Browsing by Subject "koulu"

Family's and school's educational responsibilities are being discussed in the public media. Studies show that there is no consensus on what educational role the parents and school teachers should have. Especially parents are being judged by their lack of participation in child-rearing. In this sociological study education is considered as a social and political phenomenon in the framework of social constructionism. The purpose of this study was to describe, analyze and interpret Teacher Magazine's discourses of family's and school's educational responsibilities. The discursive processes in which the power relationships between parents and schools are constructed were examined. In addition, attention was paid to the education politics that can be traced behind these discourses. The research material consisted of 30 articles between the years 2013–2015 from Teacher Magazine which is a professional journal for teachers in Finland. The research material was gathered from the archive service of the internet site of the Teacher Magazine. The analysis was carried out using qualitative methods such as critical discourse analysis and power analysis. The results of this study shows the variation of discourses in Teacher Magazine's articles concerning family's and school's educational responsibilities. Discourses that present teaching as the main responsibility of schools, produce familist interpretations of the question of responsibility, object the idea of parents been patronized by the society and emphasize the shared responsibility of all adults and the holistic care of children were found from the research material. These discourses produce conflicting image of the educational role of the parents and the teachers. Based on the power analysis, three hegemonic discourses were identified. Two of these hegemonic discourses are the ones that present teaching as the main responsibility of schools and produce familist interpretations of the question of responsibility. The bourgeois politics of education were traced behind these two discourses that produce the hierarchical relationship between family and school. The politics of a welfare society was traced behind the third hegemonic discourse that emphasizes the shared responsibility of all adults and by doing that produces more equal power relationship between family and school.

In my research I examined violence in secondary school from the point of view of the students. I asked, how the students themselves defined violence. I focused on who was considered to be someone who has information on the phenomenon or power to define it. In previous research it has been reported that mundane, everyday violence has been studied less than extreme acts of violence. In my research, I drew attention to the mundane aspects of the phenomenon and what it is at its limits. I tried to determine why some things were named violence, when others were not. In my research I regarded violence as gendered, since I wanted to study the phenomenon as a structure rather than as attached to specific individuals. In my understanding, violence and power are inseparably linked. Therefore I chose to approach the phenomenon from the perspective of a feminist theory. Key concepts in my research were violence, gender, school and agency. I used feminist ethnography as a method to both produce and analyze the data. In feminist ethnography it is essential to interact as respectfully as as possible with the people who are being studied as well as to maintain a critical attitude toward knowing and the hierarchies related to knowledge. The ethnographer tries to understand the world of the people she studies by participating in it. In feminist ethnography attention is drawn to power relations as well as in the intertwining differences. The data consist of field notes and interviews. For two weeks I observed the school days of the students of one seventh grade in one school located in the Helsinki metropolitan area. My observation covered classes, breaks and meal times, but I did not follow the students if they left the school grounds unless the classes were held there. I interviewed 17 of the 18 students in the class, in pairs or individually. Half of the interviews were done individually and the other half in pairs. There were 12 interviews in total. According to my research, the student's status in the social hierarchy, their position regarding the norms in the society and the discourses related to violence or bullying in society were some of the factors that influenced the way the students defined violence or were affected by it. Violence in school appeared to be so normal that often it was not even noticed or regarded as such. An atmosphere was maintained actively where the possibility of violence was always present. The teachers used the threat of violence as a resource to emphasize their message. Gendered structures were also entwined with the normalization of violence. Violence or the threat of it was linked in particular with the correct representations of masculinity. In addition to gender other differences affected how it was possible to be present in school and how violence could be defined or used as a resource. According to my research, racism, homophobia and gendered structures limit the students' agency. The students seemed to be struggling to understand situations from other person's points of view and to understand the consequences of their actions. On the other hand, the teachers did not seem to understand the students' perspective. I too shared the difficulties with identifying and naming violence. My conclusion is that even though no one is able to distinctly define violence, it is not to be accepted. Based on my research, violence should always be intervened, despite the difficulties of defining it.

