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Research of social exclusion is mainly focused on to explore young people and adults. There is only limited research available of social exclusion of children under school age. Social exclusion is however involved in a day care centre's every day life. Social exclusion is a multi-threaded term which is included closely in theories of socialization and children's social development. Previous researches have shown that social exclusion is a sum of many factors. Researchers' definitions of social exclusion are often varied according to what has been the subject and purpose of the research. This research focuses on to examine how the withdrawn behaviour appears in day care centre and how does it affect to social relationships between children. The research also studies the amount of support that withdrawn children need compared to other children. Previous researches have demonstrated that withdrawn behaviour is one of many sections of the social exclusion. The material of this study is gathered from "Orientaation lähteillä" research (Reunamo 2010). 50 day care centres and 14 childminders from Uusimaa and Hämeenlinna took part in the research. Age of the 892 children who participated in the research varied from one to seven. Method of this research was quantitative and the data was gathered by observation, interviews and teachers pedagogical evaluation of children. The data was analysed by using a one way analysis of variance and the statistical significance of results were confirmed by Kruskall-Wall test. According to this study the withdrawn child's main activity was orientation action; wandering around, waiting for something to happen or monitoring the situation. When the withdrawn children attached to action they didn't seek other children's company or express interest in other children's activities. Withdrawn children didn't have interest in social objects like toys or other items. According to teachers' evaluations withdrawn children needed more support in different areas of development than other children. The needs of support were not only in the field of social development but also on the side of motor-, cognitive- and emotional development. Social isolation and problems with it appear as early as under school age. The younger the child is the easier it is to intervene and cut the social exclusion circle.

In this study, my aim is to examine how the profitability of private early childhood education is defined and how the status of the child is determined in the news related to the corporate restructuring of a private Touhula kindergarten company. The ethos of neoliberalism influences early childhood education, and its marketization, bringing with goals related to competition, freedom of choice, and requirements of efficiency. The privatization of early childhood education is part of the marketization development. Previous research has shown that the marketization and privatization of early childhood education affects the child, families, teachers, leadership, and learning in general. In Finland, the privatization of early childhood education is on the rise. Previous studies in Finland have highlighted the unequal status of the child in private early childhood education, as there have been variations in the implementation of support and quality. The research material consisted of eighty (80) media reports related to the corporate restructuring of Touhula. In the analysis of the research material, I utilized critical discourse analysis and discursive-deconstructive reading to search for answers to my research questions. I used ATLAS.ti-software as a tool when doing the analysis. Based on my analysis, the profitability of private early childhood education and the status of the child in private early childhood education were determined in many ways. The discourses were polyphonic, overlapping, parallel, and partly contradictory. Both the profitability of private early childhood education and the status of the child reflected an economic perspective, and discourses based on measurement and quantity were on display. The discourses highlighted both the municipality's responsibility for organizing early childhood education and the profitability of private early childhood education from the municipality's point of view. The status of the child was determined to be silent and passive. The child's right to early childhood education was also raised. The research reveals the importance of language in describing reality and the power of the media in constructing this reality. The results of the study can be viewed as one picture of private early childhood education and the status of the child, but more research on the marketization and privatization of early childhood education is needed in the Finnish context.

Aim of the study. The aim of this study was to examine whether there is a connection between 8th and 9th grader’s experience of interactive factors in everyday school life and their experience of social inclusion. More closely it was studied whether their experience of their class atmosphere, teachers, possibilities to influence their schoolwork and feeling of community in school explained experienced social inclusion. These factors were seen to represent the experience of social inclusion in everyday school life, which is why their closer examination was considered reasoned. Defining the concept of social inclusion has been considered challenging. Previous studies have shown that high experience of social inclusion is associated for example with better mental health and reduced loneliness on a societal level. The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of how the experience of social inclusion is explained in school. Methods. The data for this study was school health promotion study, which was collected by Finnish Institute for Health (THL). The data was collected in the 8th and 9th grades in 2019. In total there were 86 864 middle school age participants in school health promotion study. For this study the data was limited to 79 206 participants. The data was analyzed using quantitative methods. The connection between interactive factors influencing school life and the experience of social inclusion was examined using linear regression analysis. It was assumed that the selected factors would clearly explain the experience of social inclusion, considering the theoretical background. Meanwhile it was recognized that the experience of social inclusion consists of many simultaneously influencing factors. Results and conclusions. The results suggested that everyday school life can affect youth’s experience of social inclusion. When all four interactive factors in everyday school life were examined simultaneously, all factors predicted (28,9%) experienced social inclusion. When examined individually, social inclusion was predicted relatively most (25,8%) by the experience of community and the least (5.54%) by the experience of own influencing opportunities in school. The results were in line with preconceptions and previous studies.

