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The purpose of this study is to describe, analyze and interpret the experiences of Finnish as a second language students about interaction situations in Finnish. As multiculturalism increases, so does the need to research and develop the teaching of Finnish as a second language. This study has sought to address this need by mapping the interaction situations experienced by adult students with peer, native adults, and native children. Previous research has shown that different interaction situations are an important part of language learning, and language learning is increasingly being explored as a process that happens through interaction. The research questions in this study are as follows: 1. What kind of Finnish-language interaction situations does a Finnish as a second language student encounter in his or her daily life? 2. How does a Finnish as a second language student experience speaking Finnish in different interaction situations? A total of 14 people were interviewed for the study, and the interviews were conducted mainly in pairs. The interviewees were adult practical nurse students who completed their degrees using Finnish as a second language students. The interviews were semi-structured thematic interviews. The data were categorized and analyzed by using the method of qualitative content analysis. Three main themes were found from the data, as a result of classification in interaction situations. These three themes were 1) interaction with a peer, 2) interaction with a native adult, and 3) interaction with a native child. Most of the interaction situations that took place in Finnish happened with a peer. The main result was that the interviewees had almost no native friends or acquaintances, and almost all interaction situations with the native Finnish speakers were occasional encounters, for example when shopping at the checkout. Interactions with native children also emerged from the data, as the adult students interviewed were practical nurse students that worked with children. Interaction situations with children were found to be mainly challenging. Most of the language learning took place in interaction with peers and native adults, and the interaction situations with peers were perceived as having a relaxed atmosphere, and thus also the best for language learning.

Objectives. Self-efficacy, which means one’s beliefs about their own capabilities, has a key role in motivation and performance. Therefore, it also plays an important role in language learning. There is very little research about the Finnish self-efficacy of Finnish as a second language (FSL) learners. The aim of this study was to find out if sex, age, length of residence and reading fluency of FSL learners predict their Finnish self-efficacy. In addition, the aim was to find out how the Finnish self-efficacy differ when it comes to abstract and concrete questions. Moreover, the aim was to find out if Finnish self-efficacy measured on one hand on abstract level and on the other hand on concrete level predict reading fluency of FSL learners. Methods. The data was collected with an electrical questionnaire as a part of Kielellisten taitojen ja lukemisen tukeminen -research project realised by Niilo Mäki Instituutti during spring 2016. The participants (N = 67) of this research were 9-12-year-old FSL learners from grades 3 to 5. The participants were from different parts of Finland. Regression analysis was used to find out if age, sex, length of residence and reading fluency of FSL learners predict their Finnish self-efficacy. Paired sample t-test was used to examine the mean differences between Finnish self-efficacy measured on abstract and on concrete level. Lastly, regression analysis was used to find out if Finnish self-efficacy measured on abstract and on concrete level predict reading fluency of FSL learners. Results and conclusions. The length of residence predicted self-efficacy in reading comprehension and in writing. FSL learners estimated their Finnish self-efficacy higher on abstract level than on concrete level. The means of abstract self-efficacy and concrete self-efficacy differed from each other statistically significantly. Finnish self-efficacy measured on abstract level didn’t predict reading fluency, whereas Finnish self-efficacy measured on concrete level did predict reading fluency. The results of this research show that the time spent in a country and its culture plays an important role in Finnish self-efficacy. In addition, the results show that when measuring language self-efficacy, it is important to consider the specificity level on which it will be measured.

Background and aims. Fatness and dieting have been the object of interest between many fields for a long time. Home economics as a discipline enables a comprehensive inspection of fatness and dieting reviewing different disciplines. In addition to the aspect where the pursuit of dieting and health is seen from the perspective of medical and health science it is also been reviewed as a social and cultural phenomena. This study contemplates the influence of history, religion, medicalization and media on dieting and health culture. The objective is to find out if the modern dieting and health culture has gathered influences from centuries ago and absorbed religious features. The stress deriving from appearance has been discussed in the public and there are many solutions concerning weight issues. The purpose of this study is to find out what personal experiences and thoughts female pastors have concerning these questions. The media – which is one of the most influential systems nowadays – has undeniably a great effect on the consumer. The goal is furthermore to estimate the effect of the media on the changing of dieting and health culture. The three main research questions are: 1. What kind of conceptions do female pastors have of dieting and health culture and of its religious features? 2. What kind of personal experiences and conceptions do female pastors have of dieting and strivines of health? 3. How do female pastors regard the image the media has supplied of dieting and health culture? Material and methods. The qualitative data was gathered in year 2009 using the halfstructured theme interview -method. The data consists of interviews conducted with specialists of spiritual matters, i.e. ten female pastors who are between 35 and 60 years old and live in the metropolitan area. The analytical procedure used is called a theory based context analysis. Results and conclusions. Results of this study show that the idealization of slimness and healthiness is a matter discussed in the public on a daily basis. The problem faced was that the media provided contradictory information regarding fatness and dieting and the standard of slimness in commercials focused on females. The pursuit of dieting and healthiness was believed to include also religious elements. In the Middle Ages and the era after that the fatness, overeating and the pleasure one gets from eating was still seen as a condemnable matter in our culture. One could say this was like a sin. The respondents believed that healthiness, healthy living, optimal eating and good looks were a matter more or less equal than a religion. This was a derivative from the fact that treasuring health has become a life stearing value for many people. In the priest's profession dieting and the pursuit of health was seen in the light of problems arising from weight issues. In ones profession for example the unhealthy eating in festive situations was seen as a matter that leads to unnecessary weight. Another aspect was the job circumstances that limited the degree of movement. The belief was that the female pastors would in a decreasing fashion confront stress deriving from appearance in their job.

