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Who Can Be 'Normal'? University of Helsinki Faculty of Educational Sciences Helsinki Studies in Education 58 Ina Juva Who can be ‘normal’? Constructions of normality and processes of exclusion in two Finnish com- prehensive schools ACADEMIC DISSERTATION Academic dissertation to be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Ed- ucational Sciences at the University of Helsinki, for public examination in seminar room 229 at Aurora (Siltavuoren penger 10) on the 8th of November, 2019 at 12 o’clock Helsinki 2019 Pre-examiners Professor Gerald Walton, Lakehead University Professor Girma Berhanu, University of Gothenburg Custos Professor Gunilla Holm, University of Helsinki Supervisors Professor Gunilla Holm, University of Helsinki Professor Marianne Dovemark, University of Gothenburg Postdoctoral researcher Anna-Leena Riitaoja, University of Helsinki Opponent Senior Lecturer Ghazala Bhatti, Bath Spa University Cover illustration Tuuli From Unigrafia, Helsinki ISBN 978-951-51-5550-4 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-5551-1 (pdf) University of Helsinki, Faculty of Educational Sciences Helsinki Studies in Education 58 Ina Juva Who can be ‘normal’? Constructions of normality and processes of exclusion in two Finnish comprehensive schools Abstract This doctoral dissertation examines how normality is constructed in two Finnish comprehensive schools. The study’s main aim is to explain how the staff in the two studied schools constructs normality, and how the constructions of normality affect the exclusion of students. This study is part of the Perceptions and Con- structions of Marginalisation and Belonging in Education (PeCMaBE) research project, which examined how students and school staff construct marginalization, exclusion, and inclusion in school. The research project took place between 2013 and 2016. The research questions of this study are: How do school staff perceive and construct normality and the ‘normal’ student in the school? How does the catego- rization of students as ‘not-normal’ influence their position in the school? This study is an ethnographic study which includes data produced through sev- eral methods. As part of the study, 32 staff members and 48 students were inter- viewed. There were also 13 group interviews with students and staff. The partici- pant observations were made in two upper comprehensive schools in the Finland capital region. The school students came from a range of socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Manuals and textbooks for social skills were analyzed to contextualize the main data. This study draws from the concept of normality and especially how it has been applied in the social sciences. As is typical in ethnography, it combined several theoretical perspectives. The theoretical perspective has its roots in post-structural feminist studies and disability studies. Also theoretical and conceptual tools from the fields of educational philosophy and sociology were used. Earlier research has shown that the school can have an important role in constructing and maintaining normality. However, one of the main result of this study is that normality is not only an average but also an ideal of how human beings should be. The three articles had different focuses on the relationship between normality and school. Normality was constructed as how an ideal student or human being should be. This ideal included an expectation of how to be Finnish and have ‘cor- rect’ social skills. The interviews with the staff showed that the students were expected to fit in to Finnish culture. Finnishness as an identity was a part of the construction of an ‘ideal’ student. It was not perceived as an ethnic identity, but as a part of normality. Other ethnic identities were seen as potentially problematic. As Finnishness was constructed as normality, it was possible to present the school as neutral and ‘equal’ where identities other than Finnishness were not welcomed. The interviews with the staff contextualized by the manuals and textbooks for social skills showed that the ‘correct’ social skills were one of the traits for a stu- dent to be constructed as being ‘normal’. If the students did not have the social skills considered as the correct ones, they were expected to modify their behavior for them to be included within normality. Among the ‘correct’ social skills was the demand that they be able to adapt to the school and society, and not to cause problems and not to challenge the formal and informal school. The students were required to recognize the limits of the ‘correct’ social skills as part of what was considered to be ‘correct’ behavior. In earlier research, bullying had often been constructed as a question of indi- vidual behavior. This study broadens the concept of bullying by