Browsing by study line "Class Teacher (in Swedish)"

Purpose. There has been a rapid technological development in our society. New inventions have made many jobs easier, but in return there is a demand for educated personnel. This in turn puts higher demands on peoples literacy. In the Pisa surveys the Finnish pupils have shown a high level of reading literacy, but unfortunately the trend has been negative and the number of pupils with low levels of literacy have increased. This development can be observed especially among boys. In Pisa 2018 20% of the boys were weak readers with a literacy not sufficient for further studies. The same survey found a decline in attitudes towards reading and 63% of the boys replied that they read only if they have to. The goal of this thesis is to investigate if the same patterns can be found among pupils in a primary school. The study examines how often the pupils read for enjoyment on their spare time and what motivates their reading behaviour. Furthermore, the study will examine whether there are differences between boys and girls or between pupils at different grades. Methods. The study was conducted in the autumn of 2020 in a Finnish primary school. The data was collected with a survey. The pupils took part in the study during schooltime. The sample consisted of all the pupils from grades 3 to 6 in the investigated school (N=236). The study received 157 responses of which 156 were accepted and analysed. The material was analysed with the statistical program SPSS. Results and conclusions. The results of the study showed big differences in pupils reading behaviour already in the primary school. 79% of the pupils read regularly on their spare time, but 21% read more sporadically or not at all. The result also showed that the girls read more often on their spear time than the boys do. The pupils showed a strong self-efficacy and a positive attitude toward reading There was a tendency for a decline in intrinsic motivation and attitude among older pupils. In this study the reading behaviour could be explained by gender, intrinsic motivation, attitude, and the perception that you read only if you have to.

Today there are many class teachers who experience that their professions have changed and the pupils in the schools today have also changed. The heterogeneity in today’s classroom is big and class teachers need to have competence in many different areas to meet every pupil's needs, which leads to many class teachers feeling powerless to be able to meet every pupil’s needs. This leads to class teachers abandoning their profession or in the worst case they get a burnout, resulting in long term sick leave. In my opinion class teachers should get more support to fulfill their role of being a teacher in today’s school. The purpose of this study is to contribute with knowledge about class teachers’ positive experiences and methods in the areas of inclusion, differentiation, and classroom management and what is included in a good collaboration between the class teacher and remedial teacher. The research questions were formulated as follows: 1. What are class teachers’ thoughts about the development of the school, the need for knowledge regarding special education and the development of the increased heterogeneity in the classroom? 2. What are the class teachers' own thoughts and experiences of functioning methods in the areas of inclusion, differentiation, and classroom management? 3. How has the class teachers obtained their knowledge about methods and solutions that the teacher uses in their own classroom? 4. Which form of collaboration and support from the remedial teacher does a class teacher think is valuable? This thesis was conducted as a qualitative study, and the data was collected with semi-structured interviews. Seven class teachers were interviewed. Content analysis with a deductive approach was used to analyze the answers from the interviews. The result shows that the class teachers have a very positive approach to the areas of inclusion, differentiation, and classroom management. It is shown that support from the colleagues and allocation of resources are very important for the class teachers to be able to do the practical work in these areas and for the constructing of a functioning collaboration with the remedial teacher. Functioning methods in differentiation are to redo assignments, cut short or extend homework, flexible grouping, and to do assignments in different levels. Functioning methods in classroom management are rules and boundaries, self-reflection - who am I as a teacher, building safety and to see all pupils. The most common way to get knowledge of inclusion and differentiation is experience and in-service training. The most common way for the teachers to obtain knowledge about classroom management was that it is a part of their nature and it is one of their foremost interests but also through discussions with colleagues. For the collaboration between the class teacher and remedial teacher to be good, the class teacher needs to utilize the expertise that the remedial teacher has to offer, have good communication with the remedial teacher and aim to co-teach.

The purpose of this study was to study primary school teacher´s experiences about using positive pedagogy. Positive pedagogy is a relatively new pedagogical method that according to previous studies has a positive effect on pupils.There has also been written about primary school teacher´s experiences about the method and found that there are both positive effects and challenges. It was important to study primary school teacher´s experiences about using positive pedagogy to be able to create a deeper understanding of how the method works and how one could support primary school teacher´s in using the method. There were 15 participants in this study. The participants were primary school teachers who use or have used positive pedagogy within the last five years. The study was conducted using an electronic survey with open answers. The data analysis method used was thematic analysis. The study shows that primary school teacher´s define positive pedagogy in a way that is partly different from how the literature defines the method. The teacher´s don´t mention resilience when writing about positive pedagogy and they feel that one of the challenges with using positive pedagogy is a negative spiral, which was not mentioned in the literature. The study also shows that primary school teachers experience many positive effects from using positive pedagogy. The teachers experienced that the atmosphere in the class was better and that the students displayed less challenging behavior. The primary school teachers also rapport that there are challenges with using positive pedagogy, for example a lack of resources and negative attitudes.

