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This thesis examines the book Molli, published by Katri Kirkkopelto in 2013, which is being promoted as tool for learning emotional skills in childhood. The purpose of this thesis was to find out what kind of emotions the picture book has, how emotions manifest as the story unfolds, and how many different emotions come up in the book. In addition, the thesis explores how the protagonist’s emotional skills develop as the book progresses. The subject of the thesis is very topical as the development and management of emotional skills are discussed in educational documents, on the educational field and in the media. Because of this, early childhood educator needs tools to practice the child’s emotional skills. The approach of the thesis is qualitative and the research material used in it is above mentioned picture book Molli. The research material was analysed by using content analysis for viewing the text and visual content analysis for viewing the picture. The results of the thesis indicated that the description of negative emotions dominated the whole picture book and more than half of the emotions expressed through the analysis were negative. Thus, the book deals more with negative emotions than positive ones. As the story progressed, however, positive emotions appeared more evenly throughout the story compared to negative emotions. The prevailing negative emotions were anger, loneliness, sadness, tension and fright. The prevailing positive emotions were joy, kindness, curiosity, well-being, courage and persistence. The book’s protagonist, Molli, developed its emotional skills as the story progressed. In the beginning of the book, Molli did not recognize its emotions but at the end it learned to control different emotions. Based through this research, this picture book presents a remarkable amount of different emotions both via image and text. This picture book also proves to be a versatile tool for interpreting emotions. Although the picture book deals more with negative than positive emotions, the book still has a happy ending which is typical for children’s literature.

Objectives: The objective of my research was to describe the experiences and insights of pre-school and primary school teachers concerning visual arts as a content and subject area. The objective was also to describe and understand children's opinions of visual arts' teaching. In addition I observed the differences and similarities of teachers' and children's opinions. Methodology: My research was a qualitative research with characteristics of hermeneutical research tradition. I pursued an understanding research method while observing my research phenomenon, visual arts, in pre-and primary school teaching. Theme interview was the main information gathering method. I experienced the theme interview to enable natural and i conversation-like approach to the research topic. The research material was gathered from Kivistö-Aviapolis and Tikkurila areas in the city of Vantaa. I interviewed four pre-school and four primary school teachers, and four pre-school and four primary school aged children. Four municipal daycare centers and two primary schools participated to the study. Findings and Conclusions: The preschool teachers experiences concerning visual arts focused on the playful manner by which to learn and combine visual arts to the other content areas. Primary school teachers on the other hand integrated the visual arts to other subject areas such as environmental education. Primary school teachers experienced that time pressure made the teaching of the visual arts difficult. According to my research, there is not enough time to teach visual arts in every day settings. All of teachers who participated to the study experienced creativity and the development of imagination as the main content of the visual arts. Despite of this, visual arts manifested more as producing of visual art than as experience seeking activity in the pre-and primary school teaching. The usage of visual media was scarce in the teaching. According to my results, over half of the teachers do not use visual media in their visual arts teaching and therefore do not help the children to understand and interpret visual language. The opinion that visual arts' position has been diminished was shared by all of the teachers. Hence more time and hour frame was hoped for. Pre-and primary school children experienced the visual arts as a pleasant subject and study area. Children liked to work in a way that enabled them to use their creativity. The research results for the children show children's' holistic way to learn and gain experience in various learning environments.

The aim of the thesis was to compare the correspondence of the outcome a computer assisted program appearance compared to the original image. The aspect of the study was directed to embroidery with household machines. The study was made from the usability point of view with Brother's PE-design 6.0 embroidery design programs two automatic techniques; multicoloured fragment design and multicoloured stitch surface design. The study's subject is very current because of the fast development of machine embroidery. The theory is based on history of household sewing machines, embroidery sewing machines, stitch types in household sewing machines, embroidery design programs as well as PE-design 6.0 embroidery design program's six automatic techniques. Additionally designing of embroidery designs were included: original image, digitizing, punching, applicable sewing threads as well as the connection between embroidery designs and materials used on embroidery. Correspondences of sewn appearances were examined with sewing experimental methods. 18 research samples of five original image were sewn with both techniques. Experiments were divided into four testing stages in design program. Every testing stage was followed by experimental sewing with Brother Super Galaxie 3100D embroidery machine. Experiments were reported into process files and forms made for the techniques. Research samples were analysed on images syntactic bases with sensory perception assessment. Original images and correspondence of the embroidery appearances were analysed with a form made of it. The form was divided into colour and shape assessment in five stage-similarity-scale. Based on this correspondence analysis it can be said that with both automatic techniques the best correspondence of colour and shape was achieved by changing the standard settings and using the makers own thread chart and edited original image. According to the testing made it is impossible to inform where the image editing possibilities of the images are sufficient or does the optimum correspondence need a separate program. When aiming at correspondence between appearances of two images the computer is unable to trace by itself the appearance of the original image. Processing a computer program assisted embroidery image human perception and personal decision making are unavoidable.

