Browsing by Subject "luokanopettaja"

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to find out how Finnish class teachers think spiritual education (in this abstract the term spiritual education is used to describe both religious and moral education) should be executed in elementary schools. The study stems from the active discourse in Finland in the last few years on religious education in schools. Several ways to execute spiritual education have been presented in literature on education. In addition to these, this study views how spiritual education is executed in other European countries. The views of class teachers are examined by finding out how important they regard the different study contents of Evangelical Lutheran religion for grades 1–5 in the Finnish lesson plan and what they feel is the best model for spiritual education. Methods. The data was gathered by sending an online questionnaire to 1200 Finnish class teachers. 175 teachers around the country replied. The data was then analysed quantitatively by using SPSS analysing program. Two distinct binned variables were created from the lesson plan’s study contents, secular and religious contents. In the analysis, the background variables of the respondents were compared to their answers on the importance of the study contents and to their choice of the best way to execute spiritual education. In addition, their answers to the importance of the study contents were compared to their spiritual education model of choice. Results and conclusions. The only background variable that had a connection to the other examined variables was the length of the respondents teaching career. Based on the results, a longer career meant holding religious contents more important. The teachers who supported the spiritual education model in Finland today considered the secular and religious contents almost equally important. The teachers who supported the model of a singular school subject with no religious ties considered secular contents to be more important. Overall the respondents considered secular contents to be more important. Most of the class teachers felt the best spiritual education model was the one where every student participated in only a single spiritual subject with no religious ties. The second most popular choice was the model Finnish schools are using now

Objectives. During the past ten years, there has been some studies about the Finns’ language proficiency and how they perceive English language (EF EPI, 2019; Eurobarometer, 2012; Grasz & Schlabach, 2011; Leppänen ym., 2009; Niemi & Ruuskanen, 2018; Virtanen, 2019). However, these studies have not studied these topics from one occupation’s point of view. The research aims to describe, analyse and interpret the class teachers’ perceptions of their language proficiency and of English language. In addition, the results of the study were compared to the previous studies (Leppänen ym., 2009; Niemi & Ruuskanen, 2018; Virtanen, 2019), and the answers of the less experienced class teachers and the more experienced teachers were compared to each other. Methods. The study was carried out as a qualitative survey research. The data was collected from the questionnaire, in which 32 class teachers answered. Other studies’ indicators were adapted in the questionnaire, and it had both open-ended and close-ended questions. A classification was used as the method of the data analysis. The data was sorted adequately depending on the question type, and in a way that it was comparable to the results of the previous studies. Results. The class teachers told that they know many foreign languages. The class teachers’ most proficient language was English, as almost everyone rated their proficiency as good or excellent. The less experienced class teachers rated their level of English and Spanish higher than the more experienced teachers, whereas the more experienced teachers rated their level of Swedish and German higher than the less experienced teachers. According to the answers, the class teachers perceived English language mainly positively and thought that the knowledge of English is an important skill to have. There were some differences found between the less experienced class teachers and the more experienced ones. It seemed that the more experienced teachers perceived English a little bit more negatively than the less experienced ones. The class teachers’ expectations of their own competence, in this case of their language proficiency, was at the high level. In addition, they thought that the knowledge of English and other foreign languages was an important skill to have. According to the expectancy-value theory (Eccles, 1983, as cited in Viljaranta, 2017, it can be said that the class teachers are committed to the ongoing or future task of early language teaching.

