Tensions in the New Millennium: Inclusion Ideology and Education Policy in the Finnish Comprehensive School

Abstract

This article examines the discrepancy between the ideology of inclusive education and the national education policy in the Finnish comprehensive school education. The study covers twenty years and is based on observations that indicate that the change in comprehensive school education, grounded in inclusive education ideals, has been slow. This has been the case, even though Finnish education policy has, on principle, committed to many international statements that promote inclusion ideology. The data consists primarily of statistics indicating the number of students in special education and national and international research on the subject. It confirms our supposition, but also the fact that statistics are not merely challenging but also capable of distorting reality. While examining the changes in student quantities over the last twenty years, we came to the conclusion that the fluctuation does not result from any real growth in student numbers. Changes in statistical methods, terminology in the field of study, norms, education systems or even social phenomena can also cause distortion.

Inclusion in American and Finnish Schools: The Neglect of Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

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Hacia una educación más inclusiva: la transformación de un centro educativo

“…A nivel conceptual encontramos que dentro de las diferentes esferas sociales y contextos se mantienen distintas comprensiones sobre el concepto (Messiou, 2016;Nilholm y Göransson, 2017). A nivel cultural conocemos que las reformas de alcance nacional que requiere la construcción de una educación más inclusiva pueden redefinirse o recalibrarse en los contextos locales, de modo que se ajusten a lo preexistente en los mismos (Powell, Edelstein y Blanck, 2015), generando escenarios muy dispares incluso dentro de un mismo país y con el propio horizonte inclusivo (Göransson y Nilholm, 2014;Hakala y Leivo, 2017). A nivel práctico, en los centros escolares, identificamos las complejidades que entrañan los procesos de movilización del conocimiento del ámbito investigador al práctico (Korsgaard et al, 2018) así como la dilemática y también compleja tarea que supone la creación y mantenimiento por los profesionales de la educación de la coherencia entre el discurso teórico y práctico (Naraian y Schlessinger, 2017;Messiou y Ainscow, 2020).…”