examining teach- ers’ role in bullying. The participant observations suggest that if the student was categorized by the students and teachers as ‘not-normal’ they were in risk to be bullied. In some cases the teachers did not recognize the student categorized as ‘not-normal’ as a victim of bullying, and therefore not worthy of help and care. Thus, bullying could be seen as a way to prevent or hinder students from deviating from the norms and normality. Normality, on the other hand, reflects the expecta- tions of the society and its political, economic, ideological and cultural structures. Hence, it is possible to understand bullying as not only a question of the ‘not- normality’ of an individual child, but as a question of the norms and ideals of the society. Keywords: normality, exclusion, Finnishness, social skills, bullying Helsingin yliopisto, Kasvatustieteellinen tiedekunta Kasvatustieteellisiä tutkimuksia 58 Ina Juva Kuka voi olla ’normaali’? Normaaliuden rakentumisia ja ulossulkemisen prosesseja kahdessa suomalaisessa yläkoulussa. Tiivistelmä Tämä väitöskirja käsittelee normaaliuden rakentamista kahdessa yläkoulussa Suo- messa. Väitöskirjassa analysoidaan sitä, miten kouluhenkilökunta rakentaa nor- maaliutta kahdessa tutkimuskoulussa ja miten normaaliuden rakentaminen vaikut- taa oppilaiden ulossulkemiseen. Väitöskirja on tehty osana tutkimusprojektia Per- ceptions and Constructions of Marginalisation and Belonging in Education (PeCMaBE). Tutkimusprojektissa keskityttiin siihen, miten oppilaat ja opettajat rakensivat marginalisaatiota, ekskluusiota ja inkluusiota. Tutkimusprojekti toteu- tettiin aikavälillä 2013–2016. Tämän väitöskirjatutkimuksen tutkimuskysymykset ovat seuraavat: Miten koulun henkilökunta hahmottaa ja rakentaa normaaliuden ja ‘normaalin’ oppilaan koulussa? Miten ‘ei normaaliksi’ kategorisoiminen vaikuttaa oppilaiden asemaan koulussa? Väitöskirja on etnografinen tutkimus ja aineisto tuotettiin useiden erilaisten menetelmien kautta. Tutkimuksessa haastateltiin 32 henkilökunnan jäsentä ja 48 oppilasta. Osana tutkimusta oli myös kolmetoista ryhmähaastattelua, johon osal- listui oppilaita ja henkilökuntaa. Haastattelut ja osallistuva havainnointi tehtiin kahdessa yläkoulussa pääkaupunkiseudulla Suomessa. Molempien koulujen op- pilaat tulivat erilaisista sosioekonomisista, kulttuurisista, etnisisistä ja uskonnolli- sista taustoista. Sosiaalisia taitoja koskevia käsikirjoja käytettiin taustoittamaan muita aineistoja. Tässä tutkimuksessa sovelletaan normaaliuden käsitettä keskittyen erityisesti siihen, miten sitä on käytetty yhteiskuntatieteissä. Tutkimuksessa käytetään useita teoreettisia näkökulmia, mikä on tyypillistä etnografiselle tutkimukselle. Teoreet- tinen näkökanta perustuu poststrukturalistiseen feministiseen tutkimukseen ja vammaistutkimukseen. Tutkimuksessa käytetään myös teoreettisia ja käsitteelli- siä työkaluja kasvatusfilosofiasta ja kasvatussosiologiasta. Aiempi tutkimus on osoittanut, että koululla on tärkeä rooli normaaliuden rakentamisessa ja ylläpitä- misessä. Tämä tutkimus kuitenkin osoittaa, ettei normaalius tarkoita ainoastaan keskiarvoa, vaan se tarkoittaa myös ideaalia siitä, millaisia ihmisten tulisi olla. Väitöskirjan kolme artikkelia edustavat erilaisia näkökulmia normaaliuden ja koulun välisestä yhteydestä. Koulussa normaalius rakentui sen ajatuksen pohjalta, minkälainen ideaalin oppilaan tai ihmisen tulisi olla. Tähän ideaaliin sisältyy myös ajatus siitä, millainen oppilas on suomalainen, tai millainen oppilas omaa ’oikeanlaiset’ sosiaaliset taidot. Opettajien haastatteluista kävi ilmi, että oppilai- den odotettiin sopeutuvan suomalaiseen kulttuuriin. Suomalainen identiteetti oli osa ideaalin oppilaan rakentumista. Sitä ei mielletty etniseksi identiteetiksi, vaan se nähtiin osaksi normaaliutta. Muut etniset identiteetit nähtiin potentiaalisesti on- gelmallisiksi. Koska suomalaisuus rakennettiin normaaliudeksi, koulu pystyttiin esittämään neutraalina ja tasa-arvoisena, mihin muut identiteetit kuin suomalai- suus eivät olleet tervetulleita. Haastattelujen (joita taustoitettiin opas- ja oppikirjoilla) perusteella yksi tapa, jolla oppilas määritettiin normaaliksi, olivat ’oikeanlaiset’ sosiaaliset taidot. Jos oppilailla ei ollut ’oikeanlaisia’ sosiaalisia taitoja, heidän odotettiin muuttavan käytöstään. Näin heidät voitaisiin katsoa kuuluvan osaksi normaaliutta. ’Oikean- laisiksi’ sosiaalisiksi taidoiksi katsottiin muun muassa se että pystyy sopeutumaan kouluun ja yhteiskuntaan, ja pystyy olemaan aiheuttamatta ongelmia tai olla haas- tamatta virallista ja epävirallista koulua. Osana ’oikeanlaista’ käytöstä oppilaiden oletettiin pystyvän tunnistamaan ’oikeiden’ sosiaalisten taitojen rajat. Aiemmassa tutkimuksessa kiusaaminen määriteltiin usein yksilöiden väliseksi ongelmaksi. Tämä tutkimus
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