Special education students in transition to further education: A four-year register-based follow-up study in Finland

• We examine transition to further education and school-level effect of special education.
• Transition of special education students to upper secondary level lasts longer.
• Special education students enroll mainly in vocational upper secondary education.
• Dropping out of upper secondary studies is more typical for special education students.
• Some school-level evidence of special education increasing upper secondary participation

This study examines the transition of special education students into upper secondary education in Finland. The national register-based school-level dataset comprises three compulsory school-leaving cohorts of 2004, 2006 and 2009 including all students and schools providing lower secondary education. Special education students (Tier 3) are divided into four different groups based on their curriculum adjustments. The school-level effect of special education provision is evaluated with statistical models exploiting the panel nature of the data. The results show that there are significant differences in participation in upper secondary education between the groups with different levels of individualizations. After controlling for the school-level time-constant factors, the share of special education students with milder learning difficulties and individualized curriculum does not affect the share of students continuing and graduating from upper secondary education. The provision of special education has been, therefore, an effective way to improve students' opportunities for further education.