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There are multiple ways of defining giftedness. Many researchers have offered their own theories and models to answer the question ”what giftedness is?” Beside the large number of explicit theories made by experts we all have our own implicit theories of giftedness. The aim of this study was to examinate Finnish teacher students’ conceptions of giftedness and to compare their conceptions to Finnish elementary school teachers’ conceptions which was studied recently by Laine, Kuusisto and Tirri (2016). The importance of researching the future class teachers’ conceptions of giftedness lies in the important role of teacher in relation to their students. In school settings teachers are the ones who are supposed to identify giftedness and to decide which kind of support they offer to their students. Teachers’ own conceptions of giftedness can affect whether student is considered gifted or not. There has been a lot of previous studies about students’ conceptions of giftedness, but in Finland the research about teachers’ and especially teacher students’ conceptions of giftedness is limited. A qualitative approach was used with deductive content analyses to answer the research questions. CoPErNicus-project gave me a previously collected data which contained teacher students’ open-ended definitions of giftedness. The data was collected in 2016 in University of Helsinki from first year teacher students (n=80). The background theory in my analyses was a classification made by Laine et al. (2016) in their research of teachers’ conceptions of giftedness. Based on their classification I analyzed, coded and quantified the data. The study found that teacher students defined giftedness via two main categories: giftedness as a phenomenon and characteristics of the gifted person. Giftedness as a phenomenon was mostly described as multidimensional, meaning that giftedness can occur in many different areas. Giftedness was also described as difference from others. The developmental nature of giftedness was often described as fixed quality, but most of the students described both fixed and malleable aspects of giftedness at the same time. Cognitive features were the most referenced category of characteristics of the gifted person main category. Students’ conceptions of giftedness were similar in many ways comparing to teachers’ conceptions. The biggest surprise in the results was how only few students defined giftedness through creative features. More knowledge about teachers’ and teacher students’ conceptions of giftedness is needed. In-depth and mixed-methods research designs could help deepen the understanding about conceptions of giftedness and how students see the developmental nature of giftedness.

The aim of this study is to investigate pre-service teachers’ math anxiety and to identify the characteristics of math anxiety. This study investigates as well the influence of math anxiety to formation of pre-service teachers’ mathematical identity and how math anxiety can be reduced during the teacher education. Studies have shown that math anxiety and negative attitude towards mathematics have become more common among of pre-service teachers. Earlier studies support the view how important it is to strengthen the mathematical identity of pre-service teachers and reduce their math anxiety, so that they would not transmit the negative attitude towards mathematics later on their pupils. This study is based on a literature review. Answers for the research questions were diversely search from literature, scientific articles and from central papers of the field. The aim of this study was to create an inclusive view of the field. On the basis of the results of this study, it can be concluded that early negative school experiences and false beliefs about learning and teaching mathematics influenced pre-service teachers’ math anxiety. Math anxiety was found to reduce pre-service teachers’ sense of capability as a mathematics teacher and influenced their teaching methods. The results show that strengthening of mathematical identity increased pre-service teachers’ self-confidence on their own abilities, affirmed positive attitude towards mathematics and reduced math anxiety. This study indicates that significance of teacher education is emphasized in formation of mathematical identity as the mathematics courses during the education are often the first point for the students to reflect more closely their own mathematical identity.

