Browsing by Subject "erityispedagogiikka"

Aims. The purpose of this thesis is to study subject teachers’ conceptions of the support in learning and school attendance given in Finnish upper secondary schools. Due to the amendment of the Basic Education Act the support is now three tiered and emphasizes early interventions, which requires subject teachers to have more special pedagogical knowhow than they used to. This study aims to analyse, how subject teachers see their own role implementing the support and how the subject teacher system and structures of the school affect to teachers’ possibilities to support their students. Methodology. The thesis is a qualitative case study and the analysing methods are discourse analysis and thematic analysis. The research material consists of six semi-structured interviews of subject teachers. Results and conclusions. The study groups are heterogeneous and too big in relation to students’ needs. Teachers have to prioritize, to whom they give the support. Opportunity for consultation and cooperation with the special needs teacher is highly appreciated when implementing the support. Subject teachers’ familiarity with the students is considered important. Subject teachers’ knowledge about the three tier support system is mediocre, yet they consider not to have time for further education. The teachers are interested in learning of the students. However, because of lack of competence and time subject teachers externalize the implementation of the support to the special needs teacher. Being a form teacher expands the subject teachers’ job description to documenting and coordinating the support. In schools the functioning practises that would strengthen subject teachers’ commitment in all three tiers of support needs to be established. By reorganizing the structures of teaching and cooperation, it is possible to improve the subject teachers’ possibility to provide the support that the students’ needs require. The subject teachers’ special educational competence should be increased. The subject teachers don’t have sufficient knowledge about the three tier support system and they consider documentation of the support unnecessary. They may nonetheless, be able to support the students successfully by using different kinds of pedagogical methods and various well-timed and individualised measures of support.

The purpose of the research is to examine the way in which disabilities are viewed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Social approach to disabilities which emphasizes the roles of society, culture and language as key elements in defining disability as a phenomenon as opposed to a straightforward medical definition. In addition, the research is further defined by theological literature concerning disability as well as special educational approach to disabilities. The literature, in conjunction with theological and pedagogical approaches, is used to define the understanding of disability as consisting of both institutional and cultural components. This study examines how the understanding of disability is constructed in official church documents and the discourse used by church employees. The corpus of this qualitative case study consists of documents and a series of interviews. The interviews, in which the interviewees were various church employees, were carried out as semi-structured theme interviews. The official documents include both theological and administrative papers on disability that are issued by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. This corpus is analysed using discourse analysis. Various types of discourse that can be identified are subsequently compared. The study further analyses the corpus of interviews to identify two distinct components of the understanding of disability therein. The first component includes the disabling effects of society and attitudes towards disabilities. These views reflect the themes present in the official church documents, human rights and Christian theology and tradition. Christian theology and tradition can be seen to be applied and adjusted in order to account for these views. The second component of the understanding of disability consists of personal experiences which give rise to narratives simultaneously combining both tragic and romantic elements. The study confirms that the official understanding of disability is present in the discourse of church employees. Even though most interviewees were unfamiliar with the official church documents on disability, the study shows significant similarities between the official church texts and the discourses present in the corpus consisting of the employees’ interviews.

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 my previous research (minor laudatur thesis, year 2005) was to clarify how the comprehensive school and the Steiner school approach the special education pupil as well as to examine what sorts of similarities and differences there are between the Steiner education and special education. Through my thesis I also attempt to examine how the ideologies/intellectual worlds and teachings of the Steiner school and the comprehensive school could be combined and brought closer to one another as well as how the best parts of both schools could be combined in order to take advantage of them in both schools. The research was implemented as a review of literature. At the beginning of my research the ideology and development of inclusion, integration and inclusive upbringing are examined as the basis for the next chapter, in which the concept of man is examined from the viewpoint of special education. I discuss the idea of man on the basis of four central principles. These principles are human dignity, integrity, the right of self-determination and participation in life and society. The fourth chapter provides a detailed introduction to the concept of man from the viewpoint of the Steiner education. First the points of departure and bases of value of the Steiner education are discussed, and then on the basis of these the idea of man and man's different aspects of being in the Steiner education are discussed, as well as the development rhythms and the seven year stages of the child. I examine the differences between these two educations by comparing their ideas of man. The Steiner education is based on Steiner's educational views and the concept of man, upon which these views are based. The concept of man guides the raising and education of the child and is thus also strongly connected to how the special education pupil is approached in the Steiner school. I consider the fourth chapter to be of particular importance for the reader because it is there that I discuss the concept of man of Steiner education as well as the development rhythms of the child, among other things. Without becoming acquainted with the concept of man of Steiner education it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to understand methods used in approaching the special education pupil, such as temperament training and form drawing. The concept of man of special education also creates the basis for how a pupil requiring special support is approached in the comprehensive school. The fifth chapter discusses methods used in approaching a pupil requiring special support in the Steiner school. The sixth chapter discusses methods used in approaching a pupil requiring special support in the comprehensive school. At the end of this research I attempt, on the basis of the comparison between these two educations, to disclose the similarities and differences of them in approaching the special education pupil. I complemented my minor laudatur thesis by taking in account the 3-phased support model.