Schools begun to use the new Curriculum of Basic Education in the autumn 2016. The aim of this study was to make visible how the nationwide guidance documents describe the state of the sami education. My research subject was divided into two research questions: 1. In what ways the same education has been taken into account in the Curriculum of Basic Education in 2004 and in 2014? and 2. What factors explain the changes in the position of the sami education in the 2000s curriculums? The latter question contained a hypothesis that the differences were to be found between the two curriculums. The purpose of the study is to look for the discourses of the sami education and to find reasons for the changes in the 2000s. Previous studies have shown that the sami education has taken into account in the curriculums of basic education. The research material consisted of two documents, the Curriculum of Basic Education 2004 and 2014. I used a qualitative analysis method, discourse analysis, which is an ideal tool when one is studying, not only how language is used, but also how the context is affecting the ways of using the language. The sami education had been taken into account in both documents. The Sami people were mentioned as an indigenous people and they got more space in the text than other minorities. The references to sami education were divided into two categories: to direct and indirect references. The Curriculum of Basic Education 2014 takes better into account the students coming from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, as well as Finland's internal diversity than the 2004 curriculum. The amount of direct references to sami education was also higher. The reasons behind the changes can be found in both international and national politics, as well as in the awakening of the Sami people to improve their own position. In order for the curriculum reform to have a meaning, it must also be studied critically.

The purpose of this Master's Thesis is to research the understanding of the white normativity of the Finnish education system and the racism associated within it, from the perspective of the Finns’ who identify as mixed-race. The thesis also considers the views of the mixed-race Finns on how the white normative school system has impacted their cultural identity. The thesis makes use of Stuart Hall’s theory of cultural identity, and Robert Miles’ theory of racialization. Previous studies have shown that there is white normative practice and racism present in the Finnish education system. Nonetheless, I noticed that previous studies had not been done from the point of view of the Finns identifying as mixed-race. Therefore, I wanted to explore the pos-sibilities that examining white normativity in the Finnish education system from this perspective could offer. I wrote this thesis as an insider since I identify as a mixed-race Finn. Furthermore, there were six others who took part in my study. Two semi-structured focus group interviews were con-ducted twice during the 2019-2020 academic year. In these interviews, we discussed the white normativity of the Finnish educational system and our own cultural identity. I applied both nar-rative and thematic methodology in my analysis. This meant understanding the phenomena with the help of narratives but organizing the results thematically. When it comes to my results, I discovered that there is the attribute of white normativity con-joined with the Finnish cultural identity. Thereby, the white normativity and the whiteness as a precondition for identifying as Finnish defined the cultural identity and its perception of those Finns identifying themselves as mixed-race. The white normativity of the Finnish educational system and the racism associated with it contributed to the development of internalized racism experienced by the Finnish mixed-race students. In this thesis, I have recognized and named these white normative structures in the Finnish educational system with the focus group inter-viewees. The results can be used for further research in the field of racism.

Goals The purpose of this study was to find out how synchronized skaters are motivated in school PE and synchronized skating practice and do they enjoy attending them. This study also aims to figure out which things are considered positive and which negative among the respondents in the field of school PE and synchronized skating. Former studies show that motivation and enjoyment are related to basic psychological needs: the needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Also goal-orientation theory and TARGET model are used in this study. Methodology A hundred synchronized skaters aged between 11 and 20 from Helsinki and Naantali responded to the questionnaire. This case study was analyzed with mixed methods. The data for this study was gathered with both open questions and Likert scale questionnaire. The open questions were analyzed with qualitative methods and the Likert scale questionnaire with quantitative methods. Results and conclusions This study shows that these athletes are motivated in school PE and even more motivated in synchronized skating. They also enjoy attending both. From the basic psychological needs competence and relatedness were considered most important. In school PE specific sports came up as well as a good teacher and group spirit. All of these came up in both positive and negative way. In synchronized skating the respondents had had the most positive experiences when they were performing well, learning new things, getting the feel of competence and being a part of the team. Most of the negative experiences were among failing in something or not being good enough. The teacher and coach have a big influence on the motivational climate.

