Browsing by Subject "varhaiskasvatus"

The purpose of this thesis was to study the assessment mentioned in Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education. Previous studies have shown that it can be seen transitions from comprehensive assessment to individual assessment and documentation of child's development and learning in Finnish early childhood education. The Core Curriculum is an administrative document that guides the local curriculum work. It is also a part of curriculum including pedagogical guidance. The aim of this thesis was to specify how the assessment in National Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education is defined and how the core curriculum will guide the assessment. The objective was also to study the changes to the references related to the assessment in core curriculum. The theoretical framework of this study is consisted of research and literature about the assessment in early childhood and pre-primary education and about core curriculum. This thesis was carried out as a qualitative research and the theoretical framework is a social constructionism. The research data and material consisted of Core Curricula for Pre-Primary Education 2000, 2010 and 2014 published on the website of Finnish National Board of Education. The data were analyzed using critical discourse analysis, but also based on an analytic orientation approach and text-oriented. On the grounds of the study results the amount of references related to the assessment has increased and become more exact in Core Curricula for Pre-Primary Education in 2000, 2010 and 2014. Though, only in Core Curriculum 2014 the assessment was defined as a concept. It could be seen the emphases of child's individual assessment. This is the result of practices concerning the support for growth and learning which are added to Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education in 2010 and specified in 2014. Based on the study results, these practices have brought individual support needs and early identification and intervention in pre-primary education. These include a thought about child's individual assessment which enables that the support needs can be identificated and can be influenced. Interpretations and classifications made on the basis of the assessment will enable to targeting support as accurately as possible. These involve also features that standardize children and childhood. The analysis indicates that the general principles in the core curriculum emphasize more child's assessment than assessment of pre-primary education operation but the situation is changing. The latest Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education 2014 emphasized in assessment increasingly the action of pre-primary education and learning environment. The assessment in pre-primary education, especially the assessment of operation seem to be associated with discourse of quality mentioned in previous studies. How the changes will be seen in practices of the pre-primary education i.e. how the guidance of core curriculum will affect in future, is the subject of future studies. This thesis will provide further information about the assessment in National Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education and it will form basis for further discussions.

The purpose of the study is to find out how guardians of children with autism spectrum experience the implementation of support in early childhood education. In the past few years, the diagnosis of autism spectrum has become more common in children of early childhood age, so the number of children diagnosed has increased in early childhood education. Children have been placed in different kindergarten groups, taking into account support needs, but the educating community with know-how may be absent from the groups. In this case, the child’s personally directed support also suffers. In the past, the views of early childhood educators on the rehabilitation of children with autism spectrum disorder in early childhood education have been studied more, but the guardians’ thoughts on the implementation of support and early childhood education are few. The aim of the study is to find out whether the child’s personal support needs have been taken into account in the group and whether the child receives enough support in the opinion of the guardians. The study was conducted through individual interviews by remotely interviewing guardians of children with autism spectrum in early childhood education. The research was carried out using qualitative methods and the research material was analyzed on the basis of data by means of content analysis. The theoretical background of the study is based on the forms and arrangements of support for early childhood education, research data on the autism spectrum, laws, regulations and policies related to the early childhood education of children with autism spectrum and early childhood education in general. The results of the study on the experiences of guardians of autism spectrum children about the support received by the child in early childhood education or pre-school education were expressed by the guardians'views on gaps in support, reinforcing factors in support and guardians' wishes for good and adequate support. The guardians felt that the input of certain employees, the close co-operation between the kindergarten educators and the family, and the consideration of individual support needs were positive things. The guardians felt that the lack of information, insufficient resources and a lack of knowledge about the children were negative things in support. In addition, the guardians described that not enough children's special means of communication were used. In particular, carers wanted more resources, stronger staff training and the necessary support services to support early childhood education.