Objectives. Attachment theory is a theory of social development and personality, known around the world. According to the theory, children have an innate tendency to develop a biologically based and central nervous system-regulated attachment bond to their primary caregivers in order to ensure safety, care, and survival. Early attachment experiences contribute to the way one sees oneself and others and lead to secure, insecure, or disorganized attachment styles, which affect rest of one’s life. Previous research has confirmed the universal nature of attachment, different attachment categories and styles, and early attachment’s links with future relationships and various internal and external problems. Attachment research has traditionally concentrated on early childhood and early childhood environments, whereas middle childhood, adolescence, and school context have been studied less. The objectives of the present study were to find out what kinds of links there are between attachment and the lives of school-aged children and youngsters, what kinds of attachment-related challenges teachers encounter at school, and how teachers could support their students with those attachment-related challenges. The aim is to explore attachment in the lives of school-aged children and youngsters, including at school, to gain a better understanding and to create a valuable foundation for future research. Methodology. The present study was conducted as a systematic literature review, which allowed the gathering of diverse and comprehensive, yet relevant research material, while also supporting objectivity and reproducibility aspects of the study. The material, available through electronic databases, was comprised of research articles from around the world, published in peer-reviewed international research journals. The material was analyzed thematically by research questions and topics, which were then used as a framework in the Results section. Results and conclusions. Early attachment and attachment styles were directly and indirectly linked to the lives of school-aged children and youngsters, including teacher-student relationships, peer relationships, family relationships, and academic achievement, as well as internal and external problems. Various attachment-related challenges and problems were visible at school, but teachers had many ways to buffer them. Current attachment research has not affected or changed school environments enough. Much more attention should be given to attachment within schools, teacher education, and in-service training programs in order to give students better support for their attachment-related problems and challenges.

The purpose of this research is to find out the perceptions of parents about the selection of a bully victim i.e. why some children get bullied in a group of children, and some do not. It must be clarified, that the purpose of the research is not to find any reason for the justification of bullying, but to find information on how and on what account a bully chooses its victim. Earlier theories about bullying insist that the reasons behind bullying can be traced to the bully, not the victim. Even so, it must be brought to light that victims of bullying exist, and that they often resemble each other in some way or another. The main goal of this research is to find these commonalities, this time from the point of view of the parents. It will be interesting to see if these common features are something we can interfere with, in order to prevent being selected as a victim of bullying. The point of view of the parents is crucially important to this research, because attitudes towards bullying and victims of bullying, can be easily forwarded from parents to their children and so on into their peer relationships, without the parents intending to do so. In fact, one goal of the research was to see whether there could be seen a negative approach towards the victims of bullying in the answers of the parents, which could be forwarded to the children through their upbringing. It was as important to find out the parents opinions on the interference of bullying, and how it could be done. The research material was gathered during December 2015 with an online questionnaire. The questionnaire gained 183 answers from the parents of under school aged children, living in Helsinki. Phenomenography was used as the research method. The results of the research could be divided into three types of groups. Based on the results the selection of a victim of bullying happens coincidentally and for any reason. There are ways in which parents can interfere with the selection, but these ways are seen as dubious. Based on the results, the risk of getting bullied is twice as high with a child whose parents have been bullied, compared to a child whose parents have not been bullied.

