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The aim of this study is to describe and analyze fifth graders as fiction readers. There has been a lot of worry of the fact that the amount of reading among children and adolescents is decreasing and it can affect their ability to read. This study familiarizes with the reading habits of fifth graders and what kinds of reasons fifth graders might have for reading fiction. This study is based on two theories: Appleyard's (1990) theory of fifth grader as a reader who identifies with the books hero or heroine and Felski's (2008) four reasons for reading fiction: recognition, enchantment, knowledge and shock. Research material consists of a questionnaire which was used to collect information of four fifth grade classes (n=74). There was also a group interview which included four pupils. The material was collected in the capital area of Finland during the spring of 2016. The questionnaire included multiple choice questions and open questions. The group interview was a theme-centered interview. The data was analyzed using theory-based content analysis. Respondents had quite positive attitude towards reading. Only one respondent told that she didn't like to read. According to this study fifth graders still read books. The most popular books to read were fantasy books, comics and books that include humour. Reasons to read were separated into three categories which all included subcategories. Those categories were benefits of reading (reading is pleasant, knowledge and skills, imagination and way to spend time), to get inside the book's world (to relax, to become absorbed in a book or to familiarize with book's characters) and book's elements (book is interesting, topic or genre, humour, excitement and other reasons). The most popular reasons for reading were excitement and humour. The interview showed that reading is very individual and depends on what the reader wants from reading. In the interview the reasons for reading were for example knowledge, excitement, humour and comics. According to this study fifth graders can tell a great deal and analyse their reading habits, likes and dislikes.

Study . The aim of this study was to explore student's experience from a course of University of Helsinki, where teaching - learning environment was to activate students. The teaching and assessment methods of the course may be described as exceptional and even innovational, in the university context. The theoretical framework had three point-of-views: 1) factors related to the student, 2) factors related to the teaching - learning environment, and 3) the relationship between the student and the teaching – learning environment. The key concept of this study are students approach to learning, self-regulation of learning, student-centered teaching- learning environment, student's experiences, and frictions between student and teaching – learning environment. Methods. The data was collected by Centre for Research and Development of Higher Education in spring 2010 by interviewing 14 students in University of Helsinki. The data was analyzed by using person-oriented approach and content analysis. Five different profiles were identified: 1) Students with problems at the beginning of the course, 2) Motivated students, 3) Stable students 4) Insecure students and 5) Independent students. Conclusions. The results imply that students experience the same teaching – learning environment in different ways. The course experiment is result from student's skills and teaching - learning environments factors and their different combinations. Study also imply that according to students, teaching-learning environment should be designed so that student-centered teaching methods and teacher's support are in balance. Students experience is also changing during the course and even after which should be considered when collecting the feedback.

It has been necessary to broaden the traditional definition of careers to better reflect the diversity of contemporary careers. Careers are no longer seen as a ladder, but they move in several directions. The conceptual change in careers have put pressure on organizations to react, which is reflected in the effort to support their employees’ career paths. Different career planning tools, such as an individual development plan, have thus become an important way for organizations to value their expertise and ensure keeping competence in the company. The aim of this research is to form understanding of the views the employees of Unilever have on career planning and how an individual development plan works as a tool for their career planning. The study also seeks to identify career anchors in the interviewees' speeches and to relate them to their perceptions of career planning. In addition, the goal is that the results will help Unilever to support better their employees' career development and to develop career planning processes and tools. The framework of the thesis is based on two types of theoretical background. The subject is examined through a conceptual change of careers and a career anchor theory based on Edgar Schein's research. Approaching career anchor theory based on Schein's studies and complementary conceptualization. The research material was collected by interviewing nine Unilever employees in spring 2019. The research method is qualitative and empirical data was analyzed by content analysis. The results of this study show that the participants' views on careers were in line with previous studies. Opportunities to develop oneself, learning new and challenging tasks were seen as vital elements of the work career. In addition, four different career anchors were identified from the interviewees so that each of them had two simultaneously dominant anchors.

The present study describes the experiences and understandings of classroom teachers related to the loneliness of pupils: what kind of difficulties do classroom teachers encounter in their work and how do they try to resolve them. The research aims to establish a deeper understanding of the work of a classroom teacher in relation with the loneliness of pupils. A fifth of the children suffers from loneliness. The official instructions guiding the actions of a teacher, e.g., National Core Curriculum for Basic Education, finds the welfare of pupils important, which indirectly tries to prevent loneliness. However, the loneliness of pupils is not discussed in the instructions and no methods for recognising and encountering loneliness are offered. Also, loneliness is not covered in the education of a classroom teacher per curriculum. The research was conducted using half-structured theme interviews on five classroom teachers of a primary school in southern Finland. The interview results were analysed with a content analysis method. The descriptions of classroom teachers highlighted both concretely experienced difficulties and general difficulties related to the nature of loneliness. The interviewed teachers described their solutions in two ways: solutions to the problems experienced by teachers and solutions aiding the welfare of teachers. Based on these results, a theoretical classification was formed, enlightening the dynamic phenomenon of loneliness in the context of the work of a classroom teacher. Comparing the results to earlier researches, teachers found the mental disorders of pupils hard: they are difficult to recognise, encounter and handle. Teachers used solutions similar to other studies: self-development, communality of the working environment and external support promoted the managing in teaching work. As a conclusion, teachers should evidently be educated and supported more related to the loneliness and mental welfare of pupils.

