Browsing by Subject "johtajuus"

The aim of this study was to examine how the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) directors describe the pedagogy of children under the age of three and what significances the ECEC directors can give to the pedagogy of said children. The study focuses on analyzing how the pedagogy of under the age of three is discursively constructed by the ECEC direc-tors. Previous studies have shown that the shortcomings in the pedagogy are emphasized especially on the children under the age of three, although it is known that the early childhood phase is very intensive in the development of children. Thus, the pedagogy and discourse of the ECEC directors is very important, as it guides the whole pedagogic work culture. The methodology of this research was based on social constructionism and discourse analy-sis. The data for this master’s thesis was gathered by interviewing five municipal ECEC di-rectors from two municipalities of the southern Finland area. The interviews were conducted in 2020. A qualitative research method which utilized half-structured thematic interviews was used. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and the data was analyzed by discourse analysis. Four different discourses were formulated from the data of the first research problem, how ECEC directors describe the pedagogy of children under the age of three. The following dis-courses occurred in the research material: the whole day pedagogy, research-based, profes-sionalism and pedagogical leadership. Four different discourses were formulated from the da-ta of the second research problem occurred following four discourses: the basis of life, rights of children, sensitive interaction in the middle of the pedagogy and participation of the child. The ECEC directors described pedagogy of the children under the age of three as a unity of education and care. Furthermore, the importance of pedagogy, research basis, professional skills and pedagogic leadership was emphasized in the discussion. The sensitive interaction and participation of the children was the baseline of a good quality pedagogics. The pedagog-ics of the early childhood education was described as an important foundation of life and a privilege of the child.

The purpose of this research was to study early childhood education meetings from the perspective of leadership and group processes. The research also clarified what factors leaders combined together with good meeting. The subject of this research is valid and current because there is no previous research from this specific area. Groupwork forms an essential part of working in early childhood education. It is important to see how leaders can make use of the information about group processes. Organizational research have shown that for example using facilitation can accomplish good outcomes. The aim of this research is to give an information to early childhood leaders on how they can plan even better meetings and use the time best way possible. The research was carried out as a case study. The research sample was six early childhood education leaders from the same city in the Helsinki metropolitan area. They were chosen in random. The leaders were interviewed by using a half structured interview. Interviews took place in the summer 2021. The interview material was then transcripted. The research methodology used was theory-driven content analysis. According to this research the most important meaning of the meetings is pedagogical development. Meetings offer employees a chance to impact their work and share professional knowledge. Good meeting is a combination of inner and outer factors. Inner factors were communication, participation and autonomy. Atmosphere and structure were the outer factors which made communication and participation possible. Leaders planned topics of the meetings but not how those contents should be processed. Group work was guided by using some methods like small group discussions or by leading the conversation into specific direction. Leaders also utilized different roles and leading styles. Some of the results can be identified as facilitation. For example giving responsibility to the employees and encouraging them to come up with the answers by themselves. By utilizing group processes and ways to lead the group, leaders can make a solid ground for learning and self-oriented community in early childhood education. This could partially be the answer to the challenge that most of the leaders in this research mentioned; there is not enough time for the meetings and professional dialog in early childhood education.

The purpose of this study was to explore the importance of director´s pedagogical leadership in everyday early childhood education. Through the research problems I wanted to find out how pedagogical leadership affects in the quality of interaction, learning environments and pedagogical atmosphere in early childhood unit. The theoretical background of this study is based on Finnish and international research of early childhood education and leadership. According to the earlier research pedagogical leadership plays an essential role in high-quality early childhood education. I believe that this study supports earlier research and by this research I want to highlight the relevance of the pedagogical leadership in children´s everyday life in early childhood education. This was a quantitative research. The data used in this study was part of research and development project called Orientaation lähteillä which wants to find out what really happens in early childhood education. Project is implemented in co-operation between Teacher Educa-tion in Helsinki University and day cares in Uusimaa and Hämeenlinna. The data used in this study was collected using the questionnaires about learning environments answered by 766 units from 10 municipalities. The data included also responses of 143 child minders but in this research the data is limited to responses of the day care center workers. This study is based on the claim the pedagogical leadership and the educational culture should be strengthened in our unit. The SPSS-software was used for the analysis of the results. In the context of interaction, the lack of pedagogical leadership was reflected strongest in the emotional climate and atmosphere of the unit. When pedagogical leadership was strong, interaction between the unit seemed to be more positive and pleasure and well-being were more often present in everyday life. Pedagogical leadership seemed to play an important role in diversity of the learning environment and in the quality of physical learning environment and playing environment. What came to unit´s pedagogical atmosphere, the lack of time and resources was the most significant variable that correlated with the pedagogical leadership. According to the results, director´s pedagogical leadership affects many different ways in everyday early childhood education and that´s why it should be acknowledged.

