Browsing by Title

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify the teaching staff experiences in the application of dog assisted studies in practical work. What added value does dog-assisted pedagogy bring to the school classroom? What benefits does dog-assisted studies bring to their own work. The theoretical part of the study consists of a study of what dog-assisted work and pedagogy are in a school learning environment and how dog-assisted learning benefits learners. In addition, the study mapped what courses dog owners have the opportunity to complete. The study explored the benefits and relevance of dog-assisted training to practical work. The study explored the impact of dog-assisted training on practical work through a questionnaire. The purpose of the study is to find out how respondents have benefited from and utilized the content of dog-assisted studies for practical work. In addition, the study explores the mean- ings and benefits they experience in a dog-learning environment at school. The interview was conducted with the help of social media cathartic groups. Responses were received (N = 14). In addition, the study interviewed a lecturer on dog-assisted studies and a member of the board of education. The philosophical starting point of the research was phenomenology. The results of this study are consistent with previous studies on dog-assisted pedagogy. Ac- cording to the school education staff participating in the study, dog assisted activities in the school learning environment improves the classrooms socio-emotional atmosphere, provides more tools for special education and subject-specific study, and motivates students. Re- spondents felt that the benefits of dog-assisted studies were significant. The training provided information and certainty for the dog assisted work and created a social networking opportu- nities.

Education has different kinds of functions. Schools have a role in passing values, knowledge and qualification. Schools should also support students improve their civic and critical thinking. Finland has the objective of having half of its 25-34-year-olds holding a higher education degree by 2030. Improving the level of education of the population has contributed to the rise in the productivity of labour and economic. In my thesis, I am interested in how the upper secondary schools, their educational and social purpose, are seen in the public writings. I want to find out What people write about when writing about upper secondary school. The research material consists of 79 digital Opinion Pieces published by Helsingin Sanomat, the largest newspaper in Finland. I also examine what kind of rhetorical methods writers use when they demand either change or permanence of upper secondary schools. The analysis shows that students experience a lot of stress because of all the changes they are going through. Reforms have been done in higher education student selection in Finland which sets a new kind of pressure for students` choices and it challenges their curriculum planning. This reform can mediate students` schoolwork and enjoyable study choices. Reforms affect what kind of study choices students make, and these choices can impact the quality of teaching. Opinion pieces articulate that there is a need for a more peaceful learning and teaching environment in upper secondary schools. Concerning educational reforms, it seems that there is a need for advanced co-operation with political decision-makers and upper secondary school teachers and students.

The aim of this study was to investigate the development of self-regulation of kindergarten age children with and without special educational needs who participated in Young learning mind -intervention (MindUP™). The intervention program is based on mind control exercises, which have been discovered to have positive effects on the self-regulation skills of children. Previous similar studies have reported that interventions have affected most positively children with compromised self-regulation. The theories of self-regulation highlight the adult-child interaction. Another aim of this study was to investigate how adults can support children with special educational needs to improve the skills of calming down, focusing and executive functions. This study was conducted as a part of Young learning mind -project of University of Helsinki. The study group consisted of children with special educational needs (n=36) and also typically developing children (n=172) who all participated in the intervention in three kindergarten of Helsinki metropolitan area and whose age ranged from 4 to 6. The duration of the intervention program was 30 weeks during autumn 2016 and spring 2017.The data was collected by questionnare PikkuKesky which is used to evaluate self-regulation skills. Another part of the data was collected by videotaping and observing authentic situations of two kindergarten groups.The focus group of this case study involved 6 children who needed support with their self-regulation and the educators of these groups. This was a mixed methods study that combined both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The quantitative data was analyzed with non-parametric repeated measures test (Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test). The data that was collected through observation was analyzed by qualitative theory guided content analysis. Non-parametric statistical analysis revealed a significant improvement in attention focus within both groups between the first and the second measurement. However, comparing the results of the children with special educaltional needs and the typically developing children there were also other statistically signigicant effects on the sub skills of self-regulation within the latter group only. Review of gender differences revealed bigger increase of self-regulation in the group of typically developing boys who had compromised sel-regulation than girls. Thus, these results give only partial support to previous studies. The content analysis revealed that adult´s engagement, authoritative behaviour, non-verbal communication and involvement in children´s play were important elements when the adult was supporting children to develop the skills of calming down, focusing and executive functions.

