Finnish teachers’ educators’ conceptions about incorporating academic acceleration in primary education

Abstract

This thesis scrutinizes Finnish teachers’ educators’ understanding of incorporating academic acceleration within basic education. The study is interested in enabling Finnish educators to reflect on how diverse students’ needs are met. For that reason, this study adapted phenomenographic methodology to makes sense of how Finnish educators perceive academic acceleration through their teaching profession in Oulu/Finland. Therefore, five educators have been interviewed in January and February/2019. Based on this study, to best provide support and appropriate instruction for the student in order to be granted an accelerative entry. The zone of proximal development and scaffolding instruction have constituted the theoretical framework.

This study introduces academic acceleration as an adequate pedagogy to serve students’ diverse needs. Parallel to that sustaining the primary principle of inclusive education. Therefore, three different conceptions regarding academic acceleration have created the outcome space of this study. All the different conceptions are keenly linked to qualitatively serving students’ diverse needs. The first conception, which expresses the majority, views academic acceleration as unwanted pedagogy by highlighting the adverse influence of academic acceleration on students’ growth. In which enrichment was represented as more desirable, since it boosts students’ academic development, as well as personal competencies. While the second conception places a strong emphasis on utilizing academic acceleration since it provides an opportunity for some students to excel in a more challenging curriculum, based on their needs, the third conception is related to teachers’ role aligned with the previous two conceptions. In which reflect differences regarding teachers’ responsibility to address academically able students’ needs in order to serve them. However, there is intent for this study to recommend a discussion in teacher education about gifted programs, since controversies among educators exist.