Browsing by Subject "early childhood education"

This study is meant to examine the variety of opinions of educators (kindergarten teachers,childminders) about one group of children in day care. The goal is to find if educators that work with one group of children see the same three (3) children alike. This study collects the opinions of one team of kindergarten educators together to compare them with each other. Research questions are 1. How do the members of the team describe the children of the group? and 2. How do these opinions about children differ or support each other? Results are formed out of individual interviews answers, which are observed from human’s individuality’s perspective, considering characteristics such as temperament and personality. Categories of temperament and development of personality are presented in this study’s theory for their influence to educators’ findings and opinions about children. In this study both the children’s and educator’s individuality is emphasized, and it also brings different perspectives to the material. Earlier studies have shown that human’s individuality affects to interactions development and its maintenance. There is also research that shows how teachers opinion of a child affects how teacher evaluates the child, and therefore also child’s identity. This study emphasizes the importance of professional attitude. One kindergarten group in metropolitan area took part in this study. There are three educators working in that group; two kindergarten teachers and one childminder. Research material was collected with individual interviews alone with each team member (3). Children to this study were picked coincidentally, and according to these children the educators answered to 12 same questions. In coincidence all three children were boys. In addition to these ready-made questions interviewees were asked to exemplify some of their answers with examples of situations. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, after which they were categorized and analyzed. In results the team turned out to be quite similar according to their answers and opinions about the children were alike. A couple of the answers were different but any great contrasts weren’t found for example between educators or between a particular child and educator. One child separated educator’s opinions more than two other children. By all appearances the team is close, cooperative and familiar with the children.

The different forms of creating, sharing and analysing information have globally evolved and expanded in meaning. Previous research suggests that teachers have found it challenging to integrate these new forms of communication into their teaching practices. The pedagogy of multiliteracy, which the new Finnish core curriculum emphasizes, has been one of the measures taken towards meeting these changes. The role of the teacher is central in promoting multiliteracy, as the given support and guidance affect the child's motivation, attitudes and interest in the learning process. The aim of the study is to explore how teachers in early childhood education, pre-primary and primary education (Year 1-2) define multiliteracy and how their understanding is reflected in different teaching practices, which aim to promote children's learning opportunities in the area of multiliteracy. The need for this study is important as little research exists on teachers' understanding of the concept of multiliteracy in their teaching. This study draws upon a research and development program The joy of learning multiliteracies (MOI), at the University of Helsinki. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the pedagogy of multiliteracy and the dynamic literacy theory. The qualitative research design was selected to get an insight into teachers' experiences and thoughts. The study has been conducted by using semi-structured interviews based on video-stimulated recall and a group interview to investigate seven teachers' definition on multiliteracy. The results of the study suggest that the teachers have formed their own views of the concept multiliteracy and that these interpretations are visible in their teaching practices. Multiliteracy was defined by the teachers as a wide multimodal ability to express oneself, which requires children to be able to analyse, interpret and apply diverse forms of information and communication. The children's curiosity and joy are perceived as the foundation for promoting multiliteracy. The teachers' own commitment and enthusiasm were considered crucial. Digital tools and implementing of media education were emphasized as one of the development areas regarding multiliteracy. The ability to take into account the cultural contexts of texts, were in accordance with the Finnish curriculum, yet the teachers did not recognise it as a part of multiliteracy. Cultural literacy is however an important part of the pedagogy of multiliteracy. The results of the study confirm that further reinforcement of teachers' expertise in developing multiliteracy is essential both in working life and in teacher education, especially regarding how to include and promote cultural literacy.

