We were pleased to welcome visitors from the Institut National Supérieur de Formation et de Recherche pour l’Éducation Inclusive (INSEI), France, to our research community seminar on Monday, 7 April 2025. The seminar brought together INSEI researchers and members of Helsinki SEN to share insights on inclusive education and teacher education. In this article, we present the themes and content of the day’s presentations.
The seminar focused on current developments in inclusive education in both France and Finland. Through presentations from both INSEI guests and Helsinki SEN members, we were able to engage in rich discussions that highlighted similarities and differences in our approaches, as well as shared challenges and innovations in special education and inclusion.
To open the day, Professor Minna Puustinen introduced INSEI and its mission. Established in connection with the legislation in France, INSEI is dedicated to promoting inclusive education. The institution provides academic degree programs and professional training, conducts research on learning and inclusion, and develops resources such as media materials and journals.
Next, Senior Lecturer Lotta Uusitalo presented an overview of the Finnish special education teacher training system. She explained the different routes available for becoming a special education teacher in Finland, offering international visitors a comprehensive understanding of our national training pathways.
Professor Marie Toullec followed with a presentation on her current research project, which focuses on the schooling of students with autism spectrum disorders. She provided concrete examples of how self-regulation programs are implemented in various school contexts. The presentation sparked an engaging discussion on co-teaching practices in France and Finland, as well as broader questions around professional cooperation in inclusive classrooms.
University Lecturer Annukka Paloniemi shared insights from her recently completed dissertation. Her research focused on the collaboration practices of part-time special education teachers and was conducted as a developmental study aiming to enhance co-teaching and shared expertise in Finnish schools.
University Lecturer Frédéric Dupré introduced the ULIS program (Unités Localisées pour l’Inclusion Scolaire), a localized inclusion model in French schools. In this approach, students alternate between ordinary classroom settings and a designated support room. His research aims to explore how this flexible arrangement supports student engagement in mathematics learning.
Then, University Lecturer Olli-Pekka Malinen presented a study on inclusive special education settings, recently published in Teaching and Teacher Education. The study utilized qualitative interviews to gather teachers’ perspectives on inclusive practices and provided valuable insight into how inclusion is experienced and enacted in schools.
Doctoral Researcher David Gomes concluded the seminar with an overview of his research on co-teaching practices between classroom and special education teachers in France. He first presented a range of co-teaching models and then discussed the data he has collected through surveys, interviews, and video-recordings of co-teaching sessions. His research aims to fill a gap in the literature by mapping out co-teaching in French primary schools.
The seminar sparked valuable comparisons between the Finnish and French systems of inclusive education. Throughout the day, participants discussed what inclusion means for different professionals, how regulations shape special education practices, and how inclusive teaching is organized in real-world classrooms.
We thank all presenters and participants for their contributions to this inspiring seminar and look forward to future collaboration between our communities.