Introduction In addition to families and home environments, preschools can shape children’s eating habits. Children’s fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption remains below recommendations. Nutrition interventions should be aimed at young children when eating habits develop and be implemented in influential settings, like preschools. The preferred method to study and measure consumption is by weighing foods. However, weighing is hardly used in preschool-settings especially in group-level research. Aims The aim was to examine the effect of the DAGIS intervention on the consumption of FV in preschool meals. The secondary aim was to determine whether the results differed from the impact of DAGIS intervention on the FV consumption at group level when the amount of plate waste was considered. Materials and methods The DAGIS intervention was a randomized controlled trial (2017–2018) aiming to promote lifestyle and self-regulation skills affecting the energy-balance of Finnish 3–6-year-old. The 23-week intervention included 32 preschools. Vegetable consumption was measured at group level for three days in preschool before and after the intervention by weighing vegetables served, serving waste and plate waste. Data analyses were performed using Chi-square test, t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test and linear regression. Results In the follow-up, the median consumption of fresh FV, salad mixes, warm vegetables as a side dish and canned FV (25th; 75th quartile) per child was 81.3 g (55.2; 120.6) in the control group and 72.1 g (65.7; 119.3) in the intervention group. The total consumption of FV per child in the intervention group was not higher than in the control group after intervention. The inclusion of plate waste did not change the results adjusted by municipality. Conclusions There was no increase in FV consumption in the intervention group after intervention compared to the control group. Apart from highlighting FV consumption, future group-level interventions should be targeted at serving of vegetables. They should also critically consider the necessity of collecting plate-waste, especially if it increases research cost and burden.

Tavoitteet. Tämän kandidaatin tutkielman tavoitteena oli konkretisoida Uudet lukutaidot -kehittämisohjelman laatimia varhaiskasvatuksen digiosaamisen kuvauksia pedagogisten toiminnan kuvausten avulla. Tutkimuskysymykseni oli, mitä osaamisen kuvaukset varhaiskasvatusikäisten lasten luovan tuottamisen osalta tarkoittavat pedagogisen toiminnan tasolla? Aiemmat tutkimukset osoittavat, että laitteiden käyttö esimerkiksi perheissä keskittyy pääasiassa kuluttamiseen. Lapset tulisikin varhaiskasvatuksessa nähdä kuluttamisen sijaan myös tuottajina. Tutkimuskysymyksen lisäksi tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selkeyttää monilukutaitoon ja digiosaamisen kuvauksiin liittyvää moninaista ja vaikeatulkintaista käsitteistöä. Menetelmät. Tutkimus oli laadullinen tutkimus, jossa tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin sisällönanalyysia. Aineistona tässä tutkimuksessa toimi helmikuussa 2021 julkaistut digiosaamisen kuvaukset sekä tutkimusperustaiset ja ei-kaupallisten tahojen tuottamat pedagogiset toiminnan kuvaukset. Sisällönanalyysissä hyödynnettiin myös dialogista tematisointia, Analyysi nosti esiin tutkimuskysymyksen kannalta olennaiset digiosaamisen kuvaukset sekä niihin sopivat pedagogisen toiminnan kuvaukset huomioiden tutkimukseni tavoitteet. Tulososio rakentuu aineistojen vuoropuhelussa. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Luova tuottaminen mahdollistuu, kun sisältöjä tehdään lasten omista lähtökohdista, itse valituista aiheista ja heidän valitsemillaan tavoilla. Mediaympäristön moninaisuus ja erilaiset luovan tuottamisen menetelmät mahdollistavat monenlaisen toiminnan medialukutaidon, tieto- ja viestintäteknologisen osaamisen sekä ohjelmointiosaamisen parissa. Valmiita ja monipuolisia pedagogisen toiminnan kuvauksia on saatavilla valtava määrä. Vaikka kaikki digiosaamisen kuvaukset eivät itsessään sisällä luovaan tuottamiseen liittyvää toimintaa, voi siihen liittyviä menetelmiä silti soveltaa ja hyödyntää niiden toteuttamisessa.

Growth folder is a tool based on the definition of portfolio, that has been used in the early childhood education since the 90’s. With the development of digital technologies, a digital option has developed alongside the paper-based growth folder, and digitality is thought in many ways to enhance its capabilities. Being a tool that is based on documenting and on processing those documents, digital growth folder in early childhood education shares common ground especially with the pedagogical documentation, but in literature there are also many other possibilities attached to it. The aim of this study was to find out what different perceptions early childhood education teachers have about the digital growth folder as well as the actual working with it. The meaning of this study is to find out, what kind of possibilities early education teachers themselves think are included in digital growth folder. The collection of research material and analysis was in this study guided by the qualitative phenomenographic framework, which states that there is just one common reality, whose phenomena each individual experiences and comprehends in individual ways. The research material was collected by interviewing six early childhood education teachers, each with at least two years of experience in using the digital growth folder in their work. The material driven analysis proceeded through the identification of meaning units and their categorization to finally form two description category systems. Based on the perceptions of early childhood education teachers interviewed, a digital growth folder is a tool or means with different uses and purposes. The purpose was influenced by early childhood education staff, the child, and the child’s family. Digitality appeared as a factor that seemed to have both negative and positive effects on the digital growth folder. Based on teachers’ perceptions, working with the growth folder appeared as a process, that contained documenting but also processing those documents. The working with the growth folder was affected on the one hand by the resources related to digital devices and time, on the other hand the organizing the work.

