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This Master's thesis for the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Helsinki researched the expectations and values expressed by Finnish students studying for a university degree in Australia. The study considered the reasons and values named by these students by asking why the students are motivated to complete a university degree in Australia. The phenomena investigated focused on both Australian study-based immigration and the value choices made by the young to achieve their personal internationalization goals. The study was conducted as a qualitative research with semi-structured interviews for seven Finnish degree students studying at Australian universities in September-October 2020. The analysis of the transcribed interviews followed the framework of the expectancy-value theory by Eccles and Wigfield (2002) especially for the categories of perceptions, expectations for success, and subjective task values and associated costs. Of the students' subjective task values, the utility values, expenses and psychological costs of studying in Australia were particularly emphasized. While studying in Australia was considered expensive, it was also considered useful. The emphasis on internationality, language skills for future professional life and, in particular, a longer-term residence permit in the country seemed to be significant factors in a student's choice to pursue a university degree in Australia. Beginning tertiary studies appeared to be linked to the country's visa regulations, with the possibility of a permanent residence permit and eventually the chance for a citizenship. The price of the degree influenced the choices of some students who chose a cheaper university or a field of study, even when they would have preferred otherwise. The students’ experiences in Australia showed growth in self-esteem and self-ability to cope with their studies as a contrast to the initial low expectations they set for their own success. Contrary to Eccles and Wigfield’s (2002) expectancy-value theory, the goals set by the students about studying in Australia did not appear to have been influenced by the expectations, behavior, or attitudes of the student’s family and friends in Finland. Even though they may have been against the student’s choice to study in Australia, the student still decided to pursue it. Australian studies seem to attract young people with their exoticism, but they also require the student to have a strong risk-taking ability, wealth and belief in their own abilities. Australian studies can be an important investment for a student for building an international career and life in Australia.

The purpose of this study was to examine how students perceive their employability and generic skills at the time of graduation. In addition to students' perceptions, aim was to find out how individual factors explain the development of employability and generic skills. Therefore a theory-based analysis model was formed based on prior research (Yorke 2006; Sampson, Reardon, Peterson & Lenz, 2004). Structuring the model was conducted with the objective of understanding the different dimensions that affect individual employability: self-efficacy beliefs, self-regulation skills, strategic competence and motivational factors. The data consisted of twenty interviews of graduates from University of Helsinki. The study utilized both inductive and deductive methods processing the qualitative data. Inductive content analysis was used to explore the subjective experiences related to employability and generic skills. Deductive analysis was done to help understand the variations between the graduates via using the theory-based model and to explain how the individual factors affect the development of employability and generic skills. From the standpoint of transition phase between university education and working life, the results consisted of five student profiles: academic oriented, work-life oriented, self-developers, difficulties faced during the transition phase and major difficulties faced during the transition phase. Results emphasize the role of self-efficacy beliefs, self-regulation skills, future goals and the ability to find utility value in the development of individual employability. The study offers a broad and reciprocal way of understanding the link between the phenomena of employability and generic skills. In conclusion, universities should focus on improving internship and job opportunities for students. Therefore, it is important to offer career guidance and to promote skills needed for future working life. The development of individual self-efficacy beliefs and self-regulation skills should also be supported.

