GROUP EFFORT: (Opposite page) Clockwise from left: Jessica Bacon, Bill Bodmer, Erica Russelman and Cassie Bodendorf take in the sights at a Tampere marketplace; (Above) The Montclair State University cohort outside Finland's Tampere University of Applied Sciences. The trip took the group to Helsinki to study the country's special and inclusive education techniques, practices, and policies.
This summer, students in Montclair State University education programs participated in a once-in-a-lifetime excursion designed to show how students with disabilities are educated in other parts of the world – and how they can help to change the programs they'll be implemented in American schools for the better.
Alongside Montclair faculty members Jessica Bacon and Priya Lalvani (an associate professor and a professor, respectively, from the University's Department of Teaching and Learning), 16 students participating in bachelor's, master's and doctoral-level programs, journeyed to Finland for an immersive 11-day program run, through the institution's Office of Global Engagement.
The trip took the group to the country's capital, Helsinki, and the city of Tampere,
to study the country's special and inclusive education techniques, practices, and policies. Students were able to visit local schools and meet with teachers and students to study their techniques. They also
were able to visit an assisted living facility for people with intellectual disabilities, an art-based job placement center for people with intellectual disabilities, and participate in lectures with experts in the Finnish
education system, to learn more about the practices that have made the country an education leader.
"Finland's education system has a reputation for its progressive nature, as well as student outcomes," said Lalvani. "This trip presented a great opportunity for our faculty and students at Montclair to engage in explorations of inclusivity broadly, as it connects to human rights and global issues."
The group also got to showcase their own innovative programming on an international stage. As part of the annual Finnish Disability Studies Conference, Bacon gave a keynote presentation entitled, "American school and community systems that support the inclusion of people with significant disabilities in higher education."
During the presentation, she shared the theories that have guided work in the