Browsing by Title

The aim of this master's thesis is to examine the formation of special in the speech of teachers. The theoretical framework is based on the stance that people try to make sense of the world by perspective of normal. However, to be normal is possible only if something is deviant from it. When it comes to schools, these lines between normal and deviant have been seen to be linked to the relation of mainstream education and special-education. The interest of this study is to analyse, how the special is formed in the speech of teachers when there is more and more students in special education and when the official direction is to bring mainstream education and special-education together by constructing teaching of all students in the same classroom. The research data is formed by interviewing special- and class-/subject-teachers. The interviews were constructed as groups, one included special -teachers and the other one class-/subject-teachers. There where total of seven interviewees. The interviews followed the rules of theme interview. I have analyzed the data by using discourse analysis. According to my results the special were formed as maladjustment, certain problems, imperfection and change. The lines between normal and special operated on the other hand between all students and on the other hand the lines were situated only between certain students, them being the students in the special education class and the students in the mainstream class. When it comes to the consequence of special it was the situation of the student that were concerned. The conclusions of this research suggest the persistence of some categories in schools and the place as an essential component for defining the lines between normal and special. Worth noticing is also the ways that showed the possibility of negotiation.

The aim of this study is to view textile handcraft teachers' ways of using differentiation in their teaching process and unfold how they're relating to differentiation in their teaching. Tomlinson & Imbeau (2010) presented a model of differentiation in classroom context, which consists of four parts: learning environment, curriculum, teaching and evaluation. I started building my own research on the basis of their theory, and in this study I am going to sort out how the handcraft teachers are taking different kinds of students into consideration on these four areas of classroom differentiation. When exploring the teachers' attitudes towards differentiation I'm basing my study on the view of Tomlinson (1995), according to which differentiation is beneficial not only for students, but also for teachers. My study is considered as a qualitative case study. As subjects I had six female primary school handcraft teachers who took part to my study. I interviewed them with the method of semi-structured theme interviews by using an interview frame I created specifically for this purpose (attachment 1). The collected material was analysed with the method of theory-bound content analysis. In every six interviews it indicated that handcraft teachers are doing their best to pay attention to different kinds of students in their teaching process and seeing differentiation as a positive challenge. Every one of the interviewees puts effort on supporting every students' individual progress and to produce experiences of success –each on their own way. It seems that the most variation is within how intensive and with which ways the differentiation is implemented. All the interviewees underlined the importance of encouraging and positive learning environment and every one of them name the experiences of success for students to be one of the most important aims of the classes. The consideration of different kinds of students clearly focuses on the process of teaching and work during the lessons, where the differentiation the teachers use seems to be varying and skilled. The least tools the teachers seem to have for differentiating their assessment, which they evaluate to be the most difficult area of differentiation.

Objectives Earlier studies have shown that preschoolers and elementary school –aged children do not properly understand the connection between 2D-geometry and 3D-space. Traditional theory on the development of children's geometrical thinking focuses mainly on the recognition and categorizing of shapes and objects and deductive skills. This can be seen in math curricula. The objective of this study is to produce more knowledge about children's geometrical thinking and its development and the core systems of geometry that underlie it. One objective is also to examine the Finnish math curricula in light of our test results and what we know about the two core systems of geometry. Methods The study was conducted on 73 children from preschoolers to 4th-graders, of whom 37 were boys, and 36 were girls. This study is a case study, in which children took part in two separate tests. The first test was done on paper, and it measured the children's understanding of 2D-geometry. The other test was a map-test, in which the children had to walk a simple route, which consisted of a single turn, according to a map. In other words the children had to change a 2D-angle into a turn in space. The correlation between children's performances in the two tests was also under analysis. The study methods were a mix of qualitative and quantitative approach. The map-test was party analyzed through theory-based content analysis, and the quantitative approaches to studying different connections between results in the tests included Spearman's rho and Kruskall-Wallis test among others. Results and conclusions The results were in line with earlier theory on the core systems of geometry. In general, the older the children were, the better they performed in the two tests. Distinct individual differences were found in each age group of the test. The correlation between performances in the two tests was lower than expected and only poor performance in the 2D-test clearly resulted in poor performance in the map test. The results of this study point towards the conclusion that the core systems of geometry, their properties, and the development of their integration should be better recognized throughout the mathematics curricula in preschool and elementary school.

