Browsing by Author "Tuunainen, Outi-Katariina"

In 2011, Finnish comprehensive schools started using a three tiered support system. The aim of the new system was to answer students’ needs of support in a flexible way, as early as possible. For years the Finnish school system has attempted to move in more inclusive direction. Providing support is now the responsibility of all teachers. The research findings on the implementation of support are contradictory, and teachers, for example, have found resources and training inadequate to implement support. There is a need to further develop effective, inclusive education arrangements. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' conceptions of the implementation of three tiered support in their schools, and the factors contributing to and impairing the implementation. In addition, possible differences and similarities between different groups of teachers in the conception of support implementation were examined. The research material of this qualitative, phenomenographic study was part of secondary data collected by an electronic questionnaire from comprehensive school staff in a city. The answers of teachers in grades 1-9 (N = 847) to two open-ended questions was analyzed utilizing the phenomenographic method by categorizing the concepts first into meaning categories and later into higher categories. In addition, the data was quantified by examining the prevalence of conceptions across the answers and by teacher group. As a result of the conceptions of the factors contributing to and impairing the implementation of the support, vertical systems of categories of description were created. Factors contributing to the implementation of the three-tiered support consisted of four categories of descriptions: Collaboration, Teachers’ professional skills, Organization of school practices, and Resources. About one-third of teachers found that support had improved in their school during the last two years, while about one-third found it had weakened. Teachers’ conceptions of the reasons for the decline in support formed four descriptive categories: Lack of resources, Reasons related to students’ needs of support, Problems related to school structures and practices, and Reasons related to placement of students with special educational needs. The views of the teacher groups were mostly consistent, but there were small differences, especially related to importance of the teachers’ skills and school practices.