Browsing by Subject "oikeuttaminen"

Special education in Finland is carried out in various approaches and objectives. Planning and creating overall guidelines for special education has been challenging. However, in late autumn of 2013 the Kelpo-project introduced distinct guidelines for special education programs all over Finland. As a result, special education students are evaluated and a three-step personalized support plan is created for each individual. The support provided as well as the amount of overall support is required to be presented in each step of the plan. The documentation should include each student's personal goals and the processes used to achieve them. Before the Kelpo-project was introduced, teachers and other educational officials played a large role in class and school transfers as well as making the choice between general and special education for the student. Today, students' rights for general education are secured by law, which helps to avoid unnecessary class and school transfers. For a long time, the form of the educational system in Finland was divided into two separate sectors: general education and special education. Special education was taught in separate classrooms or in small groups. The aim of the combined educational system was to break down the two separate sectors and combine them as an inclusion-based educational system with a universal school and learning environment for everyone. This educational system would prevent all the unnecessary class and school transfers and treat each student as an equal, whether they need special support or not. The aim of this study is to investigate the numerous school transfers in a commune. This study also aims to examine the reasons behind the transfers and to inspect the officials making the decisions. This study will also examine the extent to which a student's own opinion has affected the transfer decision. This is a qualitative research study. The material has been evaluated with the analysis of the content. This study was carried out by interviews. The interviews conducted have been analyzed by finding common themes, which provide a general understanding of each student's educational path, school transfers and officials participating in the transfer process. The interviewees consisted of three eight grade students. The interviews were recorded and transcripted. The interviews consisted of two different people. The material used in this Master's study brought up how the previous special education system enabled the exclusion of a student by transferring him/her from one school to another with no support plan. The reasons behind the transfers were often misbehavior and violence. Teachers and other officials had responsibility and power to carry out transfers without discussing the issue with parents or the student in question. The current Kelpo-project secures a student's right to be heard and allows one to affect the decisions.