Browsing by Subject "moninaisuus"

Esiopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteiden arvopohjaan kuuluvat osallisuuden, yhdenvertaisuuden ja moninaisuuden arvostaminen, jotka ovat osa inklusiivista esiopetusta. Aikaisemmat tutkimukset osoittavat, että osallisuus ei kuitenkaan vielä toteudu esiopetukselle asetettujen tavoitteiden edellyttämällä tavalla (Venäläinen, ym. 2020) ja että lasten kielelliset ja kulttuuriset taustat otetaan huomioon vaihtelevasti esiopetuksessa (Holappa ym. 2019 s. 14). Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena oli selvittää opettajien näkemyksiä kieli- ja kulttuuritaustoiltaan moninaisten lasten osallisuudesta ja osallisuuteen vaikuttavista tekijöistä. Tutkimuskysymykset olivat näin ollen seuraavat: Millaisia käsityksiä esiopettajilla on osallisuudesta ja mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat eri kieli- ja kulttuuriryhmiin kuuluvien lasten osallisuuden toteutumiseen? Tutkielman tavoitteena on edistää esiopetuksen kehittymistä inklusiiviseen ja moninaisuutta tukevaan suuntaan niin, että kaikkien lasten osallisuutta tuettaisiin nykyistä paremmin esiopetuksen arvoperustan mukaisesti. Tutkielman aineisto koostui kolmen esiopetuksessa työskentelevän opettajan haastattelusta. Haastattelut analysoitiin fenomenografisen tutkimusotteen mukaisesti, jossa tutkimuskysymyksittäin muodostettiin kuvauskategorioita. Tutkielma osoittaa, että opettajien vaikutusmahdollisuudet jokaisen lapsen osallisuuden mahdollistamisessa ja yhdenvertaisuuden toteuttamisessa ovat suuret. Opettajan interkulttuurinen kompetenssi (kts. Jokikokko, 2002; 2010) edistää kieli- ja kulttuuritaistoiltaan moninaisten lasten osallisuutta esiopetuksessa. Erityisen hyvin interkulttuurinen kompetenssi näkyi näiden opettajien kokonaisvaltaisessa suhtautumisessa lapsia ja omaa työtään kohtaan. Opettaja voi myös oppia tunnistamaan niitä tekijöitä, jotka voivat vaikuttaa osallisuuteen ja toimimaan niin, että jokainen lapsi saisi osallisuuden kautta positiivisen kokemuksen omasta toimijuudestaan. Joskus osallisuudeksi riittää pelkkä läsnäolo ja toisinaan se voi toteutua neuvotteluissa, jotka voivat vaatia lapselta laajoja neuvottelutaitoja.

The meaning for this research was to explain what kind of diverse characteristics there are in Supermarsu -books and how they are related to. In addition to this my goal was also to consider how it is possible to teach and raise children to diversity with Supermarsu -books. With this research I want to deepen the understanding of diversity for parents and teachers as well as widen their views of how to use children´s literature for respectful interaction. My research questions are: 1. What kind of diversity is there in the characters of Supermarsu –books? 2. How do people relate to diversity in the bookserie? The research was carried out as qualitative research and my method was theory-leading analysis of the content. With the help of Fokkeman´s code model the charateristics were divided in codes. Denotative codes are names and the third person of pronoun and connotative biological, logical, social, psychological methonomical and metaphor codes. Using model by Ewen I classified characters to round and flat or static and dynamic. Roud character has several characteristics and flat character has one characteristic or one dominative characteristic and few non- dominative. Static character doen´t develop during the story and dynamic develops. Helin´s "value fields of the mind" was also used to place characters to different areas such as value, accept, endure or not to endure area. My main theory was the book The Rhetoric of Character in Children´s Lirerature by Maria Nikolajeva. I used Paula Noronen´s 10 Supermarsu -books. In the results of the research you can see that in the bookseries there are plenty of different kind of characters, differing for example in ethnicity, sex, socio-economic position and personality. The main character, Emilia, is round and dynamic character and supporting characters mostly flat and static. The main attitude for diversity in understanding, but also bullying appears. Emilia has no prejudines and therefor offers a good role model for children to identify with.