The study examines sensitivity in the everyday interactive situations with multicultural children under 3 years of age in early childhood educational context. The research problem focuses on figuring out in which ways sensitivity occurs and what are the contextual factors related to sensitive and non-sensitive situations. Sensitivity refers to early childhood educator’s ability to detect and take into account the emotional needs of the child (Laevers according to Kalliala, 2008). The study was conducted in collaboration with the University of Helsinki LASSO project and a kindergarten in Helsinki, where the research material was collected by videorecording three early childhood educators and two children in their everyday life at the kindergarten. The research material was colleted between the late autumn 2014 to early spring 2015. The qualitative data were analysed by utilizing theory-driven approach. The basis of the analysis is in AES (adult engagement scale) and especially the sensitivity part of the scale, as well as EA (emotional availability) scale. LIS-YC scale was also used in observation of children (Kalliala, 2008). The results showed that sensitivity is a small part of everyday interactive situations. Differences in results were seen in the quality of the interaction. The majority of the interaction with the first participant was neutral, and more than half of the interactions were sensitive. In contrast, only half of the other participant’s interaction was neutral, and also half was non-sensitive. The differences were also found in the ways in which the sensitive and non-sensitive situations appeared in the participants' everyday life. For the first participant, the sensitivity was constructive, and adults made huge efforts to interact with the child. The insensitive moments were not numerous, but they could not be classified as accidental. The second one’s sensitive moments were supportive in nature but relatively rare. Insensitive situations were somewhat accidental, and for some reason, educators failed to notice the child’s needs. Based on the results, a study related to sensitivity between educators and children comparing Finnish and multicultural children would be important to conduct.

The purpose of this Bachelor’s Thesis is to study different opinions of worldview education among those who work on the field of early childhood education or study the domain of science. These opinions are divided into five different approaches to worldview education (antireligious, monoreligious, multireligious, interreligious and intrareligious approach) which are based on Ubani’s (2015 & 2013) and Sterkens’ (2001) studies of religious and worldview education in primary school and early childhood education. The data of the study were collected by internet survey which was shared to three different Facebook-groups. All the groups are intended for early childhood educators and students regardless of their duty on the field or educational background. The survey consisted of both quantitative and qualitative questions but only the qualitative ones are included in this study. The qualitative part of the survey consists of six optional questions. The data of the study consists of forty-two respondents (n=42) and a total of 203 (n=203) responds to optional questions. This study is a case study of those respondents. The data were analysed with theory-based qualitative content analysis based on Ubani’s (2015 & 2013) and Sterkens’ (2001) studies. All the responses were classified to separate groups based on five different approaches to worldview education. If the responses had opinions which belong to several different approaches, these responses were classified into several groups. The purpose of the study is not to classify respondents into different approaches of worldview education but to examine how the different opinions of the approaches of worldview education are appeared in the responses. In addition to that, study is a case study of these respondents without aspirations to generalize the results of the study. Results of the study show that all the approaches to worldview education appeared on the respondents’ opinions of worldview education. However, all the opinions within one approach to worldview education did not appear and all the approaches and opinions were not as common as others. Results of the study show that opinions that point toward a multireligious approach opinions were most general among responses.

Some previous findings suggest the effectiveness of physical activity (PA) on children's cognitive outcomes. Studying preschool PA enables to understand children’s considerable part of daily PA and to examine its relation to other skills specifically within preschool context. Early numeracy (EN) refers to young children’s mathematical proficiency, including relational and counting skills, as in understanding and operating with quantities, number relation, classification, and the concept of numbers. EN skills are shown to strongly predict later mathematical competence and academic achievements. Thus, it is important to study and support the development of children’s EN skills. However, previous research has mainly focused on school-age children, while research in early ages is scarce. No previous studies have used device-based measurement of PA with an individual test of EN to understand the associations between young children’s preschool PA and EN performance. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between PA during preschool hours and EN performance in children aged 4 to 5 years. More specifically, the following research questions are addressed: 1) How are PA intensity levels during preschool hours associated with EN performance in 4- to 5-year-old children? 2) What kind of profiles regarding PA intensity levels during preschool hours and EN performance can be identified among 4- to 5-year-old children? The sample consisted of children (N = 95, Mage = 4.6) attending preschools in Helsinki, Finland. PA was measured during 5 consecutive preschool days using hip-worn accelerometers, while EN performance was assessed using Van Luit and colleagues’ (2006) Finnish Early Numeracy Test. The data is analysed using quantitative research analysis. To answer the first research question, correlation matrix is performed to reveal relation between the variables of interest. For the second research question, latent profile analysis is used to identify children’s profiles according to their PA data and EN test scores, while the differences in profiles are compared using ANOVA. The results of the correlation analysis revealed no significant correlation between PA level during preschool hours and EN scores in children of ages 4 to 5 years. Latent profile analysis identified three profiles of children with high, medium, and low PA, whereas EN performance did not significantly differ among the profiles. In conclusion, while the results show significantly different amounts of PA among children during preschool, the main finding of the current study is in line with previous research, suggesting no direct relation between preschool PA and EN performance. Further research controlling for other factors that may influence the results is needed to examine how variation in PA level is related to EN performance in preschool.

