Browsing by Subject "katsomuskasvatus"

The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe and interpret the meaning and grounds of worldview education from the guardians perspective and their wishes regarding worldview education in early childhood education. Previous research has shown worldview education to be a tense content area within early childhood education. Studies have focused mostly on the professionals point of view. Whereas little attention has been given to the guardians perspective. The research questions were as follows: 1. What meanings do guardians give to worldview education in early childhood education? 2. What grounds do guardians present for worldview education in early childhood education? 3. What wishes do the guardians express towards early childhood worldview education? The data consisted of four thematic interviews and open-ended entries of the questionnaire. 11 guardians answered the questionnaire. The data was analyzed using theory-driven content analysis, and utilized methods based on discourse analysis. The results were mirrored with Balčin et al.'s (2021) model of the worldview dimension of worldview education. The data shows that guardians see multi-perspective worldview education as a way of promoting accepting differences and as a mediator of a model of a good person. The necessity of the content area was questioned as early childhood education resources are critical. The meanings were built from a secular and pluralistic dimension. The guardians' grounds for worldview education focused on a shared Finnish value base, the nurturing of cultural tradition and the rights of the child. The grounds were located in the secular and monovalent dimension. The guardians expressed a preference for religious sensitivity and valued a high level of competence in worldview education from the professionals, nonalignment of worldview education, uniform practices, caution on trips to other worldview communities and stronger description of worldview education and discussion about it. The wishes were focused on the secular dimension. The guardians had a positive attitude to multi-perspective worldview education, but the practices related to its implementation revealed tense questions and attitudes in which the interpretation of one's own background in worldview education was highlighted. This thesis reveals that discussion about world-view education between guardians and personnel in early childhood education is in major role promoting multi-valued society which allows different worldviews. Discussion requires personnels' competence of worldview reflection and sensitive attitude towards religion and worldviews. In the light of this thesis, these previous skills should be supported among personnel in early childhood education.

The specific purpose of this research is to study how kindergarten teachers conceptualize worldview education and its practice in early childhood education. The data is based on a survey conducted in spring 2017 (n = 143) in two districts in the Helsinki area. The questionnaire contained both interpretable many choice questions and interpreted open-ended questions. The kindergarten teachers' answers were analysed by means of factor analysis and content analysis. A factor analysis of the survey data identified three main aims of worldview education: 1. child-centered reflection and responding to the child's questions, 2. enabling children to become familiar with cultural traditions and content and 3. accepting the diversity of view in the goal of worldview education. Out of these three goals, the kindergarten teachers placed the most emphasis on child-centered reflection and responding to the child's questions and the least emphasis on familiarizing them with traditions and content. Out of the different content areas of religious education in early childhood education, the kindergarten teachers preferred cultural and seasonal events and festivals, examining worldviews in daily situations, such as dressing or meals and excursions to churches at Christmas time and during spring. The spiritual background of the kindergarten teacher had a significant impact on how important the kindergarten teachers considered the goals and different content areas of the worldview education. Nine dimensions were found from the assessments of the kindergarten teachers. The teachers focused on the following aspects, that are listed here in the order of their frequencies: 1. annual celebrations and events. 2. answering to children's questions, 3. dealing with ethical questions 4. examining worldviews present in the group of children 5. other aspects 6. stories and picture books related to worldviews 7. talking about death 8. visits by the parish workers 9. worldview education is not practically practiced. Based on the study, it can be concluded that the kindergarten teachers, for whom the spiritual things are not significant, would need particular support with worldview education. The National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education is a legally binding ordinance for the first time 1st of August 2017, so the observation of this study is particularly timely.

