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Objectives. According to previous studies, psychological safety increases learning-promoting behaviour and well-being in the working group. Psychological safety research has mostly been done in the field of organizational psychology and the aim of this research is to get more information about psychological safety placed in a school context. The idea is to develop a meter, a questionnaire form, for measuring the psychological safety of primary school children, and to test its functionality in practice. The questionnaire form is based in Amy Edmondsons meter that is widely used in organizational psychology. In addition, the purpose is to find out teachers' views on the psychological safety of their classes. Of interest is not only the situation of psychological safety in the classroom, but also the extent to which teachers are aware of the situation in their classes. Methods. This study is a qualitative case study. The study group consisted of the students of two sixth-grade classes and the teachers in those classes. In this work, one class with teachers formed case A and the other case B. There were 13 students in case A and 16 in case B. The research material consisted of questionnaire responses collected from students, as well as teacher interviews. The data were mainly analyzed using qualitative methods, but some quantitative methods were also used to evaluate the results of the questionnaires. Results and conclusions. The form turned out to be quite appropriate for the age group, although it required some clarification. The results collected using the form showed a clear difference between the cases. The responses of the students in case B were clearly more positive and there was less dispersion between the responses of the students than in the students of case A. The responses of the teacher in case A were very similar to those of the students, while the teacher in case B rated the situation as worse than that of her students. This case study provided, as intented, a basis for a broader study of psychological safety in the school world.

This study was a case study on the use of simulation games as a teaching method in Finland. The goal of the study was to determine in what way do the possible theoretical benefits of simulation games as a teaching method manifest in the context of an empirical try-out in Finland’s elementary school system. The method in question is popular among Anglo-Saxon countries, yet it has not achieved a notable foothold within a Finnish teaching context. Based on a theoretical overview simulation games could increase student engagement, activation and socialization when properly utilized as a teaching method. The actual empirical phase of this study was conducted as a simulation game lesson to a certain 6th grade class of 21 students in Helsinki. The actual simulation game was planned to simulate the democratic process and decision-making phases of the Finnish parliament in accordance with the national curriculum of 2014’s civics studies curriculum. After the simulation game lesson feedback was collected from 19 students with a quantitative survey. Six students were selected to be qualitatively interviewed based of the survey results. The result is research material for theoretical benefits for simulation games that has been collected using a mixed methods approach. The quantitative material was analysed for averages and frequencies. The qualitative material was processed via content analysis. Based on the quantitative survey all three possible benefits were present during the simulation game lesson. According the qualitative results students found the engagement factor of the game itself central to the simulation game experience. A sense of agency was also considered to be an important factor. Working together was a cross-sectional theme of simulation games, yet it was not reported to be centrally significant. Based on the results, simulation games can be a positive experience for students in regard to agency, autonomy and social skills.

Goal. The corona pandemic during spring 2020 led to closing of schools. Therefor majority of the teachers had to move to distance education. The teachers were in a whole new situation and had to rapidly develop a new way to teach. Co-teaching is an approach becoming more common. It refers to a situation where two or more teachers cooperates. The objective of my study is to figure out how the teachers who were working as co-teachers executed distance education during Spring 2020. Furthermore, I study possible advantages and challenges the teachers experienced from the co-teaching in the distance education. My goal is to add knowledge and understanding of the foundation pillars of co-teaching and distance education through this study. Methods. I sent an e-mail to ten co-teachers where I asked their willingness to participate in my study and three teacher pairs were willing to be a part of my study. Therefor there were three cases in my study. Materials were collected with pair interviews and the theme interview was selected to be a survey. As an analysis method I used the content analysis. Results and conclusions. All Teacher pairs considered it most reasonable to divide their pupil into two separate groups. Each pair had about an hour lasting virtual study hall in a day through video conference. After this the lines were left open so that for example the pupils who needed support were able to stay and work with teacher's assistance. In all three cases the benefits from work pair were mainly the same. Some of the found advantages were divided responsibility, the colleague's support and work stress relief. Challenges due having a work pair were minimal. The reason can be the fact that the interviews were carried out in a pair. One case brought up the occasional disagreements and additional work through work phone. One case experienced that here had been some challenges with communication and it had lead to a few misunderstandings. However, all the teacher pairs emphasised that none of these challenges were a threshold question.