Lastensuojelun sijaishuollossa kasvavilla lapsilla tiedetään aiemman tutkimuksen perusteella olevan huomattavan paljon enemmän haasteita koulunkäynnin eri osa-alueilla ikätovereihinsa verraten. Lisäksi sijaishuollosta itsenäistyneiden ja muiden lasten koulutuspolkuja verrattaessa tulee ilmi muita merkittäviä eroja: sijaishuollosta itsenäistyneiden koulutustaso jää ikätovereita alhaisemmaksi, usein pelkän peruskoulun varaan. Koululla ja koulussa pärjäämisellä on kauaskantoisia vaikutuksia yksilön elämässä ja erityisesti peruskoulussa heikosti pärjääminen näyttää määrittelevän myöhempää koulutusuraa pitkälle. Tilastojen mukaan sijaishuollossa kasvaneet kokevatkin useammin myöhemmässä elämässään työttömyyttä ja heikompaa toimeentuloa, ja he voivat huonommin useammalla eri hyvinvoinnin mittarilla. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoitus on ollut selvittää, millaiset tekijät vaikeuttavat ja mitkä edesauttavat kodin ulkopuolelle sijoitetun lapsen koulunkäyntiä. Tavoitteena on siis saada tuoretta tietoa siitä, miten kodin ulkopuolelle sijoitettuja lapsia voisi koulunkäynnin osalta paremmin tukea. Tutkimus on tehty systemaattisena kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Systemaattinen kirjallisuuskatsaus on tieteellinen metodi, jossa hyödynnetään ja tutkitaan aiemmin tehtyä tutkimusta ja niiden tuloksia. Systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen avulla voidaan koota valittua ilmiötä tarkastelevien tutkimuksien tuloksia synteesinomaisesti yhteen. Katsauksen aineisto perustuu Helda-, Ebscohost-, Eric- sekä Google Scholar -tietokantojen hakuihin. Valittu aineisto sisältää yhdeksän vertaisarvioitua tutki-musta tai artikkelia, jotka ovat julkaistu vuosien 2017–2022 välillä. Tämä katsaus tuo ilmi, että sijaishuollossa kasvavien lasten koulunkäyntiä, sekä koulusuoriutumisen että kouluhyvinvoinnin osa-alueilla edistää se, että lapsella on turvallinen ja välittävä sijaishuolto-paikka, jonka aikuiset auttavat ja tukevat lapsia kaikissa muutoksissa ja siirtymissä ja tarjoavat lapselle tukea koulunkäynnin rutiineissa ja muuttuviin tilanteisiin sopeutumisessa. Koulunkäynti onnistuu parhaiten, kun lapsi on kiinnittynyt kouluun ja kouluympäristöön sekä koulun aikuisiin turvalli-sesti ja hänellä on positiivisia ajatuksia kouluun liittyen. Vähäiset muutokset ja vaihdokset lapsen elämässä sekä ennakoiva tuki mahdollisissa muutostilanteissa kannattelevat lasta. Osaava ja lastensuojelun arkea ymmärtävä opettaja, jolla kiinnostusta tehdä moniammatillista yhteistyötä lapsen elämän tärkeiden aikuisten kanssa tukee onnistumista. Koulun tarjoamat tukitoimet, ajoissa ja riittävän pitkään tarjottuna, hyödyttävät sijaishuollossa asuvan lapsen koulunkäyntiä. Tällöin lapselle syntyy luottamus, turva ja positiivinen tunne paitsi oppimista ja koulua ja kouluympäristöä kohtaan, myös omaa tulevaisuuttaan ja mahdollisuuksiaan kohtaan.

The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of young adults who lost a loved one in primary school. The purpose is to increase understanding of how the interviewees feel about the school offering them support after the death of a loved one and how the interviewees' grief affected their schooling. Grief as a topic has been studied multidisciplinarily and internationally a lot. According to previous research, a person’s conscious or unconscious understanding of grief influences the way he or she encounters a grieving person. Foreign studies have found that a school has many opportunities to support a child grieving the death of a loved one. Finnish research on the subject is not available. The study was conducted as a qualitative study and its background philosophy was the interpretative phenomenological research tradition. The data consisted of thematic interviews of five young adults aged 18–29 and contained oral history based on experiences. The data was analyzed according to the six-step model of interpretive phenomenological analysis by Smith et al. (2009). Based on the analysis, the interviewees' experiences of the support received from the school were divided into five themes: the school as an administrator of everyday life, the support provided by student welfare services, the importance and support of one's own teacher, consideration of grief in the school's everyday life and practices, and improvement suggestions for schools. The effects of grief on school attendance were also divided into five themes: the needs and effects of the bereavement home situation on school attendance, studying at school after the death of a loved one, expressions of grief and grief reactions at school, moments when grief surfaced and the importance of the class community and friends. Although the results were divided into themes for the analysis, they partially overlapped in many places. The interviewees perceived the school's support as being divided into support related to the continuity of everyday life and support for dealing with grief and emotions. Support of the continuity of everyday life was experienced as the main and functional support from the school, but support for dealing with grief and emotions was needed more than what had been received according to experiences of interviewees. For this reason, the conclusions consider the functionality and accessibility of student welfare services and the need to develop school-specific guidelines to support dealing with a student who is grieving the death of a loved one.