Objectives. The purpose of this multi-case study was firstly to develop a new kind of intervention and secondly to see if this intervention will possibly enhance pre-school aged children's emerging literacy and mathematical skills. The intervention was carried out during a eight weeks period. The intervention consisted of playing the piano and composing with figurenotes. Figurenotes is a musical notation system invented in Finland. The same musical information can be shown with figurenotes as can be with traditional, western music notation. Previous studies have shown the benefits of musical training enhancing emerging literacy and mathematical skills. I was also curious to know if the musical training had some other benefits on the children's skills. I wanted also to use my experience as a music pedagogue and early childhood special education teacher in this thesis. Methods. This is a multi-case study with consists of the developing and carrying out the new figurenotes intervention and of five cases who took part in the intervention. The cases are all pre-school aged children who have special education needs. The data was collected with two standardized tests, Niilo Mäki Institution's Fonologia- and Nopean sarjallisen nimeämisen- tests, which measure child's phonological awareness and rapid serial naming and two assignments related to phonological awareness and series made of basic figures. In addition a board game was played to observe the children's ability to count. The data consists also of the observations I made during these measurements and during the intervention. This study is qualitative because I wanted to observe and study closely the learning processes of the children before, during and after the figure notes intervention. Results and conclusions. On the basis of this multi-case study there can't be made any conclusions of the cause and effect relations between the measurements and the figure-notes intervention, but it can be seen as a description of these five cases and their learning processes. Also it can be said on the basis of this study that it is very supporting knowledge to make plans regarding future studies on this field and on these subjects of study.

Goals. From the end of 19th century to the beginning of 20th century it was demanded that a teacher had to be a model citizen, who with his or her own example would mould the youth according to the ideals of the sophisticated. The public authorities defined the attributes of model citizenship as piety, diligence, probity and fidelity. However micro-historical studies have shown that local level definition for a model citizenship was somewhat different from the definition of public level. The purpose of this study is to open up the concept even more with the help of the case of Hulda Salmi, former teacher and an MP. The goal is to solve what it was like for a teacher convicted of mutiny to return back to her former job. The research questions are 1. What did the local community think of Hulda Salmi? Did the Whites accept a former Red? And did the Reds think of her as a traitor? 2. If she did suffer from the opposition, what was the effect on her? What happened to her career as a politician? Methods. As accordingly to the micro-historical method the material was collected from archives by searching "clues", this meaning everything that had some connection with the case, after which they were read carefully and critically. The material used in this study consists of letters and records of the boards of those schools where Salmi had worked, school inspectors' inspection reports, letter and petition diaries, State Criminal Justice documents, Salmi's private correspondence and also newspapers which had published news of the sensation revolving around her. Results and conclusions. After being released from prison, Salmi got a job from Koivisto, where her background was unknown, so no problems with the local community did emerge. But when she applied to work to Nastola, where she was well-known, she faced a strong resistance, for the Whites could not accept a teacher who had lost her fidelity. Still the opposition could not annul the teacher election, for there was no legitimate reason to do so. Even though the children and their parents took Salmi in without much resistance, it seems that the Reds also had some complaints about Salmi, for her career as a politician ended, although Salmi did try to run few times for the parliamentary elections. Salmi's case shows, that even though it was possible for a convicted teacher to come back to work, it was hard or even impossible to continue practicing politics, for teachers were being monitored by the Board of Directors of Schools. That is why the teachers with left wing ideals were afraid to be as active as before. This on the other hand made it harder for them to win the elections. Salmi's case also confirms the discoveries formerly made by Rantala, that the local level was stricter about the model citizenship of teachers than the public level: Salmi got to keep her job, although the local Whites where against it. Also it varied by region which attribute of the model citizenship was emphasized. For example Salmi didn't face the same kind of opposition everywhere she went even when her background was known. The local level was also ready to use or even make up flaws in the teacher's other attributes of model citizenship in order to get rid of an unwanted person. Also Salmi was being accused in Nastola of not having enough probity in her.

