Browsing by study line "Allmän- och vuxenpedagogik"

Constantly changing work life has placed new demands and challenges on the Finnish education system. The respond to these demands and challenges is a General Upper Secondary reform, which was launched in 2017. The General Upper Secondary reform includes renewal of curriculum, a new Act on General Upper Secondary Education and amending the regulations for the matriculation examination. The reform challenges the traditionally strong autonomous position of teachers as teachers are expected to adopt new ways of working. According to previous studies, the change in teacher work towards a team work culture requires new professional skills from teachers. The purpose of my study was to find out what possible changes and challenges the renewal of curriculum (LOPS) might have on the LOPS-tutors work. Furthermore, I wanted to map out whether the competencies of teachers need to be updated after possible changes in competency requirements. I studied the phenomenon qualitatively by interviewing six LOPS- tutors who, in addition to their teacher work, are working closely on reform of General Upper Secondary Education. The material of this study was collected by semi-structured theme interviews. As a theoretical part, I defined the General Upper Secondary Education in the Finnish context, the history of school development, teachership and teachers work. In addition, I presented the key themes of the reform, the new Act on General Upper Secondary Education and renewal of curriculum. The method of analysis in this study was theory-guided content analysis. According to the results of my study, the teacher work life will change due to the new curriculum (2019). The most essential changes affecting to teachers’ work were increasing amount of team work and interaction, multidisciplinary study modules and the expansion of supervision. Lack of time, concern for well-being of teachers, as well as the structural challenges and bureaucracy emerged as key challenges in the implementation of the reform. Interviewees did not agree on whether teachers would need in-service training. My study supports the view that teachers have a contradictory attitude towards school changes. Although school development was seen as an important and necessary factor, the changes did not appear to be realistic taking into account the everyday reality of the school.

According to the self-determination theory, motivation consists of top of three innate psychological needs; need of autonomy, competence and relatedness. If these needs are fully satisfied we experience intrinsic motivation. If not, motivation is extrinsic and externally regulated. Intrinsic motivation should be strived for because it leads to a better performance, learning and well-being. This study compares the motivation of high school students between their study situations and free time situations in the context of self-determination theory. The participants were Finnish second year high-school students from the Helsinki metropolitan area. Within the context of self-determination theory, this study explored external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation and intrinsic regulation. The research data consisted of the answers from 150 students and 3431 completed questionnaires. The data was collected using an experience sampling method by the Bridging the Gaps study. The data survey lasted from 11 to 12 days and it was collected in different schools in sequential order. The data was collected from March till May in 2018. The first point of this research was to examine if there is difference in the motivation between studying and free-time and how much variation there is in the motivation. The method used for this was a linear regression. The study found that the smallest coefficient of determination was within the identified regulation. Studying and free time managed to explain 8.6% of the variation in the motivation when it comes to the identified regulation. The largest coefficient of determination was with the introjected regulation. Studying and free time explained 42.5% of the variation in the motivation when it comes to the extrinsic regulation. The second goal of this research was to examine if there is variation in the motivation between students when study time and free time are not taken into consideration. The method used for this was a multilevel modeling approach on level zero. The smallest variation between the students was within the intrinsic motivation. The variation in motivation was then 6.79% between the students. The largest variation in motivation was within the introjected regulation. The variation in motivation was 23.01%. The third focal point of the research was to examine how the motivation is correlated with study situations and free time situations with a multilevel modeling approach (mixed linear model). The study found that the studying situations were positively correlated with the extrinsic regulation and the introjected regulation. The study situations were negatively correlated with the intrinsic regulation. The free time situations were positively correlated with the intrinsic regulation and negatively correlated with the extrinsic regulation and the introjected regulation. The results indicated that the participants experienced more intrinsic motivation during their free time than during their studies. The benefits of the intrinsic motivation are evident when it comes to the school performance and well-being of the students. For this reason, it would be beneficial to see if the intrinsic motivation experienced at free time could be transferred and explored also in the studying situations.

Goals. The purpose of this study was to find out what kind of social media groups can be identified among high school students and what kind of gender differences exist in the use of social media. This study also examined whether the social media user groups differ in self-esteem and how gender and socioeconomic background are related to the relationship between social media use and self-esteem. It is important to examine adolescents’ social media user habits in order to gain more detailed information about the association between adolescents’ social media use and self-esteem. Methods. The data (N = 1203) was collected from high school students in 34 Helsinki schools in spring 2018. Participants filled in questionnaires that measured social media use, self-esteem and questions regarding family background. Gender differences in social media usage were evaluated with Independent Samples t-Test and the relationship between with the preliminary variables were analyzed using Pearsons’ correlation factors. Respondents were divided into groups based on participation in social media by using the Two Step Cluster analysis. One-way analysis of variance examined whether groups differed in self-esteem. The one-way analysis of variance also examined whether socioeconomic background and gender influence how user groups differ in self-esteem. Results and conclusions. Four distinct groups were identified from the data: socially networked, knowledge-oriented, academically oriented, and active users. Differences in the use of social media by girls and boys were observed. Girls were found to use more social media for social networking compared to boys. Boys, in turn, were found to use more social media for knowledge-oriented and academically oriented purposes than girls. In addition, gender differences in the distribution of social media user groups were examined. The group of active users and socially networked were more popular among girls, while the knowledge-oriented and academically oriented groups were more popular among boys than girls. The group of active users was the largest group in the material and the most popular user group among girls and boys. Based on this, it can be stated that most girls and boys use digital media in a very diverse way. Social media user groups were not found to differ significantly in self-esteem, and gender or socioeconomic background did not explain the differences in user groups in self-esteem.