Objectives. This thesis examines the European Union higher education governance. Previous research has shown that political steering of higher education institutions has strengthened over the recent decades, and growing convergence between the education policies of European states. The purpose of the thesis is to examine the kinds of thinking according to which the Union governance seeks to shape the space it governs, and what kind of position the higher education occupies in the picture. The European Union hasn´t got educational policy competences for steering educational institutions, but previous research has shown that the Union nevertheless does practice education policy steering. Methods. In this thesis, the European Union higher education governance was scrutinized by analytics of governing with the data consisting of Higher Education for Smart Specialization manual, produced by the European Commission. The HESS Manual is directed to the Union Member States regional administrators with a higher education policy competence and responsible for regional development. The manual instructs regional administrators to carry out such regional governance and higher education steering model reforms that serve the political objectives of the Union. The analysis of HESS Manual was carried out by Peter Millers and Niklas Roses analytics of government, according to which the HESS Manual was scrutinized as a technology of government, with the aim of specifying characteristic thinking of Manual and therefore of governing. Results and conclusions. The thesis demonstrates that the characteristic thinking of the Union values economic and technological progress and seeks to harness both the governed space and the higher education towards this ambition. The thesis also shows that according to the characteristic thinking of the Union, existence must be earned through contributing to political objectives. The thesis shows the Union governs by setting prerequisites to resources in an environment which requires economic resources.

Youth mental health has become a central topic of public discourse. However, the significance of social structures, such as gender norms, for emotional wellbeing remains understudied in Finland. Previous research on men’s mental health has shown that conformity to traditional masculinity ideals can cause men to undermine their health or lessen their likelihood to seek help. However, these studies often lack the perspective of men’s agency in reproducing and challenging these ideals. To address this gap in research, the first objective of this thesis was to examine what kind of masculinity discourses young Finnish men produce. By analysing these discourses, I studied how young men view the gendered expectations to be connected to their presumed mental health. My second objective was to analyse what kind of reactions young Finnish men have to the public mental health discourses. Thus, the context of this study is within the broader mental health and gender discourses in Finland. The study was conducted applying a thematic discursive approach to the open answers in a large questionnaire data about young men’s mental health gathered by Nyyti ry and the Family Federation of Finland in November 2020. Thematisation served mainly as a tool to organise the data, while the discursive approach allowed me to examine how the masculinity and mental health discourses in the data were constructed, and to analyse the ideas and practices within these discourses that shape social reality. Young men produced three lines of masculinity discourses, which highlight how the traditional hegemonic masculinity ideals remain strong in Finnish society, upheld with narrow representations of masculinity. These ideals were portrayed as restricting, limiting the actions of young men, and to create gendered conditions of opportunity to show weakness, ask for help, and talk about mental health. As a reaction to the public mental health discourses, young men produced critical discursive reactions, illustrating how the prevailing mental health discourses are insufficient in quality and quantity, too individualised, and seen as discriminatory towards men. This research indicates a need to address the structural, gendered expectations in order to widen the positions available for men in society and to find useful solutions to support the mental health of young men.

Finnish elementary students’ mathematics performance is well above average in international comparison, but research shows that it is declining. Also, students’ motivation is not as strong as could be expected according to their performance. We used the person-centred approach to investigate Finnish third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students’ mathematics motivation profiles. In addition, we explored differences between the motivation profiles regarding students’ mathematics identity, performance, and their parents’ mathematics-related attitudes Participants were 304 Southern Finnish third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students from five separate schools and their parents/guardians (N=241). The surveys were conducted during spring of 2021 in the pilot stage of an international research project focusing on students’ mathematical motivation. Analysis was conducted with Mplus. Motivation profiles were derived by a latent profile analysis (LPA), additional analysis used bch and r3step methods and crosstabulation (spss). Analysis revealed three distinct types of math-related motivation profiles: highly motivated, non motivated and indifferent. Further investigation of the profiles showed that students’ higher mathematics identity is represented strongly in highly motivated group, as are students’ mathematics performance scores. Parents’ self-reported perceived low mathematics competence is highly represented in those students belonging to the non motivated profile. The article: ” Examining motivation profile differences across students' mathematics identity, performance, and parents’ attitudes” is planned to be published in the LUMAT-journal.