The focus of this study is in private sector kindergartens early childhood special education in Helsinki; used procedures and current challenges from the point of view of special education. It has been studied how the supportive mechanisms and services of children with special needs have been organized in private kindergartens and what kind of choices these kindergartens make when selecting children or when special needs emerge and how the support is carried out. Additionally, It has been studied how the co-operation of public and private kindergartens work and how equal children are depending on whether they are customers of publicly or privately run services. The study also introduces methods how early childhood education in private kindergartens could be economically and functionally available possibility for all families, regardless of increased demand of special support. The study deals with a hot topic. The law about early childhood education is old (1973) and it is finally in process of being modernized. The discussion around its contents has been vivid in both academic publications and media. At the moment private kindergartens are responsible in about 8% of the national budget for early childhood education (2.6 billion €). The percentage is growing. Main material for the study consist of five interviews of professionals working in private kindergartens in Helsinki. The used method is closest to a half-structured interview, in which all interviewees were asked the same questions in flexible order. The narrative theme interviews were recorder. One person was interviewed at a time, except in one case where there were two people answering questions. Central findings of the study were that, as expected, there were hardly any children with special needs in privately run kindergartens. Amongst the applicants there had been children with special needs, but the families had been informed about the limited support possibilities and advised to turn to public early childhood services. The early childhood special education tool kit is vastly more inclusive in public than in private sector. One solution could be to increase the amount of local special education teachers that would working solely on private sector. This would make sure that children would have more equal possibilities to use their local kindergartens, despite the fact that those may be private, and be entitled to first class early childhood education Рregardless of their special needs.

The specificity of children's behavior and children considered as special have been raised in school discussions as the cause of deteriorating learning outcomes, causing problems with teachers' time use and preventing teaching of the so called majority of children in primary school. Naming a child special affects the way and place of his/her teaching and therefore it is necessary to look at the definitions and discourses of special behavior. The purpose of the thesis was to find out how the behavioral problems and a child with a behavioral disorder named in many ways is constructed in expert articles and to examine the specificity of behavior using the social disability model of disability research. Sahlin's cultural model was used as a way to study the change in the discipline of special education together with changes outlined through paradigms. The study highlights the discourses special pedagogy experts have built on the specificity behavior of a child in the book series “Childrens’ Special Care and Education in Finland” over seven decades. These discourses are considered in the context of changes in special education and paradigms of special education. Critical discourse analysis was used as a research and analysis method in the study. The material of the study consisted of the texts of the thirteen editions of the book “Childrens’ Special Care and Education in Finland”, dealing with behavioural disorders. The textual material was analyzed by thematizing the medical, disability or feature related definitions of these texts, as well as the definitions of the social construction and creation of specificity according to the theoretical background of the research. After the thematizing, the selected text samples were analyzed for how the causes of specificity are localized and what is the child's position in them, and the discourses formed by these were named. These discourses were also examined in the context of changes in special education and the paradigms of special education. The research showed a hegemonic discourse based on psycho-medical interpretation, which at different times defined the child's position as a victim of the child's psychological and biological structure and as achild who is not mentally adaptive. Parallel and intertwined discourses were also built on a hegemonic discourse. The discourses of the specificity of behavior in the material reflected changes in the paradigms of special education and special pedagogy and the cultural reproduction of the category of specificity. According to the study, the discourse based on psycho- medical interpretation is the hegemonic discourse of the “Special Care and Education of the Child in Finland” book series, in which the child’s position is a child with internal pathology. The discourses of the material and the child's positions reflect changes in special education and in the paradigms of special education, as well as the cultural structure of the discipline.

In this research I examined in what way the transversal competence areas included in the core curriculum are compatible with the education arranged by the activity areas. While the core curriculum is being renewed to suit the changing world, the role of the education arranged by the activity areas has remained the same for decades. There are, however, similarities between the transversal learning and the education arranged by the activity areas. They both aim at supporting comprehensive growth and development and neither of them functions inside the limits of separate subjects. The aim of transversal competence learning is the pupils´ growth as personalities and citizens in such a way that they recognize their own strengths while education arranged by the activity areas helps them to act independently in their lives. My material consisted of 22 interviews of teachers who taught by the activity areas. The interviews were collected during the spring of 2018 in four cities in different parts of Finland. I analysed the material utilizing analysis based on thematic networks. I executed my study as a qualitative research. The results showed that it is possible to make use of the ideas of transversal competence learning in a versatile way in education arranged by the activity areas. Multiliteracy, ICT competence, working life competence and entrepreneurship were emphasized in the material because in these areas of learning there seemed to be an obvious contradiction as to their suitability to education by the activity areas. In the light of the definition of the core curriculum and the results of research, these three areas of learning can be made use of in education arranged by the activity areas. Documenting the suitable methods in the core curriculum would be important as well as teachers´ further education. I noticed that teachers experienced the contents of transversal competence learning and learning by activity areas being alike. In teachers´ opinion taking care of oneself, managing daily life, interaction and expressing oneself are the most important areas of transversal learning. Teachers also presented integration and inclusion solutions they used in transversal education. In addition to this they talked about participation and its realization in the framework of transversal. competence. They also expressed doubts as to the possibilities of transversal competences and their appropriability.