Tavoitteet. Tutkimukseni tavoitteena oli selvittää, kuinka digitalisaatio ymmärretään varhais kasvatuksen kontekstissa ja onko käsite yksiselitteinen. Digitalisaatio on digitaalisten laittei den käyttöä ja hyödyntämistä. Varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteissa annetaan tavoitteita digitaalisten laitteiden käytölle ja lapsia pyritään innostamaan toimimaan digitaalisissa ympä ristöissä. Jotta tavoitteisiin päästään on termien oltava selkeitä ja ymmärrettäviä. Viitekehys tutkimukseeni ja sen tarkasteluun tuli Varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteista (2018), sekä digitalisaation määritelmästä. Tutkimuskysymyksiäni olivat, missä yhteydessä digitaalisuus mainitaan varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteissa, sekä miten digitalisaatio sanana ymmär retään valitun kirjallisuuden perusteella. Menetelmät. Tutkimusmenetelmäksi valitsin analyyttisen diskurssianalyysin ja tutkittavaksi termiksi digitalisaatio-sanan. Diskurssianalyysissä lähtökohtana on kieli ja sen eri tulkinnat. Tämä menetelmä tuki omaa tutkimustani, sillä pureuduin digitalisaatio sanan merkitykseen ja sen erilaisiin tulkintoihin lähdeaineiston pohjalta. Keräsin aineistoa poikkitieteellisesti niin tekniikan, talouden, kuin kasvatustieteen alalta. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Tutkimukseni johtopäätöksenä on, että digitalisaatio ei ole yksise litteinen termi. Tutkimukseni perusteella digitaalisuutta käsitellään varhaiskasvatussuunnitel man perusteissa vain monilukutaidoista sekä tieto- ja viestintätaidoista puhuttaessa. Tällöin digitalisaatio kytkeytyy vain kommunikointiin ja viestintään. Digitaalitekniikkaa voidaan käyttää ja käytetään varhaiskasvatuksessa laajemmin. Tämän vuoksi teknologiakasvatus voisi tarjota paremman alustan digitalisaation opetuksen ja käsittelyyn varhaiskasvatuksen konteks tissa.

Climate change is a fundamental phenomenon and challenge of our time and it should be dealt with in all areas of life. However, climate change education is being implemented very limitedly. During recent years there has been increasing amount of research on climate change education, but climate change education in early childhood education has been studied very sparingly. According to previous research, news about climate change can arouse many kinds of emotions and thoughts in children. Based on research, it has been proposed that through art-driven teaching methods it is possible to deal with emotions and thoughts aroused by climate change and strengthen hopefulness and belief in one’s own influence. Of the forms of art education, drama education as a method of climate change education has hardly been studied. The aim of this study was to add knowledge of what climate change education could be in early childhood education. The study investigates early childhood education specialists’ definitions of climate change education and their views on what possibilities drama education methods can offer for implementation of climate change education. I designed and implemented climate drama workshops for early childhood education specialists and collected the research data in the context of the workshops. Participants of the study produced short writings and in addition two of the workshops were videotaped. I analyzed the writing data and the video data qualitatively using the method of theory-based content analysis. Aa a basis for the analysis I used primarily the holistic bicycle model on climate change education (Tolppanen ym. 2017). The early childhood education specialists who participated in the study defined adding knowledge and understanding, encouraging to action, developing values and conceptions of the world and dealing with emotions as contents of climate change education. Specialists’ uncertainty and worries about arousing difficult emotions in children appeared as barriers for implementing climate change education in early childhood education. From the perspective of the study subjects, drama education methods seemed to have possibilities for implementing several parts of climate change education. Drama educations possibilities related to adding knowledge, developing thinking skills, building conceptions of the world, empowering and dealing with emotions were brought up. Methods of drama education offer practical ways for implementing and developing climate change education in early childhood education.

