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Aims: The aim of this study was to find out the social support (SS) of the secondary school students and its connection to their psychological well-being and happiness. The focus of this study was on the students who have been frequently supported in the basic education. The earlier studies have indicated that students with learning disabilities have less SS; they become easier bullied and excluded from social communities. The happiness of a student with special needs is also lower than others, according to earlier studies. Methods: The data for the study were collected using questionnaires from 14 Finnish upper secondary schools in the spring of 2016. Both vocational schools and senior high schools were included. There were 1141 answers in total. The data were analyzed using SPSS. Results and conclusions: The levels of the psychological well-being and happiness of the upper secondary students are quite high. On average, they have a satisfying amount of friends. They receive more SS from their mother than their father. A romantic relationship is related to their happiness, but not to their psychological well-being. SS from the school worker is related to students’ happiness and psychological well-being. The students who had been frequently supported in the basic education do not differ in SS, happiness or psychological well-being from the students with no such support. Only the support from mother is stronger among frequently supported group. There is no connection between SS from the school worker and psychological well-being among supported group, neither between romantic relationship and happiness, conversely with non-supported students. The only main difference that a school success indicates among the supported group is higher levels of psychological well-being when it comes to a better succeed students. Generally, the students with the support background in the basic education do not differ much from their peers in SS.

In this thesis, I want to raise awareness, visibility and the importance of R & T play. About R & T play, I discuss in more detail in following aspects; R & T play or aggression, boys' and girls' R & T play and the benefits of R & T play. In addition, I deal briefly with peer relationships and a sense of community. My research questions have been formed on researchers' studies and based on my own experiences. My thesis theoretical framework is a socio-constructivist view of learning, including learning community, as well as building of knowledge sharing and processing it with others. The research questions are: what types of situations R & T play get started? What is the structure of R & T play in different situations? How R & T play, rampage and aggressiveness differ? The theoretical part is composed on the basis of written R & T play research articles. There is no research articles about R & T play in Finnish language. In my research I videotaped twelve, one integrated special group, 4 to 5 year old children's play situations. Research material consisted of video episodes that had a total of 38. Research material I collected in late autumn 2014 and spring 2015. Total video material was 253.91 minutes. About 10 Video-file episodes I did content logs. Content logs I described of molecular- and the molar level. Molar level I analyzed about the script point of view. It is important to allow children's play in different situations and locations. Fun mode has a big impact on what kind of play is chosen and how it is formed. State attracts a certain kind of play and thus the direction of children's ideas of play. Playing is vital and all forms of play, also R & T play, produces joy to children and strengthen their social skills. With the help of the video-episodes, I tried to show that also R & T play is important. However, R & T play is only a tiny part of the whole play-flame. I think adults need "RTP-eyeglasses", see R & T play first and second, allow it. Children with special needs, challenge and / or puzzles play skills, are unable mutual R & T play. There are needed a good playing skills to RTP.

Aims. The purpose of this study is to describe the means families utilize to secure the after-school-time their young children spend without adult supervision. The statutory after-school care for 1st and 2nd graders offers the working parents flexibility when organizing the work and family time. Yet the families of as young as nine-year-olds are left with no organized after-school activities. This study relies on previous studies on after-school-program quality, flexible working time arrangement, family time management, digitalization and Anglo-American after-school programs. The main research questions are: 1. How does the after-school care appear in everyday family life? 2. What are the means parents use to secure the child's after-school time? 3. How do parents utilize digital technologies in securing the after-school time? Methods. The data for this study were collected in two separate sets. The first data set consists of 5 texts describing everyday life of families with young school children. The texts were provided by working mothers of children entitled to after-school care. The second set of data was collected through semi-structured interviews of 9 working mothers of children no longer entitled to after-school care. The interviews were conducted to include data on the strategies families choose to secure the after-school time when adult supervision is no longer organized by the community. The data were analyzed using content analysis and cross-sectional qualitative data analysis. This method allows to emphasizing the common nominators of the various data sources instead of the experiences of one family. Results and Conclusions. The after-school care could be related to various every day elements of a household. The main elements were safety, nutrition and care and social environment. Parents use several strategies to ensure the well-being and safety of a child without adult supervision. Of mobile technologies, digital communication was recognized as part of parental control but not as ethically debatable surveillance. Parents highly appreciate the school-organized after-school programs and wish to see more activities of that type for their children.