Tavoitteet. Lapsi kasvaa keskellä uskonnollista, katsomuksellista ja kulttuurista moninaisuutta. Usein erityisesti uskontoja lähestytään päiväkodeissa arjen haasteina ja rajoitteina toimintaan. (Hujala & Turja, 2020, luku 11.) Kulttuurinen moninaisuus, erilaiset uskonnot sekä katsomukset nähdään paitsi rikkautena monissa päiväkodeissa, nähdään ne myös rajoitteina (Haapsalo ym., 2017, s. 145). Tutkimuksellani haluan herättää varhaiskasvatuksen opettajat pohtimaan syitä, mitkä estävät tai vaikeuttavat katsomuskasvatuksen toteuttamista. Varsinkin juuri aloittava varhaiskasvatuksen opettaja voi olla epävarma siitä, miten eri katsomuksia lähestytään ja opetetaan lapsiryhmässä. Tämän vuoksi pyrin tuottamaan tietoa tavoista toteuttaa katsomuskasvatusta. Tutkimukseni tarkoituksena oli kerätä varhaiskasvatuksen opettajilta tietoa siitä, miten katsomuskasvatusta toteutettiin lapsiryhmissä. Tutkimukseni toinen tarkoitus oli kartoittaa syitä siihen, mitkä estivät tai vaikeuttivat katsomuskasvatuksen toteuttamista. Tutkimuskysymykset olivat: 1. Miten katsomuskasvatusta toteutetaan varhaiskasvatuksen arjessa? 2. Mitkä syyt estävät tai vaikeuttavat katsomuskasvatuksen toteuttamista? Menetelmät. Tutkimukseni aineiston muodostin haastattelemalla kymmentä varhaiskasvatuksen opettajaa Vantaalla toimivissa päiväkodeissa. Aineiston keruumenetelmänä käytin laadullista puolistrukturoitua haastattelua. Haastatteluista saamani aineiston analysoin laadullisen aineistolähtöisen sisällönanalyysin avulla. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Tutkimukseni mukaan merkittävin tapa toteuttaa katsomuskasvatusta oli keskustelu lasten kanssa. Toiseksi merkittävin tapa oli ryhmän katsomuksiin tutustuminen. Muita tapoja olivat muut kuin päiväkodin järjestämät tilaisuudet, valmiit materiaalit katsomuskasvatuksen toteuttamiseen, päiväkodin järjestämät tilaisuudet sekä vanhempien apu. Merkittävin syy, mikä esti tai vaikeutti katsomuskasvatuksen toteuttamista varhaiskasvatuksen arjessa tutkimukseni mukaan, olivat kasvattajista johtuvat syyt. Toiseksi merkittävin syy oli vanhemmista johtuvat syyt. Kolmas syy oli resursseihin liittyvät syyt.

Tavoitteet. Tutkimuksen tarkoitus oli kerätä varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien kokemuksia katsomusreflektion hyödyntämisestä katsomustietoisen pedagogiikan tukena ja katsomuskasvatuksen teemojen käsittelyssä. Tutkimuksen tarve nousi katsomusreflektion tutkimusten vähäisyydestä sekä kentällä nousseesta ilmiöstä, jossa katsomuskasvatuksen toteutus saatetaan kokea hankalaksi tai ongelmalliseksi. Tutkimuksessa ollaan kiinnostuneista keinoista, jotka tukevat katsomuskasvatuksen toteuttamista ja haetaan ajattelun malleja, jotka tukevat tätä toimintaa sekä varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien katsomusreflektiota. Teoreettisen viitekehyksen kulmakivinä toimivat erilaiset reflektiomallit, jotka olivat Korthagenin (2005) reflektio-sipuli, Biestan (2019) ja Schönin (1982) käytännön kasvatustilanteiden tilanteisuuden huomioiminen sekä Keränen-Pantsu, ym. (2023) esittelemät käytäntöreflektiivisyys ja identiteettireflektiivisyys. Menetelmät. Tutkimus toteutettiin puolistrukturoituna haastatteluna, jossa on viitteitä teorialähtöiseen teemahaastatteluun kahdelle pääkaupunkiseudulla toimivalle varhaiskasvatuksen opettajalle. Aineisto analysoitiin teoriasidonnaisen sisällönanalyysin keinoin. Analyysia ei siis selkeästi ohjannut teoreettiset lähtökohdat pääpainoisesti, vaan aineistosta etsittiin ennen kaikkea kytkentöjä teoriaan ja etsittiin esiin nousevia muita keskeisiä teemoja Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien kokemukset katsomusreflektion hyödyntämisestä olivat yhtä moninaiset kuin reflektiomallien soveltamismahdollisuudet. Opettajat kokivat merkityksellisiksi oman henkilöhistorian ja kasvatuksen kontekstin reflektoinnin. Katsomusreflektiosta puhuttaessa lapsilähtöisyys nousi suurimaksi tekijäksi, joka ohjaa varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien toimintaa ja ajattelua.

Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitin kotikasvatuksen roolia katsomusten välittymisessä sekä välittymiseen liittyvää säröilyä, joka on noussut teemana esille myös Kati Tervo-Niemelän tuoreissa tutkimusjulkaisuissa. Tarkastelun kohteena olivat teologian opiskelijat, ja aineisto on kerätty vuoden 2022 keväällä. Tutkimukseni keskiössä oli erityisesti selvittää, mikä merkitys lapsuudenkodin kasvatuksella on katsomuksen muodostumiseen. Aiemmat tutkimukset osoittavat kotikasvatuksella olevan suuri merkitys siinä, miten katsomus välittyy sukupolvelta toiselle. Tässä vanhempien ja lähisukulaisten merkitys on huomion arvoista. Laadullisen tutkielman aineisto on kerätty kirjallisen kyselylomakkeen muodossa osana kurssitehtävää. Aineiston analyysin toteutin teoriaohjaavalla sisällönanalyysillä. Tuloksista nousi esille seitsemän eri roolia, jotka määrittelevät kotikasvatusta suhteessa kasvatettavan katsomuksen muodostumista ja kehittymistä. Useat vastaajat kokivat kotikasvatuksella olleen paljon merkitystä heidän katsomuksensa muodostumiseen. Muutamat kokevat muut tekijät merkittävimmäksi. Lisäksi kotikasvatus herättää ristiriitaisia tunteita katsomuksen muodostumiseen liittyen. Se välittää arvoja sekä perinteitä, jotka jatkuivat joissain tapauksissa myöhempään aikuisuuteen saakka. Kotikasvatus vahvistaa niin uskonnotonta kuin uskonnollista katsomusta. Lisäksi tulokset nostavat esille kertomuksissa tapahtuvaa säröilyä ja liikkuvuutta eri katsomusten välillä. Uskonnoton kotikasvatus ei tarkoita aina uskonnotonta aikuisuutta eikä uskonnollinen kotikasvatus ole automaatio vakaumuksellisesta aikuisuudesta. Esille nousi myös muita katsomuksia, kuten poliittisia katsomuksia ja niihin liittyviä arvoja. Tutkimus osoitti kotikasvatuksella olevan selkeä rooli katsomuksen kehitykseen yhä nykypäivän aiempaa sekulaarimmassa yhteiskunnassa. Siinä missä aiemmin on keskitytty selvittämään erityisesti uskonnollisuuden välittymistä sukupolvelta toiselle, olisi jatkossa hyvä keskittyä tarkastelemaan myös ei-uskonnollisten katsomusten välittymistä kotikasvatuksessa.

In recent years, secular ethics education has increasingly risen to a prominent position in societal discourse because there has been a discussion about how to organize worldview education in Finland. The discussion has notably emphasized perspectives on equality and the needs arising from due the post secular changes in society. In this qualitative research, conducted for a master's thesis, I focus on the perspectives constructed about secular ethics as a school subject in discussions on social media platforms. The aim of this research is to provide more information and understanding about secular ethics education, examining it from the perspective of layman’s information, as an everyday knowledge. In general, laymen play a significant role in influencing to worldview education, as they engage in societal discussions, participate in political decision-making, and, as a parents, make decisions regarding their children's matters related to beliefs. In this study I investigate layman’s everyday information views based on social constructionism theory, which interprets social reality as being constructed through linguistic processes and interactions in society. The way reality is constructed is in significant role as shaping reality itself, in this context, secular ethics as a school subject. This is a relevant matter for the subject because, for instance, it is not mandatory for students without a religious affiliation to study it. Also, the subject may undergo changes in the future as part of the renewal of worldview education. I interpret the views constructed by anonymous online discussion participants in relation to the nature of the subject, the curriculum, regulations, research, and phenomenal changes in relation to religious, worldviews and society. The questions for the research are: 'How do anonymous online discussion participants construct views on secular ethics education?' and, as a sub-question, 'What are the prevailing interpretation strategies for constructing the views related to secular ethics as a subject?'. Research data is collected from six discussions debated between years 2016–2022 on online forum of www.vauva.fi. Topics were focused on secular ethics education and they comprised the amount of 275 comments. I analyzed my qualitive research data with an interpretative approach using discourse analysis to identify hegemonic and less hegemonic discourses in the comments of online discussion participants. I define hegemonic discourses as the most common ways of construct the views, and less hegemonic discourses as the rarer but present ways of assigning views on the subject. The analyze revealed that the most common ways to construct the view of the subject involved by making a positive affirmation of the secular ethics’ by constructing the view by comparing it dichotomous way how Evangelical Lutheran religions’ education is taught, by value choices and the best interest of the child, as well as a submitting critical examinations of the model of organizing worldview education in general. Less common ways emphasized the subject's being a ideology or the process of othering the student in the cause of studying secular ethics. I gathered the content of the most common views of the subject of secular ethics and it was based on the formatting a positive description by especially making a comparison to the subject of Evangelical Lutheran religion education, examining various dimensions of equality, emphasizing the subject’s modernity, demonstrating trust towards the subject, expressing the subject’s inadequacy in meeting changed needs of society, and need of making value choices caused by the Finnish school systems’ separative worldview education. Less common views included themes of expressing fear of othering the pupil due to studying the subject and constructing views that differed to way how secular ethics is based at curriculum and taught by emerging from it. Based on my research findings that are researched from the laymen’s everyday knowledge, secular ethics education can interpret as having a conflicting views regarding its sufficiency and adequacy as a part of Finnish worldview education. Furthermore, equality does not automatically prevail in this system which secular ethics takes a part even though it is the target of the activity’s arrangement. This observation provides additional insights for examining the Finnish worldview education within the current model of the separative worldview education and as a one sight of public opinion of the secular ethics as a school subject itself.