Objectives. The purpose of this study is to describe, analyze and interpret the way novice class teachers see school bullying. The secondary purpose is to describe how peer harassment affects the novice teachers’ job. In 2010-centery studies, school bullying has been seen as a form of negative social behavior between pupils (Repo, 2015; Herkama, 2012). Teachers have to focus more and more on teaching social skills to pupils rather than the actual teaching. This has been associated with younger teachers’ increased stress levels at work and even plans on switching ca-reers (Aho, 2011). This study examines the education side of teacher job at the context of school bullying. Methods. This study is a qualitative research from the point of view of phenomenography. The material has been produced in a group chat between three novice teachers and the interviewer. All teachers have graduated during the last year and worked their first year as teachers. Besides of novice teachers I will also call them young teachers at this study, since all of them were under thirty years old. Results and conclusion. The peer harassment has changed because of new technology and smart phones. The term ‘school bullying’ has become an inadequate way in describing the reality of the bullying experiences that pupils have to deal with. From novice teachers’ perspective, it seemed that low social skills of pupils were the main reason why there are so much conflicts be-tween pupils in everyday life. The actual school bullying was rare, but the preventative jobs, such as conflict solving, took lots of time from teaching and learning in the class. Decision mak-ing, insecurity regarding the effectivity of one’s own practices as well as co-operation with the parents were experienced as a burden with negative effects on teaching. In conclusion, bullying and the bullying-preventive work increases the overall workload of teachers and takes up time and resources from the actual teaching.

The purpose of this study is to examine the way in which sexual education is discussed in educational trade journals in Finland. The subject of the study is the sexual education of young children of 0 to 12 years old. The intention is to also look at how the writings that emerge are related to the obligatory educational documents in Finland. Methodological bases for this study are post-structuralism and feminist methodology. Through a critical approach to research’s content, this research also aims at societal debate and, ultimately, change. The material used in the study is three volumes of Lastentarha and Opettaja journals, a total of eighty-one (81) journals. These materials are examined by means of critical discourse analysis (CDA), highlighting both the tone of writing and their possible origins and purposes. At the same time, the discursive exercise of power by media emerges, the effects of which I discuss in the emergence of discourses. The results show that there is little talk in the magazines about sexual education. Still, issues related to the content of sexual education are talked about, and discursive ways that focus on one's own ideologies can be observed. At the same time, the tone of writing about sexual education are coloured by the activities that focus on self-evident views and the defensiveness of the theme within its taboo-like status.

The aim of the study was to get acquainted with the activity of Näppärät Mummot, a Lahti-based crafts society, and its importance to the wellness of the members of the group. The selected aim, i.e., analyzing the wellness, largely affected the whole research process and its results. According to earlier studies in the field, different forms of craft and expressional activity promote one's wellness as well as support the work for one's identity. Based on my theoretical knowledge, my research was set out to: 1) form a general view of crafts culture within Näppärät Mummot and 2) find out how recollective craft that promotes wellness is perceived through communality, experiential activity, work for one's identity, and divided as well as undivided craft. Qualitative field work was governed by ethnographic research strategy, according to which I set out to get thoroughly familiar with the society I was studying. The methods I used to collect data were participant observation and thematic interview. I used a field diary for writing down all data I acquired through the observation. The interviewee group was formed by seven members of Näppärät Mummot. An mp3 recorder was used to record the interviews, which I transcribed later. The method for data analysis was qualitative content analysis, for which I used Weft QDA, a qualitative analysis software application. I formed themes that shed light on research tasks from the data using coding and theory-driven analysis. I kept literature and data I collected in cooperation through the whole analysis process. Lastly, drawing from the classes of meaning of therapeutic craft that I sketched by means of summarizing and classifying, I presented the central concepts that describe the main results of the study. The main results were six concepts that describe Näppärät Mummot's crafts culture and recollective craft with its wellness-beneficial effect: 1) autobiographical craft, 2) shared work for one's identity, 3) shared intention for craft, 4) craft as a partner, 5) individual manner of craft, and 6) shared improvement. Craft promoted wellness in many ways. It was used to promote inner life management in difficult times and it also provided sensations of empowerment through pleasure from craft. Expressional, shared craft also served as means of reinforcing one's identity in various ways. Expressional work for one's identity through autobiographical themes of craft represented rearranging one's life through holistic craft. A personal way of doing things also served as expressional action and work for one's identity even with divided craft. Shared work for identities meant reinforcing the identities of the members through discourses of craft and interaction with their close ones. What proves the interconnection between communality and craft as well as their shared meaning is that communality motivated the members to work on their craft projects, while craft served as the means of communication between the members: communication through craft was easier than lingual communication. The results can not be generalized to apply to other groups: they are used to describe the versatile means of recollective craft to promote the well-being among the crafts society Näppärät Mummot. However, the results do introduce a new perspective to the social discussion on how cultural activities promote well-being.