Purpose. Equality is seen as the value that is the basis for inclusive school. Inclusive school can be seen as meaning each individual student's participation in their own local school community regardless of any challenges. More and more schools are working towards the goal of creating a common school for all students and thus inclusion is a current theme. The aim of this study was to get an idea of teachers' attitudes and possible prejudices towards inclusion which in themselves may have an inhibiting effect on the development work related to inclusive procedures by answering the research questions: "What kind of perceptions, values and possible prejudices does teachers express regarding inclusion?", "What challenges does inclusion entail in teachers' work?" and "What are the positive aspects of inclusion for students and teachers?" Theory and methods. For this quantitative research data was collected by using the Teacher's Attitude to Inclusion Scale (TAIS). TAIS includes questions and statements that are answered on a liking scale. The measuring instrument's 30 statements have been categorized according to the themes "Expected outcomes", "Workload", "Inclusion as a value" and "Children's rights". The analysis method is descriptive statistical. Reliability, variations and correlations have been examined in IBM SSPS version 26. Results and conclusions. The results show that teachers perceive inclusion as demanding. Both negative attitudes and prejudices towards inclusion emerge, which itself can complicate the development of inclusive procedures at school level. Nevertheless, teachers express that inclusion of students with special educational needs in general education groups has a promoting effect on both understanding and acceptance of differences in the group's other students.

The purpose of this survey was to analyze teachers' perceptions and experiences of the current teaching model for studies in religion and secular ethics in primary school, as well as how it supports the students' identity development and learning. The goal was also to analyze whether the teachers have suggestions for changes to the current teaching model of studies in religion and ethics. Studies in religion and ethics has been a debated topic throughout the existence of primary schools. Previous research has shown that a large proportion of Finns, as well as teachers and principals, would like to see a change to the current model. Previous research has shown that students begin their identity development at a young age. Religion and different worldviews are one of the most important building blocks of identity. This means that both school and religious education have an influence on the students' identity development. The survey was conducted as a qualitative study. The data collection took place through five semi-structured interviews with teachers in Nyland. The data was analyzed using content analysis. The results showed that the majority of teachers are not satisfied with the current teaching model. The teachers believed that an intergrated teaching model, may it be secular ethics or a completely new subject, most benefits the students identity development. Arguments raised for an intergrated model were that it favors the students capacity for emphaty, morality, ethics and understanding of other people, culture and religions. Arguments that the teachers raised agains an intergrated model were that the students with minority religions could feel left out, and lose interest in their own religion.

Goal. The aim of this study is to find out if teacher in elementary school has a high workload and what is burdening them. Research that has been done by the teacher labor union shows that teacher nowadays is burdened in their profession and many of them are thinking about quitting being a teacher. Based on the aim of the study, I asked these following research question. 1. What is the teachers experience of their workload? 2. Which elements affect the teacher’s workload? 3. Is there differences between new teachers and more experienced teacher? By using Karasek and Theorell’s (1990) model for demand, control and support I will try to figure out if teachers have a high workload and if their work contribute to stress. If a person suffer from a lot of work-related stress it can develop into burnout. A person can get burned out if they have more tasks than they can complete (Arbetshälsoinstitutet, 2022). Methods. To be able to find answers to these questions I did a qualitative interview study. I interviewed six teachers from one city I Finland. All the teachers were competent, but they had been teachers for varying long time. Those teachers who had worked as teachers for a longer time, had all worked for over five years. The new teachers were all in the beginning of their careers. Results and conclusions. By the result and discussion, it is clear that the teachers who participated in the interviews are burden in their work and the teachers say that they have too much work to do. The teaching profession has under many years changed as well as the workload. Despite more assignments the salary has remained the same. There is a feeling among the participants that the tasks never end and that they feel behind.

