Browsing by Author "Sundqvist, Henna"

In 2019 the new Upper Secondary School Act (714/2018) entered into force as a part of a larger upper secondary school reform. The Upper Secondary School Act obliges every upper secondary school to organize special education for all students who have challenges in learning. It was volyntary to organize special education before the reform, and special education was offered mainly in large cities. The purpose of this thesis is to describe the job description of special education teacher in upper secondary school and potential job description in the future. There is only a little previous research on special education in upper secondary schools. This thesis was conducted as a qualitative study. The material consisted of interviews with four special education teachers. At the time of the interview, the interviewees worked in upper secondary schools. The interviews were conducted as semi-structured thematic interviews and theory-driven content analysis was selected as the method of analysis. According to the results the job description of a special education teacher in upper secondary school can be divided into three themes which are student work, cooperation and developmental work. Work emphasizes individual work with students, and testing for difficulties in reading takes a lot of time. Cooperation is closest with student counsellor. Consultation is mostly informal (conversations in the corridors for example). Acting as a special education teacher in the upper secondary school requires continuous additional training. Encounters with students and the freedom to plan one’s schedule bring a lot of joy. Challenges encountered at work include difficulties in scheduling, insufficient resources and digitalization. The themes of the job will most likely remain fairly similar in the future. Teaching will change from individual work to more collaborative work. The cooperation is probably closer with all the personnel of the school. More resources for special education in all upper secondary schools in Finland is hoped. Special education teachers will hopefully have the opportunity to act as promoters of the general well-being of students. Materials should also be in print instead of digital materials.