The aim of this study was to through mothers stories deepen the understanding of how mothers had experienced the colic time period and how they had experienced the support in the situation. The theory in this thesis has a parental perspective and deals with subjects about the everyday life and the interaction in families with colicky infants and the support that is aimed at these families. On the basis of the theoretical frame of reference the following research issues were formulated: - How did mothers to colicky infants experience the colic time period? - How did mothers to colicky infants experience the interaction with the child? - How did mothers to colicky infants experience the support in the situation? Seven mothers to infants who had had colic participated in theme-centered interviews that took place in spring 2014. The results of the study show that the mothers experienced the colic time period and the interaction with an excessively crying child as burdening all though the mothers felt the attachment was normalized to this date. The support that is offered to parents with colicky infants was experienced as lacking by the mothers and therefore a development of both the information and the support provided is considered important.

The purpose of my study is to provide a holistic view of childhood grief from the perspective of student teachers in early childhood education. The aim is to identify typical ways of mourning in childhood and the meanings given to childhood grief in the students' grief narratives. The research data consists of grief narratives written by early childhood education students at the University of Helsinki. The data was collected as part of the research project Children's Grief and Cultural Practices of Mourning in Early Childhood Education funded by the Academy of Finland in 2021-2025. I use a narrative research approach to conduct the study. My study can be considered as a dialogue between the students' narratives, my interpretations of the narratives and theoretical knowledge. In the analysis of the data, I have applied both analysis of narratives and narrative analysis. In the light of the results, grief experienced in childhood appears as a holistic experience of loss, both personal and socially shared by the individual, characterised by meaningfulness and the co-existence of other emotions. The results of my study do not contradict previous research on grief, but support previous findings from a new perspective.

Objectives. This thesis will use Russian-American psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner’s  Bioecological theory of Human Development. This theory applies to the topic of trauma because it suitably explains the complexity of trauma through the theory’s outline of human development occurring in complex multiple layers of influence and differing levels of reciprocal interaction. In addition, it is considered to be a cross-cultural theory. Methods. Method for this thesis is a narrative literature review. A Narrative literature reviews have a less rigid structure than a systematic literature review, but still considered a qualitative analysis. As it name illudes to a narrative literature review is a narration of a carefully curated collection of articles, analyzed through the lens of the researchers own experiences, and through the use of a grounding theory. Although this method is more typcal for a bachelor’s thesis, it should not be underestimated as the literature review is the starting point of any research, to discover what has already been studied in order to build upon that. Selection of Topic: Trauma is not a new topic. As mentioned in the history of trauma section, its roots are in the battle fatigue experienced by soldiers returning from World Wars I and II. However, as a topic in education is relatively new, and the extent of its novelty also depends on geography. In the United States, it has been researched and written about, and foundations and centers on the topic have been created. In the Nordic countries, trauma’s effect on learning has not received comparable levels of attention.  Results and conclusions. Are teachers aware of trauma, its manifestations, and how manifestations of trauma can mimic manifestations of learning disabilities? Is the one question this thesis asked and the answer is some do. This literature review has demonstrated that certain countries or regions, particuarly the U.S have extensive published research on trauma as well as a plethora of resources in a range of academic fields studying it. It also highlights the glaring gaps in research and literature on this topic in certain regions, most notably the Nordic countries. This leads me to ask why have the Nordic countries, especially Finland, the world leader in education, are not researching this topic and applying findings to teacher training and improving learning outcomes.

Based on previous studies, there are many kinds of food talk and food takes on many different meanings, which partially overlap. There are tensions in food talk that challenge the attitude towards food and affect the choice of food. Consumers struggle in the cross-wave of food-related information, because a lot of information is available on different platforms and from different sources. In addition, the media plays a large role in today's everyday life, which is why it is necessary and also natural to study the discourses formed by food precisely on the social media platform. The purpose of the study was to find out what discourses are formed in the food-related publications of Instagram influencers. The research task is therefore to describe, analyze and interpret food talk in the captions of the publications of welfare and food influencers. The perspective and approach to the subject is socio-constructionist. The thesis aims to find out how influencers try to create or unknowingly create different meanings and references about food talk on social media platforms. The material was collected in the spring of 2022 from the Instagram photo service. Data collection time was one and a half years, 08/2021–03/2022. The research group consisted of five well-being and five food influencers. The captions of 65 food-related publications from their accounts were selected for review. The material was analyzed using discourse analysis. The research material contained ways of speaking that were identified as discourses. In food talk, four different discourses appeared on the influencers' user accounts; pleasure, ease, responsibility and normativity. The discourses of normativity and effortlessness were formed from the captions of both groups of influencers. The discourse of pleasure, on the other hand, was formed only in the captions of well-being influencers, and the discourse of responsibility only in the captions of food influencers. For food influencers, the discourses included, for example, atmosphere, utilization of services, avoiding food waste and climate issues. For well-being influencers health served as a strong guideline for everything they do. The main meanings behind the discourses were the healthfulness of food and food as a source of pleasure, the ease of cooking, the responsibility of purchasing and using food, and confronting assumptions about what kind of eating is used to and what is considered accepted and worth striving for. The results of the work could be used in educational, organizational and research work around the topic of food.