Aims. The earlier research indicates that young people are reading less during their spare time. Due to the fact that young people are reading less on their spare time the importance of school is highlighted as a tool to increase the amount of reading. It is important that the teachers are using as inspiring methods as possible when choosing the books to be read. The aim of this study was to find out how the literature was selected in the subject of Finnish language and literature. Furthermore, how the teachers explained their criteria of choosing the book. Methods. The research was conducted as a part of the upper comprehensive school “Lukuklaani-project”. The research material was part of a survey that was directed to upper comprehensive school teachers in spring 2019. The questionnaire comprised of 54 questions, out of two questions were examined in this research. 354 Finnish language and literature teachers had answered the questions. The research was performed by using qualitative methodology and using elements of source-based content analysis. In addition, quantitative methodology was used when presenting the findings in figures. Results and conclusions. This research shows that approx. 75 % of the teachers gave at least some freedom of choice to the students to choose the book. However, almost one quarter of the teachers didn’t let the students to be part of the selection process, instead the teacher selected the book. The selection criteria was argued in many different ways. The most common selection criteria was justified by the wish to examine the book in a specific way. This argument was used by approximately one fifth of the teachers. The most common argument, but only approximately one third, was expressing the view that took into consideration increasing the students reading motivation. Furthermore, the research shows that the teacher should more often consider more thoroughly the selection criteria of books to be read, in order to support the students reading motivation in a better way.

In the transition to remote learning, the importance of natural language skills may have increased, when supporting verbal communication with non-verbal means was partially blocked. It may have resulted linguistic equality challenges for primary education pupils. The purpose of this study is to examine mathematics task performance in two home language groups. Availability of a teacher and support from different parties is expected to be positively related with task performance reported by student, excluding support from a special education teacher. Task performance of pupils whose home language is different from the language of instruction is not expected to be in an equally strong positive relation with availability of teacher with pupils who speak Finnish or Swedish as their home language. The research was carried out by utilizing a survey of the cooperation project of university of Helsinki and university of Tampere, Schooling, teaching and well-being in the school community during the corona epidemic. The material had been collected in the spring of 2020, after the schools had switched back to classroom teaching. The answers of 29163 middle school students were selected for the analysis. Answers were examined using cross tables and Spearman`s rank correlation. The language groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U-test in terms of the teacher`s availability and perceived task performance. The home language groups differed from each other in a statistically significant way in terms of task performance. Teacher`s availability was, as expected, in a positive relation with the pupil`s task performance. The support received from different parties, on the other hand, was negatively related to the number of pupils task performance. The exceptions were parental support, which had positive relation and peer support, which did not appear to be relevant. The task performance of pupils facing linguistic challenges was weaker than others, but the concern about the lower benefit of remote education for pupils with foreign home languages was not confirmed by the results of the study.

Professional identity develops both during education and in professional practice as part of an individual's identity. It aims to understand oneself in relation to professionalism and work, as well as what kind of professional one aspires to become. Defining and unerstanding one's professional identity play a particularly significant role in today's work life. The purpose of this study is to examine how final-stage students in general and adult education perceive their identity as general and adult educationalists. Additionally, the study aims to explore students' experiences of their studies, internships, and previous work experiences, and those effects on their educationalist identity. This study uses phenomenological research approach, focusing on the experiences of the participants, which guided the progression and analysis of the research. Data is collected through semi-structured interviews with final-stage students in general and adult education at the University of Helsinki in May-June 2024. The data is analyzed using descriptive phenomenology, allowing for the formation of seven general networks of meaning. The first general network of meaning includes students' experiences of their educationalist identity. It comprises four smaller networks of meaning: competence, academics, work values, and fu-ture belief. The second general network of meaning reflects students' experiences of uni-versity studies in relation to their educationalist identity. The third general network of mea-ning includs students' experiences of internships and previous work experience in relation to their educationalist identity. The research findings indicate that students perceive their educationalist identity as uncer-tain and ambiguous based on their experiences. Defining their own competence is per-ceived as challenging, but students are aware of their strengths and areas for development, which is important to the development of their professional identity. Academic is not seen as a significant part of their current identity; instead, work values play a crucial role in shaping their educationalist identity. Students emphasize soft and human values that they also aim to utilize in future work life. Free-choice elective studies and previous work experience are considered important for the development of their educationalist identity. However, students' experiences reflect desires for support and guidance during their studies, workplace rele-vance, practicality, and a wider range of study options from their university.

This research is a part of a wider research in the metropolitan area. Junior high school and high school students (n=700) participated in a research about a meaningful and happy school in 2015. The goal is to chart what a meaningful and happy school is like and to get some concrete information about students to improve studying to be more up to date. The purpose of this research is to study the students motivation for studying in the metropolitan area and the needs for social and physical environment. One of the baselines used in this research is Ryan's & Decin's self-determination theory (2000). The research focuses on the answers (n=322) of the students concerning studying motivation, and the social and physical environments in three different junior high schools. The materials were collected through web inquiries. This is a quantitative partial taken from all material, which is analyzed by the Kruskall-Wallis test and variance analysis tests. The students' answers were separated into the students who need general, intensified and special support. The answers are used to find out if the students who need special support want the same matters as the students who need general and intensified support. And to study what kind of differences there are between the students who need special support and those who need general and intensified support. The results show that 86 % of the students, especially students who need special support, want areas to school for relaxing with possibilities to use computers. The students hope to have small rooms for studying by themselves privately. This was also suggested mostly by the students who need special support. At 82 % of students want to use gyms at playtime during the school day. The students who need general support pointed out that school is an important place for meeting friends. From the results we can see that students who need general and intensified support are more motivated to study than the students who need special support. We can affect to the students motivation for studying with support and early stage prevention. Schools can take advantage of the results of this study and they have chances to have an effect on the studying motivation and improving the environment for their students. Motivation and physical and social environment can be used for making school a better place for students.

