Browsing by study line "Förskolepedagogik"

Aims. Play is a central part of the day in the day care centers especially as a peer group activity of children. According to the Core Curriculum (2016) adults must support children’s play also by participating in it. Very little is still known about adult-child joint play in the day care centers especially from children’s perspective. The aim of this study is to expand this knowledge by interviewing children. This study examines the ways joint play between children and adults is constructed in children’s stories and the ways participation in the play is defined. Methods. This qualitative study used a narrative approach to examine children’s perspectives. 27 children (11 girls and 14 boys) aged 4 to 6 participated in the interviews in the beginning of 2019. A thematic analysis was applied and a concept of small stories was used as an analytical tool. Results and conclusions. Joint play between adults and children in small stories was constructed especially by voluntary participation. Joint play was constructed through active engagement and commitment. Adults and children were connected in joint play when the themes of play were based on everyday life whereas themes from the media distanced adults from the play. Play was also constructed by sharing knowledge and taking roles. Adults then took for example roles that were undesirable to children. Seems that the ability of adults to take part in the joint play was limited. Other duties of adults and day care center rules restricted possibilities to participate in joint play. In one story children were took into account the conditions when it was possible to play with an adult in the day care center. Participation in play was determined through ownership of the play and also through individual characteristics. Knowledge, skills as well as physical qualities and capabilities defined participation in play. In one story the close relationship between the adult and child made it possible for the adult to participate in play.

Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Objectives. Touch is a key part of human interaction. Previous research has shown that touch has many positive effects from the perspective of a child's well-being and development. Touch is especially emphasized when working with toddlers, i.e., children under 3 years of age, as they need a lot of help with basic activities. The aim of this study was to find out how touch appears in toddlers' daytime naps. The research questions were: (1) what kind of touch is in toddlers' nap moments, (2) how is contact built between an early childhood worker and a toddler in toddlers' nap moments, and (3) what factors affect the nature of touch and the functions of touch toddlers' nap moments? Methods. This study was conducted as a qualitative interaction study. The study data included a total of 3 hours, 55 minutes and 34 seconds. The material was narrowed down to moment that captured toddlers’ nap moments from going to bed to falling asleep. These moments formed 40 episodes lasting 46 minutes and 58 seconds. Multimodal interaction analysis was applied to the limited data. I transcribed the material and examined it gradually. After examining the material, I did a theory-driven content analysis. Results and conclusions. Touching appeared to be a significant mean of interaction during toddlers’ nap moments. The study found three categories of touch, which were controlling touch, soothing touch, and gentle touch. In addition, means of interaction without contact were found in the material. The construction of touch was influenced by the child's behavior and the atmosphere in the daytime nap room. This study emphasized controlling touch, the aim of which was to guide and control the child's activities. The study revealed what kind of touching methods are used in toddlers' naps and how touching was built as part of the interaction between the toddler and the early childhood education worker. Through research, early childhood education could reflect on the construction of touch from a pedagogical perspective. What kind of touch is good care and what other functions does touch have in interaction?

Quality in early childhood education and care is so culture-specific and value-dependent that global definitions of quality cannot be made (Alila, 2013; Dahlberg, Moss & Pence, 2013). Although quality can be measured by certain indicators, it is also a subjective experience. Children in ECEC, their carers, ECEC workers, municipalities providing services and researchers all have their own perspectives on quality. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how quality is described in Helsingin Sanomat's opinion pieces on early childhood education and care. The theoretical background of the study is built on the research on quality in early childhood education and care, in particular on the subjectivity of quality and the discourse analysis idea of the reality-shaping nature of language use. The research is qualitative. Discourse analysis was used to analyse the data. The data consisted of opinion pieces on early childhood education published in Helsingin Sanomat. The data consists of 56 opinion pieces from 1.5.2022 to 31.5.2023. The discourses I found are those emphasizing the importance of education, the crisis in early childhood education, home care and the effectiveness of early childhood education. The quality of early childhood education and care is described more negatively and problematically than positively, but many perspectives are presented. Opinion writing is about making a difference, so it is not irrelevant who participates in the debate and who remains silent and absent.

The purpose of this study is to find out the views of the early childhood education personnel of the city of Helsinki regarding the realization of the quality of early childhood educa- tion. The study examines to what extent there are differences in the quality of early childhood education and to what extent experiences of possible high or low quality have common explana- tions. The aim is to analyze how the early childhood education center, region, and the qualification of the personnel explain possible quality variation, and to examine what other reasons there are for quality variation. The theoretical reference framework of the study consists of the definition of the quality of early childhood education and the review of quality evaluation. The data of the research consist of the answers to the survey carried out by the Education De- partment of the city of Helsinki in the spring of 2023. The survey is part of the early childhood education quality, assessment and management development project and it was sent to all Finn- ish-speaking early childhood education centers in Helsinki. The responses to the multiple-choice questionnaire (Likert) were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance, the Kruskal-Wallis test, and by calculating correlation coefficients. Open answers were analyzed using content analysis methods. When investigating the connection of regional socio-economic factors to the quality of early childhood education, the income and education level of the region according to the postal code of the Statistics Finland's database were used as background variables. According to the research results there are considerable quality differences in Helsinki public early childhood education. Differences in quality were largest between individual ECEC centers and child groups, decreasing when looking at bigger regions. Of the quality factors, the sensitivity related to the interaction between the staff and the children and the identification of the child's needs were the best realized. Shortcomings were seen especially in personnel and space re- sources, in pedagogical leadership structures, and in the implementation of child support. The research results gave indications that the quality of early childhood education in higher-income residential areas is higher than in lower-income areas. The qualification of the staff also had an impact on the quality of early childhood education, but it only explained a small part of the variation in quality.