The increase in changes and demands related to the management of the education sector during the last decades has clearly correlated with an increased workload for the principal's profession. The work is diversified and fragmented into a wide range of areas. With this, it has become clear that the principal is not able to lead an educational institution alone and management practices have had to be developed in such a way that they better serve the needs of educational institutions and communities. The aim of this study has been to find out how the principals experience and understand the concept of shared leadership in practice and what kind of shared leadership models they have in use in educational institutions, as well as what possible obstacles they see to the implementation of shared leadership in the school. There are some similar studies on principals' views on shared leadership. In general, principals' perceptions of shared leadership are mainly related to the division and delegation of work tasks. However, according to the theoretical background, the deeper idea of shared leadership is related to interactive leadership. Previous studies have found that principals' views on shared leadership as delegation become stronger when interaction decreases in leadership situations. Correspondingly, when the view of shared leadership as delegation decreases, the view of shared leadership as interaction in situations becomes stronger. In a broader sense, management is an interpersonal activity that arises in interaction between individuals. This is how management develops and takes shape during the interaction, and the parties can influence its development. In this study, the research method was qualitative, and the material of the thesis consisted of interviews with seven principals. The data was collected with a semi-structured thematic interview and analyzed with a theory-driven content analysis. The results section of the thesis is based on the theme classifications created in the analysis. As a conclusion of the results of the study, it could be stated that the principals felt that shared leadership was mainly about dividing and delegating tasks, although shared leadership structures aimed at both formal and informal interaction were in use in all schools. All principals considered interactive management to be important and desirable. The principals also strongly connected trust and sharing of expertise and know-how to shared management. Team organization models were used the most as models of shared leadership, of which management teams were used in all schools, in some schools various development teams and grade level groups were used. Six of the organizations that participated in the study used an assistant principal or a vice principal system. The principals saw factors related to the working culture as obstacles to the implementation of shared management, such as not getting used to the operating model of shared management, resource, and human factors, as well as the increase in the workload of the employees and thus the deterioration of work well-being.

Leadership and management has been an interest of research for a long time, school princi-pals being no exception. However, there is a substantial need for research about manage-ment of human resources for principals. As previous research shows, this type of research is important as leadership affects work motivation, which in its turn affects work performance. To be able to develop the management of human resources of principals, it is important to understand how principals think around it. The aim of this study is to provide an insight of what the principals of this study thinks about leadership and what they value concerning ma-nagement of human resources. This study is a qualitative study, the methods are a mix of case study and qualitative content analysis. The data consists of six (n=6) interviews with Finnish principals, who work in comprehensive schools and/or upper secondary schools. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews consisting of basic questions regarding their work as principals and five fictional cases. The principals were asked to explain how they would act if the situ-ation would appear in their school. The data was analysed according to the principles of con-tent analysis. The conclusion of this study is that the principals interviewed describe their leadership of human resources as matters and values that can be divided into four themes: 1. Humane centered leadership, 2. Strong leadership, 3. Active leadership and 4. Restricted leadership. All six principals agreed on themes 1-3, but one of the principals did not speak of theme number 4. As a conclusion the principals of this study consider themselves as leaders that solve problems with discussions and empathy, but they use stronger leadership if the situat-ion requires. The principals actively try to create structures and prevent problems, but do not consider their leadership as perfect that can not be developed.

Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa selvitettiin, millaisia vaatimuksia luovan projektityön johtaminen asettaa projektijohtajien viestinnälle ja miten tunneälytaidot tähän liittyvät. Tavoitteena oli case-tutkimuksen avulla selvittää, mitä luovan projektiryhmän johtajat ja toisaalta työntekijät ajattelevat tunneälystä, kuka työyhteisössä tarvitsee tunneälyä ja millaisissa tilanteissa? Tutkimusaihe valikoitui sen perusteella, että tunneälyä on tutkittu johtamisen yhteydessä mutta ei niinkään viestinnän näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksen lähtökohtana oli ensinnäkin selvittää, miten tunneälykästä johtamista määritellään johtamiskirjallisuudessa. Tämän jälkeen tutkittiin, miten tunneäly ja sen merkitys koetaan tutkimuksen case-organisaatiossa ja millainen on projektijohtajan tunneälytaitojen rooli luovan projektiryhmän toiminnassa. Viimeiseksi kysyttiin, millaisin viestinnällisin keinoin projektijohtaja voi tunneälykkäästi tukea ryhmänsä luovan työn tekemistä. Työn teoreettinen viitekehys on monitieteinen ja hyödyntää psykologian, johtamisen, viestinnän sekä luovuuden tutkimusta. Keskeisimpiä teorialähteitä olivat mm. Daniel Golemanin tunneälykirjallisuus sekä Pekka Aulan dissipatiivisen ja integroivan viestinnän teoria. Tutkimuksen aineisto koostuu case-yrityksenä toimineessa viestintätoimistossa tehdyistä puolistrukturoiduista ryhmähaastatteluista ja haastatteluiden yhteydessä teetetyistä avoimista kyselyvastauksista. Aineiston analyysitapana käytettiin teemoittelevaa tekstianalyysiä. Keskeisinä analyysin tuloksina todetaan, että tunneälykästä johtamista määritellään muun muassa tunneälytaitojen kautta, jotka jaetaan itseymmärryksen ja –hallinnan sekä sosiaalisen ymmärryksen ja suhteiden hallinnan luokkiin. Lisäksi tunneälykäs johtaminen voidaan rinnastaa palvelevan, transformatiivisen ja adaptiivisen johtajuuden toimintatapoihin. Tunneäly koetaan case-yrityksessä tärkeänä etenkin johtajien toiminnassa. Sen koetaan lisäävän luottamusta projektiryhmän sisällä sekä parantavan konfliktitilanteista selviämistä. Tunneäly ymmärretään case-yrityksessä empatiana, tilannetajuna ja -herkkyytenä sekä hyvänä ihmistuntemuksena. Tunneäly ymmärretään vahvasti sosiaalisena taitona, ei niinkään itsetuntemuksen tai –hallinnan näkökulmasta. Tunneäly koetaan liittyvän vahvasti luovan projektityön tukemiseen ja johtamisviestintään. Projektijohtajien viestinnälle kohdistuu paljon odotuksia niin asiakkaan kuin projektiryhmän suunnalta. Projektijohtaja voi tunneälykkäästi tukea projektiryhmäänsä olemalla empaattinen, kuuntelemalla ja vastaamalla heidän tarpeisiinsa, viestien avoimesti, tasapuolisesti ja selkeästi, ollen sopeutuvainen ja joustava muuttuvissa tilanteissa. Tutkimuksen johtopäätöksissä todetaan tunneälyn ja johtamisviestinnän kietoutuvan vahvasti toisiinsa. Tutkimuksen tulokset viittaavat siihen, että tunneälykkäällä johtamisella voidaan vaikuttaa siihen viestinnälliseen prosessiin, joka luovan projektiryhmän toiminnassa on keskeistä. Tutkimuksen myötä todetaan myös, että tunneälytaitoja on mahdollista ja tarpeen kehittää organisaatioissa.