The purpose of this research is to find out how irreligiosity is presented in pedagogical material made for pre-primary education’s and early childhood education’s worldview education. Both National Core Curriculum for Pre-primary Education (2014) and National Core Curriculum for ECEC (2022) require that the personnel in Pre-primary education and ECEC discourse on irreligiosity as a part of worldview education. The aim of this thesis is to determine how irreligiosity is externalized as a worldview and how it is to be taught in pedagogical materials. The research questions are: 1. How irreligiosity is externalized in pedagogical materials for worldview education? 2. To what kind of teaching about irreligiosity do the pedagogical materials direct to? The research was conducted as qualitative research using theory-based content analysis. Irreligiosity is an extensive phenomenon and quite abstractive. Therefore, the selected methods were used to find a concrete way to define the irreligious nature of the materials. Michael Grimmitt's (2000) theory of learning about and learning from religious education and Ninian Smart's (1996) dimensions of religion were selected as theories guiding the content analysis as it was possible to describe irreligiosity and learning related to it through those theories. Learning materials that are openly available on the internet and that have dealt with the contents of irreligion in a way that meets the research criteria have been taken into consideration. The learning materials included for example posters, calendars, and theses. A total of nine learning materials meeting the criteria were collected. In the data irreligiosity was presented as a rule simplified. All the dimensions of irreligion were represented in the materials, most common of which were the dimensions of ritual or practical and experiential or emotional. The dimensions of doctrinal or philosophical, mythic or narrative as well as ethical or legal were left to less attention. The materials primarily led to learning about irreligiosity but there was also learning from irreligiosity in four materials in the form of tasks that lead to discussion. Three of the materials included both learning about and from irreligiosity. Only one of the materials relied solely on information from irreligious people.

The purpose of this research is to study (1) how early childhood educators co-operate with evangelic-lutheran parishes and other religious communities when organizing worldview education in kindergartens and (2) what kind of practices and new ideas do early childhood educators have concerning worldview education and (3) what kind of recommendations do early childhood educators have for in-service training of worldview education. This is a qualitative research. The data is based on a survey conducted in the winter of 2018 in selected social media discussion groups of early childhood educators. The questionnaire contained mainly open-ended questions. The answers (N=60) were analysed by using content analysis. As a result of the research, it was found that co-operation concerning worldview education is generally made only with evangelic-lutheran parish in most of the work communities of the survey participants. Co-operation was categorized into different categories: (1) minor co-operation, (2) more plentiful co-operation which maintains traditional practices and (3) dialogical and innovative co-operation. Those practices and ideas which included co-operation with religious communities were divided into five themes: general worldview education, religious events, support of wellbeing, mentoring and more general co-operation with none specific theme. Those practices and ideas which did not include co-operation were divided into six themes: general worldview education, festivals of the kindergarten community, moral education, organizing optional activities during religious events, dialogue with parents, and the lack of the practices. It was also found that recommendations for in-service training contents were divided into six themes: opening The National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education, clarifying the concepts of worldview education, giving information about different religions and non-religious worldviews, introducing methods for worldview education, and for the moral education, and developing sensitivity towards religions and other worldviews. Based on the study, it can be concluded that organizing in-service training to early childhood educators is very necessary and more discussion is currently needed about practices concerning worldview education, both in work communities, with parents and with co-operating religious communities.