Markku Jahnukainen
University of Helsinki, Teacher Education, Faculty Member
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Over the past 20 years, numerous studies have been conducted on how young people with special needs proceed to post-secondary education, working life and adulthood. These studies have clearly shown that youth with disabilities generally... more
Over the past 20 years, numerous studies have been conducted on how young people with special needs proceed to post-secondary education, working life and adulthood. These studies have clearly shown that youth with disabilities generally have worse adult outcomes than do their peers without disabilities. In particular, students with behavioural disorders and criminal histories have high rates of school dropout, low rates of employment, and low rates of post-secondary school attendance (Murray, 2003). For high-risk youth who have been placed in residential facilities, the facility-to-community transition period may be critical in influencing adult outcomes.
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Although inclusive education is a strong trend in education policy around the globe, there are different definitions and variations used in different nations. The case of Finland is interesting, because the long-term direction of the... more
Although inclusive education is a strong trend in education policy around the globe, there are different definitions and variations used in different nations. The case of Finland is interesting, because the long-term direction of the Finnish school system has supported every child’s right to participate in education, but inclusive education is not mentioned or defined anywhere in education legislation. This absence of definition not only leaves the defining to the parties concerned, but also adds to creating inclusive myths and varying realities in everyday life. Meanwhile, in public discussion, there has been a constant and quite polarised debate about putting students with support needs in regular classrooms. The recent Government Program (2019) in Finland states that special education legislation should be investigated from the point of view of students as well as teachers’ wellbeing. In order to define the current state and equality of the Finnish support system, the Ministry of...
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Research Interests: Sociology and Immigration
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The present study describes the change from special education to support for learning and school attendance in basic education using available statistics and policy papers. Due to the legislative changes (e.g. L476/1983, 628/1998 and... more
The present study describes the change from special education to support for learning and school attendance in basic education using available statistics and policy papers. Due to the legislative changes (e.g. L476/1983, 628/1998 and 642/2010), the provision of support has been extended to new groups of pupils. Legislative changes and reforms in administrative policies have affected the expansion of special education. The changes in legislation, resources and education policy have affected the changes in statistics. Furthermore, international education policy and transnational organizations, such as the OECD, EU and UNESCO, have influenced the definitions in Finnish special-education statistics. The present study analyses the changes in statistics using the statistics and documents related to the compilation of statistics (1979–2016), as well as material from the UOE data collection on formal education in the European Commission’s CIRCABC database.
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Vaikka yleinen oppivelvollisuus säädettiin vuoden 1921 oppivelvollisuuslailla koko ikäluokkaa koskevaksi, moni poikkeavaksi katsottu oppilas jäi vielä pitkään parhaimmillaankin joko erityiskoulu- tai laitossijoitukseen ellei sitten... more
Vaikka yleinen oppivelvollisuus säädettiin vuoden 1921 oppivelvollisuuslailla koko ikäluokkaa koskevaksi, moni poikkeavaksi katsottu oppilas jäi vielä pitkään parhaimmillaankin joko erityiskoulu- tai laitossijoitukseen ellei sitten kokonaan opetuksen ulkopuolelle (Tuunainen 2002). Sittemmin tukea tarvitsevien oppilaiden asemaa oppivelvollisuuden suorittamisen suhteen on kohennettu asteittain ja viimeisenä ryhmänä yhtenäiskoulun piiriin siirtyivät vaikeimmin kehitysvammaiset oppilaat syksyllä 1997 (Jahnukainen & Korhonen 2003). Oppivelvollisuuden ja samalla tuen kestolla on erityisopetuksen kannalta ollut merkittävä funktio: osa vammaisoppilaista opiskelee pidennetyn, eli vuotta aiemmin alkavan ja vuoden pidempään kestävän 11-vuotisen oppivelvollisuuden mukaisesti. Päätökset oppivelvollisuuden pituudesta tehdään yksilöllisesti. Oppivelvollisuuden pituuden säätely, samoin kuin oppimäärien yksilöllistäminen (Jahnukainen ym. 2020), ovat siis olleet osana eriyttämisen keinovalikoimaa. Yl...
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The focus of this contribution is on the targeted transition practices of career guidance and on the opportunity structures they frame for young people with immigrant backgrounds and/or special educational needs. By analysing curricular... more
The focus of this contribution is on the targeted transition practices of career guidance and on the opportunity structures they frame for young people with immigrant backgrounds and/or special educational needs. By analysing curricular documents and interviews with representatives from the local education authorities, such as administrators, principals, guidance counsellors and special education teachers (n = 16), we aim to examine critically the options provided for these groups of young people. We conclude that targeted transition practices do not recognise enough the heterogeneity of young people, and can therefore be limitative and exclusive.
