Faculty of Educational Sciences
Recent Submissions
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(2024)In my thesis, I examined the winning works of the Nuori Aleksis project from two perspectives: I interpreted how young adult novels embody the construction of adolescent identity and its developmental concerns and I observed how do these books, popular among young people, serve as a field of introspection for young readers in the movement for identity formation. The purpose of my thesis was also to bring out interpretive surfaces of identity formation in YA literature, which teachers can use when they choose suitable reading for their students. I interpreted the novels Auringon pimeä puoli, Rikki Revityt and Mistä valo pääsee sisään in light of Erikson's ego identity theory and its developmental concers, and outlined my interpretation based on the meanings of concepts such as parasocial relationship, transportation into the narrative worlds, narrative strategies and the expression of memory and time. The outline of my thesis was guided by the idea of the school's mission to support the construction of identity. I chose the winning works of the Nuori Aleksis project because I wanted to examine the description of identity in novels that have affected young readers themselves. I implemented my theses according to content analysis at the intersection of inductive and deductive methods. I examined the material in the light of identity research such as ego identity and literary study, interpreting descriptions of identity formation from them, as well as the meanings between reader and work, and the teacher's perspective. In the works as bildungsromans, the description of identity formation was manifested in situations where the character experienced a transition to another dimension, encountered a 'doppelganger' or a moral dilemma. The description of identity was often shaped in the meanings of the characters' agency. The possibilities of shaping the reader's identity are affected by the stretched and dynamic temporal description which also enables the depth of the characters and thus the birth of a parasocial relationship. The works offer an avenue for multi-perspective identity related moral etchical and societal reflection in teaching discussion.
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(2024)New open learning environments have become more common in Finnish school con-struction over the past decade. Open learning environments are thought to offer opportunities for increasing students' self-directedness, group-based and active learning, and co-teaching. However, the effects of open spaces on learning and classroom management have not been thoroughly researched yet. Media reports have been critical of the noise in open schools, raising concerns about the burden on teachers and students. In this study, I examine the practices of classroom management in elementary education within an open learning environment. This includes how teachers prevent disturbances in the classroom, the types of disturbances that occur during the lessons, and the corrective practices the teachers use to address disturbances in an open learning space. I also explore the teachers' perspectives on the benefits and challenges of open spaces from the standpoint of classroom management. The research material consists of ethnographic observation data focused on two first grade elementary school classes and their two teachers, who partially work as co-teachers. In addition to the observation data, the study includes interviews with the teachers of these classes. The data was collected in November-December 2023 over three school days and analyzed through content analysis. The study found that in classroom management, the emphasis was on preventive practices against disturbances, including routines and structures, positive feedback and motivation, variation in teaching and learning methods, and the teacher's presence. Different methods supported each other and were integrated into the teachers' work. Classroom disturbances were minimal, with the most typical being speaking without permission or making extra movement or noise. The teachers consistently addressed disturbances with various corrective practices, such as a gentle touch and eye contact, and by mentioning the pupil's name, and having a private conversation with them. Teachers thought that open learning environments provided opportunities for versatile teaching methods, functionality, and physical activity, but if the use of space is not practiced with the pupils, the stimuli caused by the space can pose challenges to classroom management. It is important to keep different types of learners in mind while developing future learning environments. In elementary education, it is also crucial that the pupils have their own safe place or seat in the school.
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(2024)Objectives. The study seeks to find out what kind of attitudes experienced classroom teachers have toward inclusion. Furthermore, it seeks to analyse how the attitudes have changed and what has been the main changing agents. The ‘experienced classroom teacher’ means here a teacher with 10 years or more of work experience. Methods. This is a qualitative study with interviews as the main source of data collection. The data has been analysed with a content analysis method. Results and Conclusions. The teachers selected to this study analyse their attitudes toward inclusion in general, as well as in the perspective of their actual teaching. They also looked at inclusion from the students’ perspective. Every teacher found more positive than negative attitudes in their thinking. Nevertheless, none of the teachers stated inclusion is automatically good for every student. The teachers also expressed some critical attitudes towards inclusion. Moreover, the teachers’ experiences in their work have the greatest effect on their attitudes toward inclusion. Those teachers with another qualification as a special education teacher expressed change in their thinking as well. The young teacher’s insecurity and limited knowledge had changed into courage in their work. The long career has created understanding of diversity in students and families. The principal’s support and adequate resources as well as the teacher’s own attitudes toward students who need support were seen the most important factors in successful inclusion.
