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Happiness and welfare are extremely hot topics at the moment, especially in the western countries where pursuing happiness is an important part of people's lives. According to researches it can be said that happiness is based on welfare. But how can we affect our welfare and what are the key elements of it? Can we increase it by attending life philosophical mass lectures? Research of positive psychology has explored interventions focusing on increasing positive feelings as well as personal strengths. In this particular research we are focusing on Paphos Seminar, which can be considered globally quite unique seminar combining life philosophical mass lectures and socially intense learning environment. In this study we contrast life philosophical Paphos seminar to a positive psychology interventions even though Paphos seminar is not considered or named to be an intervention. In the seminar, participants are encouraged to reflection via life philosophical lecturing together as a group and by themselves. Environment and the atmosphere together with the lecturing make a unique space for the participants to reflect on their lives and thinking in a different and probably in a "fresh" way. The point of life philosophical lecturing is not, however, "to teach" anyone. On his lectures Esa Saarinen uses multidisciplinary research and methods, for example videos, music and dialogs, to activate people's thinking and reflection instead. The atmosphere of compassion and pro-sociality is critical for the lectures, which focus on goodness, opportunities and transition of participants. There are no exact quantitative or qualitative goals on the lectures, only a deep hope of flowering of the participants. This research is the first one to study Paphos Seminar. There are previous researches studying the lectures of Esa Saarinen with university students from the aspects of welfare or cognitive strategies. Change in cognitive strategies are also claimed to change during Saarinen's lecturing through the engaging learning experience. According to these studies, it can be addressed, that seminars have increased participants' welfare and changed their perception of knowing as well as cognitive strategies. This longitudinal study is aiming to examine is it possible to experience increased well-being and life satisfaction after participating to the Pafos Seminar. Participants of this study took part in Pafos Seminar in summer 2015. At the same time this study is measuring motivational strategies and epistemological beliefs. Furthermore the persistence of the transition has been studied in this research by the follow-up measuring with three groups (n= 87, n = 58, n= 36). Material was collected by inquiry in three different measurements between June 2015 and March 2016 and the change in well-being, motivational strategies and epistemological beliefs within eight months. Changes in all the three variables were measured with repeated measurements t-tests and Wilcoxon test. Reflection strategies and perception of knowing were studied with the one-way variance analysis. Relation between well-being, motivational strategies and epistemological beliefs were studied with the Spearman's correlation coefficient to see if there were any interesting changes in between them during and after the seminar. Results of this research show that welfare and satisfaction of life were increased during the seminar concerning all participants (n = 58). Seminars capability to increase emotional, psychologic a social well-being and satisfaction in life was proven but there was a downward trend in longitudinal perspective after the follow-up measurement. Positive change in well-being can be said to be linked to participant's motivational strategies. Seminar as an intervention of positive affects to participant's well-being fits perfectly for individuals appreciating reflection alone and together with others. Appreciating doubtless knowledge might be obstructive for the increase of well-being in this context.

Purpose The aim of this study is to examine the mental and social well-being of adolescents with an immigrant or culturally diverse background attending the final grades of secondary school. The focus of the analyses regarded comparison between first- (1st gen) and second-generation (2nd gen) immigrants based on depression and anxiety symptoms as well as experiences of social acceptance and rejection, the possibility to discuss personal concerns with someone and the possibility to discuss personal matters with parents. The association of these social factors as well as the immigrant background on the depression and anxiety symptoms was analysed. Internationally research results for 1st and 2nd regarding well-being have been contradictory, and in the USA researchers have been puzzled by the so-called immigrant paradox where, contrary to the theory of acculturation, 1st gen have been scoring higher in well-being measures relative to 2nd gen. This study builds its theoretical background in acculturative theory and research, which provides tools for examining the causes and consequences of well-being differences in 1st and 2nd generation adolescents with an immigrant background. The study explores ways to promote the well-being of culturally diverse adolescents in schools. Methods The data used in this study was acquired from the School Health Promotion survey 2017, comprising the data of 8th and 9th graders (N = 73 690). Mental well-being was assessed with PHQ-2 and GAD-7 scales. Social well-being was measured by a sum variable measuring experience in rejection and social acceptance, the possibility to discuss one’s concerns with someone and the possibility to discuss one’s personal matters with parents. Cross-tabulation, Welch’s T-test and logistic regression analysis was used in the data analyses. Results 1st gen showed significantly more mental health symptoms compared to 2nd gen. Furthermore, 1st gen scored lower on all social welfare measures. This is in line with the expectations of the acculturation theory, and thus immigrant paradox was not manifested in this study. As many as 42,1% of 1st gen report that they couldn’t discuss one’s worries to anyone and over a fifth of them hardly ever talked about their personal matters with their parents. In particular, social rejection hampered mental well-being, whilst experiences of social acceptance as well as the possibility to discuss with parents promoted mental well-being.

