A Survey of the Views of Graduates of Early Childhood Teacher Education in Norway on Special Needs Education

Abstract

In Norway, there has been an increasing focus on the importance of the quality of special educational needs (SEN) assistance in early childhood education and care (ECEC). An array of challenges has been identified, including the paucity of special needs education (SNE) during early childhood teacher education (ECTE). The aim of the current study is to discover how the graduates of ECTE are being prepared for supporting children with SEN in ECEC. This exploration is guided by the following question: How much SNE have students received through their ECTE bachelor studies, and how do students assess their own SNE competence? An online survey was completed by graduates of ECTE (n = 51) from four different campuses of one university in Norway. Most of the participants reported that they received a few hours of SNE during ECTE. Their account is supported by their qualitative feedback, in which they indicated that SNE subjects were ‘superficially treated’ and ‘infrequently mentioned by teachers’. Moreover, they judged their SNE competence to be low and expressed a great need for more SNE knowledge. The results imply that the participants’ experience is that SNE in ECTE was not sufficient to give them—as future ECEC teachers—the competence required to meet the heterogeneity of children in ECEC. Based on the results, we discuss the possible reasons why SNE in ECTE seems to be constrained and outline some suggestions for how SNE could be promoted as a core part of ECTE.KeywordsNorwayTeacher educationSpecial edcuationHigher education