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Klasslärares erfarenheter av fungerande specialpedagogiska metoder och samarbete med speciallärare (2024)Today there are many class teachers who experience that their professions have changed and the pupils in the schools today have also changed. The heterogeneity in today’s classroom is big and class teachers need to have competence in many different areas to meet every pupil's needs, which leads to many class teachers feeling powerless to be able to meet every pupil’s needs. This leads to class teachers abandoning their profession or in the worst case they get a burnout, resulting in long term sick leave. In my opinion class teachers should get more support to fulfill their role of being a teacher in today’s school. The purpose of this study is to contribute with knowledge about class teachers’ positive experiences and methods in the areas of inclusion, differentiation, and classroom management and what is included in a good collaboration between the class teacher and remedial teacher. The research questions were formulated as follows: 1. What are class teachers’ thoughts about the development of the school, the need for knowledge regarding special education and the development of the increased heterogeneity in the classroom? 2. What are the class teachers' own thoughts and experiences of functioning methods in the areas of inclusion, differentiation, and classroom management? 3. How has the class teachers obtained their knowledge about methods and solutions that the teacher uses in their own classroom? 4. Which form of collaboration and support from the remedial teacher does a class teacher think is valuable? This thesis was conducted as a qualitative study, and the data was collected with semi-structured interviews. Seven class teachers were interviewed. Content analysis with a deductive approach was used to analyze the answers from the interviews. The result shows that the class teachers have a very positive approach to the areas of inclusion, differentiation, and classroom management. It is shown that support from the colleagues and allocation of resources are very important for the class teachers to be able to do the practical work in these areas and for the constructing of a functioning collaboration with the remedial teacher. Functioning methods in differentiation are to redo assignments, cut short or extend homework, flexible grouping, and to do assignments in different levels. Functioning methods in classroom management are rules and boundaries, self-reflection - who am I as a teacher, building safety and to see all pupils. The most common way to get knowledge of inclusion and differentiation is experience and in-service training. The most common way for the teachers to obtain knowledge about classroom management was that it is a part of their nature and it is one of their foremost interests but also through discussions with colleagues. For the collaboration between the class teacher and remedial teacher to be good, the class teacher needs to utilize the expertise that the remedial teacher has to offer, have good communication with the remedial teacher and aim to co-teach.
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(2024)Aims. Emotional learning teaches students to recognize, name, express and regulate emotions as well as understand the emotions of others. The popularity of emotional learning has grown recently, with an increasing number of primary schools in Finland adopting some forms of emotional learning programs. The purpose of this study was to bring a more everyday perspective to the research field of emotional learning. This thesis is focused on studying class teachers’ perceptions of everyday emotional learning situations and the factors that challenge or promote everyday emotional learning. The goal was also to under-stand and construe the concept of everyday emotional learning through the perceptions of class teachers. Methods. This thesis is a qualitative study with a phenomenographic approach. Phenomenographic research aims to examine people’s, in this case, classroom teachers’ different perceptions of a phenomenon. Semi-structured thematic interviews were used as the method of data collection. Seven classroom teachers were interviewed for this study. The data was analyzed using phenomenographic analysis approach. Research and Conclusions. The findings composed three systems of descriptive categories. The first system of descriptive categories, or outcome space, focused on class teachers’ perceptions of everyday emotional learning situations. Based on the perceptions of class teachers, three descriptive categories were formed, indicating that an everyday emotional learning situation can involve either an individual student, a group of two or more students, or the entire class. According to the results, everyday emotional learning has a spontaneous and a planned dimension. In this study, based on the teachers’ perceptions, the planned dimension was related only to the emotional learning situations involving the entire class. The second outcome space combined two systems of descriptive categories. Ten descriptive categories formed five opposing pairs: promoting and challenging factors related to the teacher, student, home, school, and resources. The descriptive category left without an opposing pair contained class teachers’ perceptions of the challenging nature of emotional learning. Given the diverse nature of emotional learning, careful consideration of various elements is essential for its development. Further research is needed particularly on the everyday aspect of emotional learning.