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In recent decades, an essential global aim of the reforms of special education has been the promotion of inclusive education. This article discusses the implementation of reforms with a focus on tiered support systems in the context of... more
In recent decades, an essential global aim of the reforms of special education has been the promotion of inclusive education. This article discusses the implementation of reforms with a focus on tiered support systems in the context of Finnish comprehensive school education. Based on earlier literature, legislation, and administrative documents, we provide a background for Finnish education policy and special education reforms. The focus of this article is on the description of parallel reforms targeting the re-structuring of the systems around support for students and funding of education in the 2010s. We discuss the processes leading to these reforms and the reforms themselves. In addition, we discuss their implications for the organization of the tiered support system. Finally, we highlight some challenges of reform implementation and the current education policy’s movements towards inclusive education.
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Professorin tehtävien (aiemmin virkojen) täyttö on ja on aina ollut akateemisen maailman kohtalonkysymyksiä. Se on sitä paitsi yliopiston, myös hakijoiden kannalta. Onnistunut professorin valinta voi nostaa yliopiston alansa... more
Professorin tehtävien (aiemmin virkojen) täyttö on ja on aina ollut akateemisen maailman kohtalonkysymyksiä. Se on sitä paitsi yliopiston, myös hakijoiden kannalta. Onnistunut professorin valinta voi nostaa yliopiston alansa arvostetuimmaksi kyseisellä tieteenalalla, epä-onnistunut valinta puolestaan pahimmillaan marginalisoida tieteenalan aseman väärän valin-nan tehneessä yliopistossa vuosikymmeniksi. Hakijoiden kannalta kyseessä on laaja, moni-polvinen ja usein pitkäkestoinen akateemisen identiteetin ytimeen ulottuva arviointi-ja tut-kintaprosessi. Tämän prosessin seurauksena yksi hakijoista nostetaan tieteellisen eliitin edustajaksi, muut saavat vielä odottaa uutta mahdollisuutta, jota välttämättä ei koskaan tule. Valintaprosessin syvällisestä merkityksestä ker-too hyvin se, että tuskinpa yhdenkään profes-sorin muistelmat jäävät ilman professorinvalin-toja käsittelevää lukua. Aihepiirin klassikkona voitaneen pitää kavatustieteen professori Paavo Päivänsalon kattavaa tutkimusta ni...
This paper discusses the outcomes of a Finnish study that investigated the school experiences of former special education students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Twenty-three former students, who had attended classes for... more
This paper discusses the outcomes of a Finnish study that investigated the school experiences of former special education students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Twenty-three former students, who had attended classes for students with emotional and behavioral disorders were interviewed. The students had been out of special education and compulsory schooling for about ten years. The study found that almost all of the interviewees began their stories of their school experiences with positive memories, and that their overall feelings about being educated in special classes were very positive. The most positive elements centered around the special education teacher and the small teaching group. The teacher's competence and personality also influenced other positive elements, including improved school achievement, a feeling of fair discipline, and the joy of learning. These positive memories provided a strong contrast to the students' former regular class experiences,...
This study followed up on the life-courses of 23 former special education students with emotional and behavioral disabilities from a comprehensive school to further education, work, and adulthood. The students attended special classes for... more
This study followed up on the life-courses of 23 former special education students with emotional and behavioral disabilities from a comprehensive school to further education, work, and adulthood. The students attended special classes for pupils with emotional and behavioral difficulties in a small town in southern Finland in 1985-1987. The qualitative data were gathered in two biographical interviews in 1991 and 1995. The key finding was very positive: most of the interviewees were quite ordinary Finnish young people after 8 to 10 years of finishing their comprehensive schooling; only three still have serious problems in almost all of the important fields of adult life. However, as reported in earlier follow-up studies, the poor educational background is reflected in vocational level for these former special education pupils. Also the unemployment rate of this group has been higher than the average level in Finland. Four extreme cases of postschool life course are provided. (Contai...
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Social exclusion is a frequently used concept in different youth programs in the European Union. Schools have participated in projects for the prevention of social exclusion. However, the definition of social exclusion is still unclear... more
Social exclusion is a frequently used concept in different youth programs in the European Union. Schools have participated in projects for the prevention of social exclusion. However, the definition of social exclusion is still unclear and it could be used also as a stigmatising label. In this article, the nature of social exclusion as a social phenomena and the preventive, non-stigmatising potential of education will be discussed.