In Finland, children transition from pre-primary education to primary education in the year when the child turns seven years old. Children are already preparing for their schooling in pre-primary education by practising their school readiness skills. However, there is a major variation in the skill levels of pupils in the first grade of education. The concept of the readiness of the school has emerged alongside children’s individual school readiness skills, describing the school’s readiness to take in learners with varying levels of skills. As a result, the focus of the examination of children’s school readiness has increasingly shifted from the development of schools and education. This study explores the views of pre-primary and primary education teachers on the ideal and actual school readiness of children and the readiness of today’s schools to receive learners whose skill levels vary. The research data included three group interviews participated by nine teachers in total. The groups included pre-primary school teachers, class teachers and special needs teachers with experience in teaching pupils in pre-primary and primary education. The data were collected using the semi-structured theme interview method carried out via a remote connection in December 2022. The obtained data were analysed using data-driven content analysis. The school readiness skills that the teachers perceived as ideal were concerned with basic everyday skills, academic skills, fine motor skills, working skills and socio-emotional skills. Especially basic everyday skills, working skills and socio-emotional skills were considered particularly important school readiness skills. Above all, the interviewees wished that children would be able to act in a large group, taking other children into consideration. The teachers noted that there has been progress in children’s academic readiness recently, whereas there are shortcomings in their working skills and socio-emotional skills. The teachers had a positive view of the school’s readiness to take in learners with different skill levels, but they also considered the school’s resources insufficient. The current resources are inadequate to provide pupils with enough of the individual support that they need. Group sizes at schools should be made smaller and the number of adults should be higher. The teachers also considered alternative ways for starting school that would better serve the beginning of each pupil’s school path.

The purpose of this study is to examine children's experiences of participation in everyday preschool life. Children’s participation is considered as an important part in legal documents regulating the field of early childhood education in Finland. However, previous studies show that child participation is poorly implemented in early childhood education. Barriers to participation have been seen as a various understanding of the concept of participation, and the lack of policies that support children's participation. Children's participation is best realized in play and small everyday moments. Instead, in situations involving children’s basic functions, routines take precedence over children’s participation. (Turja & Vuorisalo 2017; Virkki 2015; Fabric 2016) Methods. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study of one pre-school group. The study involved 19 children aged 6-7 years. The research material was collected using method triangulation. The data were collected through five group discussions of 4-5 children and observations of the group´s daily life. The children also took pictures of things they like in preschool. They shared a reason for the pictures they took. The analysis was guided by abductive reasoning. The study followed the basic principle of childhood studies; Children have their own important self-worth and a wealth of information that can only be obtained by asking the children directly (Alanen 2009). Turja's (2011) model of multidimensionality of participation was used in the analysis. Results and conclusions. Children see adults in a pre-school as limiting their activities. They believe that adults decide almost everything in preschool. In addition to supervised activities and daily routines, adult control extends also to children's free playtime. The children had useful and sensible suggestions for activities they felt needed change. The children thought that the daily rest was a function that needs to be changed. Preferably, they would remove it altogether and exchange it for play. Play was an area where children felt participated. In the play, they were allowed to decide who to play with and what to play with. The nice thing about the play is "That you can do whatever you want." The play and friends gained a lot of importance in the children’s speeches and the photos they took. The activities of pre-school education were strongly planned by adults. However, the consideration of the children's interests and the children's ideas fit within the framework of the plans. These children’s ideas, which strengthen children’s participation, engaged them noticeably. Supervised pre-school activities were fun for many children. However, it should be considered how to enable the full participation of children in early childhood education so that it also goes beyond the planning of activities.