Objectives. Cleantech, as an emerging new industry, its development involves the influences from various aspects. As a small to medium-sized cleantech company, the activity in China can be very challenge to study holistically. This research is aimed to provide a holistic view of the challenges and possibilities of a small to medium-size cleantech company's activity in China from the expansive learning perspectives. The purpose of this research is threefold. Firstly, it analyzes the object and network to uncover the three historical phases of GreenStream's long trajectory leaning process. Secondly, it analyzes learning actions and contradictions to uncover the driving forces of development and the expansiveness of the activity. Thirdly, based on the historical analysis an analysis of expansive learning cycles is made, with the purpose to sketch the zone of proximal development across the learning cycles and address the future possibilities and challenges. Methods. The research case Company is GreenStream, a small to medium-sized Finnish cleantech company in China. 8 Interviewees were chose from the different parties involved in its China activity. 4 of the interviewees from the case company GreenStream, 1 interviewee from its Chinese partner, and 3 interviewees from the third parties. The data is firstly analyzed by the historical analysis, namely analysis of object of activity system and analysis of network, following the analysis of expansive learning cycles, namely analysis of learning steps and analysis of learning actions and analysis of developmental contradictions. The zone of proximal development is sketched based on the historical analysis and analysis of expansive learning cycles. Results and conclusions. Interesting findings emerge through the systematic analysis. Three historical analyses reveals the object and network transformed in 3 phases. The object has transformed in 3 historical phases with the unchanged main motivation, the evolving economic imperative, and other emerging forces from different element of the activity. The partnership activity emerged and consolidated with the network development. Object formation and network development thus form the criteria to divide the 3 historical phases from "Small Spark in China", to " Great Success in China" and then to "Standing on Two Feet in China". Analysis of expansive learning cycles reveals that the 3 historical phases contours 3 expansive learning cycles. The first learning cycle was disrupted, the second learning cycle completed and expanded, and the third learning cycle is under development. Each learning cycle has its own character, and within each learning cycle, different levels of contradictions emerged as the driving forces of the development of GreenStream. Through tracing different levels of contradictions through the 3 expansive learning cycles, the expansiveness of GreenStream's activity could be detected with regard to the expansion of the object and expansion over interruption. Object formation, partnership and policy over clean-tech industry become important three elements for the zone of proximal development of GreenStream's activity in China. Through the understanding of these dynamics and momentum of the China activity in the past and present by means of expansive learning aspects, the subject can better master and build the development of the activity system in the future.

The internal structure of the NEPSY-II, a developmental cognitive test, was examined by explorative factor analyses (EFAs). The EFAs were conducted employing the NEPSY-II Finnish standardization sample. The structure of the NEPSY-II, as presented in the manual, is divided into six cognitive domains: Attention and Executive Functioning, Language, Memory and Learning, Sensorimotor Functions, Social Perception and Visuospatial Processing. The objectives of the current study were: 1) To explore what are the best fitting factor structures for 3- to 4-year-old, 5- to 6-year-old, and 7- to 15-year-old children; and 2) To compare the resulting factor structures to the NEPSY-II six cognitive domains. Four-factor structures were found best fitting for all the age groups. These structures shared three roughly similar factors: Language, Visuospatial/Motor Functions, and Processing Speed, although the exact set of subtests loading on each factor differed from one group to another. The four-factor structures considerably differed from the NEPSY-II six cognitive domains. Further, although there were similarities between the factor structures, there were also notable differences in how the subtests related together. The thesis produces scientific knowledge on the relations between the subtests that may also be employed in clinical assessment. The presented psychometrical knowledge might clarify how the problems that present themselves in distinct subtest in an assessment setting are related. Thus, it provides an additional perspective to clinical assessment alongside the prevailing neuropsychological knowledge.

The purpose of this research is to explore the concept of creativity and its significance in the context of education. The investigation was mainly guided by the theoretical approach of Vlad Glăveanu and Ronald Beghetto who define creativity as an experience that involves novel encounters between a person and the world. This approach focuses not on the outcome of one’s creative work or creative abilities but rather on an individual as a unique being. Creativity as an experience can be analysed in the light of the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (1987) who explore the concepts of rhizome and becoming. Rhizome refers to a plant that spreads its horizontal stems and grows irregularly in all directions. Creativity seems to ‘‘grow’’ as a rhizome – it can be seen as an experience that unfolds unpredictably and irregularly in unknown directions. Moreover, creativity can be understood as a transformative movement, called by Deleuze and Guattari becoming. Drawing on these theories, my inquiry investigates what is creativity as a rhizomatic experience of becoming, how does it unfold and what happens during this experience. To answer these questions, I decided to use a/r/tography as a methodology and conduct an art experiment as a research method. The essence of the art experiment was the creation of installation art together with a 7-years-old boy. It was an a/r/tographic inquiry that combined artistic practice, research practice, and teaching practice. The pivotal outcome of my a/r/tographic inquiry is, in fact, the art experiment itself, and its verbal and visual presentation as they illustrate what occurs during the creative experience. Along with this, the inquiry brought into light theoretical insights, artistic insights, and educational insights, which all indicate that creativity can be indeed viewed as a rhizomatic experience of becoming.