Session Information
26 SES 11 C, Reform, Results and Inclusion
Paper Session
Contribution
General description (topic, research questions, theoretical framework)
The paper presents a study of the Finnish school in an ongoing inclusive reform process (Basic Education Act 2010/642, National Core Curriculum for Basic Education, changes 2010) from the perspective of school leaders. The Finnish inclusive curriculum reform is consistent with the UNESCO (2009) policy guidelines that focus on inclusion by suggesting that the ultimate goal for equity in education is to promote participation and equal opportunities for all students (e.g. Ainscow, et. al., 2006; Ferguson, 2008; Forlin et al., 2011). The first phase of the research project took place during a professional development program (2010-2013) due to the changes in national legislation for enhancing inclusion in education. Fourteen comprehensive schools were involved in the project (Rajakaltio & Mäkinen 2013).
This study focuses on asking how the current comprehensive schools cope with the change process from the perspective of school leaders in three well performing schools. On a more general level the aim of the study aims at gaining understanding of the complexity of school improvement in a time of rapid changes, economic and social instability.
The Finnish education policy seems to be in a turning point in choosing its future way. The current Finnish education policy has become controversial and contested in a time of neoliberal governing and economic crisis. Finland has not chosen accountability and high-testing policy as most countries have, but is looking for a sustainable and creative way of educational change and reform. Consequently, the suggested adoption of inclusion ideology in Finnish reforms is a consistent continuation of the traditionalFinnish thinking “equality is quality” in updating the mechanisms for enhancing social justice and furtheringdemocratic development of Finnish society (Sahlberg, 2011, Hargreaves & Shirley, 2009).
Research Questions and Theoretical Approach
The overall aim for the study is to gain understanding of the reform process of inclusive education as a complex transitional process which involves different levels from educational policy on a national level to the local school community level and the single teacher as an agency for change. This study stresses on exploring the school leading process in three schools. We wanted to find out what are the features that characterizes well performingschools. The project focuses on two research questions as follows:
What kind of strategy do the principals use in leading the change process?
What are the prerequisites for a successful development process at school level?
School leadership is viewed as central to large-scale education reform and school improvement (Hargreaves & Shirley 2009). The school is seen as a specific societal institution with a plurality of ethical purposes (Hunter, 1994). The school is facing the cross-pressure of contradictive requirements and expectations as a part of the society characterized by competiveness and efficiency (Rajakaltio 2011). According to inclusive shift, there are contradictory and contested processes of exclusion and inclusion going on in the school (Popkewitz 2009). There is no coherent conceptualization of “inclusion”; it is quite a blurred concept open for political discussions and contested ways of interpretation (Sabel et al., 2011).
The reform process would challenge the school as a learning environment, and as a professional learning community, its educational practices, teaching traditions and curriculum ideas. School leaders are in a key position in fostering prerequisites for a professional learning community and promoting change processes. (Stoll & Louis 2008; Rajakaltio 2011; Mäkinen 2013).
We see the school as a key agency for change and the reform process developing from inside out (Tyack & Cuban 1998).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
References Autio, T. 2014. The internationalization of curriculum studies. In W. Pinar (Ed.) International Handbook of Curriculum Research. New York: Routledge. Ainscow, M., Booth, T., & Dyson, A. (2006). Improving schools, developing inclusion. London: Routledge. Basic Education Act (2010/642). Finlex. http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/2010/20100642. Ferguson, D. (2008). International trends in inclusive education: the continuing challenge to teach each one and everyone. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 23(2), 109–120. Forlin, C., Kawai, N., Higuchi, S. (2011). Educational reform in Japan towards inclusion: are we training teachers for success? International Journal of Inclusive Education, 19(3), 314–331. Hargreaves, A & Shirley, D. 2009. The fourth way. The inspiring future for educational change. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Hunter, I. 1994. Rethinking the school. Subjectivity, bureaucracy, criticism. St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin. Mäkinen, M. (2013). Narrative reflections as descriptors of teachers’ work engagement in inclusive schools. Teaching and Teacher Education, 35, 51–61. National Core Curriculum for Basic Education (Changes and amendments 50/011/2010). Finnish Board of Education. Popkewitz, T.S. (2009). Inclusion and exclusion as double gestures in policy and education sciences. In M. Simons, M. Olsen & M.A. Peters (ed.) Re-reading education policies. A handbook studying the policy agenda of the 21st century. (531–548). Rotterdam: Sense. Rajakaltio, H. 2011. Diversity in coherence – comprehensive school in the cross pressure of change. (Moninaisuus yhtenäisyydessä. Peruskoulu muutosten ristipaineissa.) Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 1686. Tampere: Tampere University Press. Rajakaltio, H. & Mäkinen, M. (2013). The Finnish school in cross-pressures of change. In the Proceedings of European Conference of Curriculum Studies. Future Directions: Uncertainty and Possibilities, 530–536. Sabel,C., Saxenian, A.L., Miettinen, R., Kristensen H.P. & Hautamäki, J. 2011. Individualized service Provision in the New Welfare State. Lessons from special education in Finland. Report prepared for SITRA and Ministery of Employment and Economy. Sitra Studies 62. Sitra. Helsinki. Sahlberg, P. 2011. Finnish lessons. What can the world learn from educational change in Finland? New York: College Teachers Press. Stoll, L & K.S. Louis. (2008). Professional learning communities elaborating new approaches. In L. Stoll & K.S. Louis (ed.) Professional learning communities. Divergence, depth and dilemmas (1–13). Maidenhead: McGraw Hill/Open University Press. Tyack, D. & Cuban, L.(1998). Tinkering toward utopia. A century of public school reform. Harvard University Press. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). (2009). Policy guidelines on inclusion in education. Paris: UNESCO.
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