Supervisors’ role in implementing pay systems has become important part of pay systems that aim at supporting the strategy of the organization. This thesis studied supervisor’s role in implementing individual performance-based pay. The study focused on the processes by which supervisors can affect the functionality of a pay system. A pay system is well functioning when the employees and supervisors are satisfied with it and the effects are in line with the objectives for the system. Strategic pay is implemented through performance management processes where goals of the work are aligned with the strategy of the organization. The objective of the research was to create a structural model of the processes by which supervisors could improve the functionality of a pay system. The model is based on theories of knowledge of pay, meaning of pay and procedural justice. To test the model, six hypotheses were generated to study whether knowledge of pay, meaning of pay and procedural justice mediate the relations between supervisor’s role and activity and functionality of the pay system. The data for the study was collected with a survey (N=109) in one Finnish organization from the public sector. The data was analysed by structural equation modelling (LISREL 8.53). The results show that supervisors can improve the functionality of the pay system by performance management process, which is based on mutual trust and open communication. The role of the supervisor is to give feedback and tell how performance is connected to the pay raises. When this is done the pay system is experienced as meaningful, the employees are satisfied with it and it induces effects aspired. In addition, fair procedures in performance appraisal are important for employees to be satisfied with their pay. It is discussed whether power to make decisions and the responsibilities of the supervisors are in balance in this organization.

This study examines the leadership skills in municipal organisation. The study reflects the manager views on leadership skills required. The purpose of this study was to reflect the most important leadership skills currently and in the future as well as the control of these skills. The study also examines the importance of the change and development needs of the leadership skills. In addition, the effect of background variables on evaluation of leadership skills were also examined. The quantitative research method was used in the study. The material was collected with the structured questionnaire from 324 Kotka city managers. SPSS-program was used to analyse the study material. Factor analysis was used as the main method for analysis. In addition, mean and standard deviations were used to better reflect the study results. Based on the study results, the most important leadership skills currently and in the future are associated with internet skills, work control, problem solving and human resource management skills. Managers expected the importance of leadership skills to grow in the future. Main growth is associated with the software utilisation, language skills, communication skills as well as financial leadership skills. Strongest competence according to managers is associated with the internet skills. Managers also considered to control well the skills related to employee know-how and manager networking. In addition, significant development needs are required in leadership skills. Main improvement areas were discovered in software utilisation, work control, human resource management skills as well as skills requiring problem solving. It should be noted that the main improvement areas appeared in the leadership skills that were evaluated as most important apart from software utilisation. Position, municipal segments and sex were observed to explain most of the deviation in received responses.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the government of Finland declared a state of emergency for the time between 18th March and 16th June, 2020. However, pre-primary education groups were held in operation, but – according to the government’s policy – the children were to be kept home if it was possible considering the parents’ work. (Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, The Finnish Government Communications. 2020; The Finnish Government 2020.) As a consequence, the organisation of pre-primary education varied in different parts of Finland. Some children had contact instruction, some children stayed at home and received distance instruction by pre-education unit, and some children relied completely on possible home instruction. The purpose of this study is to find out the different ways pre-primary education was executed across the country during the state of emergency. It also brings forth the views the pre-primary teachers who attended this study have on how educational equality is actualised in their groups. The study further examines their views on the possible effects the state of emergency had to the process of proceeding to primary school, and how the state of emergency has affected settling in to school. The data for this study was collected with a questionnaire from two early childhood education themed Facebook groups in Spring 2021. The questionnaire was answered by sixteen pre-primary teachers who had worked with pre-primary education groups during the 2020 state of emergency. The collected data was analysed with data-driven content analysis. The pre-primary education organized during the state of emergency is examined by dividing the questionnaire results into four categories emerging from the data; teaching during the state of emergency, actualization of educational equality, and proceeding to primary school after the state of emergency. Based on the findings of the study, it is noticeable that – between municipalities as well as pre-primary education units – there are clear differences in the amount and quality of activities, as well as in the used teaching methods. According to the study, the teachers experienced challenges with the fulfillment of educational equality during the state of emergency; this was affected by, for example, the conditions, the differences between families and the resources available. The data shows that there were cases in which it was impossible to organize any kind of school introductions, and in other cases they were carried out with varying means. Moreover, starting school was mainly considered to be harder after the state of emergency, compared to normal conditions. The findings of the study could be utilised when planning possible preparations for similar future events.