Tavoitteet. Tässä tutkimuksessa haluan selvittää, millaisena luokanopettajien toteuttama seksuaalikasvatus näyttäytyy nykypäivänä. Selvitän luokanopettajien kokemia haasteita sekä sitä, miten luokanopettajat käytännössä toteuttavat seksuaalikasvatusta. Seksuaalikasvatuksen tarkoituksena on opettaa lapsille ja nuorille niitä tietoja ja taitoja, joiden pohjalta hän pystyy tekemään itselleen parhaita mahdollisia valintoja seksuaalisuuteen liittyen. Seksuaalikasvatus pitää sisällään myös sukupuolikasvatuksen. Sukupuoli ja seksuaalisuus ovat tärkeä osa jokaisen ihmisen identiteettiä. Menetelmät. Käytin tutkielman menetelmänä kirjallisuuskatsausta. Toteutin kuvailevan kirjallisuuskatsauksen menetelmää. Aineistoksi kokosin 11 teosta, joista 2 vertaisarvioituja artikkeleita, 7 pro gradu -tutkielmaa ja 2 muuta tutkimusta. Aineistot on julkaistu vuosina 2013– 2022. Analysoin aineistoa sisällönanalyysin menetelmällä. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Suurin syy luokanopettajien kokemiin haasteisiin seksuaalikasvatuksen saralla näytti olevan siihen liittyvän koulutuksen vähäinen määrä ja sen puutteellisuus. Luokanopettajat vaikuttivat kuitenkin yleisesti olevan sitä mieltä, että seksuaalikasvatus on oleellinen osa koulun kasvatustyötä. Toimiva seksuaalikasvatus vaatii avoimen ja luottamuksellisen ilmapiirin oppimisympäristössä. Seksuaalikasvatus aiheena vaatii vielä paljon lisätutkimusta, erityisesti liittyen siihen, miten opettajia jatkossa koulutettaisiin aiheesta.

According to the national core curriculum for basic education teachers should not take pupils person, temperament or other personal features into account in school assessment. However, previous studies have shown that pupils temperament effects on the marks given by the teacher. Since the school experience affect the development of the pupils and the school achievement has a far-reaching consequence in their lives, it is important to research and develop the feedback that pupils get from the school. The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers experience temperament and take it into account in a daily basis when it comes to teaching and assessing the pupils and how essential thing they think it is that teachers are aware of temperament in their work as teachers. Two class teachers from Helsinki were interviewed for this study. The interview was semi-structured interview and before it the teachers red a fictional frame story. Data based content analysis was made to the collected data and points of view that were recognized repeatedly in the data were then thematized. There were three themes that rised from the interviews: thoughts about temperament, temperament affecting on teaching and temperament affecting on student assessment. Class teachers’ thoughts about temperament were mainly in line with the earlier research. Teachers thought that temperament effects on the school lessons and student assessment. There were also some remarkable differences in their thoughts and feelings about how the temperament should be taken into account during the classes and pupil assessment. Research results support the idea that the way temperament effects on pupils’ studies and the assessment the teachers do is a complex process. On the other hand, teachers thought that it is important that a class teacher is aware of temperament and on the other hand they thought that it is only a one background among others. Results provoke thoughts about how appropriate the current assessment practice, where the student learning process and lesson activity have a big role, actually is. Some significant differences in the teachers’ thoughts about pupil assessment also refer that there is demand for some kind of guidance of how the pupil assessment should be executed.

Goals. The theoretical framework for this research is the model of intercultural competence. Attitudes are one of its four dimensions. In this research, intercultural competence refers to those transferable skills that the teacher needs in functioning cooperation with immigrant backgrounded parents. This research aims to find out what attitudes and transferable skills class teachers have to encounter immigrant backgrounded parents. Methods. The research was done by using the qualitative study in questionnaire research. The questionnaire contained open questions that were answered by six class teachers. The answers were gathered by electronic questionnaire form from one primary school from Southern Finland and from few class teachers who were chosen by sporadic sampling. The material was analysed using material-led content analysis by categorizing it to two themes: class teacher’s attitudes to encounter immigrant backgrounded parents and class teacher’s transferable skills to encounter immigrant backgrounded parents. Results and conclusions. The research found out that some teachers felt that the lack of Finnish skills among immigrant backgrounded parents was a challenge for functioning cooperation. However, by most part, the class teacher’s attitudes were shown to be mostly positive towards encountering parents with immigrant background. Many teacher felt the cooperation with immigrant backgrounded parents the same as with other parents. The importance of teachers’ open attitudes was highlighted especially then when there were differences in parties’ cultural views. Teachers diversely aimed to create conditions for the functioning and reciprocal cooperation with immigrant backgrounded parents.