Objectives. The purpose of this article- based master´s thesis is to study the connection between the years children spent in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and their social behaviour. The research problems were formed based on the fourfold table of social orientations by Jyrki Reunamo (2020) and the research material. In this research I decided to concentrate on the years children spent in ECEC because earlier research concerning children´s social behaviour is often focused on the quality of ECEC. This research presents one perspective to the social debate about how ECEC affects children´s growth and development by describing how the years spent in ECEC affect children´s social orientations and their main object of attention and contact. Methods. The data used in this research is a part of already existing research material collected within the Progressive Feedback project. The data was collected by observing children in ECEC units in 2017- 2021. About 200 specially trained ECEC professionals performed the observations. The research data includes 20 457 observations of 972 six-year-olds from 360 child groups in 18 municipalities in Finland. The material was analysed with IBM SPSS Statistics 27 programme with crosstabulation function using the years of attendance in ECEC, social orientation, child´s main object of attention and contact, closest social child contact and child´s gender as variables. Results and conclusions. According to this research, the years children spent in ECEC have a connection to their social orientations and their main object of attention and contact. The longer the children had been in ECEC, the less adaptive behaviour was observed. The children that had been in ECEC for under a year were observed to be less participative than other children. Dominant orientation increased the longer the children had been in ECEC. The children that had been in ECEC for over four years aimed their attention more rarely to non-social objects and adults. These same children aimed their attention more often to several children than their peers that had spent fewer years in ECEC. The years spent in ECEC seem to affect girls´ and boys´ social orientations and main object of attention and contact differently. The results could be useful when political decisions concerning ECEC, for example the two year-long pre-primary education, are made. The article The years children spent in early education in relation to their social relations and objects of attention is supposed to be published in European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (EECERJ)

Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien kokemuksia työhyvin-voinnista. Varhaiskasvatus on ollut paljon esillä mediassa ja keskustelussa on ollut muun muassa alalla vallitsevat epäkohdat ja haasteet, sekä huoli niin lasten kuin aikuistenkin turvallisuudesta. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää miten varhaiskasvatuksen opettajat kokevat oman sekä yleisesti varhaiskasva-tuksen opettajien keskuudessa vallitsevan työhyvinvoinnin tilan tällä hetkellä. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa kartoitettiin millaiset tekijät edistävät ja heikentävät varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien työhyvinvointia ja millainen merkitys niillä on työnteossa varhaiskasvatustyössä. Tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena tutkimuksena keväällä 2023. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin e-kyse-lylomakkeella. E-kysely jaettiin ammattiryhmän Facebook-ryhmässä nimeltä ”Varhaiskasvatuksen opettajat”. Kyselyyn vastasi 14 varhaiskasvatuksen opettajana työskentelevää henkilöä. Aineiston avulla vastattiin tutkimuskysymyksiin, joiden tavoitteena oli selvittää miten varhaiskasvatuksen opet-tajat kokevat oman työhyvinvointinsa tilan tällä hetkellä, sekä millainen kokemus heillä on yleisesti varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien keskuudessa vallitsevasta työhyvinvoinnin tilasta tällä. Lisäksi tutki-muksessa selvitettiin mitkä tekijät edistävät ja heikentävät varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien työhyvinvoin-tia ja millainen merkitys niillä on työntekoon varhaiskasvatustyössä. Tutkimuksessa selvisi, että varhaiskasvatuksen opettajat arvioivat yleisen alalla vallitsevan työhyvinvoinnin tilan selvästi heikommaksi kuin omansa. Yksilöiden työhyvinvoinnin tilan arviot näyttäytyivät moninaisena, osalla heikompana ja osalla lähelle erinomaista. Yleisellä tasolla työhyvinvointi nähtiin suhteellisen heikkona. Vastausten perusteella päiväkotikohtaisia eroja varhaiskasvatuksen laadussa ja toiminnassa on suuresti, mutta epäkohtia sekä haasteita kuitenkin voidaan löytää lähes kaikkialta. Vastaajat kokevat, että työhyvinvointi vaikuttaa työhön varhaiskasvatuksessa monella tapaa. Työssään viihtyvät iloitsivat esimerkiksi toimivasta tiimistä ja kannustavasta ilmapiiristä, kun taas työstään väsyneet nostivat esiin muun muassa epäammattimaisen tiimin ja haasteet palautumisessa. Merkittävimpinä työhyvinvointia edistävinä tekijöinä pidettiin työkavereita, hyvää esimiestyötä ja työyhteisön yleistä ilmapiiriä. Merkittävimmiksi työhyvinvointia heikentäviksi tekijöiksi taas nostettiin henkilöstövaje, vähäinen esimiehen tuki ja suuret ryhmäkoot. Tutkimus antoi todenmukaista tietoa kyselyyn vastanneiden kokemuksista työhyvinvoinnista. Vaikka tulokset olivatkin yksilöiden vastauksia, niistä voidaan päätellä varhaiskasvatuksen työhyvinvoinnin tilaa myös laajemmin.

