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Grocery shopping is considered by many to be an unpleasant chore, with many annoying factors such as long checkout lines, reluctant children and melting frozen foods. Online grocery store as a service has been available in Finland for several years. Even though Finns are active e-commerce users, it has not gained much popularity. This study examines how families with children perceive attractive and suspicious factors of online grocery stores as well as the impact of the service on families' everyday life. There is a lot of Finnish and international research discussing online grocery stores from an economic or marketing point of view, but the impact of the service on families has not been studied much. According to previous research, families with children are also the most significant user group for online grocery business with most growth potential. This study was conducted using qualitative methods. The research material consisted of eight theme interviews with parents from the Helsinki metropolitan area, who either had used the online grocery store or were interested in trying it. The data collected from the interviews was analyzed using qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis. According to the results, the most attractive factors in using online grocery stores are convenience and time savings. Doubts about product quality and freshness emerged as suspicious factors. The time saved by using online grocery stores could be spent with the family, which was considered as an attractive factor for families with children. Reduced stress and easier commuting with children were also mentioned in the interviews several times as positive outcomes following online grocery shopping.

The importance of open discussion with the adopted child and his parents about adoption and ethnicity is often emphasized in adoption literature (Kirk 1964; Grotevant 1999; Carli & Dalen 1999). The child should have the possibility of constructing a harmonious view of himself, which consists of his history before adoption, ethnicity and the social environment's conception of him. The purpose of this study was to examine the Finnish adoptive parents' supportive role in relation to their child's adoptive and ethnic identity and the social environment's disposition to the child as witnessed by the parents. The first research problem was to find out how the parents support their child's adoptive identity formation. The second problem was to find out if the parents want to support the child's ethnic identity. The third problem was regarding the environment's disposition to the child and family. The hypothesis was that Finnish adoptive parents are well aware of the problems of adoption and they have been well selected, so they have the aspirations and skills to help their child with his identity formation. The focus of this study was on Finnish parents who had adopted internationally, from whom 58 answers were obtained. The data was collected with an Internet based questionnaire. The questions were mostly qualitative. The analysis was directed by the theory, so that the analysis units were obtained from the main questions of international adoption and identity formation. The results expressed that the adoptive parents want to support their child's adoption identity. They accept their child's questions regarding his history, and that they did not want to conceal any details about their child's life, even if they felt that it was a sensitive issue for them. The main problem was that there was no information available on the child's history. Contact with the biological parents was almost impossible because there was hardly any information on them. Instead the parents were in contact with the children's home because they felt that it had an important role as the child's former home. The parents felt that the child's birth culture was of importance and they mainly offered aspects of it informally daily. Parents who stressed their child's Finnish identity were concerned that their child would not form a feeling of being Finnish. However, the majority wished that their child would have a multicultural identity. The parents felt that the environment regarded the child positively and the possibility of upcoming problems was tackled by discussing them beforehand with the child and environment.

The importance of financial capability has been emphasized for the individual and society. There are a variety of financial products on the market from which consumers should choose the ones that suit them. Life expectancy has increased, which challenges the functioning of the pension system. These societal changes have broadened the field of financial capability and increased the individual's responsibility for his or her own finances. The aim of the study is to look at how young adults describe their financial capability learning and how young adults describe the challenges and skills related to the finance after moving out from their childhood home. The study was conducted as a qualitative study and the material was collected by interviewing 11 young adults aged 22–29 with a thematic interview. The material was analyzed by content analysis, and the division of financial expertise developed by Atkinson, McKay, Kempson, & Collard (2006) was also used as an analysis tool. According to the study, financial and money related issues have been learned in various ways in childhood. The financial capability learned at home could be described more comprehensively than those learned at school. Young adults also expressed a desire to increase economics education in schools. After moving out of the childhood home, finance and money related skills and knowledge were learned through new life situations (e.g., periods of unemployment, becoming a parent, buying a home), retrieving information yourself (e.g., the Internet, books, and social media) and talking about money with family, friends, and co-workers. When moving from a childhood home, the skills and challenges of the managing money (e.g., everyday budgeting) and the planning ahead challenges (e.g., applying for social benefits) were emphasized. However, there was a clear change in the challenges after several years of moving out from your childhood home. According to the young people, the focus of the challenges became time-oriented, such as saving and investing, retirement savings and mortgages. Based on the results of the research, it can be stated that young adults learn financial skills in their daily lives, although informal home teaching and formal schooling no longer support learning.