Kandidaatintutkielmani tarkoituksena oli selkiyttää inkluusiota käsitteenä, avata inkluusion taustoja sekä roolia opetussuunnitelmissa. Näin inkluusioperiaatteen tärkeänä aiheena tutkia, sillä se on herättänyt paljon keskustelua ja aihe kiinnosti aiemman työkokemukseni kautta. Halusin kandidaatintutkielmassani tarkastella, mitä varhaiskasvatuksen osalta inkluusiosta on tutkittu viime vuosikymmenen aikana sekä minkälaisia haasteita aiemmat tutkimukset toivat esiin inkluusion toteutumisen kannalta. Tarkoituksenani ei ollut kuitenkaan tuomita inkluusioperiaatetta, vaan toin epäkohtia esiin, jotta inkluusiota voitaisiin kehittää. Koin inkluusion tunnelatautuneena ja kompleksisena, joka vaati moniulotteisena aiheena pohjatyötä ennen empiiristä jatkotutkimusta. Käytin laadullisessa kandidaatintutkielmassani menetelmänä teoreettista tarkastelua. Tarkoituksenani oli avata inkluusiota käsitteenä ja siihen liittyviä taustoja ensin laajemmasta kuvasta käsin ja siirryin teoreettisessa tarkastelussani kohti varhaiskasvatuksen näkökulmaa ja inkluusion toteutumiseen liittyviä haasteita. Käytin tutkimuksessani pääsääntöisesti kasvatustieteeseen ja erityispedagogiikkaan pohjautuvia lähteitä. Kansallinen tutkimus liittyen inkluusioon varhaiskasvatuksessa on vielä vähäistä ja tutkimuskentällä ilmeni aukkoja etenkin inkluusioperiaatteesta käytännön tason näkökulmasta. Inkluusion rooli opetussuunnitelmissa ja lainsäädännössä on kapea-alaista, joka vaikuttaa sen käytännön toteuttamiseen. Inkluusio herättää lisäksi käsitteenä epäselvyyttä ja resursseilla voidaan nähdä olevan vaikutusta siihen, miten inkluusio toteutuu.

The purpose of this study was to find out how diversity is presented in contemporary chil-dren’s picturebooks. The theoretical background of the study was based on feminist peda-gogy, gender studies and cultural studies. The aim of the study was to describe, analyze and interpret the discourses of diversity in children's picturebooks written in 2012–2021. The main interest was in the means of making diversity a part of everyday life’s representa-tion. The phenomena were examined intersectionally. Previous studies (see e.g., Pesonen 2015a, 2015b, 2017; Heikkilä-Halttunen 2013; Rastas 2013, Beezmohun 2013; Kokkola & Österlund 2014; Österlund 2008) have found that diversity is often presented in an exotic and ethnocentric way – through differences – but discourse is changing to describe diversity as a normal part of society. Representations of socially constructed categories such as citi-zenship, “race,” and gender are changing. The research material was produced by selecting picturebooks that presented diversity in some way as a principle. The purpose in studying discourses was to increase understand-ing of how hegemonic and dominant discourses were challenged in the selected picture-books. Poststructuralist feminist discourse analysis was used to analyze the material. Es-pecially power positions and agencies were examined. The study showed that in the ten children's picturebooks examined, diversity is mostly pre-sented as a normal, everyday and pervasive phenomenon. Three main discourses could be distinguished from the material, which were 1) children challenging the hegemonic norma-tive, 2) diversity as a normal part of society, and 3) requirement of equality: everyone has the right to be their own self. Modern children’s literature actively challenged dominant con-cepts of gender, “race,” ethnicity, language, age, and health status, but at the same time might have produced binary gender dichotomy. Nevertheless, all the books studied also created a new kind of diversity discourse and, in other words, actively reproduced concept of diversity.

The purpose of this study is to find out how Karelian language and culture are described in Finnish primary school textbooks. Karelian is one of the minority languages of Finland, used by approximately 30 000 people in Finland at different levels. More speakers of Karelian are found in Russia. Karelian language is different from the various dialects of Karelia. The research approach of the study is based on the methods of the European language diversity for all (ELDIA) research project, which has been used to study the status of Finno-Ugric minority languages in particular and the possibilities for language learning and revitalisation. Karelian language is highly endangered, although there has been some increase in revitalisation efforts in recent years. ELDIA's findings suggest that the availability of language products (e.g. textbooks), improves both the access of language speakers to their language and the status of the language in general. It was therefore decided to investigate how Karelian language and culture are presented in Finnish textbooks for basic education. Previous studies have shown that textbooks have a major impact on pupils' perceptions and attitudes. The research method used was discourse analysis with thematic analysis, which divided the references to Karelian language and culture found in textbooks into three different groups. The study included all primary school textbooks from three Finnish publishers (Sanoma Pro, Otava, Edukustannus) in the following subjects: Finnish language and literature, history, religion and environmental studies. The total number of books studied was 146 and they were in line with the 2014 basic education curriculum. Included were pupils' books, exercise books and teachers' guides. A total of 25 references to Karelian language and culture were found in the textbooks examined. These findings were divided into three different discourses according to the topic in which Karelian was mentioned. These three discourses are history, Kalevala and minority languages. There were 10 mentions related to history, 7 related to Kalevala and 8 related to minority languages. Most of the mentions were in the same textbooks. The mentions of the history theme were either related to the geographical area of Karelia, treaty of Nöteborg or the Karelian tribes. In connection with Kalevala, Elias Lönnrot was mentioned as having made collecting trips to Viena Karelia. Karelian poem singers were also mentioned. Mentions of minority languages were mostly part of a longer list of minority languages. All the findings were no more than two sentences long. Karelian language is therefore not described in a comprehensive way in this study. Based on ELDIA and other previous research presented, textbooks could play their part in improving the status of minority languages by telling more about them, giving a voice to speakers of the languages, and telling about minority languages and cultures on an equal footing with majority languages.