Inklusiivisessa opetuksessa ajatuksena on, että kaikilla oppilailla olisi mahdollisuus opiskella lähikoulussaan, jolloin tukitoimet tukea tarvitseville oppilaille tulee järjestää heidän tarvitsemallaan tavalla opetuksen yhteyteen. Moninaiset opetusryhmät haastavat luokanopettajia opetustyössä, sillä heillä ei yleensä ole kovin laajaa erityispedagogista osaamista, eivätkä esimerkiksi resurssit tuen toteuttamiseen ole riittäviä kaikissa kouluissa. Inklusiivisen opetuksen onnistunut toteutus vaatiikin edelleen kehittämistä käytännön tasolla, jotta oppilaiden lisäksi pystytään tukemaan myös opettajia. Tavoitteet. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli kuvailla luokanopettajien kokemuksia inklusiivisesta opetuksesta internetartikkeleiden pohjalta. Tarkoituksena on selvittää, millaisia kokemuksia luokanopettajilla on inkluusion toteuttamisesta sekä, miten luokanopettajat ovat kokeneet työnsä muuttuneen inkluusion myötä. Menetelmät. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin Ylen sekä Helsingin Sanomien internetsivuilla vuosina 2017–2019 julkaistuista artikkeleista, joiden aiheena oli inklusiivinen opetus. Artikkeleita oli kuusi ja tutkittavia luokanopettajia yhteensä 20, joista osaa oli haastateltu ja osa oli vastannut toimittajien tekemiin kyselyihin. Tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena, ja aineiston analyysimenetelmänä käytettiin teoriaohjaavaa sisällönanalyysia. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Tutkimuksen tuloksiin perustuen osalla luokanopettajista oli onnistuneita kokemuksia inkluusion toteuttamisesta heidän pystyessään tukemaan oppilaita joustavin järjestelyin. Joillakin opettajilla käytännön ongelmiksi muodostuivat oppilaiden haasteet sekä riittämättömät resurssit, jolloin tarvittavia tukitoimia ei pystytty järjestämään kaikille oppilaille. Opetustyön muutoksista myönteisenä pidettiin toimivaa yhteistyötä opettajien välillä, sekä strukturoitua työskentelyä. Työssä jaksamisessa koettiin kuitenkin vaikeuksia kuormittavuuden vuoksi, sillä opetustyö oli muuttunut vaativammaksi ryhmien moninaisuuden myötä. Kun olosuhteet ja rakenteet ovat kunnossa, opettajilla on mahdollisuus opettaa, kasvattaa ja tukea oppilaita heidän tarvitsemallaan tavalla.

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.

The purpose of my Bachelor’s Thesis is to examine the views that Finnish class teachers hold about the professional status of their occupation in the postmodern society. I also aim to survey their sentiments concerning the professional position of their field in the course of time, i.e., in the historical and future perspective. The alternative approaches to the concept of profession form the theoretical basis of this Bachelor’s Thesis, along with an analysis of the circumstances surrounding the professionalization of the Finnish class teacher’s occupation. The research for this thesis was qualitative in nature and methodologically phenomenological hermeneutical. A partially-structured themed interview was the more specific method. Three class teachers were interviewed for the purposes of the research. Discursive analytical strate-gies were applied to examine and analyse the interview-derived information, alongside more established qualitative content analysis. The study shows that Finnish class teachers regard all so-called descriptive characteristics of a typical profession as being part of their professional identity, yet they do not perceive their occupation as a fully developed profession. The interviewed teachers consider their expertise as more fragmented and as being under constant change as opposed to the Finnish class teacher of before. Researchers find these facts, beside the controlling position of the state, as main elements in the deprofessionalization of teachers in the Nordic countries. The conclu-sion of my research finds that Finnish class teachers identify with the concept of a semipro-fession, rather than perceive themselves as a full-scale profession. In further study it might be of interest to investigate the potentially different perceptions of one’s own professionality in teachers with alternative educational backgrounds. Subject teachers, for instance, could provide interesting perceptions considering teacher’s profession-ality as compared to class teachers, given the respective emphases of their teacher education programmes.