Pedagogical documentation has been given high priority in the Early Childhood Education Plan (2022) and is seen as part of the implementation of quality early childhood education. The electronic portfolio is a tool in the process of pedagogical documentation. The pedagogical documentation process is the process of planning, implementing and evaluating pedagogical activities in early childhood education. In addition, pedagogical documentation enables the participation of children and parents. Previous research has shown that the pedagogical potential of pedagogical documentation has not been fully exploited (Rintakorpi & Reunamo, 2017; Ouakrim-Soivio & Kumpulainen, 2020). This Master's thesis aimed to explore how early childhood education teachers working in daycare centres in the city of Helsinki use the electronic group portfolio and what kind of capabilities they have for implement pedagogical documentation. The study was conducted using quantitative research methods. The data were collected with an electronic questionnaire from two early childhood education districts in Helsinki. The data was analysed using the SPSS software. The data were analysed using methods such as the mean analysis and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. In addition, the correlation of background variables with the survey results was examined using Mann-Whitney's U-test and Kruskal Wallis' test. According to the study, the electronic group portfolio is mainly used to describe the pedagogical activities and play of the group. In addition, early childhood teachers use the portfolio to clarify the pedagogical aims of the group to parents and to inform them about current issues in the group. The agency of children in the pedagogical documentation was limited in this study. Early childhood education teachers perceived their capacities for pedagogical documentation as mainly good, especially their IT skills according to this study. Among the pedagogical documentation capabilities, especially planned pedagogical documentation, perceiving the group portfolio as useful and understanding pedagogical documentation were positively correlated with the fact that the content of the group portfolio was varied and used as a tool for evaluation and development.

Teacher well-being has been studied a lot especially from the perspective of work strain and burn out. Work strain is connected to increasing of teachers’ workload, expansion of job description and diverse conflicts that occur in teachers’ work. According to the Job Demand-Control-Support Model (Karasek & Theorell, 1990), it is possible to reduce the negative effects of stressing situations on teacher well-being. The purpose of this study is to discover the factors connected to teacher well-being and describe the meaning of social support in teacher well-being. Research material contains of the interviews of seven primary school teachers. In the interviews they narrate on their understanding and experiences on well-being at work. Five of the teachers worked as class teacher and two worked as special education teachers. The interviews were held on March 2022. The analysis of the research material is based on content analysis that includes theory-based theme design and typing. In addition, also phenomenographic analysis is used. There were three factor groups identified affiliated to teacher well-being at work: the straining, the benefitting and the factors that could be categorized as both straining and benefitting. The straining factors were connected to teachers’ work, interaction, teachers themselves and changes. The benefitting factors were connected to teachers’ work, social support, professionality, and teachers themselves. Both straining and benefitting factors were connected to the students, recess, and management. Social support in teachers’ work occurred within the work community, in close relation to the community and beyond the community. Within the work community, social support is connected to working together with colleagues, interaction within teacher’s lounge and to the actions of the principal teacher. The social support beyond the work community includes e.g. the teacher’s family and friends.

Although the importance of equality work has been repeated in administrative and political programs, equality work has not been seen in the same legitimized profession as many other well-being in Finland. There has, however, been some degree of professionalization, meaning equality work in projects. My research focuses on Finland's this moment’s largest development, research and education project Tasova, and my point of view is in the collective equality and parity knowledge. In my research I see the conditions created by project-based equality work through which the knowledge required in equality work is determined. The theoretical framework can be divided into two parts. In the first part I considered knowledge in the light of previous literature, especially from a collective point of view. The question of the importance of collectivity is particularly necessary now when structures and institutions around the experts, especially in the public sector, have become brutal. The importance of collective expertise in equality work involves the fact that equality work is perceived as a precarious and challenging work among equality workers. In the second part, I described the conditions of equality work and made the concept of projection important for my research visible. Notable research data have been drawn from research interviews with six expert students from Tasova. Other data I’ve produced is by observing students during the training and exploring different Tasova materials and virtual platforms. All in all, the material was generated altogether in 131 pages. The analysis of my data was done by ethnographic discursive analysis. According to the results of this study, equality and parity knowledge is multi-dimensional and difficult to identify. It is knowledgeable and skillful management, tunnel, co-operation, discourse virtuosity and the ability to break away from the learned hierarchies. Its collective construction requires confidence, a secure space, time, place, involvement, commitment, structured and unstructured discussion, and the ability to break away from predetermined positions. According to the results of this study, Tasova appears as a discursively produced form of power, which builds a manuscript about what is the right way to make equality and what is the right way to know. In project-based equality training, the definitions of equality and parity knowledge have been manuscripted from above and they set the participants to be editable and evaluated in accordance with the needs and conditions of education.