The purpose of this Master's thesis is to explore the vocational education teacher's visions of the future working life in the teaching field and the working life skills needed there. The purpose is also to find out how the teacher in his or her work takes into account the change needs of the future and how he or she teaches and prepares students for the working life of the future. The focus of the review is on the vocational education school teacher's views on the future working life of the motor vehicles sector and the working life skills needed to work there. In this thesis the concept of “future” means the situation after next ten years. The thesis focuses on three research questions: 1) What will the working life of the field to be taught be like in the future? 2) What working life skills do students in the field of teaching need in the working life of the future? 3) How will a vocational education teacher prepare students for the working life of the future? A semi-structured theme interview has been used as a method of data collection in this thesis, and the data has been collected by interviewing 6 from vocational education in the motor vehicles sector. The interviews were conducted as individual interviews via video call over remote connections. The method used for the analysis of the material was thematic content analysis, theming the material on the future prospects of the motor vehicles sector, the future working life skills needed in the field, and the guidance and preparation of the teacher's current students for the working life of the future. The material was also typed into two further subsections, the themes of which were related to the renewal of teaching work required by changes in working life and the everyday challenges of teaching work. The theoretical framework of the thesis consists of a literature review, the topics of which consist of the drivers of change in working life, future working life skills as well as the objectives of vocational education and training and, in general, vocational education in the motor vehicles sector in Finland. The research results found that vocational education teachers are professionally minded and interested in following the changes in the field being taught, and they aim to take into account changes in the motor vehicle sector and new competence needs in working life in their work. The results of the study show that the automotive sector is undergoing a transformation and that there will be more and more demanding jobs in its future working life and they will require employees to learn learning ability and new skills. The future time span for a vocational education teacher in the automotive sector is short, extending to the near future, because it is the teacher's duty to train students to become professionals in the current working life. Although the competence needs of the change in the working life of the future are known, there is no possibility to reach further into the future in the everyday life of teaching. In addition to teaching, challenges for the teacher are created by heterogeneous student groups, the safety concerns raised by new technologies, such as the electrification of cars, and the disruptions in teaching situations and educational challenges that have increased with the expansion of compulsory education. With new technologies, it is necessary to update the teacher's own competence and, due to busy work, renewing one's expertise would require a fresh attitude and the use of one's free time to learn new things.

Objective of the study. Previous research has shown that students learn generic skills during university studies both in formal and informal learning environments. According to them universities’ task is to develop students’ generic skills. The connection between generic skills and learning environments which support their learning needs more research. Objectives of this study were to find out students’ experiences on learning generic skills during university studies, which learning environments supported their learning of the generic skills, and how students experienced to learn generic skills in different learning environments. This study’s aim is to increase understanding of students’ learning of generic skills and to get perceptions of the learning environments which support the learning of specific generic skills. Methods. The semi-structured theme interview material (n=58) collected at the Centre for University Teaching and Learning at the University of Helsinki was used in this study. The interviews collected from the students at the Faculty of Arts (n=20) were selected for this study. The results were analyzed by using abductive content analysis. Results and conclusions. Learning of skills related to forming academic knowledge and thinking skills was highlighted clearly in the results. Furthermore, learning of social and communication skills was emphasized in the results. According to the results, both formal and informal learning environments supported learning of generic skills. Learning of skills related to forming academic knowledge and thinking skills in university studies generally was highlighted in the results. Learning of social and communication skills was emphasized in working life generally in the results. Learning of specific generic skills is essential during university studies, even though it is not always easy to recognize learning them. In the future, students’ learning of generic skills could be studied for example by investigating the relation of some pedagogical approach to students learning of generic skills. In this study, students mainly described learning of generic skills in university studies generally. Moreover, students’ experiences on learning generic skills in the beginning of their studies could be compared to their experiences after completing Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.

The deteriorating occupational well-being of teachers is an internationally recognized phenomenon and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on teachers’ work further increased its media coverage. In Finland, the promotion of teachers’ occupational well-being is one of the objectives of OAJ, The Trade Union of Education. It publishes the magazine Opettaja 22 times a year and claims all teachers, supervisors and decisionmakers in the field of education as the magazine’s target group. Due to the organization’s role, the magazine’s writings can influence the readers’ perceptions of the organization as the protector of their interests and of the situation in the education sector, as well as on the education policy. In my research I aimed to find out how the teachers’ occupational well-being is being talked about in the editorials of Opettaja magazine. In the study, the teachers’ occupational well-being was examined by utilizing the Job Demands-Resources Model and specifying the most typical demands and resources in teachers’ work environment. The research is qualitative and is based on the social constructionist understanding of knowledge as being constructed in the interaction between people. The material consisted of 47 editorials of Opettaja magazine, which dealt with teachers’ occupational well-being. The basis of limiting the data was the arrival of the coronavirus in Finland, so the studied material was gathered from magazines between a period from January 2020 to August 2022, when the analysis was started. Discourse analysis was used as a method to identify different ways of speaking of teachers’ occupational wellbeing in the editorials. As a result of the research, three discourses were identified, the ill-being discourse, the responsibility discourse, and the meaningful work discourse. In the ill-being discourse teachers’ occupational well-being was portrayed as weak and their working conditions challenging in many ways. In the responsibility discourse the occupational well-being was discussed in a solution-oriented manner, and the main focus was on obliging various parties to take care of it. In the meaningful work discourse the occupational well-being was described as something teachers earn for their important work and as a prerequisite for Finland’s success now and in the future. Based on this study, information obtained from well-being research is widely utilized in the occupational well-being speech of Opettaja magazine’s editorials, which most likely promotes the union’s image as an expert on the subject. Efforts to influence the readers can also be distinguished from the speech. Each discourse can be interpreted as having its own function in the speech of the trade union from the point of view of both groups of readers. By taking their potential effects into account, it is possible to better understand and anticipate, for example, solutions that teachers make regarding working in their profession.

