Browsing by Subject "erityistä tukea tarvitseva oppilas"

According to basic education national core curriculum (2014) the purpose of basic education is to advance equality, parity and justice. Physical education and its assessment aim to advance the fulfillment of equality by considering every pupil in teaching and with equal assessment. The purpose of this educational sciences study is to describe and analyze class teachers' experiences and perceptions of execution in physical education and assessment in a mainstream physical education group where there are pupils with special needs being integrated. The starting point of this study is to examine the execution of physical education and different evaluation practices and how their impacts show on the pupils and their learning through teachers' eyes. This study is a qualitative research. The focus group of this study consists from ten class teachers that all work in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The material of this study was acquired by a questionnaire that consisted of open questions. Before the actual questionnaire was sent to the participants there was a pre inquiry which was also included in the study. The material was analyzed by using the content analysis. According to the study results almost all of the participants felt that teaching an inclusive physical education group is challenging. The teachers felt that different needs of support bring challenges to the planning and executing of teaching. Teachers felt that integration benefits the pupils with special needs despite of the challenges. Pupils making friendships and understanding differences were seen as the advantages of integration. The teachers felt that the assessment of physical education is also challenging. Assessing pupils with special needs with the same criteria's of assessment was seen as a thing that increases inequality. Especially the assessment of abilities was kept challenging. All of the teachers found trying and activity during class as more important targets of assessment than physical abilities. The teachers used mainly ongoing assessment and giving feedback as a method of assessment. This kind of assessment was seen as a thing that gives the pupil experiences of success which were seen important when it comes to improving self-esteem and inspiring towards sporty lifestyle.

Objectives. The development plan for education and research 2003 - 2008 (report of the Ministry of Education) highlights the development and promotion of special education and integration. In the end of the year 2007, there was Special education strategy published, a proposal for a long-term strategy for the development of special education in pre- and primary schools. Today there are a growing number of special education pupils studying in their neighbourhood schools and in regular teaching groups. Class teachers are so confronting new challenges in their classes. It is pointed out in the researches that teachers' positive attitudes and professional skills are essential for successful mainstreaming / inclusion in schools. The object of this thesis is to examine primary school class teachers' conceptions of working and teaching in the regular education which include special education pupils. This issue will be approached by these research problems: what kind of conceptions do teachers who work in basic education with special education pupils have, what kind of significance does teachers education has for these conceptions, what kind of significance does teachers work experience has for their working and is there a some kind of connection between teacher's conceptions and the nature of special education pupil's disability? Methods. In the spring 2009, the half structured questionnaire was send to all primary schools in Helsinki (N=86). One class teacher in each school was asked to fill in the questionnaire. Altogether 38 teachers answered this questionnaire. The data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Structured questions were processed by using the SPSS- statistics program and qualitative questions were analyzed by using content analysis. Results and conclusions. Class teachers were satisfied with their work and most of them felt that they master the teaching situations sufficiently. They reported that they get support and help most from the special needs assistants and special education teachers but they also felt that they need it more from them. Remedial instruction- lessons were also needed more. Those who had the class teacher qualification got a bit more support from special education teachers than those without qualification. Both, longer work experience and studies of special pedagogy correlated with the amount of help from the assistant. There was also positive connection between the work experience and the amount of remedial instruction. Teachers urge for updating education was clearly shown in this study. About half of these teachers wished more education related to special needs pupils / education. Teachers felt that the lack of time is the most challenging in their work. About half of the teachers felt that the regular studying environment supports special education pupils well or very well and felt mainstreaming valuable for all. They pointed out that the nature and the degree of disability is relevant. They felt that pupils with behavioral difficulties had most negative influence for the whole class, and felt themselves helpless and frustrated because of these pupils.