About the Project

Vision and Objectives

The project’s vision is to establish a nationally consistent foundation for accessible and high-quality special education training programmes. This supports flexible educational transitions, lifelong learning, and inter-university teaching collaboration – while strengthening the academic field of special education in response to evolving societal needs.

The objective is to harmonise basic studies and promote cross-institutional study opportunities in subject and advanced-level courses. This helps reduce overlap in studies, ease administrative workload, enhance student equity, and support continuous learning.

Funding

Special education together (Erkkaa1) is a project funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (OKM) for the years 2025–2027. The ministry has granted state funding to promote flexible student transitions and increase collaboration in higher education teaching. All eight Finnish universities offering special education teacher training are participating. The partner universities share a strong commitment to continue national development and teaching cooperation beyond the funding period.

Project Leadership

The project is led by Professor Erkko Sointu (University of Eastern Finland), together with Deputy Director Katariina Waltzer. The project coordinator is University Teacher Helena Laurinkari.

The project steering group includes one representative from each partner university. The named steering group is responsible for strategic guidance, decision-making, progress monitoring, and evaluation of the project.

Work Packages

The project is divided into three work packages, each coordinated by designated universities:

  • WP1: Harmonisation of basic studies in special education and planning of shared content (Main responsible institutions: University of Oulu, University of Turku, University of Helsinki)
  • WP2: Promotion of cross-institutional studies (Main responsible institutions: University of Lapland, Tampere University, Åbo Akademi)
  • WP3: Development of digital pedagogy (Main responsible institutions: University of Eastern Finland, University of Jyväskylä)

Staff from all participating universities will be involved in the work packages. In addition, each university offering special education studies has appointed a student representative to the project.

Timeline

The project runs from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2027.

  • Spring and early autumn 2025: project establishment, administration, and planning
  • Late autumn 2025: data collection within work packages
  • Spring 2026: planning of teaching content, launch of pilot courses, and mapping of cross-institutional study opportunities
  • Academic year 2026–2027: pilot and implement the first study modules
  • Autumn 2027: aim to establish the model nationally

Project updates and progress will be shared through newsletters published on this website.