Objectives. The aim of this study is to investigate how child and family counselors feel their own role affects early childhood education and how they see the necessity of their work in the future. The social and regional differentiation of society poses challenges to basic education and early childhood education at both local and national levels. Especially in certain areas of large cities, educational disadvantage increases regionally and deepens because of socio-economic and ethnic differentiation. The role of early childhood education is to support democratic values, such as equality, equality, and respect for diversity, and to offer children the opportunity to develop their skills and make choices regardless of gender, origin, or cultural background. Child and family counselors primarily aim to prevent marginalization and support regional, social, and educational equality and equality among all children and families. Methods. I decided to use discourse analysis in the analysis of the material. In discourse analysis, the meanings of discourses are examined from many different perspectives, and the analysis is based on a close dialogue between the material and the researcher. In this study, the data was collected using a questionnaire, which means that as a researcher I have not been able to influence the respondents with my own presence when they have answered the questions. Results and conclusions. According to the respondents, the work of child and family counselors working in early childhood education had a significant impact and a need in the increasingly diverse early childhood education, because their work made it possible to meet families even more empathetically and respectfully. They promoted an atmosphere of safety and openness in early childhood education, which made it easier for families to share their thoughts between early childhood education and families. Child and family counselors offered families versatile and customized support that was easily accessible. Considering these perspectives, child, and family work in early childhood education, especially in areas of positive special treatment, plays a central role in supporting families and promoting children's well-being in their changing life situations.

The formation of children's forest relations and environmental sensitivity is part of the development of children's identity and later affects their attitudes towards the forest and the environment. The purpose of this master's thesis is to describe, analyze and interpret preschool children's views and experiences of working in the natural environment and especially in the forest. The research examines more closely what kind of effect forest-focused preschool education has on children's forest relations and environmental sensitivity as experiences they describe themselves. This thesis is a qualitative study in which I analyze the children's drawings and interview material using content analysis to identify meaningful changes in children's forest relations and their environmental sensitivity after the implementation of forest-focused preschool education. Forest-focused preschool education groups implemented preschool education in their local forest two mornings a week. For the study, children (28) from two forest-based preschool groups drew pictures of the forest before and three months after the forest preschool activities. After the drawing sessions, the preschoolers were interviewed about their drawings and the forest topic. The research was an abductive process, where the theory guided the analysis of the material. The framework examined five central theories related to environmental sensitivity and forest relations and related concepts, which were used in the analysis of the data by forming meaning dimensions describing the environmental sensitivity and forest relations of the data. The effect of forest-focused preschool education on preschool children's forest relations and environmental sensitivity was structured into five meaning dimensions: sensory, emotional, social and functional, and value dimension. Forest offers a rich and versatile learning environment for children. After the forest activity, the sensory dimension expanded and the depiction of living and non-living environment increased in the drawings. Forest excursions involve moving around and observing the surroundings of the preschool, which is why the description of non-forest environments, such as the built environment, became more diverse. According to the results, preschool forest activities are an important enabler of equal education and change the social environment of forest experiences, bringing friendships in addition to family, expanding the social dimension. The social dimension also includes the effects of family and other adults on values and forest relations, as well as the effect of adults' activities on the utilization of the opportunities offered by the forest and thus on children's forest experiences. Before preschool, the forest was generally perceived positively. The most significant change after the forest activities was the awakening of preschool children's place attachment to the forest used in preschool education and the increase in attachment to trees. In the functional dimension, before and after preschool education, a diverse picture of children's experiences of learning in and about the forest was obtained. In the value dimension, the awareness of the importance of the forest was visible and the desire to acting for the forest appeared stronger after the implemented forest pre-school education. Working in the forest also evoked more challenging feelings in few children, which were related to the experience of boredom during freer activities or challenges in friendships. But that still did not reduce the preschoolers' thoughts about the importance of forests. Based on the data from this study, forest activities in preschool education develop children's forest relations and environmental sensitivity.