Finnish children spend lots of time in social media. At the same time schools are modernizing their tuition by acquiring and using different technological devices and using different media applications. There are studies about how social media can be made use of in schools, but the way school is manifested in social media by children has not been studied a lot. Therefore the aim of this study is to find out how the children themselves use social media and how school is manifested in social media by children of different age. The method for this study was descriptive literature review. Different databases concerning mainly behavioral and educational sciences were used to conduct the study. The research material was Finnish and foreign literature, studies and other publications. Different databases concerning. In addition to theoretical literature different studies about Finnish children and their habits of using internet and social media were used. Because the topic has been discussed a lot in Finnish media during the last few years, some news regarding social media, school and children were also used. The results of this study showed that social media plays a big part in the lives of children and adolescents of different ages. They use social media mainly for keeping touch with their friends, family and relatives, but also publish photos, videos and different texts. The school is manifested in this material in different ways. It’s discussed in private conversations but also some school-related vlogs are published.

The objective of this study is to highlight traumas experienced by a student and to examine how the traumas arise in school context. I also examine what kind of support school was able to provide for the traumatized student. Purpose of this study is to provide knowledge and possible means for caretakers to encounter a traumatized child. In this study the voice is given to a young person who has been struggling with traumas during her time in school and her narrative is used to determine the student’s personal experiences of reconciling the traumas and school. The person who participated in this study was a former youth in a youth detention centre, whose traumas passed throughout her whole school time, especially throughout the secondary school and beginning of high school, which are the main subjects of this study. Purpose of this study is not to generalize, but to bring out this youth’s valuable story to the public by collecting relevant data. The study is a qualitative case study and collected material is used to highlight information about the factors that led to the traumas and in particular, what kind of support was available at school and what kind of support would have been needed. Data collection methods were observation, daily reports and open interviews. Analysis of the collected material was carried out according to methods of content analysis. Study results showed that traumas had significant links to a child’s well-being, learning and need for support at school. Trauma was caused by attachment problems and lack of basic needs of the child. My study is partly related to the attachment theory. Based on this, the early age problems of interaction seemed to affect later social life, psyche and coping with school. Problems reflected to school as social challenges and caused learning, concentration and behavioral problems. Hiding behind defenses, loneliness and labelled difference led to a decline in school motivation and performance. Support provided was not sufficient and all parties; teachers, classmates and the youth herself were exhausted. Traumas appear in school context in many ways in all areas of studying. In school context, there does not always seem to be enough time, means, skills or resources to face children who are severely traumatized and therefore mentally unstable.

Tavoitteet. Tämän kirjallisuuskatsauksen tavoitteena on kerätä yhteen tietoa ravitsemuskasvatuksen interventioista sekä niiden toimivuudesta koulukontekstissa peruskoulu- sekä lukioikäisillä eli noin 4 – 19-vuotiailla. Tarkoituksena oli selvittää, minkälaisilla koulussa toteutettavilla ravitsemuksen interventioilla ja keinoilla voidaan edistää lasten ja nuorten terveellisempiä ruokailutottumuksia ja ehkäistä lapsuus- ja nuoruusajan ylipainoa. Menetelmät. Tutkimustapana käytettiin umbrella review-menetelmää, jolla kootaan aikaisempia systemaattisia kirjallisuuskatsauksia yhteen ja tarkastellaan niissä toimiviksi todettuja keinoja terveellisten ravitsemustottumusten edistämiseen sekä ylipainon ehkäisemiseen lapsilla ja nuorilla koulukontekstissa. Aineistoksi valikoitui yhteensä seitsemän systemaattista kirjallisuuskatsausta, joiden julkaisuajankohta oli vuosina 2010-2022. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että erilaisilla interventioilla on mahdollista vaikuttaa lasten ja nuorten terveellisten ravitsemustottumusten edistämiseen ja terveellisempiin ruokavalintoihin. Intervention suunnittelulla ja toteutuksella on kuitenkin ratkaiseva merkitys. Erityisesti ympäristön muokkaamiseen perustuvat interventiot näyttäytyivät tehokkaina. Jatkotutkimuksissa tulisi ottaa huomioon sukupuolten väliset erot, pitkäaikaisvaikutusten seuranta, jotta interventioiden vaikutukset olisivat mahdollisimman tehokkaita myös pitkällä aikavälillä, sekä Pohjoismaiden eriävät tulokset käyttäytymiseen vaikuttavien interventioiden osalta. Interventioita tulisi myös tarkastella tulevissa tutkimuksissa erityisesti haavoittuvissa ryhmissä ja sosioekonomisesti alemman statuksen ryhmissä. Näiden edellä mainittujen ryhmien osalta myös pitkäaikaisvaikutusten tutkiminen olisi erityisen tärkeää.