Sedan grundandet av folkskolan på 1860-talet har man undervisat slöjd i de finska skolorna. Då var syftet med slöjdundervisningen att lära eleverna handarbetsfärdigheter för att de sedan kunde använda dem i framtida arbetes-och vardagslivet. För 100 år sedan handlade slöjdundervisningen om att lära sig egenskaper för att överleva men i dagens samhälle där alla inte har ett lika stort behov av handarbetsfärdigheter har slöjdundervisningen samt dennes syfte förändrats. I diskussioner med lärare som undervisar i slöjd har det kommit fram att lärarna ofta får förklara varför slöjd undervisas i skolan för både föräldrar och elever. Denna undersökning går ut på att redovisa vad lärare som undervisar i slöjd tycker att syftet med slöjdundervisningen är och vilka utmaningar lärarna upplever i slöjdundervisningen. Utifrån syftet formulerades två forskningsfrågor: 1. Vad anser lärare att syftet med slöjd i grundskolan är? 2.Vilka praktiska/pedagogiska utmaningar upplever lärare med slöjdundervisningen? För att besvara forskningsfrågorna användes en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med en hermeneutisk ansats. Fem lärare som undervisar i slöjd intervjuades individuellt och som intervjumetod användes en semistrukturerad intervju. Intervjuerna bandades in och materialet analyserades genom en tematisk analys. Lärarna som deltog i denna studie ansåg att slöjdundervisningen hade flera syften. Svaren på den första forskningsfrågan delades i i fyra olika temahelheter: Motorik/finmotorik, Undervisningens mångfald, Vardagskompetens och kreativitet. I intervjuerna kom det fram att slöjden utvecklar elevernas motorik och finmotorik och att slöjden bidrar till undervisningens mångfald. Det kom även fram att eleverna får lära sig färdigheter som är nyttiga i framtiden samt att de får utlopp för sin kreativitet. Utmaningarna i slöjdundervisningen som lärarna upplevde handlade om brist på tid, att läraren inte hann hjälpa alla elever under en lektion samt brist på resurser. Det fanns även lärare som upplevde svårigheter med att tolka läroplanen i slöjd och att läroplanen inte speglade verkligheten.

Goals. The aim with the study was to examine how the textbooks in ethics follow the guidelines of the national curriculum. This is important to study since the textbooks analyzed have all been published about 10 years ago. In society there is a discussion about how worldview education should be organized, alone or together with religion education. Earlier research also shows that ethics has a great value as a subject. Methods. For my study I used a qualitative content analysis method, where I analyzed four textbooks in worldview education for grade 1-5. the textbooks are all from the series Mina och Ville, and are published between the years 2007 and 2013. I have also analyzed the different goals set up for worldview education in the curriculum for grades 1-6, and the different competences set up by the national curriculum. Results and conclusions. The analysis showed that the textbooks in worldview education follow the national curriculums goals and competences well. The textbooks are built on the national curriculum, and include many curriculum goals and competences. Even though the textbooks focus on the content of the national curriculums, there is still missing representation of different body-types and sexualities. The characters in the textbooks are two children without any disabilities, and are both white. In the photos in the textbooks many different ethnicities are shown and discussed, but nothing about different body-types or sexualities

Aim. Existing models and theories for reading in classrooms are aimed for teaching in the classroom. In spring 2020 schools changed to distance teaching and the question arose, whether these models would function in distance teaching. Since there was no experience from such in Finland there is also very little research in this field. Therefor this study wants to review the usage of reading strategies in teaching in grade nine and how they have worked when schools went to distance teaching in spring 2020. Methods. This study is a case study. The material is collected qualitatively through a semi-structured interview and by getting access to a recorded lesson and som written material given by the teacher. One teacher and 33 pupils participated in this study. The material was analyzed using a thematic analysis. Results and conclusions. The results show that the teacher uses reading strategies and models in the teaching of reading fiction. They also indicate that the teacher manages to continue teaching online in a very similar way by creating a virtual classroom for the pupils.

The aim of this study was to research how diversity of representation and inclusivity was shown in finno-swedish children’s literature. The study researched the frequency of how diversity was presented in children’s literature aimed at the age group of 9–12-year-olds. The aspects of diversity which were highlighted in the analysis are: disabilities, ethnic, religious, and socio-economic diversity. The goal is to raise the awareness and competency among primary school teachers, so that they can choose literature to be read aloud in class which supports norm-critical thinking. The survey is about analyzing and finding descriptions that best fit the aforementioned aspects of diversity. Prior studies that have been done outside of Finland, such as Bruijn, Emmen and Mesman (2021) and Adam and Barratt-Pugh (2020), show that diversity is poorly represented in children’s literature. Even the media, look to for example Svenska Yle (2020), advertises the positive effects of diversity in children’s literature and what the lack of diversity can affect individuals and Finnish society. The study answers the question of how representative the finno¬¬-swedish children’s literature is. The study analyzed nine works of finno¬¬-swedish children’s literature, all published between 2017-2021. The data consisted of a complete sample when the all the publications met the study’s criteria and were included in the analysis. The study had a qualitative approach, and a content analysis was used when the results were produced. The study shows that the analyzed literature frequently included perspectives of diversity, but that varied representation is lacking. The children’s literature more often included only a modicum of cases of diversity that were presented in a multitude of ways rather than having varied representations of diversity shown throughout the publications. Study results show that the finno¬¬-swedish children’s literature had the largest amount of representation within the aspect of socio-economic diversity. The religious diversity was the by far most underrepresented in comparison to the other aspects of diversity. The results enrich the knowledge of the finno-swedish children’s literature and provides the facilities for continued research within this area.