The aim of my master’s thesis was to study special education classroom teachers’ views on physical education. I think my thesis is important because it is known that children and youth’s level of physical activity has reduced. I wanted to find out what physical activities special education classroom teachers use in their teaching and how they support the development of a physical lifestyle for their students. Additionally, I wanted to find out if physical education for special needs students is similar to physical education for general education students. The thesis is a qualitative study which was done using a phenomenographic research method. I used categorization and content analysis as the method for analysing the research material. The study was conducted with a survey (n=19) with open questions. The theoretical framework used in the study consists of the study of physical activity relationships and the self-determination theory. In addition, the thesis’ theory part also goes over the effect instruction, environment and motivation have on a person’s physical activity and physical activity relationship. The study yielded empirical data on how special education classroom teachers’ idea of physical education is formed. I divided the different dimensions of physical education to the following categories: teachers’ personal starting points, objectives, experiences, methods and didactics as physical educators. The teachers’ methods of promoting children’s physical activity were diverse, including functional teaching, developing recess activities, teaching outside and adding sessions of physical activity for example as break exercises or as rewards. Related to exercise situations with special needs students the answers highlighted the importance of clarity, time, instruction, structure, routines, safety and planning. All in all, promoting children’s physical activity was seen as an important objective.

The purpose of this master's thesis was to study the ways in which the development of multilingualism of children from different linguistic backgrounds is acknowledged and promoted in Finnish comprehensive schools. Do the schools have common practices or models through which the development of the students' language skills is actively promoted, or is it dependent merely upon the teachers' interest and devotion? And through which means the teachers themselves aim to promote the language development and learning of students from immigrant backgrounds? The theoretical framework of this thesis consists of the theories on language development and multilingualism, of the national core curriculum on teaching multilingual students, and of previous studies on promoting the language development of students from immigrant backgrounds. In this thesis, the subject was approached by studying the views and experiences of teachers. This study aims to describe the means through which the language development of the students from immigrant backgrounds is being promoted, by school cultures as well as by individual teachers, in the Finnish school context. The data was collected by using a web-based questionnaire, to which 16 teachers working in schools in the Capital Region answered. Since the study was qualitative by nature, open questions were used in the questionnaire. For the analysis of the data, content analysis was used. The results of this study indicate that the schools can be categorised according to their school culture, which is either reactive or proactive in regard to promoting the language development of students. Reactive school culture responds only to the inevitable needs regarding the language development of students. Proactive school culture aims see the language skills of the students as a resource. Most of the respondents worked at schools whose school culture seemed reactive. The means of individual teachers of promoting the language development can be categorised into three groups, which are: acknowledging and appreciating the student's language skills, utilising the student's language skills when studying, and co-operation with guardians. Almost all of the respondents mentioned at least one means of promoting the language development of students from immigrant backgrounds. The results of this study can be utilised, when teachers and schools are planning the means in which to integrate the language skills and backgrounds of students into teaching and school culture.

The thesis should highlight the instrument teachers' experiences of work as teachers of the Tempo Sistema children's orchestra from a social point of view. The purpose of Tempo orchestras is to enhance the interaction of children and young people of various backgrounds in the orchestra through joint music and to reach out to music hobby especially children living in more socioeconomically challenging conditions. The activity is inspired by the El Sistema music education activity aimed for social change. Tempo orchestras include children who have needs of pedagogical support or behavioral challenges. In this thesis, I will examine how the social starting points and goals of the activity are manifested in everyday teaching and how teaching in Tempo Orchestra differs from so-called traditional instrument teaching. The second research question concerns the professional skills experienced by instrument teachers for teaching students with need of pedagogical support and with regard on demands of Tempo teaching. The theory of the research is based on social pedagogy and the basic principles of El Sistema action. The thesis is a case study guided by the researcher's reflective approach and the researcher's personal experience as a Tempo teacher. The data collection was carried out as separate focus group interviews of three different Tempo teaching teams. The material was analyzed by using qualitative content analysis and thematization. The results emphasized educational teaching that strives to meet students individually. The challenges in Tempo teaching were related to students' different pacing and social goals of participation, as well as restless control, primarily in the orchestra rehearsals of a larger group of students. A kind of special pedagogy was considered to be a natural part of the Tempo work, but the teachers still strive the capabilities for teaching students who need support. The results showed a picture of Tempo teaching as a multidimensional social-pedagogical work, where the picture shows a balancing act with the traditions of social and instrumental pedagogy. Adding special educational expertise to the field of social pedagogical work can support children and young people who need support more strongly to achieve growth and development.