Earlier studies have found some evidence of associations between childhood noncompliance and externalizing problems. The association of noncompliance with internalizing problems is instead less studied. In both cases the results have been controversial and are based on relatively small samples. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of lower childhood compliance with later-onset externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Further, the study examined the association of child's cognitive skills and mother's socioeconomic status (income and educational level) with behavior problems, and their interaction effects with compliance. The sample consisted of children and their mothers from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth. The subjects belonged to three different groups based on their follow-up lengths; the follow-ups varied between 0-2 years (n=787), 4 years (n=1441) and 6-10 years (n=1569). Statistical analyses were conducted using linear regression model. The models were built separately for each follow-up group. The results showed that lower compliance predicted overall amount of behavior problems, externalizing and internalizing problems on every follow-up. Child's cognitive skills also predicted externalizing and internalizing problems. Mother's level of income or education did not predict behavior problems. However, the level of income moderated the association between compliance and externalizing problems on the shortest follow-up. Also the mother's educational level moderated the association between compliance and externalizing problems on the shortest follow-up and internalizing problems on the longest follow-up. The results provide support for previous theoretical models examining the association between compliance and behavior problems. Moreover, the results emphasize the role of both individual (e.g., compliance and cognitive skills) and environmental factors (e.g., socioeconomic status) in the etiology of behavior problems.

Purpose. When a child in Finland is diagnosed with cancer, and being treated at the hospital, the school education is provided by the hospital school. Later, education is arranged by the child’s own school. The most common arrangement is that one or more of the pupil’s own teachers visits the child at home, because the child cannot attend regular school because of the high infection risk. Earlier studies show that in a situation like this, school becomes an essential element for the child’s quality of life. The aim of this research is to describe, analyze and interpret how teachers have experienced the interactions and eventual tensions between different cooperation partners in a situation when they have a child with cancer in their class. Threory and methods. This research was conducted as a qualitative study with a phenomenographic research approach and is based on six semi-structured interviews of teachers in Finnish and Swedish-speaking primary schools in three municipalities in Finland. The material was analyzed by using thematic analysis and with activity theory as a theoretical framework. Results and conclusions. Teachers showed a genuine interest in helping the pupils and ful-filled their work with much pride and a sense of responsibility. They saw that the overall health of the pupil and keeping up the social contacts with the rest of the class was more im-portant than academic performances. The teachers had very different experiences of how they needed and obtained support from their principal and colleagues. One of the most im-portant resources for the teachers was the pupil’s family, while there was almost no other cooperation with other partners outside the school. The overall experiences of the education with special arrangements were good. The identified tensions between partners occurred mostly because of lack of open communication and knowledge.

One of the fundamental principles of the Finnish basic education is promoting equality and preventing inequality on different levels. This means that every school is obliged to ensure equal access to education for all students, but also to foster a so-called equity education and support the students into becoming good human beings, that strive for equality and positive change themselves. Deduced from theory and previous research, this study assumed that the teacher’s approach to diversity as well as the school’s equity task affects the prerequisites to foster equity education. The aim of this study is thus to gain insight into Finnish teachers’ perceptions of both the ideal and practical aspects of the equity work in primary school, as well as how the approach to diversity relates to this. The empirical research that was conducted to meet this aim was based on the following research questions: 1) How is the diversity-category constructed in teacher-discourses? 2) How are prerequisites for equity in primary school created in teacher-discourses? The empirical part of the study relied on a discourse analytical research design, and the data was gathered through qualitative interviews with five teachers in total from three different schools. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed according to discourse analytical principles using Fairclough’s three-dimensional model for analysis on three levels: text, discourse practice, and sociocultural practice. The results showed that the teachers had varying perceptions of diversity as well as what the school’s equity task really entails. Some understood diversity as a concept entailing all students, while others understood it as something deviant and non-Finnish. The perception of diversity also had implications for the equity work; the previously mentioned understanding of diversity as non-Finnish positioned Finnishness as the direct opposite of the diversity-category, and subsequently Finnishness was considered both the norm and the base for equality. Said understanding, as well as a lack of knowledge and critical perspectives, subsequently weakened teachers’ prerequisites for equity education. In conclusion, the results show that comprehensive and relevant education for all teachers in the field would be beneficial.

Purpose. Singing was prohibited in some Finnish schools during 2020–2021 as an act to reduce the spread of covid-19. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how teachers experienced this singing prohibition and how it affected their teaching. The aim was to describe what music education in schools looked like when singing was absent. Previous studies indicate that singing is an effective tool for creating feelings of belonging and for processing one’s feelings. In addition, singing has traditionally been very important in the Finnish schools. The thesis also describes the importance of singing in today’s school music pedagogy by exploring a period when singing was prohibited. Methods. The study was conducted with qualitative methods and a phenomenographic framework. Data was gathered during the spring of 2022 through individual interviews with class teachers and music teachers (N = 7). The interviews were thematical and semi structured. A phenomenographic method was used for data analysis. Results and conclusions. Teachers found that singing is an adequate tool for practicing social and emotional skills, for identity development, and for mediating a cultural inheritance. Singing was considered a given part of different celebrations in school. Singing also seemed to be an important starting point for teachers when working with new material in music classes. The singing prohibition aggravated educational planning and was also viewed as an illogical decision for school context. The content of music classes consisted mainly of playing instruments during the singing prohibition, while celebrations did not take place at all. It also proved to be challenging for many teachers to get students excited about singing again once the singing prohibition was terminated. A continuity of singing would be needed, especially in the teenage years, since the individual’s relationship to singing seems to suffer from a longer break.

