The Finnish Model of Special Education: a mixture of integration and segregation

Abstract

This article examines the development of special education in the Finnish compulsory education system in the 1980s. The main emphasis is on evaluating the extent to which the aim of integrating special education has been achieved. Special education is also evaluated in relation to school level and gender. The main result of this examination is that the aim of integrating special education has only partially been achieved. Integration has been achieved in the sense that part‐time special education is the major form of education. Nevertheless, the amount of pupils involved in traditional types of special education has also continued to increase substantially in the 1980s. Two out of three pupils in special education are still boys, but the proportion of girls has clearly grown in SMA teaching.