Konsultoivan varhaiserityisopettajan perhelähtöiset toimintatavat

Authors

• Anja Rantala Jyväskylän yliopisto, Finland
• Sanna Uotinen Jyväskylän yliopisto, Finland
• Eija Räikkönen Jyväskylän yliopisto, Finland

Keywords:

Consultative early childhood special education teacher, Konsultoiva varhaiserityisopettaja, family-centered work, perhelähtöinen yhteistyö, ecocultural theory, ekokulttuurinen teoria, work practice, toimintatapa

Abstract

Our study focuses on consultative early childhood special education teachers’ cooperation with parents by examining first, how cooperation with parents is manifested. We also studied whether the possibility to influence one’s own work practices is associated with manifestations of family-centered work approaches. An electronic questionnaire was sent to all consultative early childhood special education teachers in Finland (N = 637), and 368 (58%) of them responded. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four dimensions of family-centered work approaches: consideration of well-being of the families, encouragement to support the child at home, sharing information, and shared planning and assessment. Overall, consultative early childhood special education teachers reported that they worked in a very family-centered way. Of the four dimensions of family-centered work approaches, sharing information was used most often and consideration of well-being of families least often. Possibility to influence one’s own work practices with the families was positively related to the dimensions of family-centered work approaches. When developing services for children and families, it should be considered to what extent supporting well-being of the families should be part of the work of early education teachers.