The focus of this research is to study the experiences that special class teachers have with students with immigrant backgrounds. The number of students with immigrant backgrounds has increased tremendously over the past few years. The statistics indicate that students that speak foreign languages end up getting special support more often than the students that are native speakers. This is especially significant, as the students with immigrant backgrounds that need special support represent a double minority, in which case their risk of exclusion is higher than in the case of the native Finns. The aim of this study is to find out what factors lie behind a student with immigrant background resulting in studying in the special class or in the flexible basic education, what is the support like and how the teachers feel in regards to its effectiveness. The goal is to also to evaluate how the teachers experience their own culture-sensitive evaluation- and behavioral patterns. The material for the research was collected by theme interviewing five special class teachers that work in the metropolitan area and the content was analyzed using content analysis. The results indicate that the reasons for studying in the special- or basic flexible education class didn’t lie only in language but that there were always other problems involved, such as problems regarding learning. The research also strengthened the idea that the students with immigrant backgrounds need special positive treatment, which for instance means differentiation and individual targeting of support. Studying in small groups was experienced as a good resource and it enabled the option of individual support. Also, the motivation of an individual student played a significant role in terms of the success of the support. Studying in special- or in the flexible basic education class might limit the student’s possibilities in second-degree postgraduate studies, as the students that study in special or JOPO-class usually continue attending a vocational school after primary school. The teacher’s experiences in their own multicultural skills varied and those teachers that felt that their skills and knowledge we good, saw that their skills came from their own personal lives rather than from their training.

Earlier studies have shown that in Finland immigrant children have on average poorer numeracy skills than native Finnish children. More and more children with immigrant background enter schools so effective means to support their numeracy skills are highly needed. The study explores if immigrant children's early numeracy skills can be supported with an intensive early numeracy intervention programme. A total of ten six-year-old immigrant children participated in the study in a preschool in the metropolitan area. Half of the children had intense training in early numeracy skills during the day in preschool twice a week for about eight weeks. The other half of the children formed a control group who participated in preschool activities as usual. The children's early numeracy skills were measured with Early Numeracy Test (Van Luit, Van de Rijt & Aunio, 2006) as pretest, immediate posttest and delayed posttest. There was also a logbook that was filled during and immediately after the training sessions so that assessment of fidelity would be possible. The participants' background information and level of Finnish skills were asked from the preschool teachers. These pieces of information were used as control variable. The children in the intervention group improved their early numeracy skills during the intervention more than the children in the control group. Especially the effect was seen in understanding mathematical relations. The intervention group performed statistically significantly better in the immediate posttest and the delayed posttest than the control group. In counting skills the results weren't significant. In the Early Numeracy Test (Van Luit, Van de Rijt & Aunio, 2006) as a whole, the intervention group performed significantly better in the immediate posttest, but the gap was not statistically significant in the delayed posttest. This study shows that by supporting immigrant children's early numeracy skills with an evidence-based intervention programme, their skills in understanding mathematical relations improve significantly and permanently. The immigrant children can also get their numeracy skills to the same level with the native Finnish children and so the intervention programme for one can prevent them from dropping out of the school system later.