Objectives. The ability to show compassion has developed in humans to strengthen social relationships and to enable social functions. Compassion is conceived as a state of concern for others suffering and as a desire to alleviate it. Previous studies have determined that compassion in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) is constructed culturally and that it is dependent on the actions of the adults. This study describes how children react when they confront a crying child in the ECEC setting and explores how children take part in showing compassion to crying children. Methods. The research data was 50 hours of video footage. There was identified 27 episodes where children were crying. The children participating in the study were aged between 1-4 years old. Firstly theory-based content analysis was applied in the data and then the categories that were formed were analysed by multimodal interaction analysis. Conclusions. This study highlights the previous studies in which it was defined that compassionate acts in the ECEC are most often performed by the adults. It was determined that the children mostly continued their previous actions or gazed at the compassionate acts that were performed when other children were crying. The children could also refuse to show compassion to the crying child. The compassionate acts that the children performed were made with the support of the adults, together with the adults or independently. In this study compassion was always shown to the crying child. It should be established how to increase children’s compassion in the ECEC and how to utilize the adult’s role in it.

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to produce information on the appearance of children’s fear and anxiety in the context of early childhood education and care (ECEC). By drawing attention to the daily actions and situations where fear and anxiety typically take place, it is possible to gather valuable information about children’s wellbeing in the various situations of ECEC. This study examines the situations in which children experience fear and anxiety and how these emotions reflect the children’s behavior. In addition, the study aims to find out how the ECEC personnel relates to the fear or anxiousness of the child. The study was conducted using the Finnish nationwide Progressive Feedback method. The research data was gathered during 2017–2021. A total of 2653 ECEC groups from 18 municipalities participated in the study. The research method used was systematic random sample observation, which included all activities in ECEC between 8 AM to 4 PM. Quantitative methods were used to analyse the data. The observations of fear and anxiety were cross-tabulated with the observations of the general frame of activity, the child’s social orientation, and the actions of the nearest adult. It was found that children show highlighted levels of fear and anxiety when being outdoors or participating in indoor guided activities. Withdrawn and independent social orientations were highlighted among children experiencing fear and anxiety. When examining adults’ reactions to children’s fear and anxiety receptive and negative attitudes were overrepresented. However, negative attitudes should be considered with caution due to the limitations of the data. A closer inspection into the matter revealed that both children’s and personnel’s attitude towards fear and anxiety was context-related. Article manuscript “Children’s observed fear and anxiety in early childhood education” is to be published in the Finnish journal of Psychology.

Since the reader in child begins to form from infancy, children’s books play an important role in the language development. However, there hasn’t been much research on literature aimed at children under 3 years old. The objective of this study is to find out what type of factors are used to attract children to read picture books; how picture, text and different elements attempt to make children’s book interesting and how is it reflected in literature for under 3-year-olds. This research is conducted using discourse analysis, approaching the topic with social constructionism. As for the factors of attraction in children’s books, different discourses arose. The source material included Finnish books published between January 2021 and August 2023 for children under 3 years old, n=24. The discourses found in the study are linked to previous research findings as well as to the children’s worldview, which is reflected in children’s books. Three discourses were found as research results: the discourse of playfulness brings the element of fun to literature, the discourse of child’s development and experience reflects the child’s own world in literature and the discourse of functionality encourages the child to actively engage with the book. In the conclusion it is established that no book relies only on one factor of attractiveness, but they were used in various ways in all the different elements of the books: in pictures, text and other elements. The interaction with an adult is strongly linked to the attraction of reading as well

This research was interested in early childhood education managers' professional agency in context of pedagogical and human resources leadership. In addition, the early childhood managers’ pedagogical as well as human resources leadership experiences were studied. There is still very little previous research done in terms of early childhood managers’ professional agency but studying it could help in developing the early childhood educational field because according to previous professional agency studies, managers’ professional agency is linked to the personnel. Among other things innovating, developing and taking care of the well-being of staff are part of leadership agency. The data of this Master’s Thesis is based on nine early chilhood education managers' telephone interview transcripts. The telephone interviews, that lasted approximately 30 minutes each, were executed during the autumn of 2021. Transcripts from telephone interviews were analysed using content analysis and narrative analysis. Content analysis of the data identified five categories in early childhood education managers’ experiences in pedagogical leadership (central mission, common goal, consistency, job relevancy and practice in reality) as well as in human resources leadership (service management, presence, ensemble control, discretion and responsibility). Each of the categories had professional agency in early childhood managers’ experiences which was analysed narratively. Early chilhood education managers' experienced pedagogical leadership as important part of the job and they mentioned pedagogy being close to their hearts. Managers described experiences in human resources leadership as serving others but also working under pressure. The experiences of early childhood education managers in pedagogical and human resources leadership included plenty of traits of professional agency. The traits of professional agency adapt to all key moments of previous research theory which are: 1) respecting employee views, 2) drawing conclusions through dialogue, 3) bringing up own expertise, 4) learning and 5) speaking directly. Based on this study, professional agency was an important tool in pedagogical leadership and human resources leadership. Early childhood managers’ professional agency is shown through the decisions the manager is able to make under the sociocultural circumstances at the work place and within their own personal abilities.