Tämän työn tavoitteena oli luoda työhyvinvointia mahdollisimman kattavasti mittaava kysely ja toteuttaa se valitsemassani organisaatiossa. Tavoitteena oli myös tuottaa tutkimustuloksiin perustuvia kehitys- ja toimenpide-ehdotuksia henkilöstön työhyvinvoinnin ylläpitämiseksi ja parantamiseksi kohdeorganisaatiossa. Tarkastelin työhyvinvointia kuormituksen ja uupumisriskin, psykologisten perustarpeiden täyttymisen, työn imun kokemisen sekä työn vaatimusten ja voimavarojen näkökulmasta. Loin työhyvinvointikyselyn aiemmissa tutkimuksissa käytettyjen, erilaisia hyvinvoinnin osa-alueiden tutkimiseen luotujen mittareiden pohjalta. Toteutin kyselyn kohdeorganisaatiossa koko sen henkilöstölle ja analysoin tuloksia kvantitatiivisin menetelmin. Kokonaisuudessaan työhyvinvoinnin tila näyttäytyi kohdeorganisaatiossa hyvänä: psykologiset perustarpeet tyydyttyivät ja työn imua koettiin hyvin, minkä lisäksi työn voimavarat olivat työn vaatimuksia vahvemmat. Työhyvinvoinnin osa-alueiden väliltä löytyi tutkimuskirjallisuutta tukevia yhteyksiä. Työn voimavarat korreloivat positiivisesti psykologisten perustarpeiden toteutumisen ja työn imun kanssa. Työn imu korreloi puolestaan negatiivisesti kuormituksen määrän kanssa. Työn vaatimusten kasvaessa myös kuormitus kasvoi, kun taas psykologisten perustarpeiden toteutumisen vahvistuessa kuormituksen määrä laski.

The aim of this study was to find out about the heads of daycare units (n = 11) well-being at work in Helsinki early childhood education area from the viewpoints of work engagement and leadership practices of the local district manager (n = 1). The survey asks: 1) In what ways work engagement is a part of the heads of daycare units well-being at work? and 2) What kind of leadership practices are recognized in leadership of the local district manager? The starting points for making the thesis were the work engagement model (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004) and model for servant leadership (Van Dierendonck, 2011). Experiences of vigor, dedication and absorption are characteristic for work engagement. It is possibile to experience work engagement when the leader acts like a servant leader (Hakanen, 2011). The data was collected in the spring of 2016. All the participants were themeinterviewed and the heads of daycare units answered to the work engagement scale, UWES Utrecht work engagement scale. In addition the investigator observed one areameeting. The qualitative research data analysis were applied theory based content analysis approach (work engagement) and theory guided content analysis approach (leadership practices). Quantitative data was analysed statistically with basic statistics. According to the results the heads of daycare units experience dedication the most. The most typical experiences were feelings that their job is significant. They experienced vigor about once or twice a week and the right amount of challenge in work supported it. Work experience was a positive resource in challenging situations. For absorption it was challenging that work seemed to be interrupted often and that priority of the duties had to be organized often once more. The leadership of the local district manager included providing direction, empowering and developing people and interpersonal acceptance, as in the model of Van Dierendonck (2011). Empowering and developing people seemed to make providing direction possible. In the early childhood education area, there were mutual trust between heads of daycare units and the local district manager. The local district manager allowed a lot of freedom to work to the heads of daycare units and she was there for them when in need.