Tämän kandidaatintutkielman aiheena on moninaisten perheiden representaatio 2020–luvun kuvakirjallisuudessa. Tavoitteena on selvittää, millaisista jäsenistä perhe koostuu, miten perheeseen kuulumista ilmaistaan sekä miten moninaiset perheet on esitetty. Teoreettinen viitekehys koostuu perheen määrittelystä, representaation merkityksestä sekä lasten- ja kuvakirjallisuuden avaamisesta. Aiemmat tutkimukset ovat osoittaneet, että lastenkirjallisuudessa näkyvällä moninaisuudella on merkitystä lapsen samaistumisen kokemusten kannalta. Tutkielma toteutettiin laadullisena tutkimuksena teoriaohjaavaa sisällönanalyysia käyttäen. Teoriaohjaava sisällönanalyysi soveltui tähän tutkimukseen, sillä se mahdollisti aiempien tutkimusten hyödyntämisen analyysissä. Tutkimusaineistoksi valikoitui kuvakirja Sulon ja Elsin uudet naapurit (2021). Aineiston valinnassa huomioitiin sen saatavuus, tunnettavuus sekä ajankohtaisuus. Aineistoa analysoitiin multimodaalista näkökulmaa käyttäen. Tutkimustulosten mukaan aineistossa esiintyi yhdeksän perhetyyppiä: sateenkaariperhe, uusperhe, maahanmuuttajaperhe, adoptioperhe, vammaisen vanhemman perhe, biologinen ydinperhe, lapseton perhe sekä yksinhuoltajaperhe. Multimodaalinen analyysi osoitti, että tässä aineistossa moninaisuutta näkyi paljon niin verbaalisesti kuin visuaalisesti. Lisäksi kuvakirjassa esiintyi erilaisia perheeseen kuulumista ilmaisevia tekijöitä, jotka jaottelin neljään pääluokkaan: perhesanat, tunteiden ilmaisu, yhteinen toiminta sekä asuinpaikka. Tutkimuksessa todettiin myös, että perheiden representaatiot olivat osakseen yksipuolisia ja stereotypioita vahvistavia, joka tukee aiempien tutkimuksien tuloksia. Tämä tutkimus osoittaa, että 2020–luvun kuvakirjallisuudessa, ainakin tämän kirjan osalta, perhe nähdään moninaisena ja ainutlaatuisena. Tutkielman tulosten avulla voidaan tarjota varhaiskasvatuksen ammattilaisille tietoa monipuolisen representaation tärkeydestä ja perheiden moninaisuudesta.

The aim of this study was to find how teachers and student teachers perceive diversity in school, as well as how children relate to diversity according to the beliefs of their teachers. Diversity and multiculturality have been studied in Finland from the diversity education perspective, however, little has been explored about how children perceive these individual differences. Previous studies have indicated that teacher's personal knowledge, values and attitudes are essential when it comes to acknowledging diversity in schools. For this reason, it is important to examine how present and future teachers understand diversity. Participants of this research were three class teachers and three student teachers from the university of Helsinki, the data for this study was gathered with theme interviews. Data was analysed with qualitative content analysis, as well as dialogical analysis of multivoicedness. The results of this study indicated, that children actively acknowledge differences in individuals. Contradictions between children appeared mainly because intrinsic qualities of people were not understood and accepted. Especially gender appeared as clear categorizations for the children. Furthermore, how children reacted about diversity was influenced by multiple factors. The ability to understand the theme of diversity varied between teachers and student teachers. All in all diversity was seen as value- and attitude-centered, as well as constantly changing phenomenon. Also, teachers were seen as active agents in considering diversity in their work. Interacting with diverse people, as well as experiences about positioning to be the other were perceived to support the competences of teachers. Finally, due to the dialogical analysis, participants were perceived to be talking from the positions of experts, ethical agents and members of school communities. On the other hand teachers referred to the knowledge of other experts in education, to the ideology of homogenous Finns, as well as to the polarized conversation of the society.

