amount of overall support is required to be presented in each step of the plan. The documentation should include each student's personal goals and the processes used to achieve them. Before the Kelpo-project was introduced, teachers and other educational officials played a large role in class and school transfers as well as making the choice between general and special education for the student. Today, students' rights for general education are secured by law, which helps to avoid unnecessary class and school transfers. For a long time, the form of the educational system in Finland was divided into two separate sectors: general education and special education. Special education was taught in separate classrooms or in small groups. The aim of the combined educational system was to break down the two separate sectors and combine them as an inclusion-based educational system with a universal school and learning environment for everyone. This educational system would prevent all the unnecessary class and school transfers and treat each student as an equal, whether they need special support or not. The aim of this study is to investigate the numerous school transfers in a commune. This study also aims to examine the reasons behind the transfers and to inspect the officials making the decisions. This study will also examine the extent to which a student's own opinion has affected the transfer decision. This is a qualitative research study. The material has been evaluated with the analysis of the content. This study was carried out by interviews. The interviews conducted have been analyzed by finding common themes, which provide a general understanding of each student's educational path, school transfers and officials participating in the transfer process. The interviewees consisted of three eight grade students. The interviews were recorded and transcripted. The interviews consisted of two different people. The material used in this Master's study brought up how the previous special education system enabled the exclusion of a student by transferring him/her from one school to another with no support plan. The reasons behind the transfers were often misbehavior and violence. Teachers and other officials had responsibility and power to carry out transfers without discussing the issue with parents or the student in question. The current Kelpo-project secures a student's right to be heard and allows one to affect the decisions.
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