Previous research has shown that there is deficiency in the quality of early childhood education of children under the age of three. The purpose of this study is to describe with discourse analysis what kind of meanings teachers give to successful pedagogy in their narratives. In addition to discourse analysis, I reason the meanings given to successful pedagogy with National Evaluation Center’s (Karvi) process factors of quality (Vlasov ym., 2018). The main question of this study is how teachers working with children under the age of three speak about successful pedagogy. The material of the study was collected with a questionnaire that was shared in two early childhood education related Facebook groups. The material consisted of 32 narratives where teachers that work with children under the age of three talk about a pedagogically successful day. The material was analyzed with discourse analysis. The analysis and interpretation were strongly based on social constructionism that emphasizes the material as the object of the study. Four larger interpretative repertoires were found from the narratives of the teachers. These repertoires were: Adult meets child, Learning is holistic, Everyone knows what they are doing and The repertoire of insufficiency. These interpretative repertoires represented the most crucial meanings given to successful pedagogy. The repertoires performed in the narratives partly overlapped and parallel. The teachers of early childhood education emphasized sensitive and individualized encounter and interaction that takes a child's interests into account. Learning was seen holistic, and it was typically placed in situations of basic care and small group action. In the aspect of Karvi’s process factors of quality there is still need for improvement in the quality of early childhood education of children under the age of three. The lack of goal-directed pedagogy and support of peer interaction in the narratives arouses a question whether the concept of participation is understood inadequately.

Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, mitä pienten lasten tunnekasvatus on varhaiskasvatuksessa sekä, miten tunnekasvatusta toteutetaan varhaiskasvatusympäristössä. Tavoitteena oli kyselylomakkeen avulla kerätä varhaiskasvattajien omia näkemyksiä tunnekasvatuksesta ja sen toteuttamisesta pienten alle kolmevuotiaiden lasten kanssa. Teoriaosuudessa perehdyin tarkemmin pienen lapsen kasvuun ja kehitykseen sekä lasten tunnetaitoihin ja niiden vahvistamiseen varhaiskasvatuksessa. Tutkielma toteutettiin laadullisena eli kvalitatiivisena tutkimuksena. Aineiston hankintaan käytettiin apuna verkkokyselylomaketta, joka luotiin Helsingin Yliopiston e-lomake palvelun avulla. Kysely julkaistiin joulukuun 2019 alussa Facebookin kahdessa eri varhaiskasvattajille suunnatussa ryhmässä. Verkkokyselylomake sisälsi taustatiedot sekä viisi kysymystä. Kaikki kysymykset esitettiin avoimina kysymyksinä. Kyselyyn vastasi 20 varhaiskasvatuksen am-mattilaista. Saatu aineisto analysoitiin käyttäen sisällönanalyysia. Tuloksissa ilmeni neljä selkeää pääteemaa, jotka olivat tunteiden tunnistaminen ja nimeäminen, aikuisen tuki tunnetilanteissa, tunnekasvatuksen arkipäiväisyys sekä lasten sosioemotionaaliset- ja vuorovaikutustaidot. Tuloksien mukaan tunnekasvatus voitiin tulkita tunteiden tunnistamiseksi ja nimeämiseksi, ja sitä toteutettiin arjessa spontaanisti tai suunnitellusti. Pienten lasten tunnekasvatuksessa korostui aikuisen tuki ja läsnäolo. Yllättävää oli, että tun-nekasvatuksessa kiinnitettiin enemmän huomiota negatiivisiin kuin positiivisiin tunteisiin.

Compassion has been a recent interest in research field when trying to solve the challenges Western work culture of efficiency such as burnout. Research shows that compassion in work community increases well-being at work, innovativeness and meaningfulness for work. That’s also why it’s seen to be a great asset in organizations. Working from stagnant to functional, proactive compassion culture may be difficult without the knowledge of the factors that effects compassion at work. Aim of this study is to represent some of those factors from early childhood education and care (ECEC) actors’ point of view. In this study, I examine the different meanings associated with compassion, its enabling and inhibitory factors in work community and self-compassion. This study was conducted by analyzing interviews with selected participants so the sample does not represent the generalized view of ECEC actors on compassion. By ECEC actors I mean ECEC nurses and teachers, heads of ECEC units and regional managers. The data consists of twelve thematical interviews which were analyzed utilizing data and theory based content analysis. The results show that participants saw compassion as an important aspect in their work. Compassion is enabled through structures and leading compassion, compassionate leadership, interaction and encounters, work communality and outlining empathy and compassion. Inhibitory factors were large unit size and individual qualities. Answers to self-compassion had three different aspects which were self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness that were in line with previous research (Neff, 2003a).