Aims. This Bachelor of Education thesis investigates the learning materials class teachers use in their daily work. The aim is to understand what kind of professionally-made learning materials are being used in the Finnish ground school environment as well as to find out, if are there any school subject related differences in which materials are being utilised in teaching. The research question is: What is the prevalence of use of professionally-made learning materials in Finnish ground schools? The main research question is further divided into six sub-questions, which aim to identify the extent of the prevalence of use of textbooks with supplementary learning materials, digital learning materials as well as other learning materials in teaching different school subjects. It is also of interest to find out whether there are any differences within school subjects in what kind of learning materials are being utilised. Currently there are very limited previous research into the prevalence of learning materials being used in the Finnish ground school environment. Methods. This research is based on the research data of the Lukuklaani -research project. The aim of the project is to promote leisure reading of primary school students as well as to develop school libraries. In the research project an online survey was developed and used to survey the current state of literacy education in Finnish ground schools. The survey was answered in November-December 2017. Data were gathered from 885 different schools. There were in total of 58 questions in the survey, including both closed- and open-ended questions. The current research is based on the closed-ended question of which considered the learning materials used in different school subjects. The question was: “In the following school subjects, the learning material being used is:”. The answer options were: 1. Printed textbook with supplementary material, 2. Digital ready-made learning material, 3. Other material, 4. I do not teach the topical subject. The teachers were asked to report the used learning material by school subjects. All in all, 701 teacher responses were gathered from this section of the survey. The answers to this part of the questionnaire formed the research data of the present research and were analysed quantitatively. Results and conclusions. The printed textbook with supplementary material is still the most significant material used by teachers in their daily work. In teaching many school subjects, the printed textbooks with their supplementary materials are reported as the only learning material being used. About half of the teachers reported using digital learning material in their teaching. The results suggest, however, that digital learning materials still have a role as supplementing textbooks rather than being used independently. Utilising textbooks and digital learning material was most frequent in the subjects of mathematics and Finnish language and literature. The study concludes that professionally-made learning materials, especially the printed textbook, are in touch with many teachers’ daily work. Nevertheless, how and how often the textbook is used in the classroom cannot be deducted from this data and is a task for future research. According to the present study it is clear however, that the role of textbooks as an institutional influencer should not be dismissed.

Objective. The topic of this study is classification in psychology and the aim is to introduce, why classification is important in psychology, what classification is used for in psychology and how classification is done in psychology. In addition the study introduces attributes and assumptions of the most common statistical methods used in psychology. The aim was to create a coherent totality, which can be used when either choosing a method for study or evaluating methods of previous studies. The study also describes common challenges regarding classification and ways to evaluate classification solutions. The statistical methods focus on unsupervised learning methods, which are used when the structure and number of classes are unknown. Hierarchical, centroid-based and distribution based clustering are introduced alongside with latent class analysis. For supervised learning methods, neural networks, Bayesian methods and decision trees are considered. Methods. Since this study is based on statistics, most of the literature used is considering statistical methods. In addition, studies of psychology which use methods relevant for this study are used as reference. Results. Classification in psychology is important in measuring, communicating about and understanding phenomena. It has made diagnostics, recognizing risk groups and specifying attributes and features possible. Classification has also challenges. Psychological phenomena can be heterogenetic, unstable and used parameters do not necessarily measure intended phenomenon. Classification methods are numerous and every method has its own attributes, weaknesses and strengths. And every solution is only a data dependent model. Statistical methods are in totality useful tools in psychological studies and literature. Understanding of these statistical methods enables producing accurate models and also evaluating them.