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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.

Objectives. This study examines the way Finnish handcraft blogs approach handcrafting. By exploring handcraft blogs, one can find out how handcrafting is approached in them and how the phenomenon of craft is transmitted through them. It is important to become aware of the ways in which handcrafting is approached, as these ways build and shape our common reality actively. Handcraft blogs are an important part of the Finnish craft culture and they help build handcraft-related phenomena and promote the spread of various ideas and ways of thinking. This study examines what kind of handcrafting discourses could be interpreted in the writings and comments of Finnish craft blogs and what those discourses could tell about the broader representation of handcrafting and being a maker. Methods. The blogs chosen for this study were four popular Finnish craft blogs. The data consisted of a total of 32 blog entries published in October 2016 and their related comments. The data were analysed inductively with discourse analysis. Results and conclusions. Four dominant handcrafting discourses were interpreted from the data. The discourses were related to dreaming, community, success and being a maker. The discourses appeared in the data as their own entities, but overlap and shared attributes could also be found. In the data, handcrafting was approached by discussing completed and unfinished products or processes along with dreaming about doing, especially in the pursuit of finished craft products and the sense of succeeding in something. Based on the set of discourses, handcrafting is a communal activity through which crafters can encounter others and communicate. Handcrafting was approached by both positive and negative ways, but the main thought was the importance of handcrafting and the positive things and experiences that can be achieved with it. Based on the data, the mere fact of dreaming and planning is a significant activity. The discourse-based image of a handcrafter, who has to cope with different expectations and pressures, is complicated and conflicting.

According to national and international educational policy objectives, entrepreneurship education should be a cross cutting component of all sectors of education, including higher education. The goal is to not only teach entrepreneurial skills but also to raise individuals towards the ideal of enterprising self. At the same time, universities are expected to operate more and more like private companies. This study examines this phenomenon called entrepreneurial ethos from the perspective of university students. Educational policy and university practices are examined in the frame of governance and knowledge capitalism that describes the transformation of education and work in our time. The study examines how the entrepreneurial ethos appears in students’ discourses and how students perceive the ideal of a good student in the context of entrepreneurial ethos. The data consists of interviews by fourteen Aalto University students from a technical field. The data was analysed in discourse analytic view. In the study, the discursive approach extends beyond the analytical method: It shows how discourses are produced and managed, what the consequences are and how social reality is built on them. The results of this study showed that entrepreneurship appeared to students mainly as startup entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education as practical project work as opposed to theoretical study. The aim to become entrepreneurial was seen as an important goal of every individual. A good student was described as an entrepreneurial individual, with an emphasis on social skills and study interests, but partly as an individual in the midst of conflicting demands. Mostly, the students committed themselves to discourses of entrepreneurial ethos, but criticism was directed towards over-emphasizing the startup culture in the university. Governing through university practices shapes students’ subjectivities towards entrepreneurial self.

Aims. Information and communication technologies are defined as important civics in the new curriculum and every student should have the opportunity to improve these skills. They are seen both as an instrument and as a target of learning. The increasing importance of social media in society has also remarkably increased the social media discourse. It is seen as an opportunity although it simultaneously raises fears and concerns. The previous research has focused on examining social media as a tool for learning. Less attention has been given to the opportunities it offers to building interaction between pupils and teachers. This study examines the collective interaction of a school class in WhatsApp application. The aim of the study is to find out how the role of the teacher is formed in the conversation and to approach the interaction from the third space viewpoint. In addition this research aims to locate the dissonance experienced by the researcher as a class teacher taking part in the informal interaction in social media. Methods. The data in this study is a WhatsApp discussion from the spring semester of 2016. It was not originally collected for research purposes but was selected for research at the end of the academic year. The study was attended by all 22 pupils of the class and the class teacher who later assumed the role of the researcher. The data is approached through discourse analysis with autoethnographic features that are based on the teacher’s experience in researching her own practice. This analysis utilized both data-driven and theory-driven analysis. The framework of the analysis is based on Gutiérres et al. (1995) theory of a third space by means of building the conditions of a third space. This concept worked as a middle level analytical tool. The experienced dissonance was located using the concepts of agency and especially the contradiction of control – agency as well as through the dialectics of the epistemic and the existential dimensions of being a teacher. Results and conclusions. Pupils were active agents in the interaction. They were more active in initiating and participating in discussions than the class teacher whose role was emphasized by the existential dimension of being a teacher. The teacher appeared as an equal participant in the conversation. The WhatsApp conversation acted as a third space and building this space required the abandonment of traditional institutional interaction. WhatsApp application worked as an interesting mediator that enabled the subjects of the study to build their interaction in a new way. The dissonance was placed in the dialectics of control - agency and balancing between the existential and epistemic dimensions of teaching. This study helps to see the opportunities of interaction in social media and reveals the challenges it brings from the teachers point of view. It also points out the importance of the teachers presence.