This study examines the impact that the Tapiola choir has had on its singers under its four decades. This pedagogical meaning was studied through the former singers of the Tapiola choir, their life choices and their choice of profession. The purpose of this study was to find out how the Tapiola choir has influenced its singers in the long run - their individuality and personality as well as their world view. The target group of this research were all the former members of the Tapiola choir. Altogether 400 individuals have sung in the Tapiola choir. One hundred of them could be reached and 87 of them answered the enquiry. The enquiry was divided in to the following sections: 1) background, 2) years in the choir, 3) hobbies, 4) statements, 5) complete the sentences and 6) with your own words. The main emphasis in this enquiry was on the 50 statements, which were used to study the respondents' attitudes towards the choir as a hobby, the choir's working methods and music education. Through the analysis of this section the researcher was able to generalize the impacts that Tapiola choir has had on its singers. The theoretical base of this study examines the subtext of musicality and musical development as well as music as a hobby. Communal music hobbies and the requirements for a functioning music community were also accentuated. This was connected to my hypothesis of an educative music community. A music community can't be truly educative if its members are unable to collaborate in different situations of practicing and performing. The research results support my hypothesis of the educativeness of a children's choir. The former choristers are socially skilled and self-confident individuals, who are well prepared for the challenges in life. In the Tapiola choir every member is a responsible individual as well as an important part of the whole. The different tasks given in the choir teach the choristers to trust their own skills. Working in a group for its part develops social skills. Many of the respondents also felt that singing in the Tapiola choir was more than a hobby, almost like a way of life. Many of them impress that they would be totally different persons without this period in their life.

Objectives. The sentence span task is a complex working memory span task used for estimating total working memory capacity for both processing (sentence comprehension) and storage (remembering a set of words). Several traditional models of working memory suggest that performance on these tasks relies on phonological short-term storage. However, long-term memory effects as well as the effects of expertise and strategies have challenged this view. This study uses a working memory task that aids the creation of retrieval structures in the form of stories, which have been shown to form integrated structures in longterm memory. The research question is whether sentence and story contexts boost memory performance in a complex working memory task. The hypothesis is that storage of the words in the task takes place in long-term memory. Evidence of this would be better recall for words as parts of sentences than for separate words, and, particularly, a beneficial effect for words as part of an organized story. Methods. Twenty stories consisting of five sentences each were constructed, and the stimuli in all experimental conditions were based on these sentences and sentence-final words, reordered and recombined for the other conditions. Participants read aloud sets of five sentences that either formed a story or not. In one condition they had to report all the last words at the end of the set, in another, they memorised an additional separate word with each sentence. The sentences were presented on the screen one word at a time (500 ms). After the presentation of each sentence, the participant verified a statement about the sentence. After five sentences, the participant repeated back the words in correct positions. Experiment 1 (n=16) used immediate recall, experiment 2 (n=21) both immediate recall and recall after a distraction interval (the operation span task). In experiment 2 a distracting mental arithmetic task was presented instead of recall in half of the trials, and an individual word was added before each sentence in the two experimental conditions when the participants were to memorize the sentence final words. Subjects also performed a listening span task (in exp.1) or an operation span task (exp.2) to allow comparison of the estimated span and performance in the story task. Results were analysed using correlations, repeated measures ANOVA and a chi-square goodness of fit test on the distribution of errors. Results and discussion. Both the relatedness of the sentences (the story condition) and the inclusion of the words into sentences helped memory. An interaction showed that the story condition had a greater effect on last words than separate words. The beneficial effect of the story was shown in all serial positions. The effects remained in delayed recall. When the sentences formed stories, performance in verification of the statements about sentence context was better. This, as well as the differing distributions of errors in different experimental conditions, suggest different levels of representation are in use in the different conditions. In the story condition, the nature of these representations could be in the form of an organized memory structure, a situation model. The other working memory tasks had only few week correlations to the story task. This could indicate that different processes are in use in the tasks. The results do not support short-term phonological storage, but instead are compatible with the words being encoded to LTM during the task.