Objectives. This study explored the development of children's executive function skills in groups with a Pieni Oppiva Mieli Intervention (MindUp ™). The study is part of Helsinki Uni-versity's Pieni Oppiva Mieli project, which implements a program based on mental control and childrens' practice in early childhood education and pre-school education. The key objectives of the study were to improve social skills, improve self-knowledge and self-regulation, improve skills in academic skills and business management, and increase positive and optimistic skills. The study wanted to find out how children's executive function and attentiveness skills devel-oped in groups where the Pieni Oppiva Mieli Intervention was consistently and committedly used. In addition, the study looked at the development of executive functions and attentiveness and the effects of intervention between different sexes. Methods. The material was collected during autumn 2016 and spring 2017, with three day care centers in Espoo and Vantaa. Of these three day care centers, all adults participated in MindUp training and at the same time POM. There were 16 study groups, n = 255 children (2-7 years) and 54 professionals (vo, veo, vlh). In connection with the project, the educational staff as well as the parents of the children in the sample completed the PikkuKESKY concentration survey for children aged 5-6 and Esikoulu- KTA forms, the latter of which describes the child's skills and strengths. In September-October 2016, initial measurements were carried out by education-al staff. After that, the groups accomplished Pieni Oppiva Mieli program, which included a calming moment three times a day. Final measurements were carried out in May-June 2017. In this study, all the sections of the PikkuKESKY questionnaire and the selected sections for the Esikoulu- KTA form were subjected to the Cronbach alfa test. The consistency of the meter proved to be strong for both entities (α> .70), meaning that the meter itself can be considered to be consistent. The T-test of dependent samples (SPSS 24) was used to analyze the data. In addi-tion, when examining gender differences, the material was subjected to one-way ANOVA with repeated measures. Results and conclusions. Earlier studies have found that a program to strengthen children's socio-emotional skills, with elements of sedation and science skills, has supported children's pro-social skills, stress-regulating skills, increased children's learning, and contributed positively to the development of children's executive function skills. During the research, part of the executive function skills -initiative, -design and -implementation and emotional regulation have developed. Motor restlessness has decreased during intervention. In addition, the different dimensions of attentiveness have evolved. When studying the impact of age, it is noticed that the mere development of time does not explain the results of the study, but the intervention can be seen to have contributed positively to the development of child resource planning and awareness skills.

Craft beer has become very popular in Finland and around the world in the last few years. The aim of this thesis was to find out why consumers who drink craft beer are interested in it. In this thesis, I examine the socio economical backgrounds of craft beer consumers, the place and company in which craft beer is being consumed and the differences between craft beer and commercial beer. The data of this thesis were collected in a questionnaire, which was shared in the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. The questionnaire received answers from 185 respondents, most of whom were 20-34-year-old highly educated men. A factor analysis was conducted, based on which mean variables were constructed. The data were analyzed by cross-tabulation and Mann-Whitney’s U-test. According to the results, craft beer is often consumed alone, with partner or with friends. The drinking place was often either home or friends place. Also, the respondents who drank craft beer more often tended to think themselves more often as beer enthusiasts than those respondents who drank craft beer irregularly. Those who drank craft beer more often held the domesticity, quality, different microbreweries, different craft beers and the overall experience as more important features than those who drank craft beer more rarely. Also, those who drank craft beer more often were ready to go after the craft beer more likely than those who drank craft beer more rarely. The attitude towards craft beer and large breweries’ commercial beer is different. In the case of the craft beer, more attention is paid to the different features of the beer, like foaming and acidity. Also, many other aspects are highlighted in the selection criteria of craft beer: domesticity and locality, reviews, type of beer and the brewery. It can be concluded, that there are plenty of different factors which affect the interest towards craft beer and the consumption of craft beer and commercial beer is situational and related to the regularity of drinking beer.

