Browsing by Subject "erityispedagogiikan opinnot"

Aims. The number of students with special needs in mainstream classes in Finland has been steadily rising in recent years. The purpose of this study was to determine how well the class teachers, subject teachers and special education teachers feel that they succeed in their work when dealing with students with special needs and what are the things that impact their level of competence. Particular attention was paid to how the special education studies and teaching experience affect teachers' skills in relation to teaching special need students.The research was carried out as a part of a project focused on clarifying the state of teaching students with special needs in Finland today, and later to take advantage of this knowledge to arrange further training and education for teachers. Methods. The study was conducted using quantitative research methods. The data was a random sample collected with a questionnaire from schools in a Finnish city. The questionnaire was responded by class teachers and subject teachers (N= 118), responses were analyzed using SPSS-software. Statistical parameters were used in describing the teachers' level of competence in different areas of teaching students with special needs. The impact of special education studies on teachers competences were tested using one-way variance analysis. The impact of general teaching experience on teachers' competences was examined with Mann-Whitneys U-test and the impact of special teaching experience on teachers' competences was examined with independent samples t-test. Results and conclusions. The results showed that teachers who had completed basic studies in special education or extensive special education studies, rated their skills significantly stronger than the teachers who had completed only the basic course in special education or who hadn't completed any special education studies at all. The mere completion of the special education basic course didn't seem to have almost any effect on teachers' competences when compared with the teachers' who hadn't completed any special education studies at all. The amount of general teaching experience had only little effect on teachers' competences. However special teaching experience had a significant impact on teachers' competences.