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

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 additio…

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Kasvatus- ja opetusalan johtajien näkemyksiä omasta johtamisosaamisestaan ja sen kehittämistarpeista

Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan Helsingin yliopistossa kasvatus- ja opetusalan johtamisen täydennyskoulutukseen osallistuneiden varhaiskasvatuksen ja perusopetuksen johtajien näkemyksiä johtamisosaamisen kehittämisestä ja oman johtajuutensa kehittämistarpeista. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin johtajien suhtautumista itsensä johtamiseen: missä määrin johtajat arvioivat omaavansa riittävästi osaamista nykyiseen työtehtäväänsä, millaista osaamista johtajat arvioivat tarvitsevansa lisää ja millaisia kehittämistarpeita heillä on? Tutkimusaineisto (N = 87) kerättiin Likert-asteikollisia ja avoimia kysymyksiä sisältäneellä sähköisellä kyselylomakkeella osana täydennyskoulutuksen arviointia ja kehittä…

Introduction

Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Finland

The daily life of early childhood education and care (ECE) in Finland changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. The pandemic has had a significant impact on society at many levels, and it also has affected the work and workload of ECE leaders and the realisation of leadership. The aim of this research was to investigate ECE leadersʼ views on pedagogical leadership from the perspective of opportunities and challenges during exceptional times. The research uses the conceptualisation of broad-based pedagogical leadership as an analytical framework. The data consisted of the responses of ECE leaders (n = 492) to an electronic survey conducted in February 2021. There were sever…

Stress, Coping Strategies and Resources of Early Childhood Education Leaders during the COVID-19-Pandemic in Finland, Germany and Israel

The exceptional circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 caused unexpected challenges for the leaders in Early Childhood Education (ECE) centres. The range of measures implemented for preventing the infection from spreading reduced opportunities for face-to-face communication and changed the form of professional cooperation. All that has affected the working conditions and work well-being of the leaders. In this article we examine the ECE centre leaders' experiences regarding stress, their coping strategies and coping resources according to the Lazarus & Folkman (1984) stress model during the COVID-19-pandemic in Finland, Germany and Israel. The aim is to understand leaders' …