Browsing by Subject "jämlikhetsfostran"

One of the fundamental principles of the Finnish basic education is promoting equality and preventing inequality on different levels. This means that every school is obliged to ensure equal access to education for all students, but also to foster a so-called equity education and support the students into becoming good human beings, that strive for equality and positive change themselves. Deduced from theory and previous research, this study assumed that the teacher’s approach to diversity as well as the school’s equity task affects the prerequisites to foster equity education. The aim of this study is thus to gain insight into Finnish teachers’ perceptions of both the ideal and practical aspects of the equity work in primary school, as well as how the approach to diversity relates to this. The empirical research that was conducted to meet this aim was based on the following research questions: 1) How is the diversity-category constructed in teacher-discourses? 2) How are prerequisites for equity in primary school created in teacher-discourses? The empirical part of the study relied on a discourse analytical research design, and the data was gathered through qualitative interviews with five teachers in total from three different schools. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed according to discourse analytical principles using Fairclough’s three-dimensional model for analysis on three levels: text, discourse practice, and sociocultural practice. The results showed that the teachers had varying perceptions of diversity as well as what the school’s equity task really entails. Some understood diversity as a concept entailing all students, while others understood it as something deviant and non-Finnish. The perception of diversity also had implications for the equity work; the previously mentioned understanding of diversity as non-Finnish positioned Finnishness as the direct opposite of the diversity-category, and subsequently Finnishness was considered both the norm and the base for equality. Said understanding, as well as a lack of knowledge and critical perspectives, subsequently weakened teachers’ prerequisites for equity education. In conclusion, the results show that comprehensive and relevant education for all teachers in the field would be beneficial.