Curriculum vitae

I have completed my school education and M.A (Ed.) degree in Finland, and PhD (Ed.) degree at the Canterbury Christ Church University College / University of Kent, UK, in 2005.

I have been working as a teacher at all levels of education, and as a special teacher in year grades 1-9. I have extensive working experience in teacher education (in-service and pre-service, on-the-job training), school development work and policy development for inclusive education.

Since 1995, I have been involved in working in the field of inclusive education. Between 1995-2001 I worked at UNESCO (Harare, Zimbabwe, and Paris, France) as a Programme Specialist responsible for the conceptual and practical development of Inclusive Education. This work involved policy advice to the Member States, mainly in Africa, as well as developing teacher education. 2002-2009 I have worked in South Africa and Tanzania in long term assignments in strategic development of Inclusive Education. During that period I have also been involved in developing inclusive education policies and strategies in Namibia and Eritrea. 

2009 - 2015, I was responsible for the 60 ECTS studies in special needs education at the University of Lapland, Finland. I came to University of Helsinki, Open University, in August 2015 to teach special needs education.

In 11/2017 - 10/2020 I was on leave-on-absence from the University of Helsinki, as I was appointed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs as Counsellor in education at the Embassy of Finland in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. My duties included development co-operation in the education sector, and co-chairing the Education Sectot Technical Working Group - the coordination mechanism between the Ethiopian Ministry of Education and the development partners.

I led the development of Global Innovation Network for Teaching and Learning (GINTL), a national 20 higher education institutions' network in China and Africa, at the UoH Faculty of Education in 8/2021-12/2024.

Currently I work as University Lecturer on special needs educationat the Faculty of Educational Sciences, with close working relationship with the Changing Education Master's Programme. My research interests include school development for inclusion, inclusive education policies, as well as collaborative professional development for inclusion.