Self-esteem affects to child’s appearance, thoughts and actions and it has a big impact regarding child’s learning, well-being and future sights. Previous studies reveal that teacher’s feedback has a big role when enhancing child’s self-esteem. The aim of this study was to examine primary school teachers’ descriptions of primary school students’ self-esteem in school and the ways of enhancing it in their job. The theoretical frame of this study is based on Michele Borba’s five component self-esteem model and on previous studies that reveal the importance of enhancing child’s self-esteem. This study was a qualitative study and it was analysed by using a phenomenographic analysis. Eight primary school teachers’ participated to the study. Four of them were male and four women. The data was collected from the primary school teachers throughout theme interviews. The data consists of 92 transcribed pages from the interviews. The categories presented as the results of the study were build from the descriptions of the primary school teachers and concerning the research questions. They were build from detailed expressions towards to a bigger picture and finally forming the categories shown as results. What comes to the results, primary school teachers’ know quite well and many-sided, how to enhance students’ self-esteem. As a result, five different types of categories were revealed. The categories were enhancing the student’s feeling of security, enhancing the group dynamics, enhancing the student’s selfhood, enhancing the student’s realistic target set up and enhancing the student’s feeling of competence. It is important to enhance self-esteem long-term and always take into account the different types of individuals in the group. Primary school teachers’ also thought that the enhancement of self-esteem is important in the school. Regarding the primary school teachers’ descriptions of the manifestation of students’ self-esteem and its level in school, six different types of categories were revealed as a result. The categories were the appreciation of yourself, the recognizing of your strengths and weakness’, social skills, the trust towards yourself and your abilities, the courage to participate and try new things and the tolerance of disorder in routines. What comes to the results, a primary school teacher needs to focus the attention towards the students’ and try to get to know the students’ better. That way the teacher can identify the quality of the students’ self-esteem. The results of this study are similar when comparing them to Borba’s self-esteem model.

Objectives. The development plan for education and research 2003 - 2008 (report of the Ministry of Education) highlights the development and promotion of special education and integration. In the end of the year 2007, there was Special education strategy published, a proposal for a long-term strategy for the development of special education in pre- and primary schools. Today there are a growing number of special education pupils studying in their neighbourhood schools and in regular teaching groups. Class teachers are so confronting new challenges in their classes. It is pointed out in the researches that teachers' positive attitudes and professional skills are essential for successful mainstreaming / inclusion in schools. The object of this thesis is to examine primary school class teachers' conceptions of working and teaching in the regular education which include special education pupils. This issue will be approached by these research problems: what kind of conceptions do teachers who work in basic education with special education pupils have, what kind of significance does teachers education has for these conceptions, what kind of significance does teachers work experience has for their working and is there a some kind of connection between teacher's conceptions and the nature of special education pupil's disability? Methods. In the spring 2009, the half structured questionnaire was send to all primary schools in Helsinki (N=86). One class teacher in each school was asked to fill in the questionnaire. Altogether 38 teachers answered this questionnaire. The data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Structured questions were processed by using the SPSS- statistics program and qualitative questions were analyzed by using content analysis. Results and conclusions. Class teachers were satisfied with their work and most of them felt that they master the teaching situations sufficiently. They reported that they get support and help most from the special needs assistants and special education teachers but they also felt that they need it more from them. Remedial instruction- lessons were also needed more. Those who had the class teacher qualification got a bit more support from special education teachers than those without qualification. Both, longer work experience and studies of special pedagogy correlated with the amount of help from the assistant. There was also positive connection between the work experience and the amount of remedial instruction. Teachers urge for updating education was clearly shown in this study. About half of these teachers wished more education related to special needs pupils / education. Teachers felt that the lack of time is the most challenging in their work. About half of the teachers felt that the regular studying environment supports special education pupils well or very well and felt mainstreaming valuable for all. They pointed out that the nature and the degree of disability is relevant. They felt that pupils with behavioral difficulties had most negative influence for the whole class, and felt themselves helpless and frustrated because of these pupils.

Objectives. The aim of this study is to find out what kind of assumptions and experiences primary school class teachers have about mother tongue and literature as a school subject and its teaching. Teaching is influenced by teacher education and one’s own personal experiences and beliefs. Mother tongue and literature is a broad subject that encompasses many aspects. The class teacher has certain freedoms to carry out their work, so teaching takes place in a slightly different way in different classes. Students need the skills of this subject for other subjects and outside of school. The work of a class teacher involves much more than just teaching subjects. The purpose of this study was to find out how class teachers perceive one of the most important subjects in primary school. Methods. The study was carried out using qualitative methods. The material consisted of interviews with seven classroom teachers. The material was collected through a semi-structured interview in the spring of 2020 and analyzed by thematic analysis. Results and conclusions. This study found that class teachers perceive mother tongue and literature as a diverse school subject that would require additional time resources to teach. In addition, class teachers saw this subject strongly as a tool whose skills management enables the rest of schooling. Class teachers reflect extensively on the importance of the skills in this subject to the student. Reading, writing, interaction skills and multi-literacy were highlighted as important skills. The differences in competence between students bring challenges to the teaching of mother tongue and literature. Differences in competence can be related to the teaching of those who are still learning Finnish as well as to the teaching of pupils in need of special support. Here, too, the challenges were related to limited resources. Class teachers described the different teaching methods they use in teaching mother tongue and literature. As one of the effective methods to support students' motivation and learning, they mentioned action-based learning that is suitable for teaching grammar, for example. Mother tongue and literature appear to class teachers from many different perspectives. This study shows that in order to be an expert in mother tongue and literature a classroom teacher must have diverse knowledge.