The purpose of this research is to describe the connections between literacy skills and other skills of preschool children. Furthermore it will also describe how literacy skills are related with children's every day life in the ECEC. Earlier studies have shown a connection between language skills and social skills, self regulation and attentiveness. On the other hand there have also been found comorbidity of learning disabilities. Language awareness, many processes and skills seem to have an impact on the child's literacy and reading skills. The connection of literacy skills and other skills have not been studied earlier as widely as in this research with the help of children's evaluation and observation. Therefore this research will bring new information about everyday life of children with different levels of literacy skills in preschool. The method of this research was quantitative. The data used in this research was a part of Orientation project (2015), a research and development project of ECEC: This partial data consisted material of the children who took part in the literacy test. One part included the children's means and the other part was the overall data. All the data was collected by three different measures; Literacy test (n = 218), evaluation of the children's skills (n = 218) and the child observation (n = 5422). The research was made in preschools (n = 21) in Turku and Helsinki. The children were five to seven years old. The literacy test was developed in the University of Helsinki in teachers' education department. The observation was made by a structured observation-form, which was based on LIS–YC-indicator. The evaluation of children's skills was made with a form of Likert scale. The data was first analysed for frequencies. Then there was some crosstabs and correlations made. The analysis included also some tests like Chi-square-, Z-, Exact and Cramer's V-test. As a result literacy skills correlated with social skills, learning and metakognitive skills, attentiveness, controlling of reactions and state of vitality. Literacy skills have also an impact on self-regulation and commitment. Children with need of literacy support had difficulties in most of these categories. A good way to secure the wellbeing of children is to support children's skills in a pervasive way and focus on the rolls and action of adults and peers in every day life and play in ECEC.

This master’s thesis is a case study. The aim of this study was to find out what kind of qualities would differ in the drawings of the intelligent and the ordinary person made by the pre-primary students. The study also aimed to discover if the mindset theory by Carol Dweck (2016) would be visible in the drawings and in the interviews. The study was based on the mindset theory. The theory divides people in two groups based on their views about the malleability of their intelligence. The one’s with fixed mindset and the others with growth mindset. Fixed mindset means that intelligence is seen as a fixed entity that cannot be changed. The growth mindset means that one can develop and become more intelligent by putting effort on the learning. The mindset theory is connected to learning, setting goals and surviving from set-backs. The method used in this study was qualitative dominant mixed method research. 25 pre-primary students aged six to seven took part in the study. The students first drew two pictures: one with an intelligent person and one with an ordinary person. This part of the study was based on the previous studies by Räty, Komulainen, Skorokhodova, Kolesnikon and Hämäläinen (2011) and Räty and Snellman (1997). Then the children took part in a group interview. The interview was a focused interview, and the questions were based on the mindset theory. The pictures and the interview were analyzed using theory based content analysis. The pictures were partly analyzed using quantitative analyzing methods. The pre-primary students see intelligent and ordinary person in a quite similar way. Only a few things separated the persons from one and another. The differences were about the choices on clothing, accessories or hairstyle. More imaginative features were involved in only a few pictures. The drawing task was hard for the children so the mindset theory did become visible especially in the situation where the children had to figure out how to draw the intelligent person. The children with fixed mindset did not want to start drawing, said that their drawing was no good or tried to hide it from other children. The children with growth mindset started to draw immediately, had a clear vision and did not care about other children’s opinions. The end result was that although there was not a clear difference between the drawings, the task itself showed how the mindset theory is valid also within the pre-primary students.