The object of this study was to examine waiters’ early career perceptions on learning and professional growth in a new restaurant. Jobs in the restaurant industry are often seen as a low-education jobs that serve as a gateway for young people on their way to their actual careers. However, the industry can also accommodate employees who see themselves working in the industry in the future as well. The purpose of my thesis was to find out what kind of experiences the waiters who started in the target company had during the probationary period in terms of learning and professional growth. The theoretical framework of the study is based on theories of work-based learning and professional growth. In addition, the theoretical framework opens up specific features of the restaurant industry that help form a better understanding of the industry. Six young waiters in the early stages of their careers who started a new job at the target restaurant took part in the study. The interviews were conducted at the end of a 4-month probationary period in the spring of 2019. The interviews were conducted as semi-structured thematic interviews. Data was analyzed using theory-directing content analysis, in which theory guided the analysis. The results of the study revealed that waiters’ work based learning manifested itself in many different contexts and was multidimensional in nature. Learning took place in formal training provided by the employer, but most of the learning at work was perceived to take place during customer service and through interaction with co-workers. The development of professional competence was also perceived as an important measure of learning, from which the waiters felt able to concretely notice that learning had taken place. Professional growth was perceived to have taken place through the self-reflection required for particularly challenging work, although the process of professional growth was at the beginning. From the research results, it can be concluded that learning a new job is a multidimensional process that consists of many factors and also continues beyond the actual probation period.

The aim of this study is to find out the classroom teachers' perceptions of learning motivation, the factors influencing it and their motivation strategies. I use two different theories related to learning motivation as the theoretical background of the research. These are Deci's and Ryan's (2000) Self-Determination Theory and Eccles’ and Wigfield's (2000) Expectation-Theory. According to these theories, an individual's motivation is constructed by various factors. At the heart of self-determination theory are basic psychological needs that, when fulfilled, increase an individual's intrinsic motivation. According to Decin and Ryan (2000), the basic psychological needs of an individual are perceived autonomy, perceived ability, and a sense of belonging. In Eccles and Wigfield's (2000) expectation value theory, an individual's motivation is again seen to be influenced by performance-related expectations and values. This study is a qualitative and its research approach is a case study.The subject of this study was six classroom teachers. Classroom teachers were interviewed individually using themes related to learning motivation. All interviews were recorded and later transcribed. Thematic design was utilized in the analysis of the obtained material. The results of the study showed that the perceptions of learning motivation of the interviewed teachers were very similar to each other. Three different themes were created from the responses of classroom teachers as factors influencing learning motivation. These included psychological factors, social factors, and student alertness. Three different themes were also created from the motivational strategies provided by the teachers themselves. The themes related to the strategies of motivation were the strategies related to working methods, the strategies related to the learning environment and the strategies related to the learning situation. This research does not actually provide entirely new information on the topic I am researching, but it does give voice to the interviewees ’perceptions of learning motivation. I find this important both from a research point of view and from the individual point of view of the interviewees. Some of the interviewees stated that they had never thought deeper about perceptions of learning motivation, because they felt that it was automatized.

Craft curriculum (POPS 2014) describes craft as multimaterial subject, where students learn both textile craft and technical craft. Over the last few years discussion about curriculum reform has emerged in media texts when technical craft teachers and TAO ry have shared their worry about the devastation of technical craft and the availability of technology industry employees. Previous study has stated that the current challenges of craft subject concern multi-materiality, lesson hour distribution and technology education. The aim of qualitative study was to examine and interpret the current discussion concerning craft subject based on three determinants: individual, society and subject. Also connections between craft subject and 21st century skills were examined. The data consisted of 35 texts, including craft teachers’ and government advocacy groups’ statements and news articles. The data included also 618 reader comments of news articles. Texts were analyzed with content analysis with a theory-driven approach using curricula determinants (individual, society and subject) as the theoretical framework (Marjanen & Metsärinne, 2019; Lahdes 1970). The discussion revealed multidimensional, overlapping and contradictory goals of craft subject in the 2020s. From individuals’ perspective the goal of craft subject was seen as skills development, opportunities to immerse oneself in craft, prevent social exclusion and demonstrate craft hobbies as a way to well-being. Society-driven goals were ensuring the availability of technology industry employees, improving Finnish competitiveness in global competition, dismantling gender segregation in education and occupation and developing techno-wisdom. Also subject-driven goals were mentioned concerning learning, craft process and product. The main focus of discussion were gained economic value and productivity through craft skills and craft education. Debaters conjoined craft subject and 21st century skills especially in learning thinking skills. In addition to technical know-how, manual skills and makers were needed and appreciated in the future.