Grit is a colloquial concept, which has been scientifically defined in the field of psychological research in slightly different ways. Grit can be defined inter alia as the character strength of per-severance (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) or as passion and perseverance towards long-term goals (Duckworth et al., 2007). In previous studies grit has been shown to play a central role in aca-demic success and wellbeing. Yet, research on how to teach grit is still in its infancy. This study aimed to increase understanding on what grit and teaching grit in the Finnish elementary school mean. This study describes primary school teachers’ perceptions of the meaning of grit in the primary school context as well as how the teachers aim to teach it. This study was a qualitative study in which five teachers familiar with teaching grit took part in. The study was conducted as a semi-structured interview. The data was collected in April 2022 and analysed with theming and theory-guided content analysis. The main results of the study were that the teachers defined grit in quite a similar manner espe-cially by the components of perseverance and goal orientation and saw it as a character strength and a teachable skill. The teachers utilised grit in their own work. In addition, in primary school grit manifested especially in learning and school work, but also in behaviour and social rela-tions. The practices to teach grit varied. Some teachers taught grit and other character strengths or skills that enhance wellbeing in dedicated lessons. Otherwise grit was taught by integrating it to other subjects. The principal method of teaching was through teachers’ own speech and dis-cussions. The teachers’ action and interaction with students included acts of demanding and support as well as teaching patience. The described teaching practices are rooted in positive psychology and character education. The descriptions of patience and mercifulness complement the previous theory on grit and teaching it.

Objectives. Character-strengths-based (CSB) pedagogy stems from positive psychology’s PERMA theory. CSB pedagogy has been studied in Finland to an increasing extent since the 2010s and internationally since the early 2000s. The research results show it has positive effects on, for example, support for the inclusive school system, student well-being, learning motivation among students with special needs, and student participation. The aim of this research was to find out what kind of experiences and perceptions class teachers have about the importance and implications of becoming aware of, acknowledging, and developing character strengths. This research was also interested in what significances CSB pedagogy has among students with neuropsychiatric abnormalities according to class teachers, as well as classroom teachers’ perceptions of 5th–6th graders’ awareness of their own character strengths. One hypothesis was that classroom teachers perceive CSB pedagogy to be particularly important with ADHD students. Another hypothesis was that CSB pedagogy is used in Finnish primary schools with a very varying volume and in different ways. Methods. This research included both interview and questionnaire surveys. The analysis was carried out both qualitatively and quantitatively and by means of mixed methods. Interview material was six classroom teachers. Questionnaire was 106 respondents. Results and conclusions. Results support the use of CSB pedagogy in primary school. Perceived ease of using CSB pedagogy, the school's commitment to CSB pedagogy, and the perceived guidance to CSB pedagogy in national core curriculum for basic education have the biggest effect on the perceived importance of CSB pedagogy. One of the general views of the effects of CSB pedagogy was that it had beneficial effects on school-positivity and classroom atmosphere. The interview material much emphasized the preventive role of CSB pedagogy, especially among students with behavioral challenges or ADHD.