Tiivistelmä - Referat – Abstract The purpose of the research is to find out whether agency appears during the years of study of classroom teacher students, what kind of alternative education choices students have and how social relationships and the social environment appear in education-related choices. In addition to this, I examine limitations that slow down or prevent the realization of the student's agency. Previous studies have shown that strong initiative is an important necessary skill in a changing and uncertain society, both in the labor market and in other areas of an individual's life. Studies have also shown that the realization of agency in a teacher's work contributes to the development of one's own work, enjoyment at work and commitment to work, as well as active learning and stronger agency of students. The research is part of the University of Helsinki's BAT project (2017─2022), which aims to obtain research information on the functionality and effects of the 2017 degree reform and the relevance of the development process of student teachers. Student classroom teachers (N=12) from the University of Helsinki who started their studies in 2017 participated in the semi-structured thematic interviews. The interviews were analyzed using material-based content analysis. The interviewees' own growth and the development of future work, as well as agency and its practices, were strongly present throughout the interviews. Noticing one's own development was also strongly related to meaningful learning experiences. The interviewees' speech also revealed several factors that limit and slow down the agency, such as structural restrictions, problems related to course content and scheduling. Based on the results of the research, it can be stated that the agency of classroom teacher students should be supported even more by creating more spaces for opinions during classroom teacher training, the opportunity to implement their own style of teaching during internships, and to receive constructive feedback on their own actions and the opportunity for dialogic reflection with the teaching teacher. It is also important to recognize the limitations of agency that appear during the course of student teacher studies, so that students can be supported in a timely and affirming way.

Previous research shows that multicultural and multilinguistic organizations can be more effective and creative than other organizations. Building trust in workplace strengthens commitment to work and eliminates conflicts and disagreements between colleagues. Organizational culture is partly impacted by how trust building materializes in practice in work community. The purpose of the study was to discover how international experts experience trust building and work commitment in a multicultural organization. The study was conducted in the IT organization that is part of a bigger Finnish organization. The study answered two research questions: (1) What should an organization guarantee to its employees to build trust and commitment? (2) What informal factors contribute to building trust in a multicultural work community? This study was conducted qualitatively, and semi-structured interview was used as a method to collect research material. In total, six people were interviewed for the study. They all work for the IT organization and do not speak Finnish as their mother tongue. Three of the interviewees had moved to Finland when they started working for the organization and three others work from their home countries as consultants for the organization. Theoretical content analysis was used as the analysis method. The results of the study suggest that international professional’s benefit from clear goals, roadmaps, and strategies that guide their work. These should be available in English. In addition, multicultural teams’ benefit from being able to build their own ways of working that takes multiculturalism and language barriers into account. Informal acquaintance is also useful in building trust. International colleagues had positive experiences of colleagues and supervisors who had helped them when they moved to Finland, for example. In addition, it has been important for the international experts to learn Finnish and learn about the Finnish culture. In order to build trust and commitment, it is important that the organizational culture supports the needs of multiculturalism and multilingualism, and the employees implements the culture in everyday life. The results of the study can be applied in building trust and commitment of multicultural teams.

The thesis examined segregation on pupils (N=176) mathematical achievement in ur-ban schools. The mathematical test battery was a part of Lukuseula Oy’s pilot from au-tumn 2022. The mathematical assessment was carried out on six grade students who are almost in the transition phase from primary to lower secondary school. The aim of the study was to map the segregation that takes place within the urban school setting. The analysis supported gendered mathematical achievement (p= .016) and the effect of gender was strong. The analysis, however, showed no signs of sociospatial segrega-tion on mathematical achievement. Gendered achievement should be taken seriously because it portrays as a systematic equality issue throughout the education system.