This study charts early childhood educators' experiences of their well-being at childcare work in Helsinki. Both occupational well-being and changes in Finnish early childhood education practices have been very actual topics in societal conversation. According to the earlier research it's known, that occupational well-being consists of many different factors. Occupational well-being has been studied a lot, but not that widely in early childhood education context. This study is about to report the educators' experiences of different sectors in occupational well-being and to compare different relations between these factors and different variables' effects on the experiences. This is a quantitative cross study that has been practiced as a survey. The data was collected by questionnaires from six communal day care centers in Helsinki from all the childcare workers. In total 72 educators with different educational background from kindergarten teachers to nurses took part on this research. Research results proved that early childhood educators in Helsinki found their work pleasant and liked it in their workplaces, even though the majority were unhappy with their salary and had considered changing their careers to different areas of work. Childcare work was found stressful. The stress was found to be caused mainly by lack of time, noise and changes due to sudden absence of the staff. Childcare workers saw their abilities good to deal with stress and other job demands and to influence on their own occupational well-being. Good atmosphere and interaction in the work community and the support from workmates and the director were found very important for occupational well-being.

Working life is changing. The core of the change is change in the production and service concepts of organizations. Changes at work are connected to problems in the well-being of employees. To respond to this challenge, occupational health care must develop a course of action. A group of occupational health care units has developed new activity theory-based methods, the object of which is to change the service concept of occupational health care. The focus is on the changes and disturbances in work activity. My aim was to study this development from the perspective of knowledge management; to clarify directors'/ managers' conceptions of the content and object of their managerial work and the tensions included in these conceptions; to examine the learning process involved in these methods and to bring to light the problems, developmental needs and challenges during the implementation and consolidation phases of the process. This was a case study which included 10 occupational health care units using or being trained to use activity theory-based methods. My data consisted of interviews with directors/managers and recordings of the meetings; 20 directors/ managers are represented; I interviewed seven directors/ managers who represented four units. Directors'/ managers' conceptions of the content and object of managerial work were divided into eight categories of description, which I connected to the historical forms of organizations and types of management. Intuitive and rational management are historically older forms of management. The categories of description representing intuitive and rational management contained many internal tensions, i.e. they do not satisfy the demands of the environment. On the other hand, the categories of description which represented management by results and the control of the development process contained very few or no tensions at all; they are effective in the present environment of occupational health care. The learning process of activity theory-based methods has been expansive in nature. The occupational health care units studied are in different phases of the learning process, and these processes have been different. In three units the focus was on work development; in one unit the focus was on development of the service concept. The most central problems, challenges and developmental needs during the implementation phase were related to learning and spreading of methods inside one's own unit, and during the consolidation phase to working with partners.

Objectives. The purpose of this study is to find out how workers, who do not have the opportunity to dine their workplace canteen organize their in-work meals. I apply a perspective of home economics science to my research in a way, that I am not primarily interested in what the men under my study eat, but rather I focus on the accounts on how they organize their working-time meals. I try to understand man as a thinking and functioning being who interacts with his environment. The goal of everyday human activities is to maintain the basic conditions of life, such as access to food, which makes eating during work an object of daily activity. Very little research has been done on the eating habits of workers. Prättälä (1998) studied the effect of working conditions for foresters and carpenters on. Viinamäki (2010) studied lunch patterns of hospital staff members, and Tuikkanen and Mikkola (2015) studied the working hours of factory workers. Workers' eating habits have long been a concern and working conditions are known to affect working hours. Changing one´s eating habits is challening and it is known that workers only start changing their diet when the health reasons weigh more than their shoulders can handle. In order to make changes, it is important to understand why workers act the way they do and what meanings their eating habits involve. Methods. This research is qualitative and the data were collected by interviewing. Altogether seven interviews were conducted, and the interviewees were aged 30-53. They lived northern Finland. The interviewees worked in different jobs at different workplaces and were united by the lack of a workplace canteen. The data were analyzed by qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions. The results of this study show that workers arrange in-work meals regardless of the prevailing conditions. Very different solutions are made in similar working conditions, because different tactics are used to organize the working-time meals. These tactics represent, the meanings given to meals as well as the worker's relationship to work. Workers feel that eating is everyone's own business and that the decisions made by others are respected.