The purpose of this study was to find out the experiences of class teachers in their workload and about the change in that load, with a special interest on the effect of the national core curriculum that has entered into force in August 2016. According to prevous studies teachers are considered as highly autonomous professionals. The teacher has a great pedagogical authority, as the national core curriculum works as a framework of the work. The teacher's personal and learned abilities, such as professional theory, professional agency, and ability to learn and desire determine her/his working methods and attitudes to change when needed. In addition, in order to update education, the learning ability and openness of the work community have been proven to support the role of the teacher as well as ability to regenerate. The phenomenological study was implemented as theme interviews in November and December 2017. The interviewees were four experienced class teachers from primary school, with seven teaching groups 1-6 in the year 2017-18, in Southern Finland. I worked at the same school myself and I worked as a class teacher during the curriculum transition period. This explains the pragmatic approach of this study. The interviewed class teachers were very committed to their work and their students. Especially, they mentioned the increase in the external work in addition to the actual teaching lessons, the cooperation with the providers, which functions poorly, and the increase in the pupils' behavioral disturbances. They were very committed to their work. According to this study, the new curriculum did not have a major impact on the class teachers’ working habits, it was found to have increased the workload. The impact of the interviewees' personal use theory on the change process rose out. The interviewed class teachers were motivated to develop in their work and to reflect their working methods, but their individual activity in changing their teaching practices varied. Usually there was mentioned student behavior and learning challenges as a limiting factor. Particularly emphasized in addition to continuing education and cooperation within the work community, the importance of sufficient resources for enabling pupil-based learning.

Goals The aim of this study is to find ways in which a classroom teacher can support students with ADHD. The goals of the thesis are to examine how experienced teachers support ADHD students in school and in teaching. This research also aims to provide more information about ADHD and its support in school context. The interest of this the-sis’ topic arose from the need to find support strategies for common challenges in the field of education. The thesis primarily addresses the most common challenges of ADHD in the school context, as well as the strategies used by classroom teachers to address the challenges of ADHD students. In addition, the study focuses on classroom teachers’ knowledge of ADHD, ADHD diagnosis, and treatment. Methods The study is qualitative research in which research data was collected through thematic interviews. The interviews involved primary school classroom teachers from different classes, each of whom had at least 10 years of teaching experience and experience in teaching ADHD students. The research data was analyzed using a data-driven content analysis approach. The interviews were transcribed, and then the data was examined in relation to pre-vious theory. Results and conclusions The study revealed that that a classroom teacher can support ADHD students in many ways. In teaching, clear goals and structure, as well as multi-modal guidance, were crucial in supporting ADHD symptoms. It is particularly important fo ADHD students to know what is expected of them in class and what they need to do to achieve the goal. Multi-modal guidance, which is visual and verbal, asl well as step-by-step, helps maintain the atten-tion span of ADHD students. ADHD students understand instructions more ef-fectively when using step-by-step guidance. In addition, classroom teachers can support students with ADHD by differentiating tasks, providing immediate feedback, and making the teaching as engaging and active as possible. In ad-dition to work, classroom teachers can support student concentration by break-ing the teaching into shorter segments, allowing the attention of ADHD stu-dents to last longer. All of these strategies are aimed at ADHD students, but these strategies are often beneficial to the entire group.

Previous research has suggested that job demands and resources are related to teacher’s wellbeing. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to find out how inclusion in classrooms is connected to classroom teacher’s work-related wellbeing. In this thesis it is tried to find out what kind of demands inclusion brings to teachers and what kind of resources teachers have. In addition the aim is to find out which factors are especially weakening techer’s wellbeing and how they affect it and which factors support teacher wellbeing. This thesis was carried out as qualitative research. The qualitative data was obtained through half-structured interviews. There were four interviewees and all of them worked in inclusive classrooms as classroom teachers. The data was analysed with content analysis. The job demands of inclusion and the resources the teachers have were categorized as institutional, classroom and personal demands and resources. The demands factors that weakened the teachers wellbeing especially were the feeling of insufficiency combined with a too challengin job. This consisted of too many students with special needs and too few resources, especially not enough adults in the classroom. In addition behavioral problems and excessive workload by paperwork as well as more multiprofessional cooperation and parent-teacher meetings were such factors. Resources and factors supporting teacher wellbeing included especially good school climate, support from colleagues. administration and parents, teamwork and simply enough appropriate resources. In addition, smaller groupsize was considered as a resource. Teachers’ weakened wellbeing demonstrated as e.g. sleeping problems, tearfulness, being tense, disengagement and as feelings of despair and anxiety. Classroom teachers felt that they were less excited about their work and felt their work motivation decreasing when their wellbeing was compromised. In conclusion, inclusion in classrooms may weaken teacher wellbeing if the resources and demands do not match.