Browsing by Subject "jämlikhet"

Goal: Inclusion is an increasingly popular and current theme within educational sciences. In earlier studies, inclusion as a term has evolved from a relatively narrow definition consisting primarily of pupils with special needs towards a wider spectrum taking all members of a school community into account. According to various theories and official documents used as sources for this thesis, inclusion additionally looks at a person from a primarily intersectional perspective. In this study, the primary goal is to look into how inclusion is percepted from the standpoint of teachers, investigate how inclusion takes its place in school on a daily basis and find out what teachers would need to be able to implement inclusion as part of their daily teaching methods. Another goal of this research is to compare the perception teachers have of inclusion to the inclusion that is presented in theories and official documents that are commonly used guidelines for inclusion implementation. Method: The methodology chosen for this qualitative research is phenomenology. Semi-structured interviews were used as the method and the interviews were supported with a predesigned interview guide. The structure of the interviews was built around the most significant themes in this research. A total of eight (8) Swedish-speaking comprehensive school teachers were interviewed. All of these interviewees were officially qualified teachers, and they were employed either in the region of Uusimaa or Pohjanmaa. The interviewees had different professional and academic backgrounds. Some of them had been active in the profession for up to 20 years, while others had less than five years of work experience. Some of these teachers had studied more special pedagogy that what is usually included in teacher studies. The research material was analyzed through a theme content analysis forming a result that was then divided into separate categories. Results: The perceptions on inclusion varied quite substantially, with some giving it quite a narrow definition and others percepted in as being a broader concept such defined by Ainscow & Booth (1998) in their book. Work experience and educational history had an impact on how the teachers defined inclusion in their schools. All participants considered inclusion as an important theme in the school world. Good co-operation and a culture of acceptance and participation were seen as important aspects to ensure successful inclusion. A lack of resources, the sense of diversity amongst pupils and their own skillset in inclusion were aspects that they felt hindered inclusion. The unified culture amongst Swedish-speaking Finns was also brought up as an example of a theme that can turn into a barrier for inclusion. In addition, some other specific features Finnish school culture were seen as problematic. Based on the research, it can be stated that the acceptance and commitment to diversity is crucial for the successful implementation of inclusion. Updating the skillset of teachers, building a stronger cooperation between various stakeholders and pushing for a cultural change in the school world are concrete examples of ways to strengthen the development of inclusion. This can be established based on both the research, but also on the theories and official documents used the build the theoretical background of this thesis.

COVID-19 has had a large impact on education since schools around the world had to quickly move to distance learning. Consequently, this has possibly affected the equality of education. The main focus of this study is to find out how equality is constructed in Finnish teachers’ survey replies about their experiences during the state of emergency and to find out how these teachers in basic education have taken pupils from lower social classes into account according to their experiences when they have been distance teaching. This study was executed as a qualitative study. The research approach of this study was phenomenological. The study was conducted as a part of the project DISKO, digitalisation and distance education in Swedish-speaking school. The data collection was conducted through the E-lomake e-form. 17 teachers from basic education participated in the study from both Swedish-speaking and Finnish-speaking schools in Finland. The analysis in this study was conducted as a thematic analysis. The majority of teachers in basic education have experienced that schools have not been equal during the Corona spring of 2020. However, this study shows that there are teachers that have experienced this period as equal. The way distance education has been organised has varied between schools. Support measures have also not been organised according to guidelines. Living circumstances and digital equipment in relation to equality were also highlighted during this period. Teachers in basic education have taken pupils from lower social classes into account by lending computers and calling the pupils. Distance education has also been planned out so that pupils who do not get any support from their homes are able to do the exercises by themselves. However, it emerged that there were teachers and schools that had not taken pupils’ socioeconomic status into account. Results in this study indicate that education has not been equal for all children during the state of emergency in the spring of 2020 according to teachers’ experiences. The future holds, how severe the effects of COVID-19 have been on children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.