Objectives. The aim of this Master's thesis is to find out kindergarten educators understanding of childhood sex and gender and its diversity. The focus of this study is to find out what kind of conceptions kindergarten educators have about sex and gender and how it forms. The goal is also to find if kindergarten educators produce gendered conceptions in their open answers and what kind of information they have considering sex, gender and its diversity. This study also develops ways of how educators can support children sexual identity. It also raises awareness of childhood sex and gender diversity, childhood sexuality, as well as addresses the childhood sex education. Previous studies show that early childhood education has gendered activities. Methods. Methodological studies were characterized by Grounded theory procedures and the phenomenographic research. Analysis was carried out inductively. Quantitative research results support the qualitative results. Research material consisted of a part of the Väestöliitto (Family Federation) commissioned survey in 2013 (see. Appendix 1). From this questionnaire two open questions were chosen. They are: question A (n = 271) "What do you think about that child's sex is encrypted from the child and the environment prior to school age? Do you have any experience of that?" and question B (n = 289) "Tell your experience with whether or not the children's can play, as well as the so-called own sex play and so-called opposite sex plays (for example, boys get to play pirates, as well as the princesses)." The responses were analyzed with Atlas.ti 7.0 (Qualitative Data analyzis) program. Results and conclusions. On the basis of kindergarten educator responses, Sex - Gender conceptions consisted of a total of three Core Categories. Conception of gender was not possible to find out from all of the answers. In the question A, there were three different conceptions of how Sex and Gender is formed: Core Category 1 Sex is a biological fact that determines gender identity "SBM" n = 87/147. Core Category 2 Sex is a biological fact, but gender is built socially, and is the child's own experience "SBIS" n = 56/147 and Core Category 3 Biological sex can be encrypted if the birth of the child's sex is unclear, when Sex and Gender are formed by child's own experience "SSPE" n = 4/147. In the question B, the gender conceptions of educators are Core Category 1 "SBM" n = 100/269 and Core Category 2 "SBIS" n = 169/269. Gender perceptions vary depending on the open question. The study suggests that educators need more information about gender diversity, childhood sexuality and sex education.

Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Gender sensitive education takes into account the role of gender in all aspects of institutional upbringing and it aspires to see individuals as one-of-a-kind. A gender sensitive kindergarten teacher is able to recognize patterns and schemas in their own way of thinking which reproduce gender roles and from there end up reproducing them in the kindergarten. Therefore the ability to reflect one’s work is crucial. Previous research shows that the field of early childhood education is full of binary norms and regulations in regards of gender. In the context of institutional early childhood education the offered gender roles (for example during play) are quite often terribly stereotypical and dualistic. This study aims to report and describe how kindergarten teachers regard gender sensitive education in the context of early childhood education, what kind of personal experiences they have of gender sensitivity in their line of work, their general thoughts and feelings about the whole spectrum of gender as well as equality and the challenges they have faced in respect of the whole issue. The nature is the study was qualitative and the matter was collected by semi-structured theme interviews. The three interviewed kindergarten teachers work for the city of Helsinki. The collected matter was analyzed by content analysis. All of the interviewed kindergarten teachers aimed to be equal and gender sensitive in their work. They thought that children should be able to express their gender in a diverse way and to be able to experiment with different kinds of gender roles through play. The interviewed kindergarten teachers saw equality as a base and a foundation for education and upbringing. As a challenge for the actualization of gender sensitive education they mentioned the lack of resources such as time, the hectic schedule of a kindergarten and general lack of understanding of the issue.

Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Aims. Diversity and interculturality have always been part of Finnish schools. There is diversity in every Finnish school and classroom in terms of gender, sosio-economic background, religion or values. Intercultural competence has however been increasingly brought up in conversations and curriculums since the increase of immigration in the 1990’s. Previous studies have demonstrated that it is important for teacher education to adapt to the challenges that arise with the changes in society. The fact that this is a topical subject, especially in the metropolitan area of Helsinki, was a key reason for choosing this as my research topic along with the experiences I gained from voluntary studies on diversity in education in the University of Helsinki. The aim of this research paper was to understand what are class teacher students’ thoughts on intercultural competence and how their studies support their competence in this field. Methods. I interviewed six masters’ students. In addition, 23 masters’ degree students and students in their first year responded to my survey. The material was gathered from two mandatory courses in the fall of 2020 and analysed in a qualitive theory-driven method. Results ja conclusion. The students turned out to be eager to develop their intercultural competence and considered this competence crucial in their future work as teachers for many different reasons. The competence was seen as something that cuts across every aspect of being a teacher and is needed especially when interacting with parents and when planning and executing teaching. First year students thought that they would need the competence in situations between pupils. All of the masters’ degree students felt that the role of intercultural competence in their studies had been minor. Students that had chosen voluntary studies in multicultural education named the voluntary studies and their own interests as the main reasons for the development of their intercultural competence. Based on this study it seems that it depends on the lecturer whether or not these topics are included in the contents of courses. It would be important to highlight intercultural competence and the societal role of teaching in class teacher education.