Browsing by Subject "maahanmuuttotaustaiset oppilaat"

According to prior research and public discourse, students of immigrant back-ground and students who receive support for learning are increasingly at a disadvantaged position in every level of education in Finland. The purpose of this study is to view the school transition from elementary school to middle school through the perspective of students of immigrant background who get special educational support. Through analyzing their experiences, the aim is to find out the role of the Finnish learning and school attendance system in a student’s transition to middle school and to examine how educational equity is achieved during this transition. This study is qualitative in nature. The research material has been collected through six semi-structured interviews, which have been analyzed with a narrative method. The results of this study show that the interviewed students, who are of immigrant background and receive special educational support, experience the shifts in their peer groups, teachers, the requirements for Finnish language and the learning and school attendance system as especially significant when transitioning to middle school. According to the students, learning Finnish becomes progressively more difficult in middle school. The interviewees experience that they do not receive enough support in getting sufficient resources to increase their Finnish language competence to the required level. However, they feel that special educational support has a major role in supporting their learning in middle school. Additionally, most of the interviewees explain how they face more prejudice and racism specifically from teachers after transitioning to middle school. Despite facing an increasing amount of prejudice and their studies becoming more challenging, the interviewed students appreciate middle school and find it an essential part of their educational path.