Aims. Changes in society and educational development of the school have brought new challenges to the teacher's work. Studies in the past have shown that special education teachers experience stress more than other teachers. The aim of this study was to gain information on special class teacher's experiences of the succeeding and the challenges they encounter in their job in the special class and how they cope with the challenges. This study also examines the kind of views that special class teachers have towards the changes of their work. Methods. Themed interviews were used as a method of this qualitative research. The research material comprised of five interviews with special class teachers who had at least ten years' experience in teaching pupils at the special education class. The data were collected and transcribed in January 2017 and analyzed by using theory-based content analysis. Results and conclusions. The results showed that the special class teacher's work involves a wide range of challenges, but also the experiences of success. The experiences of succeeding were related mostly to the interaction between the special class teacher and the student. The main advantage of special class teaching was seen as a better chance of taking individuality into account and the challenges associated with socialization problems. The challenges of the special class teacher's work was seen ia pupils' heterogeneity and problem behaviour, increased non-teaching tasks and too demanding parents. Special class teachers felt that pupils have changed more challenging in recent years and the valuation of their work has weakened. With inclusion special class teachers' work was seen lying ahead of co-teaching in the future. Coping at work was seen to vary depending on a range of one's own life or the work strains. Special class teachers showed up a wide variety of ways to cope with the challenges and to improve their coping at work.

The focus of this discourse analytical study was to review the meanings which prison education and its participants are given in the formal educational policy and to find out whether these meanings are agreed by the prison students. The interests of this thesis were to examine what kind of social and individual promises are related to the prison education and what kind of subject positions are possible to the prison students. The thesis was also interested in the meanings of education in different contexts. The aim of this study was to examine prison education especially for women. This thesis was based on Michel Foucault's ideas of power and the view of this study was directly critical. The prison education was seen as normalizing governance which tends to prepare its subjects to the normal. In this process of differentiating the "normal" and the "abnormal" the subjects of prison education are reconstructed as the "others". The three research questions of this thesis were: how and what kind of prison education is reconstructed firstly in the strategy of prison education and secondly in the interviews. Thirdly it was questioned how and what kind of meanings gender receive in the discourse of prison education. The main data was consisted by the Finnish Criminal Sanctions Agency's document The Strategy of the Prison education for years 2008 2012 and the three interviews of women who participated to prison education. The interviews were made for this thesis in Autumn 2010. Two other Finnish Criminal Sanctions Agency's documents Prisoners in education (2007) and Visible women (2008) - the report of the working group on female prisoners were also used as subtext materials. The methods of critical and realistic discourse analysis and rhetorical analysis were applied in the analysis. The results of the thesis support the outlook of prison education as a form of normalizing governance which reconstruct the "others" position for the prison students. Prison education was seen supportive for personal life control and for integrating to the society. The participants of prison education repeated the official discourses in their accounts which is a signal of internalized governance. The interviewees also used different types of anti-discourses when forming implications of prison education.

