The 21st Century Reforms (Re)Shaping the Education Policy of Inclusive and Special Education in Finland

Abstract

In recent decades, an essential global aim of the reforms of special education has been the promotion of inclusive education. This article discusses the implementation of reforms with a focus on tiered support systems in the context of Finnish comprehensive school education. Based on earlier literature, legislation, and administrative documents, we provide a background for Finnish education policy and special education reforms. The focus of this article is on the description of parallel reforms targeting the re-structuring of the systems around support for students and funding of education in the 2010s. We discuss the processes leading to these reforms and the reforms themselves. In addition, we discuss their implications for the organization of the tiered support system. Finally, we highlight some challenges of reform implementation and the current education policy’s movements towards inclusive education.

Teaching Kindness and Compassion: An Exploratory Intervention Study to Support Young Children’s Prosocial Skills in an Inclusive ECEC Setting

“…In the context of inclusive education, various international declarations, programmes and agreements have been made to safeguard every child's right to education, such as the United Nations' 1975 Declaration of the Rights of Disabled Persons and UNESCO's 1994 Salamanca Statement [11]. According to the national core curriculum for ECEC in Finland, where the present study was conducted, among the key objectives for ECEC is: '[.…”

In che senso è possibile innovare a scuola attraverso la Didattica Speciale?

“…A livello internazionale, il richiamo al principio dell'Education for All è diventato un saldo riferimento che ha sollecitato i sistemi educativi in direzione di un sostanziale cambiamento. In molti Paesi del mondo, l'istruzione per gli alunni con disabilità e con difficoltà nell'apprendimento si è gradualmente evoluta, anche se non in senso univoco, passando da sistemi di completa separazione a strutturazioni maggiormente orientate all'integrazione e all'inclusione (Ahtiainen et al, 2021;Borca, 2010;Chambers & Forlin, 2021;Enders, 2013;Freitas et al, 2020;Ghergut & Grasu, 2012;Hameed & Manzoor, 2019;Mura, 2016;Reyes et al, 2017;Seiça & Sanches, 2014).…”

Use and Knowledge of ICTs in Inclusive Education at Educational Levels

“…Because of the presence of Covid-19, inevitable changes have been suffered in all humanity [7], so in countries like Europe, concepts and issues of inclusion are investigated with systematic approaches prevailing interactions in the classroom, political, social contexts and categories of social character where the results show us the dominance of special needs and disability, but with the presence of exclusion by gender, social class, religion and geography [8]. Despite the existence of reforms to promote inclusive education with changes in the system of support and funding for students [9], there were effects not only in European countries, but also in Latin American countries but with the presence of barriers to better education, these barriers hinder inclusion at the university level with so much cultural diversity as in Bolivia, which due to lack of coordination between law and resources allocated were lost to institutions responsible for diversity and inclusion [10]. With the presence of the pandemic the education sector was considered as a worrying sector due to the closure of educational institutions that affected more people with special inclusion, because it had to face educational policies, inaccessible technologies and leave aside the educational inclusion to make parents responsible [11] and even the administrative staff shows phobia to Covid-19 [12], for such reason inclusive education is considered as the protector of students with special abilities [13].…”