Special and Inclusive Education: school experience (4cr)

Evaluation scale

H-5

Content scheduling

-

Objective

To familiarize international students with the Finnish system of special and inclusive education.
After course completion students should be able to demonstrate knowledge about similarities and differences regarding the Finnish and students’ native system with reference to special and inclusive education.

Execution methods

Orientation lecture (2 hours)
Individual work:
- Observation: school visits to 3-4 different classrooms/schools (one school day at a school) (20 hours)
- Reflective report based on the school experiences and literature (85 hours)

Accomplishment methods

Orientation lectures (2h) by the tutor and observation visits (20h) to 3-4 different school classes (the University of Lapland Teacher Training School and field practice schools in Rovaniemi).
The observation will focus on pupils with special needs.
After observations students will write a report (4-6 pages) about their feelings and experiences, and reflect on how they have perceived inclusion and exclusion in Finnish school system. The report have to be based on the inclusive education literature (given by the tutor or self-chosen).

Content

During the school visits:
Observation
- the teaching methods
- the school/classroom atmosphere
- the pupils working methods
- how “the special pupils” are regarded by “the ordinary pupils”
Participation in class working (guiding) if possible.
After the school visits:
Writing a report:
- reading the literature before writing
- a scientific report (4-6 pages) about student's feelings and experiences, and reflecttion on how a student has perceived inclusion and exclusion in Finnish school system.
- comparision of the Finnish special needs education system and the system of student's own country

Location and time

Info lecture 15.2.24 15-17

IEDU0005 consists of the info lecture, visitations to the field of special education and writing a report about your experiences. The visiting schedule and places will be available later.

Materials

Peterson, J. M. & Hittie, M. M. 2003. Inclusive teaching. Creating effective schools for all learners Thomas, G. & Loxley, A. 2001. Deconstructing special education and constructing inclusion Inclusive education: readings and reflections. 2004. Eds. G. Thomas & M. Vaughan Psychology for inclusive education: new directions in theory and practice. 2009. Eds. P. Hick, R. Kershner & P. T. Farrell McLeskey, J. 2000. Inklusive schools in action: Making differences ordinary (Ebrary) Villa, R. & Thousand, J. 2005. Creating an inclusive school (2nd ed.) (Ebrary) Inclusion in socio-educational frames: inclusive school cases in four european countries. 2017. Ed. A. Galgiene http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-609-471-099-5 IBE Strategy 2008−2013 http://www.ibe.unesco.org/sites/default/files/resources/ibe-strategy2008_eng.pdf Special Needs Education in Europe http://www.european-agency.org/publications/ereports/special-needs-education-in-europe/special-needs-education-in-europe Inclusive Education and Effective Classroom Practices http://www.european-agency.org/publications/ereports/inclusive-education-and-classroom-practices/inclusive-education-and-classroom-practices Inclusive Education and Classroom Practice in Secondary Education http://www.european-agency.org/publications/ereports/inclusive-education-and-classroom-practice-in-secondary-education/inclusive-education-and-classroom-practice-in-secondary-education Key Principles in Special Needs Education - Recommendations for Policy Makers http://www.european-agency.org/publications/ereports/key-principles-in-special-needs-education/key-principles-in-special-needs-education Finland: Support for pupils and students https://www.oph.fi/english/education_system/support_for_pupils_and_students Eurydice https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/home_en

Teaching methods

The course consists of three parts: the info lecture, visitations and report.

Moodle-key iedu2020.

Employer connections

Visitation possibilities to the field of special education. Visitation schedules will be presented at the info lecture.

Exam schedules

Deadline for the reports in the spring 2024 will be 15.5.2023 (returns to Moodle).

International connections

The course is for international students in the faculty of education.

Completion alternatives

-

Student workload

-

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

0
- the report content is very poorly organized; it’s too difficult to follow the content. the content presentation is one-sided: it either contains a very personal “diary” or lists only course content items but not both;
- the report lists only the “learning events” (what happened during classes); there is no reflection or analysis included
- the report describes in detail what happened, quoting text from slides and handouts but there is no evidence of how that content influenced student’s learning
1-2
- the report is to the point but not well organized
- the report includes successful learning and difficulties (if any) the student encountered during the course but they are described in a personal or “diary” style rather than in an objective and constructive way
- the report includes both entries about what happened ( a short list, or a brief description) and description of student’s reaction and what they learned during the process; however, the entries are short or imbalanced (e.g. more description of what happened than reflection); those reflections
include sporadic references to previous learning experiences and learning expectations, or none at all; the learning process of the student is not easy to follow
- the report includes a description rather than evaluation of teaching methods with regard to student’s learning; no alternative solutions are proposed
-- the learning process is not well analysed; immediate benefits of the course are mentioned sporadically but there is no reference as to how the learning experience can be used in the future by the student as an individual or an expert in the field

Assessment criteria, good (3)

3-4
- the learning report is well organized and to the point
- the report contains both successful learning and difficulties (if any) the student encountered during the course; those are presented in a constructive way
- the report includes both entries about what happened ( a short list, or a brief description) and description of student’s reaction and what they learned during the process; those reflections include references to previous learning experiences and learning expectations but not learning theories; the learning process of the student is not described quite clearly
- the report includes a description rather than evaluation of teaching methods with regard to student’s learning: what helped and hindered learning; only a few alternative solutions are proposed
- the learning process is well analysed; the report includes immediate benefits of the course but does not indicate how the learning experience can be used in the future by the student as an individual or an expert in the field

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

5
- the report is very well organized and to the point
- the report contains both successful learning and difficulties (if any) the student encountered during the course; those are presented in a constructive way
- the report includes both entries about what happened ( a short list, or a brief description) and description of student’s reaction and what they learned during the process; those reflections include references to learning theories, previous learning experiences and learning expectations; the
learning process of the student is described explicitly
- the report includes evaluation of teaching methods with regard to student’s learning: what helped and hindered learning; alternative solutions are proposed
- the learning process is very well analysed; the report includes immediate benefits of the course and what can be used later with regard to students as individuals and professionals in their fields of study

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

Pass: see criteria 3-5
Fail: see criteria 0-2

Qualifications

The course is aimed at students of teacher education.

Further information

More information about the course: annuroosa.tikkanen@ulapland.fi.