The Paradox of Documentation in Early Childhood Special Education in Finland and Norway: Exploring Discursive Tensions in the Public Debate

A child’s right to special educational support is often ensured through documentation, which, as an institutional practice, is consequential. We explore documentation as a policy solution in Finnish and Norwegian early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems, which have both been undergoing chan...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Noora Heiskanen, Karianne Franck
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP 2023-05-01
Series:Nordic Studies in Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://noredstudies.org/index.php/nse/article/view/3984/8538
Description
Summary:A child’s right to special educational support is often ensured through documentation, which, as an institutional practice, is consequential. We explore documentation as a policy solution in Finnish and Norwegian early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems, which have both been undergoing changes as the realization of special educational support is found to be insufficient. We investigate discursive tensions in the public debate regarding documentation and illustrate tensions between documentation as 1) a way of safeguarding a child’s right vs. a barrier to support, 2) assessments requiring distance from vs. closeness to the child, and 3) decisions requiring pedagogical vs. administrative positions.
ISSN:1891-5949