Tiivistelmä Tiedolla johtaminen on avain parempiin suorituksiin. Myös terveydenhuollossa sen hyödyt tunnistetaan. Tiedolla johtamisen avulla pyritään kohti vaikuttavuusperusteista terveydenhuoltoa. Vaikuttavuuden ja potilas-/asiakaskeskeisyyden parantamisen kannalta on olennaista hyödyntää tosielämän tietoa: potilaiden arviota hoidon tuloksista ja hoitokokemuksista eli PROM- ja PREM-tietoja kliinisten tietojen ja ammattilaisarvion sekä resurssitehokkuus- ja kustannustiedon ohessa. Tutkimuksessa kartoitetaan johtajien käsityksiä tiedon käyttöön sairaalan johtamisessa vaikuttavista tekijöistä. Aineisto kerättiin kahdesta sairaalasta kymmenen lääkärijohtajan ja tietoammattilaisen teemahaastatteluin. Niissä käsiteltiin informanttien kokemuksia ja näkemyksiä tiedolla johtamisen ja tosielämän tiedon käytön edistämisestä heidän organisaatioissaan potilaiden hoidon suunnittelussa, toteutuksessa, seurannassa, johtamisessa ja kehittämisessä. Haastattelut litteroitiin ja analysoitiin teoriaohjaavalla sisällönanalyysilla. Tutkimustulokset muodostavat digitaalis-inhimillisen systeemin, joka rakentuu tiedosta, teknologiasta, johtamisesta, moniammatillisesta yhteistyöstä ja kehittämisestä. Analyysin perusteella tiedolla johtamiseen ja tosielämän tiedon käyttöön sairaalassa vaikuttaa 24 tekijää, jotka eritellään ja kuvataan. Keskeisimpiä tekijöitä ovat strateginen ja tavoitteellinen johtajuus, moniammatillinen ja monialainen yhteistyö sekä käytettävän tiedon ominaisuudet: laadukkuus, luotettavuus, reaaliaikaisuus, saatavuus ja kattavuus sekä rakenteisuus. Tiedon tulkinnassa on olennaista substanssi-, data- ja kontekstiymmärrys. Tärkeitä ovat myös monipuoliset tietovarannot, modulaariset tietojärjestelmät ja selkeiden raporttinäkymien monikäyttöisyys. Toimivassa yhteistyössä ylin johto linjaa, resursoi ja tukee; muutosagentit suunnittelevat ja toimeenpanevat; moniosaavat linkkihenkilöt auttavat kehityksen ja implementoinnin arjessa sekä antavat lähitukea. Tiedolla johtamisen kehittäminen on pitkäjänteistä työtä, jossa olisi hyvä benchmarkata muiden organisaatioiden ja alueiden parhaita käytäntöjä. Pitkäjänteisyyden rinnalla tarvitaan ketteriä kokeiluja, nopeita onnistumisia ja tiedolla johtamisen konkreettisten hyötyjen osoittamista eri ammattilaisille, mukaan lukien poliittiset päätöksentekijät. Kohdennetun, monikanavaisen ja jatkuvan viestinnän merkitys painottuu uusien asioiden lanseerauksessa ja implementoinnissa. Jatkuva oppiminen, yliopistoyhteistyö ja tutkimus on tärkeää. Vakiintuneita insentiivikäytänteitä ei kohdesairaaloissa juuri ole. Aineistossa korostuu holistinen näkökulma potilaan/asiakkaan hoitoketjuihin ja eri sidosryhmien tarpeisiin. Toiveena olisi saada relevantteja tietoja potilaiden hoito- ja palveluprosesseista sekä kustannuksista koko ketjulle erikoissairaanhoidossa, perusterveydenhuollossa ja sosiaalihuollossa. Tutkimuksessa nousee esiin myös arvot, asenteet sekä yhteisöllinen ja kehitysmyönteinen organisaatiokulttuuri tiedolla johtamisen kehittämiseen vaikuttavina tekijöinä. Tutkimuksen yhteiskunnallisessa viitekehyksessä korostuu tarve terveydenhuollon vaikuttavuuden parantamiseen tiedolla johtamisen keinoin. Tätä varten tarvitaan selkeitä kansallisia linjauksia, vaikuttavuusarvioinnin kehittämistä ja dataekosysteemien hyödyntämistä. Myös alueelliset vastuukysymykset ovat ajankohtaisia: kuka kehittää, mitä, miten, milloin ja miksi? Tutkimukseni ei tarjoa vastauksia näihin kysymyksiin. Sen sijaan se pyrkii kuvaamaan sitä käytännöllistä kokonaisuutta, josta rakentuu tiedolla johtamisen arki sairaalassa. Johtajien käsityksistä muodostuu tiedolla johtamisen edistämisen tiekartta, josta voi tarkistaa olennaisia maamerkkejä kohti vaikuttavuusperusteista terveydenhuoltoa.

Objectives. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the Innovative School model, which takes a holistic view of school development factors. The purpose of the study was to find out what kind of experiences the school staff have with working in an innovative school and to what extent the school studied represented the dimensions of the innovative school. The study looked at the school staff's experiences and perceptions of the role of the innovative school, orchestration of school activities and cooperation networks. The aim of the study is to increase understanding of the policies that have been developed in the school to support school development and the learning of 21st century skills, and to form a coherent picture of the school culture. Methods. The study is a qualitative case study, which research material consisted of nine semi-structured thematic interviews. The research context was a school, which has been a learning center and development community for many years. The research participants worked in different positions at the school. The research material was analyzed with theory-guided approach using the ATLAS.ti software as a technical aid. Results and Conclusions. According to the results, the main task of the school was to teach students 21st century skills. Team teaching and different learning environments supported this goal. Another task of the school was to build partnership with the parents. School development was identified as important for the school's operations. A significant part of the development took place in the school’s daily operational processes. The results show that the school's practices were based on a collaborative, team-based, way of working. School leadership was based on distributed leadership and the results highlighted the positive experiences associated with it, such as participation in decision-making. The results show that parents and other stakeholders were key part of the collaborative networks. However, the results indicated that not all opportunities for out-of-school stakeholders had yet been identified. This was a topic that requires development. Relying on community resources advances the development of the school. Individuals have different knowledge, ideas and expertise that can evolve by working together.