Finnish teachers’ perceptions of special education needs (SEN) and inclusion : a critical realist analysis through disability model frameworks

Abstract

While inclusive education has gained precedence in global education policy initiatives, the relationship between special education and inclusion is often unclear, resulting in combined or integrated approaches to inclusion. These approaches may rely on individualized or segregating teaching methods, which appear at odds with inclusive philosophy. As such, this thesis investigates the situatedness of Finnish teachers’ perceptions of inclusive education for special education needs (SEN) students.

To accomplish this aim, disability studies (DS) model frameworks are theorized within a critical realist paradigm, to gain insight into how teachers’ conceptions of disability reflect various meanings within inclusive education. Using a combined method of reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) and a critical realist approach to thematic analysis (CRTA), ten semi-structured interviews from Finnish general and special education teachers are examined to 1) explore perceptions of SEN, and 2) explain causal mechanisms that may influence on teachers’ perceptions of inclusion.

Research findings echo previous Finnish literature, where inclusion is viewed with skepticism, however, new knowledge is elaborated on, relative to the complex, interrelated relationships between perceptions of SEN and inclusion, as understood through DS model frameworks, i.e., the social model (SM), medical model (MM) and the Nordic relational model (NRM). Findings reveal that teachers perceive SEN and inclusion in an interdisciplinary manner, correlating with an individualized approach to inclusion. Recommendations are offered in regard to how DS models can help mitigate negative effects of exclusionary and medical model-based practices.