Objectives.The aim of this study is to qualitatively study the experiences of Makumestari tour's visitors. Makumestari tour was organised by Ruokakulttuurikeskus Ruukku Ry. The research findings will evaluate the success of the event and will provide development suggestions for the future Makumestari tour events. Furthermore, visitors' thoughts based on how the event can have an impact on children's food habits will be evaluated in this study. Insufficient diet and lack of vegetables in the diet are the most common problems concerning children and families' food habits. The aim of the flavour education, based on Sapere method, is to provide food education to children, diversify families' diets, and to eliminate neophobia. All this is meant to be carried out with children enjoying themselves with learning. Methodology. Material of this study was collected by interviewing children and adults visiting Makumestari events in Autumn 2015. Adults and children were interviewed in small groups, in six different cities. Interviews were executed after visitors had performed series of tasks concerning different human basic senses. 66 groups and total of 165 people including 93 adults, 41 girls and 31 boys were interviewed for the study. Material was analysed with the content analysis through arranging material by themes and categories based on research questions. Results and conclusions. According to the study Makumestari tour was a successful and well organized event. The event was believed to increase interest towards food, widen notions about food and decrease food neophobia. The event helped people to understand their own senses and people learnt to recognise how important every sense is when it comes to food. In this event children seemed to have the courage to taste new flavours and the children are believed to continue trying new flavours in the future due to the event. The visitors found the event useful and important. On the other hand, visitors were concerned whether the event only reaches people who are already interested in food and healthy eating habits and questioned if the one single event is enough to change people's food habits permanently. In the future the events should be arranged more regularly at public places or in schools and nurseries in order for the event to reach a wider audience.

Communication between airline pilots and cabin crew plays an important role in aviation safety. However, little research has been conducted in the area of pilot-cabin crew communication and relationship. The aim of this study was to identify and name competing discourses in pilot-cabin crew relationship and to describe how these discourses compete with one another. Theory of relational dialectics (Baxter & Montgomery 1996; Baxter 2011) was used as the theoretical framework. Eight members of cabin crew and six pilots were interviewed. Members of cabin crew were interviewed in pairs. Two of the pilots were interviewed individually and four in pairs. The interviews were analyzed using contrapuntal analysis. Contrapuntal analysis aims to identify competing discourses and their interplay. Six competing discourses were identified in pilot-cabin crew communication and relationship. They were predictability-novelty, one crew-two crews and ideal-real. The predictability-novelty struggle became apparent in the discursive struggle of different work positions being occupied with different crew members and in the discursive struggle of official and unofficial communication during the flight. The discourses of one crew and two separate crews were played against one another in the discursive struggles of equality-hierarcy and efficiency-politeness. The discursive struggle of ideal-real constitutes a scene on which the other discourses compete. One coherent and egalitarian crew, where each crew member communicates openly and predictably according to the rules and regulations attached to his/her position was presented as ideal. This ideal is often, but not always, accomplished.

Positive pedagogy relies on seeing the good in people and focusing on strengths. In addition to learning, the pedagogical trend aims to increase well-being and happiness. Character strength education, which is closely attached to positive pedagogy, supports everyone to grow into an incomparable person with their own unique set of character strengths. Previous research has shown that character strength education is widely associated with success in life in many different areas. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of character strength intervention based on See the good! -pedagogy developed by Finnish researchers Lotta Uusitalo and Kaisa Vuorinen. The study focused in particular on six character strengths, which were perseverance, self-regulation, perspective-taking ability, creativity, social intelligence, and teamwork skills. The study observed the possible change in students' understanding and development of the strengths during intervention. In addition, the study examined the importance of sex in possible changes produced by the character strength education. This longitudinal research was part of a larger project in Finland called #uuttakoulua. The research data was collected from students in basic education (n = 240) in two different parts with an electronic questionnaire. The study included both test group that received character strength education (n = 184) and a control group that participated in traditional education (n = 56). IBM SPSS Statistics 24 was used for data analyzes. The analysis methods were the analysis of variance of repeated measurements and the t-test of repeated measurements. The analyzes revealed that both the understanding of social intelligence and perseverance in the test group increased statistically significantly compared to the control group. There was no statistical significance in the development of strengths between the test and control groups. Despite this, self-regulation, perspective-taking ability and social intelligence improved regularly with the participants in test group. According to the analyzes, gender was not a determining factor in the study. The results suggest that the program has the potential to increase students' understanding of character strengths and develop related skills regardless of gender.