What is individual in individualised instruction? Five storylines of meeting individual needs at school

Abstract The purpose of this narrative case study was to examine the meanings and practices of individualised instruction narrated by two seventh-grade Finnish pupils with mild learning difficulties, their mothers, their special education teacher and researchers. The data comprise narrative interviews and field notes. The analysis showed that the narrators had various, even conflicting, experiences of individualisation, which was narrated through five storylines: individual needs as difficulties and limitations; individualisation as the ideal principle for inclusive education; individualisation as a bureaucratic procedure; individualised instruction as making room for emotions, and individu…

‘We Don't Question Whether We Can Do This’: Teacher Identity in Two Co-Teachers' Narratives

Through the concept of teacher identity, this article examines in detail the factors in the process through which the two teachers under study changed from traditional teachers into co-teaching professionals. The interview data were analysed by thematic narrative analysis. The results showed that the teachers' own attitudes, conflicts in their classrooms and experience of collaboration had created an idea of co-teaching. This idea, combined with a supportive school culture, resulted in the final solution — a shared classroom. It can be concluded that when a certain kind of teacher identity is combined with supportive collegiality, it can lead teachers to find positive solutions to a stress…

Yhteisopetuksen käsikirja

Learning about students in co-teaching teams

Teachers are facing increasingly diverse classrooms globally. To support all students efficiently, teachers need to know their students. Drawing from the literature of teacher learning and inclusive education, we explored how teachers learn to know their students in a co-teaching context. Analysis of interviews and diaries of five co-teaching teams showed that teachers learned about their students in a co-taught classroom by observing students and by obtaining knowledge from and co-constructing knowledge with their co-teaching partner. Moreover, teachers’ learning led to shared responsibility for the student and a better understanding of student diversity. Thus, sharing knowledge of student…

Towards inclusion : teacher learning in co-teaching

Committing, engaging and negotiating : Teachers’ stories about creating shared spaces for co-teaching

The study examined teachers’ stories on developing co-teaching partnerships. The narratives of three two-teacher teams were used to illustrate joint professional landscapes. The teams narrated the development process as one in which commitment, engagement and negotiation were the key elements in shaping their professional landscapes. The findings indicate wide variation in the role of shared understanding and related engagement in co-constructing co-teaching practices. peerReviewed

Flexible Grouping as a Means for Classroom Management in a Heterogeneous Classroom

This article concerns issues of classroom management in heterogeneous classrooms. Although research in the field of learning styles has yielded mixed results, there is a call for information about how they could be used to individualize instruction, especially in primary schools. This article is part of an ethnographic study aiming to examine teacher collaboration in a primary school and it draws strongly on field notes and on interviews with teachers. The intention was to discover how the two teachers in the classroom studied categorized pupils according to the learning styles model they had invented, and how the resulting groups were used for the purposes of classroom management. The stu…

"Tää on niinku meijän luokka" : laadullinen tapaustutkimus kahden opettajan yhteistoiminnallisuudesta yleisopetuksen luokan ja pienluokan muodostamas[s]a luokassa

Stories about transnational higher education (TNHE) : exploring Indonesian teachers’ imagined experiences of Finnish higher education

We examined Indonesian school teachers’ perceptions and expectations about their professional learning, and their justifications for these, before they embarked on a transnational master’s programme carried out in both Indonesia and Finland. The data were collected using the method of empathy-based stories. The findings showed that the teachers expected the programme content, execution and internationality to impact positively on their professional learning, while negative professional learning scenarios were framed as stemming from a lack of personal motivation or lack of support from the Indonesian community. Moreover, the teachers expected to become more skilled professionals not only as…

Co-teaching as a context for teachers' professional learning and joint knowledge construction

Abstract The study examined two primary teachers' professional learning and joint knowledge construction in the context of co-teaching. The teachers narrated their learning as a collaborative process with serendipitous origins. Shared knowledge construction was crucial in the learning process, as was implementing the resulting new ideas in practice. It is concluded that experiences of co-teaching may support teachers in meeting their professional responsibilities effectively. Professional development programmes need to be sensitive to teachers' individual and collaborative learning experiences to be able better to support them in the natural context of those experiences in particular local …