The focus of the research in this Master´s thesis was in the personal views of the parents of the children with ASD about family-centered work in school, early childhood education and health care: how they are treated, how well they feel they are supported and what kind of wishes they have for meetings with professionals. The aim is to improve the competence of school and health care professionals and to improve their ability to work with parents of children with ASD. The parents of children with ASD cooperate closely together with different professionals and a successful cooperation has a positive effect on the parents' coping and daily survival. However, parents often face various challenges when collaborating with professionals in health care and in school. The data of this research consists of 28 responses from parents of children with ASD. A web questionnaire was used to collect the data and it was analyzed qualitatively with theory-guided approach. In the questionnaire parents were asked to share their experiences about how they have been met and taken into account in the meetings with the professionals in school, early childhood education and health care. The results showed that there were lots of variation between individual experiences on how the family-centered work has manifested and realized. Most of the experiences of the parents were quite negative while the positive experiences had a positive impact on the collaboration. Parents felt quite often that the responsibility was distributed unevenly and the load for the parents was too heavy. Collaboration was also hindered by the stiffness of the system, continuous replacement of the professionals and the underestimation of the parents experience. Also the lack of know-how and uncertainty of the professionals taking care of the childrens’ matters was frustrating for the parents. Parents also told that the families were supported in a more holistic way, that they were heard and care were individualized. The amount of help and support was felt insufficient and the parents also felt that they were blamed and they were given negative feedback. They also felt that they were informed quite poorly and they wished for more concrete advice and help for the search of the information. Family-centered work is a good basis for the collaboration. It is built of multiple little things, but one of the main things is that the professionals keep the whole family in the focus. Professionals with a sufficient know-how are able to take the responsibility needed so that the load for the families isn’t too heavy. That is also one key thing to build trust between the professionals and the parents. And for that reason it is important to always upgrade the knowledge and to ask help if needed. Also the ability to listen the needs of the families and to offer help and support spontaneously is important. It is always important to take care of the child, but also the whole family and make sure the parents are well. Even though there are always lack of time and resources for the professionals to deal with, it is important to understand that just by being present, listening and meeting the families with respect, it is possible to create a positive atmosphere for the meetings and enhance the family-centered work to be realized. Positive feedback, informing the families and investing in the first meetings with the new families will make it and will help the family-centered work to be realized.

Aims. The aim of the study was to find out the relations between attention, formal operational thought, psychological well-being and school achievement and choices of educational tracks. The thesis complements the study and modelling carried out by the Centre for Educational Assessment and Unit of Special Education of the University of Helsinki by adding psychological well-being to the model of attention, formal operational thought and future plans. Method. The data consisted of a sample of ninth graders from six comprehensive schools from a municipality in Eastern Finland. The size of the sample was N=287 of which girls 53% (ngirls=152) ja boys 47% (nboys=135. The data were gathered using a computer-assisted ACT-test, a multiple choice Formula-test and a BPNS-questionnaire. The data were analyzed using correlations, linear regression and general linear model (GLM) two-way analysis of variance. Results. Both girls' and boys' experience of competence and formal operational thought had a statistically significant relation between school achievement. Regarding girls, competence was a stronger explanatory variable than formal operational thought, whereas regarding boys formal operational thought was a stronger explanatory variable than competence. When girls' choices of educational tracks were examined it appeared that attention and competence were statistically significant explanatory variables regarding the choice of academic track. Boys' choices of the academic track could only be explained by competence. It also appeared that attention had a statistically significant correlation between formal operational thought which in turn was correlated with school achievement. This confirmed the assumption given by previous studies that attention has an indirect effect on school achievement via formal operational thought. The thesis is part of a study (attention, thinking skills, self-determination theory and school achievement) carried out by the Centre of Educational Assessment and Unit of Special Education of the University of Helsinki.