Browsing by Subject "sairaan lapsen varhaiskasvatus"

Goals Early childhood education in hospitals is aligned as a part of early childhood education services in national early childhood education plan. Children have right to get high quality early childhood education when they are having a period of care or examination in hospital. However, only eight kindergarten teachers and four special kindergarten teachers are currently employed by Finnish hospitals. Early childhood education services have not been studied almost at all, therefore early childhood education services in hospitals is significant subject for studying. The goal of this study is to explore job description and experiences of kindergarten teachers in hospitals. In addition, it is also explored who kindergarten teachers collaborate with in their work. It is not commonly known that kindergarten teachers work also in hospitals which was an impulse for studying the subject in addition to the personal interest towards the subject. Another goal for the study is to add awareness of the work of kindergarten teachers and special kindergarten in Finnish hospitals. Information would be valuable for many people working in the field of early childhood education. Methods This is qualitative study. Research material was collected with open survey through email including interview about corrective to a answers. Two kindergarten teachers working in hospital were interviewed. Analysis method was qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions The work of kindergarten teachers is versatile and multifold. Many elements have an influence to the work such as hospital, section, and the situation of the children. The goal is that activity supports the growth and development of children with their special needs. Job description of kindergarten teachers includes significantly observation about requirements, abilities and competences and planning activity using observation’s outcomes. Children’s mental support is significant in strange environment. Kindergarten teachers like their job as meaningful but yearn for colleague to work with. Working as the specialist of early childhood education in multi-professional team is responsible task and circumstances are special. The subject is important and further studying would be useful. More extensive and exhaustive research would help to get more kindergarten teachers to Finnish hospitals to fulfill the need of them.