0:00:03.196,0:00:06.356
>>Pasi: If you look at the[br]15-year-olds, or 16-year-old Fins

0:00:06.356,0:00:10.376
who are leaving the basic[br]school, most of them have been

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in special education[br]throughout their schooling.

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Which means that special education[br]is actually nothing special.

0:00:17.416,0:00:20.966
So it's you are a special child[br]or student if you haven't been,

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if you haven't ever[br]used special services.

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>>Pasi: We are putting a lot of[br]emphasis on the early detection

0:00:44.466,0:00:49.316
of any difficulties and problems that[br]the students in our schools may have.

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And this is a very different[br]policy to many other countries

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where these measures are designed in[br]a way that they are implemented only

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when the problems have[br]emerged and are too visible.

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But we don't' think[br]like this in Finland.

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I think we believe in this early[br]intervention to make sure that those

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who are likely to be in trouble[br]will be recognized early,

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and provided help and support[br]as quickly as possible.

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>>Olli: We as subject teachers[br]cooperate with the special teacher

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in cases where we see

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that an individual student has[br]problems with their studies.

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It might be problems with[br]concentrating on a theme.

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It might be reading and[br]listening difficulties,

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especially in languages and math.

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What we do is that we[br]contact the special teacher

0:02:01.326,0:02:03.036
at the very early moment.

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We call it the first intervention.

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We talk with the special teacher,[br]and try to arrange a time that she

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or he could be able to come and[br]join me as a subject teacher

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to my classroom, and then[br]focus on the problem.

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>>Olli: The special teacher is[br]available for a couple of hours.

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And then she picks the[br]student to a separate classroom

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and helps him or her there.

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And we also make an[br]individual learning plan

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for that individual student.

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And by taking these[br]measures, we try to guarantee

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that no one is lagging behind.

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>>Olli: The student welfare[br]team gathers on a weekly basis,

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and subject teachers inform[br]the group with different cases.

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They might be bullying, they[br]might be skipping classes,

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they might be learning difficulties,

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it might behavioral[br]problems, all kinds of things.

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>>Olli: And then these individual[br]problems are dealt with case-by-case

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in this weekly meeting that[br]every school in Finland has.

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>>Merja: Well, a student welfare[br]group deals with any kinds

0:04:41.416,0:04:48.586
of problems that we see in a school[br]having to do with problems at home

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or at learning disabilities,[br]multi-cultural problems.

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The main value of our student[br]welfare group is to interrupt as soon

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as possible, problems involved.

0:05:08.416,0:05:11.086
>>Pasi: With this policy, we are[br]trying to really make it easy

0:05:11.086,0:05:15.476
for everybody to say, "Yes, I have[br]some areas where I need help now.

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Is there anybody who can help?"

0:05:17.336,0:05:19.456
rather than trying[br]to hide these things.

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And in many cases, when you do this[br]in the later years they will come

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and accumulate even[br]more difficult problems.

0:05:25.856,0:05:29.816
So I think with this, we have been[br]able to positively affect both the-

0:05:29.816,9:59:59.000
the equity of the system, and[br]also the quality of the system.