At the Intersection of Ethnicity and Special Educational Needs : Findings from a Longitudinal Study in Finland

In the Nordic countries, special educational research has so far only occasionally focused on the students at the intersection of special educational needs and ethnic background. The focus of this research is on the special placement stories of three pupils from migrant families in Finland, who have been placed in Tier 3 level special education. Our aim was to investigate the intersecting features of their special education placement by describing their stories of their educational transitions and experiences of special education support. Methodologically, we contrasted their stories with two classmates from native-born families. All the pupils selected for this research were participants in larger follow-up research, where 445 pupils were surveyed and interviewed from the end of basic education to the end of secondary education. As an outcome, we discuss the intersection of ethnicity and special educational needs, especially within the themes of ‘timing’ and ‘language proficiency’ and highlight the need to develop and research the ‘language aware’ pedagogics in special needs education.