Education in Finland has delighted us since the day we start to live what they call Utopia in Brazil: A public and quality education is offered to all. When the issue is support and follow up for all levels of education, Finland demonstrates effectively what steps should be followed. If inclusion and support for students with special needs are subject always present in the initial teacher training. Besides that, the student is monitored by a group of experts who are funded by the local government.

The support given to each student, mainly to the students with special needs, is essential to provide an equal opportunity of learning. The comprehensive school aims to reach the strengths  of the students, considering the uniqueness of each human being.Working together is another reason for the success that this country has in education field.Regardless any apparent limitation, the person can develop skills and competences  according to her/his needs. This development is only possible with an effort and integration of the school professionals to assist students, identifying what are the meaning competences for them.

In this context, teachers’ role is essential to identify the special needs of the students, because the daily work in classroom give them the reflections and perceptions that are necessary to identify what each student show to them. In fact, it is necessary that the teachers feel really worried about the learning situation of each student to recognise individual needs. Learning with different kind of activities can be a good way not only to recognise individual needs, but also to support students about different ways to learn, to motivate and to work together with the classmates. Therefore, it is essential that teachers can act about reflections made about their own classes to identify what is right and what needs to be improved in order to achieve the real necessities of the students.

Teachers formation is also essential to prepare them to work with different students and to find ways to involve and motivate all them, not focusing only on special needs as possible problems but trying to effectuate a process of learning that involve students in a situation of equality as learners in a context where differences and diversity are valorized.

In Brazil there are training courses for each specialty in a state institute called FUNAD - Foundation to support the special needs, which serves the public and private entities. In this environment teachers learn how to identify and deal with pupils with special needs in different situations. The full course lasts four years and it is offered during the day, twice a week. However, not all teachers can attend it due to the timing of the offer to clash with working hours, so the vast majority of schools do not have professionals with this specialty.

    In the classroom, the teacher without this training accompanies the student's development process and as they note that the methodology is not meeting the students’ needs, they report to the Principal the need for an expert to assist in developing an individual plan teaching. Once this request is done the municipal education department is operated, and offers multi-functional features, which serves students from public and private schools with specialist teachers in attendance of students with special needs and a follow-up is made to this student, who happens to have a individual plan drawn up jointly in turn studies and on the opposite schedule is met in resource rooms. In short, the teacher to detect a student with special needs establishing a partnership with specialist teachers to confirm the need, and a collaborative teacher-parent-expert is effected to give the greatest possible assistance to this student.

By: NEGO GROUP