The aim of this master’s dissertation was to look into the affective practices that took place and affected the work in the equality work groups at the university. In this study I will explain how through affective practices and layers the affects become entangled into the patterns of equality work shaped historically and culturally. In my theoretical approach I follow Sara Ahmed’s and Margaret Wetherell’s work and their understanding of affect, affective practice and emotion. I was working in an equality project at the University of Helsinki, and it seemed that certain regularities were affecting the equality work. I started to ask how to get a closer look of those regularities and patterns. I noticed that looking for affective practices could be the key to get a closer look into those patterns. I wanted to find out what possibilities the concept of affect could bring into the current research of equality work. I implemented my research by ethnographic observation and interviews in different groups that were working with the themes of equality and diversity in the faculty. I collected data during the semester 2018–2019, and interviewed three university employees. My methodological approach was post structural nomadic ethnography, which first and foremost meant constantly moving in the thought process. Uncertainty was present not only in the observation and interviews but also in the written report. I found that affective practices were present in all those places where equality was promoted. Especially the themes of individual-based expertise, silences, appreciation and goals of equality work collected several affective layers. Those layers had material consequences which I will further explain in this study. Based on my research equality work is rich in affective practices. Affects can be a force of change, but affective layers can also hinder the work with the regularities and patterns that follow affective practices. I have identified and named four affective layers, and studied the effects of those layers in the equality work groups of the university. The results of this study can be utilized in the further research and development of equality work.

In this masters thesis, I examine the presence of the diversity of gender and sexuality in middle school health information textbooks. Drawing mainly on the theories of philosopher and feminist theorist Judith Butler, I analyze the language used in the books to understand how gender and sexuality are constructed and represented. Through a discourse analysis, I am looking to answer to the following questions: What kind of sexualities and genders appear as norms in middle school textbooks? In what ways and in which contexts is the diversity of gender displayed in middle school textbooks? I have selected health information books from three different book series, which have been used in teaching at the same time, as material for the thesis. In my analysis, I found five discourses in the research data. The dichotomous and heteronormative discourse created the assumption of a heterosexual, binary student. Discourses emphasizing similarity and difference described diversity in textbooks. Minority discourse appeared in textual selections where gender and sexual minorities were described as one similar group. My research results show that there is an urgent call for acknowledging equality and diversity in the study materials as a base for teachers and teaching.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the work life experiences of millennial doctors in regards to empathetic and bad leadership. In this thesis, we are interested in examining what kinds of matters millennial doctors link to empathetic leadership and bad leadership based on their own work experiences. This thesis has been carried out as qualitative research, and the data for the thesis was collected from interviewing eight millennial doctors in May-October 2023. Thematic content analysis was used in the analysis of the 76 pages of textual data. The findings of the research are the two main themes, and the eight smaller themes, that have arisen from the interview data in regards to empathetic and bad leadership. The first main theme which is empathetic leadership as an action that empowers, divided into four sub-themes such as caring as a concrete action, psychological safety and being heard, genuine interactions and patient work as well as well-being at work and good leadership. The millennial doctors viewed empathetic leadership as good leadership and they linked it to positive matters and actions in the workplace. The second main theme which is bad leadership as action that weakens the attraction and holding power of a workplace, also divided into four sub-themes such as decline of the well-being at work, indifference and lack of empathy, the role of leadership in the atmosphere of the work community as well as stiffening into old ways. In the experience of the millennial doctors, bad leadership was seen to weaken the attraction power as well as the holding power of a workplace. This led to bad leadership being linked to negative experiences and matters at the workplace. The results of this research shows, that the type of leadership which was executed in the workplace mattered greatly in regards to the well-being at work, work satisfaction and work enjoyment of the millennial doctors. Empathetic leadership was seen as a pleasant way to lead, which increased the chances of having better employee retention at the workplace. Whereas bad leadership was seen as an unwanted way to lead, which was linked to workplace dissatisfaction, shorter employment, and resistance to progress. The results of this research indicate that empathetic leadership fosters better employee well-being whereas bad leadership increases turnover in the workplace.

The purpose of this study was to describe how job demands, job resources, and work engagement are presented in ICT-enabled mobile work in the health technology sector. There are previous studies on job resources, job demands and work engagement in mobile work and this research aims to bring new knowledge to the topic from the perspective of mobile workers in the field of health technology. This study was conducted as a qualitative case study in the field of health technology. The interviewees in the study were all mobile work employees in the same health technology company. All interviewees had several years of mobile work experience. The material was collected through semi-structured thematic interviews and a total of eight interviews were conducted. The interview material was analyzed through theory-guided content analysis. According to this study, mobile work in the field of health technology is associated with demands and resources that are in line with previous research on mobile work, as well as industry-specific factors. According to this study, in the field of health technology, experienced meaningfulness of work, good customer relationships, trust in employees, clear goals and work autonomy were emphasized as work resources. The job demands were poor working conditions, flexibility of working hours, loneliness at work, low feedback, social pressure experienced in client premises, travel for work, communication, variability of work and language skills required at work. Some of the demands of work, such as variability in work and working hours were also perceived as job resources. According to this study, work engagement was enabled best at customer premises. At customer premises were strong feelings of vigor and absorption present. Work in the healthcare sector was perceived as meaningful and the interviewees were proud of their work.