Objectives. University students should be given possibility to learn generic skills alongside discipline specific knowledge during their university studies. This study examines how bachelor's and master's graduates evaluated the development of different generic skills during their university studies. In addition study examines how bachelor's and master's graduates described learning environments of the generic skills, the most important generic skills and factors impeding the development of the generic skills and also what kind of suggestions bachelor's and master's graduates produced for the better development of the generic skills. Methods. The present study combined both quantitative and qualitative methods. The data were collected through an electronic questionnaire. The survey data in this study consisted of 438 bachelor's graduates and 578 master's graduates survey answers and five bachelor's and five master's graduates interviews. Bachelor's and master's graduates were from different faculties. Quantitative data were analysed using t-test and qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. Results and conclusions. The bachelor's and master's graduates evaluated that the different generic skills have been developed well during university studies. There were statistically significant differences in a few generic skills between bachelor's and master's graduates evaluations but the effect sizes were small. Bachelor's and master's graduates described similarly the learning environments of generic skills. Master's graduates emphasized the importance of working life alone in developing generic skills. Bachelor's and master's graduates perceived critical thinking as a most important generic skill. Bachelor's and master's graduates viewed that different factors which were related to learning methods, courses and teaching, degree, university practices and university as a learning environment, impeded the development of generic skills. For the better development of generic skills bachelor's and master's graduates suggested that university should focus on the professional development and the development of curriculum and teaching. Based on bachelor's and master's graduates evaluations and experiences, it might be that after bachelor's degree the generic skills do not develop significantly in master's degree studies. In the future, a stronger integration of generic skills to the teaching of discipline specific knowledge and paying attention to the students professional development could contribute to better development of generic skills during university studies.

The subject of this study is the historical formation of the university funding formula in Finland during 1995–2010. Funding formula is approached via its historical context, and the aim of this study is to discover and construct regularities that enable and restrict the formation of the funding formula. The main foci of this study are the funding formula, and its components the funding criteria. The primary research material of this study consists of memoranda and decrees of the Ministry of Education in 1995–2006, and legislative material from the university reform in 2007–2010. The frame of this research is built by combining Kari Palonen's topological conception of politics on one hand, and the Foucauldian genealogical-archaeological discourse analysis on the other. Following Palonen, politics is conceptualised here both as activity, and as a sphere borne out of that activity, which can be analysed from nine different perspectives (topos). Discursive formation is conceptualised as set of objects, subjects, concepts, and strategies that are connected to each other by discursive regularities. This study creates a description of a discursive formation, in which and under who's conditions the university funding formula and funding criteria are formulated. The result of this study is extensive and detailed description of the discursive formation. As results it is asserted that there are five discursive regularities that govern the formation of funding criteria: the conflict between the funding model politics and general university politics, policy, internal variation, conceptual changes, and functional extension. The formation of the system of subjects is governed by the relationship between the universities and the Ministry of education. Concepts emerge as a result of a regularity called borrowing, and concepts fade away as soon as they are unneeded. Two strategies, the funding model politics and the general university politics, emerge by the support of the system of subjects, and a third strategy emerges as a conflict zone of the two, functioning as a conflict mediator.

Teacher education is often perceived as a means to change society. Despite this, research on teacher education curricula is scarce; and there are even fewer comparative studies on teacher education curricula. The purpose of this study is to shed light on teacher education curricula using a comparative perspective. The study aims to analyse the Finnish and the English academic primary teacher education curricula as entities; with their aims and objectives, syllabus, methodology and assessment. The targets of the study were the teacher education curricula of Helsinki University and University of Exeter. The study was based on a qualitative document analysis. The research material consisted, in addition to the curricula and module descriptions, of the school placement web-sites and handbooks. Theory-bound content analysis was used to be able to recognise and analyse the key concepts, as well as to contrast and compare them within the theoretical framework. Helsinki University teacher education curriculum is based on a humanistic philosophy that emphasises a student’s “growth” into an autonomous expert teacher and a professional. The curriculum is discipline and subject matter based, with an emphasis on declarative knowledge, scientific thinking and content. Theory and practice remain partially separate and the curriculum could benefit from combining some courses and subjects into cross-curricular modules. The curriculum of the University of Exeter PGCE programme is mostly based on meeting the statutory criteria; the statutory policies are reflected in the university curricula. The structure of the teacher education programme is sound, with different parts of the programme linked together. However, the theoretical and subject knowledge modules are likely to remain too superficial. The curriculum is very practice-orientated.