The purpose. The purpose of the reseach was to study the experiences of immigrant parents about cooperation with kindergartens in Helsinki. Very little research has been done on this topic in Finland, so my research questions are focused on a fairly wide research field. The background literature focuses on the prevalence of immigrant families in Finnish kindergartens, how the Early Childhood Education Act and the national Early Childhood Education Plan guide and enforce co-operation with parents, and why kindergartens should seek open and confidential co-operation with immigrants. In addition, I have presented the social psychology theories, such as the cognitive categorical schemas, prejudiced attitudes, stereotypes, intergroup relations, social identity and ethnic identity. Methods. The data corpus of this qualitative research consists of five thematic interviews. I interviewed five parents, two fathers and three mothers. Four of them had lived in Finland for less than five years. I found them from three different kindergartens. They had an experience in total of nine different kindergartens in Helsinki. The data corpus has been analyzed using the thematic-analysis method. I analyzed data corpus first time with a data-based orientation, to answer the first research question; second time I analyzed my data corpus with a theory-based orientation, to answer the second research question. Theory-based analysis was premised by the social psychology theories, which were presented in the third chapter. Results and conclusions. According to the parents' experiences, kindergartens had not taken into account their different needs in collaboration with them. However, an interpreter was ordered for annual discussion sessions and start-up discussions. The time while parents were not able to speak in Finnish, they practically did not have the opportunity to communicate with the kindergartens' educators on daily bases. It seems that being able to communicate in Finnish language has become a condition that allows and encourages the inequalities and isolation of immigrant parents. Finnish speaking skills should be a technical problem in itself, but it is used as a pretext for exclusion. Meeting the needs of this early age education customer group is a very timely problem. I think that the necessity for new arrangements and new cooperation structures are the responsibilities of the party who provides the services.

Goals Goal of this study is to analyze the rationality guiding the Finnish educational policy, especially the reformation programs of basic education. In previous studies it has been shown, that the texts guiding these reformations are less and less about school as an institution, and that the national educational discourse is more about the abstract individual subject, learning and idealistic goals detached from the everyday context of school life. In this study the goal was to find out what kind of rationality lies underneath the basic education reforms from the viewpoint of the context – the world – and the goal of education – the man. Method The method of this study is based on the foucauldian analysis of governmentality, which is a form of discourse analysis. Rationality was divided in three different levels of analysis – epistemic, rhetoric and moral analysis. Research material, altogether 11 pages, was chosen from a publication of the Future Affairs Committee of Finnish Parliament called Uusi oppiminen "The New Learning" and it included the publications' introductory chapter and the first part of chapter 1. Results As a result of the analysis it was shown, that the rationality guiding the Finnish basic education reforms is based on a view of a rapidly changing world, to which school reforms must react without delay. In order to produce compatible, flexible, eagerly educable people with required ITC-skills the school must be reformed in a way that makes pupils' development possible in the areas of autonomy, self-guidance and leadership. The role of the teacher becomes an instructor, and in the active center of the school work is the pupil. Similar principles as in the previous studies is shown – individualization and decontextualization – was also found.

This thesis is a study of the grammatical status of definiteness in the Finnish noun phrase, from the perspective of generative linguistics. I propose that the Finnish definite noun phrase contains a functional head D, hosting the definiteness feature [+DEF]. My argument is based on the noun phrase having numerous properties, which point to definiteness being present as a grammatical feature. In addition, many structural observations demonstrate that definiteness is linked to a functional projection above NP. I also propose that the element "se", which has reduced from a demonstrative into a definite article in spoken Finnish, is localizable to the Specifier position of DP, like demonstrative pronouns. The D-head, on the other hand, is always phonologically null in Finnish, and also present in "bare" definite noun phrases containing no definite determiner (i.e. a definite article, a demonstrative or a personal pronoun). The analysis fits well with a broader diachronic framework, according to which the definite article develops universally due to the semantic reduction of a demonstrative. I argue that the definite article is a consequence of an EPP-feature in the D-head, mandating the Specifier of DP to be articulated. In this regard, D behaves like the T-head in Finnish, where an optional EPP-feature produces a semantically empty expletive to the subject position of verbs with no semantic arguments.