Educational partnership is a working concept introduced in 2003 for the Finnish early childhood edu-cation services. The objective of my research is to study how early child-hood educators describe in their talks cooperation with parents in the context of educational partner-ship. I try to answer to the following questions by analyzing mutual shared cultural concepts used by the educators to structure their daily actions: What is the role of educational partnership in respect to the nature of their relationship with parents, their subject position, scope of their work, objectives of their work and their agency? I collected the research material by means of group interviews carried out in eight day-care centers located in the metropolitan area. The methodology of the research is based on social constructionism and discourse analysis. The analysis is qualitative, material based, detailed analyses of the early childhood educators discourse. The educators described their work through efforts towards equality with parents as well as occupational and professional expertise. Working as equal partners with parents means balancing between conflicting ways of working, thus a change in the professional and expert-focused way of working. The aim to support the growth and development of a child was viewed mainly through the aspects of structure of day care, parental, family, customer orientation and interaction. In the educational partnership talk seems not to have much room for the pedagogy deliberation when the language resources are directing educators attention away from child. Working according to the ideal of educational partnership was interpreted as a change to the early childhood care whereby the customer- and help-oriented as well as unofficial and trust-building cooperation has got foothold. Thus, the educational partnership gives room for expansion of the tasks of the workers. The contextual factors were seen as limiting as well as enabling aspects of educators agency. The responsibility of the education and interfere to the activities of parents was seen problematic, limiting the agency of the workers. On the other hand working as partner was seen as acceptable way to get access to the educational questions concerning families.

