This study examines the current state of special education provision and resources in Finland after the extensive reform of the government transfer system and Basic Education Act implemented in 2010-2011. Data were collected from a survey of compulsory school principals and from interviews with the highest-ranking officials in municipal education administration. The results show that participants viewed the Basic Education Act as having a more significant impact on the provision of special education than the reform of the government transfer system. Partly due to the reforms, local authorities have targeted the resources of special education differently and used resources more effectively.Continued efforts are needed to ensure the provision of resources for part-time special education and the use of other forms of early intervention in general education classrooms.
Recent European and global trends in education have been to promote inclusive education and expand education, resulting in the increased provision of special education. In promoting inclusive education, recent special education reforms have also aimed to curtail the rise in identification rates for students in special education, for example, by focusing more on early support and discontinuing fiscal incentives to identify students with special educational needs. Using official special education statistics, we studied how Finland’s special education system reforms changed the share of students in special education. In addition, we examined variations in special education provisions among municipalities before and after the reforms, and identified municipal-level predictors of variations. This study utilised piecewise linear latent growth curve modelling to analyse changes, thereby providing an example of how this method can be applied in policy reform studies. The results indicated, in particular, that the funding reform has incentivised municipalities to decrease identification rates for students in special education and to diminish special education provision. However, different municipalities have different special education provisions and have changed these provisions in varied ways. In particular, we found that small and large municipalities differ in special education practices and reform implementation.
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