This master's thesis examines how classroom teachers experience working with creative methods in music education. The quality of Finnish music education in primary school is on a shaky foundation. This may be partly due to the fact that classroom teachers are required to teach from grades 1-3, and in many schools there is no subject teacher in the higher grades, which means that the responsibility falls on the classroom teachers also in grades 4-6. A lack of sufficient knowledge results in teachers not being able to meet the objectives of the curriculum. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of classroom teachers when working with creative methods. With this study, I wanted to highlight the challenges that arise when classroom teachers work with improvisation and composition in music education. Previous research shows that a large part of class teachers in primary school do not feel that they have sufficient knowledge in music to teach improvisation and composition and also shows that they do not feel comfortable teaching music as a whole. The purpose of the study is to highlight possible needs for development in classroom teacher education and to show how support in the form of concrete teaching materials and tasks can help teachers to fulfill the curriculum goals. The study was carried out in collaboration with the BRAVO! project, which provides classroom teachers with music education material as well as training, support and a community of participants in the project. While testing the materials, I observed and interviewed two classroom teachers who participated in the project. The material was collected in the form of two semi-structured interviews with the teachers and a total of 15 observation sessions where the teachers and the BRAVO! coordinator tested the material. The interviews and observations were analyzed using a thematic analysis. The results of the study show that resources in terms of space and access to instruments have a great impact on how the teacher can actualize the teaching. Old school buildings with hard building materials and high ceilings contribute to a teaching environment that forces the teacher to focus a lot on maintaining order and peace during the lesson, this leads to the teacher not being able to focus on the actual teaching. This can also lead to negative health effects for both the teacher and the students. The teaching material offered by BRAVO! was positively received by the teachers and was perceived to fill a gap regarding the lack of teaching materials in music education. The teachers appreciated new working methods and new tips for teaching. The teachers in the study did not find it challenging to use improvisation or composition in their teaching. However, this may be due to the fact that both teachers had a strong foundation in music.

Sedan grundandet av folkskolan på 1860-talet har man undervisat slöjd i de finska skolorna. Då var syftet med slöjdundervisningen att lära eleverna handarbetsfärdigheter för att de sedan kunde använda dem i framtida arbetes-och vardagslivet. För 100 år sedan handlade slöjdundervisningen om att lära sig egenskaper för att överleva men i dagens samhälle där alla inte har ett lika stort behov av handarbetsfärdigheter har slöjdundervisningen samt dennes syfte förändrats. I diskussioner med lärare som undervisar i slöjd har det kommit fram att lärarna ofta får förklara varför slöjd undervisas i skolan för både föräldrar och elever. Denna undersökning går ut på att redovisa vad lärare som undervisar i slöjd tycker att syftet med slöjdundervisningen är och vilka utmaningar lärarna upplever i slöjdundervisningen. Utifrån syftet formulerades två forskningsfrågor: 1. Vad anser lärare att syftet med slöjd i grundskolan är? 2.Vilka praktiska/pedagogiska utmaningar upplever lärare med slöjdundervisningen? För att besvara forskningsfrågorna användes en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med en hermeneutisk ansats. Fem lärare som undervisar i slöjd intervjuades individuellt och som intervjumetod användes en semistrukturerad intervju. Intervjuerna bandades in och materialet analyserades genom en tematisk analys. Lärarna som deltog i denna studie ansåg att slöjdundervisningen hade flera syften. Svaren på den första forskningsfrågan delades i i fyra olika temahelheter: Motorik/finmotorik, Undervisningens mångfald, Vardagskompetens och kreativitet. I intervjuerna kom det fram att slöjden utvecklar elevernas motorik och finmotorik och att slöjden bidrar till undervisningens mångfald. Det kom även fram att eleverna får lära sig färdigheter som är nyttiga i framtiden samt att de får utlopp för sin kreativitet. Utmaningarna i slöjdundervisningen som lärarna upplevde handlade om brist på tid, att läraren inte hann hjälpa alla elever under en lektion samt brist på resurser. Det fanns även lärare som upplevde svårigheter med att tolka läroplanen i slöjd och att läroplanen inte speglade verkligheten.

Goals. The aim with the study was to examine how the textbooks in ethics follow the guidelines of the national curriculum. This is important to study since the textbooks analyzed have all been published about 10 years ago. In society there is a discussion about how worldview education should be organized, alone or together with religion education. Earlier research also shows that ethics has a great value as a subject. Methods. For my study I used a qualitative content analysis method, where I analyzed four textbooks in worldview education for grade 1-5. the textbooks are all from the series Mina och Ville, and are published between the years 2007 and 2013. I have also analyzed the different goals set up for worldview education in the curriculum for grades 1-6, and the different competences set up by the national curriculum. Results and conclusions. The analysis showed that the textbooks in worldview education follow the national curriculums goals and competences well. The textbooks are built on the national curriculum, and include many curriculum goals and competences. Even though the textbooks focus on the content of the national curriculums, there is still missing representation of different body-types and sexualities. The characters in the textbooks are two children without any disabilities, and are both white. In the photos in the textbooks many different ethnicities are shown and discussed, but nothing about different body-types or sexualities