Tavoitteet. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on saada selville varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien käsityksiä pedagogisesti monipuolisesta ja laadukkaasta liikuntakasvatuksesta. Lisäksi tavoitteena on saada selville, kuinka varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien mielestä liikunta vaikuttaa lasten hyvinvointiin, terveyteen, kehitykseen ja oppimiseen. Tutkimuksessa haastateltiin myös tutkittavien ajatuksia liikuntakasvatuksen toteuttamisen osaamiseen liittyen sekä tiedusteltiin missä osaamista on hankittu. Aiemmat tutkimukset liikunnan vaikutuksista lapsiin ovat osoittaneet liikunnan monet hyödyt lapsen suotuisan kehityksen kannalta. Liikunnalla on todettu olevan lasten fyysistä kehitystä, kuntoa, sosiaalis-emotionaalisia taitoja, sekä kongnitiivisia taitoja tukevia vaikutuksia. Tutkimuksen avulla pyritään hahmottamaan, millaisena liikuntakasvatus toteutuu päiväkodeissa käytännössä sekä kuinka tietoisia kentällä työskentelevät varhaiskasvatuksen opettajat ovat liikunnan tärkeydestä suhteessa lapsen hyvinvointiin, terveyteen, kehitykseen ja oppimiseen. Menetelmät. Tutkimukseen osallistui neljä pääkaupunkiseudulla työskentelevää varhaiskasvatuksen opettajaa, joista kolmella oli taustalla yliopistotasoinen lastentarhanopettajan (nyk.varhaiskasvatuksen opettaja) tutkinto, ja yhdellä opistotasoinen lastentarhanopettajan tutkinto. Aineisto kerättiin kvalitatiivisen, laadullisen tutkimusstrategian tavoin hyödyntäen puolistrukturoitua teemahaastattelua. Aineiston analyysimenetelmänä toimi induktiivinen teoriasidonnainen sisällönanalyysi. Fenomenografisen tutkimusasetelman avulla tulosten samankaltaisuuksien kautta muodostui erillisiä teemoja, joiden avulla tulokset muotoutuivat esitettävään ja selkeälukuiseen muotoon. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Tulosten mukaan varhaiskasvatuksen opettajat kokivat, että pedagogisesti monipuolinen ja laadukas liikuntakasvatus on monipuolista, lapsilähtöistä, ja lapsen mielenkiinnon kohteet huomioivaa liikuntakasvatusta, jossa lähiympäristöä hyödynnetään monipuolisesti vuoden ympäri sekä liikkumista toteutetaan erilaisten liikunnallisten lajien, leikkien ja pelien tavoin sisällä ja ulkona. Pedagogisesti monipuolisen ja laadukkaan liikunnallisen oppimisympäristön luomisessa aikuisen aktiivisella roolilla ja malliesimerkillä koettiin olevan tärkeä merkitys. Haastateltavien mielestä liikunta vaikutti vahvasti lasten henkiseen hyvinvointiin keskittymiskyvyn, oppimisen, positiivisen minäkuvan, tunne- ja vuorovaikutustaitojen kehittymisen kautta sekä fyysiseen hyvinvointiin kunnon kohenemisen, luuston kehityksen, unenlaadun ja ruokahalun parantumisen myötä. Lisäksi haastateltavat kokivat, että liikunnan avulla lapsille voitiin opettaa erilaisia oppisisältöjä. Johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että tähän tutkimukseen osallistuneet kentällä työskentelevät varhaiskasvatuksen opettajat ovat hyvin tietoisia liikunnan suotuisista vaikutuksista suhteessa lasten hyvinvointiin, terveyteen, oppimiseen ja kehitykseen, ja he toteuttavat liikuntakasvatusta suurilta osin valtakunnallisen varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman suositusten mukaisesti. Jatkossa samaa aihetta voisi tutkia laajemmalla otannalla ja eri paikkakunnilla.

The purpose of this research was to find out, what kind of a relation early childhood teachers do have to the worldview education and how early childhood teachers think their co-operation with the Creating Spaces for Diversity of Worldviews in Early Childhood Education -project influences on their relation to worldview education. This study tried to respond to the need of letting early childhood teachers ponder freely about themes around worldview education and to find out, what kind of things do early childhood teachers associate to their relation to worldview education. The evolution of this relation was reflected through the first meeting of the project co-operation to the last meeting of the first six months. As theoretical frame of reference for this research served Jack Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning together with actual studies of reflection. Three early childhood teachers were interviewed for this study and the answers they gave during the interviews were scrutinized in relation to the learning diaries they wrote soon after the first meeting. These data’s were analysed according to the principles of a data based content analysis in the light of above mentioned theories. The three early childhood teachers who participated to the research seem to have a positively charged relation to the worldview education especially after the project co-operation started. Yet two of the three teachers still feel a bit reserved in their relation to worldview education. Nevertheless all of the three interviewed teachers send clear messages that their relation to worldview education has in some levels deepened: The difference being that the effects on the teacher who is most experienced workwise are smaller than with the other two. The co-operation with the Creating Spaces for Diversity of Worldviews in Early Childhood Education -project has given the early childhood teachers more self-confidence and understanding in the field of worldview education and given them a bit more tools for fulling the objectives of worldview education.