Becoming a special educator – Finnish and Swedish students’ views on their future professions

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the views of 117 special education student teachers related to their oncoming profession in the framework of ecological theory. Together, 68 students from Sweden (26 special teachers and 41 SENCo students) and 49 from Finland responded to a questionnaire. We compared the respondents' thoughts about their future work content, the focus areas of special education and inclusion. According to the expectations, the main task for these future special educators is to work with pupils and adults at school. The focus areas of their future work included co-operation and consultation, more so in Sweden. In addition, excellent interaction skills were central. The Swedish respondents supported full inclusion to a greater extent than the Finnish respondents. Finally, no critical aspects of resource allocation or conditions to ensure the child's right to adequate support within the existing school systems were emphasised by the respondents. The results and the differences among the various respondents are discussed.

Experiences of a dual system: motivation for teachers to study special education

“…This is important in order to understand how special education is organised, given that special educators also influence the schools where they work. In general, however, the present findings (consisting of the themes Thirst for knowledge, tools and science, Achieving better results as a teacher, Improving career opportunities, Influence: helping pupils and teachers and Developing schools: identifying deficits in schools' ways of working with special needs education) confirm previous studies concerning Swedish special educators' ideas of what their work should be about: working with pupils, cooperation and consultation (Takala et al 2015) and conducting school development (Göransson, Lindqvist, and Nilholm 2015;Lindqvist 2013).…”

“…In schools, however, SENCOs do much of the same work as special education teachers, which often involves working with individual pupils. Both groups are educated to lead educational development, including consultation and the evaluation of interventions (Takala et al 2015).…”

“…Similar findings, pointing to SENCOs' difficulties in adopting a leadership role and thus exerting influence concerning school development issues, are highlighted in British research (Layton 2005; Rosen-Webb 2011; Tissot 2013). Takala et al (2015) explored how Finnish and Swedish special education students view their future work as special educators. They described these future special educators as traditional, in the sense that they expected to work with pupils, in both segregated and inclusive settings.…”

Special Education Teachers’ Identification of Students’ Reading Difficulties in Grade 6

“…This study focuses on Finnish SEN teachers and students receiving part-time special education in the sixth grade. SEN teacher training in Finland is a master's degree program, comprising theory and practice related to individual and small-group instruction, the application of various assessment tools, support in reading, writing, mathematics, and communication, as well as behavioral and socio-emotional challenges (Takala et al, 2015). Students with reading difficulties (RD) receive remedial instruction during or after school by classroom teacher, part-time special education by SEN teacher, or co-teaching by classroom teacher and SEN teacher during literacy lessons (Lerkkanen, 2007).…”

Rethinking higher education and its relationship with social inequalities: past knowledge, present state and future potential

“…All these systems constantly interact, shaping a dynamic, complex but also natural ecological environment, in which a person develops its understanding of the world. In practical terms, this theory has found application in Finland, gradually transforming the Finish educational system to such a degree that is now considered the best all over the world (Määttä and Uusiautti, 2014;Takala et al, 2015). Finally, Bronfenbrenner is also an advocate that poverty and social inequalities are developed not because of differences in individual characteristics and capabilities but because of institutional constraints that are insurmountable to those from a lower socio-economic background.…”