This qualitative research is about craft cultures of two different areas in Karelia. The aim of this research is to find out what have been the main influences on craft cultures. Areas that will be studied in this research are Raja-Karjala and the island of Seiskari in the Gulf of Finland. For the actual research footage, I will be using two aprons from the collection of Finnish Heritage Agency and The National Museum. Aprons are originally from Raja-Karjala and Seiskari. As a research method I will be using the product essence analysis developed by Marketta Luutonen in her doctoral dissertation Rustic product as a conveyor of meaning: a study of Finnish pullovers. Method includes three phases. In the first phase I wrote my first impressions from the two aprons in Finnish Heritage Agency’s Collections and Conservation Centre. My other research question is finding out the differences in these two aprons. The habitat and area’s other culture have been the biggest influences in Raja-Karjala’s and Seiskari’s craft cultures. Majority of the Raja-Karjala’s population were members of the Orthodox church which impacted life in every sector. Ritual towel käspaikka was the most characteristic craft in Raja-Karjala with its symbols and meanings in different situations. Seiskari’s isolated location in the middle of the sea and living collected from the ocean were significant factors in island’s culture. Fishing was a big part of life in Seiskari whether it was the main or side income or to feed the family. Due to fishing, weaving and fixing fishnets were in the very center of craft culture in Seiskari. Two studied aprons had differences in material, embroidery, and colors. Apron has been used for protecting clothes in different situations, but it contains many symbolic meanings of woman’s status in society throughout history. In Seiskari apron has been used mainly to protect, for example when collecting fish from nets. In Raja-Karjala and its agriculture one needed apron for protecting clothing, but apron’s symbolic meaning was perhaps more highlighted in Raja-Karjala than in Seiskari.

Firstly, the aim of this study was to find out what kind of functions are produced and justified for early childhood education and how this justification comes out, on political documents of the field of the early childhood education. Secondly, the aim of this study was to find out, how professional structure of the early childhood education is argued and justified, as well as, how recommended changes of the professional structure of the early childhood education are argued and justified, on political documents of the field of the early childhood education. The data of this study consists of political documents of the field of the early childhood education. The first document is a report of a working group, and the goal of this document was to produce suggestions for developing the early childhood education. The second one is a national curriculum of the early childhood education. As a research method, I used discursive analysis. I began my analysis by thematising it, and after that I concentrated on it, what kind of meanings the data produced in relation to my research questions. The data produced competing, contradictional and differential meanings. According to this study, the principal function of the early childhood education is to invest for the future of children and for the future of society. The investment function of the early childhood education is related to social targets of the early childhood education, as well as to professional skills of the professionals of the early childhood education. Professional skills of the professionals of the early childhood education were differentiated according to professional job and according to training, and pedagogic know-how and it’s strengthening were emphasized.

This thesis aims to explore the main factors causing learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic by conducting a literature review. The research questions are formulated in response to the practical needs and theoretical frameworks that have emerged due to the pandemic's disruptive impact on the education sector. The purpose of the study is to identify and understand the main factors causing learning loss among students worldwide. The literature review incorporates studies from various countries and diverse educational levels to gain a global perspective on learning loss during the pandemic. By analyzing both quantitative and qualitative research, the thesis aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing learning outcomes. The methods used in this research involve a systematic review of existing literature, gathering data from academic databases and scholarly sources. The findings from the selected studies are synthesized to identify common themes and patterns of main factors causing learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature review provides a comprehensive summary of previous studies, highlighting the main factors causing learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. These include the disruption of in-person learning, unequal access to technology, limited parental involvement, and the impact on student's mental health. These interconnected factors collectively shape students' learning experiences during this unprecedented time.