Workshops can be seen as a one kind of occupational model in the field of the social employing. The objective of social employing is to support the employment of those persons who are in a weak labour market position and to maintain their ability to function. The objectives of the workshops, which are offering work experience and learning of life management, maintain the same goal as social employment. Workshop services in Finland are relatively little scientifically studied in spite of their fairly long history. The workshop as a concept is still quite sparsely defined and also an unknown occupational model to the large part of people. The starting point for this study was to clarify what the workshops are like, what the services are like and how learning can be seen from the point of view of the workshop services. The objective of this study was to analyse how the apprentices experience the workshop services as well as learning in the workshops and thus describe how the workshops are shaped at the youth workshops. According to earlier studies the apprentices have experienced the workshops as useful periods in their lives and also they believe that other people in society appreciate the experience that apprentices have been received from the workshops. This study can be described as a qualitative study. Its methodological foundation is in phenomenology and especially in existential phenomenology. The research material consisted of seven individual interviews and two group interviews. In the group interviews five apprentices were those who had also participated in the individual interviews and one apprentice who did not participate. The interviewees' ages were between 17-22 years. The interviews were carried out as semi-structured interviews. The method which was utilised in the analysis of the research material is developed by Juha Perttula (2000). This analyse method is based on existential phenomenology. The apprentices considered that significant experiences in the workshop services were the entry to the workshop, the form of activity of the workshop, workshop community, the achieving of life management and work experience, the understanding of the significance of the education and the planning of the future. Regarding to learning the attitude, on-the-job learning, the importance of the mentors, the new information and new skills achieved were significant experiences at the workshop for the apprentices. The apprentices' experiences reflect well the achievement of the objectives which are set for the workshop services. Results of this study are also compatible to the results of earlier studies of apprentices' positive experience of the workshop services. The results can be utilised in developing the workshop services to offer more versatile experiences than before and to improve learning conditions on the workshops. The arranging of the on-the-job learning and the significance of the actions of mentors should also be noticed.

Objectives. This master’s thesis was inspired on one hand by the current climate advocacy of children, and on the other by the persuasive possibilities of written texts (Anderson, 2008, 271; Wollman-Bonilla, 2004, 520). The aim of this piece of research was to investigate climate discourses and genre conventions in persuasive letters or “climate letters” written by primary school pupils. In addition, the aim was to specify and analyse which linguistic means were utilized to produce these climate discourses. This study increases knowledge of the meanings children attribute to climate change. Methods. The data for this study was collected from five primary school classes in four different schools. The students were in grades 3 to 6. The original data consisted of 54 letters. However, five letters which made up one of the classes participating in the study had to be disqualified. The conclusive data consisted of 49 climate letters from four different classes. The letters were analysed qualitatively utilizing discourse analysis and terminology within genre studies. Linguistic analysis, in this case the study of evaluations and modality, was used to support the discourse analysis. Findings and conclusions. The pupils’ climate letters utilized similar genre conventions which are natural to persuasive letters. These genre conventions are described using the term family resemblance. The letters have a similar schematic structure consisting of a greeting, a sequence containing opinions, arguments and suggestions, and a closing. By use of discourse analysis, six climate discourses were uncovered: a discourse about people-driven climate change, a denialist discourse, a conservation discourse, an animal rights discourse, a discourse of a sense of threat and a discourse of climate action. The discourses were produced using evaluations and modality. The evaluations varied. They were used to strengthen the affective quality of the letters and they proved to be an integral means of producing meanings about climate change. Out of the types of modality, dynamic modality was the most commonly used. In addition, illustrations were used to produce meanings about climate change. This study endeavours to offer more understanding about the meanings children develop about climate change so that the efforts to mitigate global warming would be more inclusive to the voices of the generation that will likely suffer most from the climate crisis.

Bullying and conflicts between peers have been a topic of discussion and research for years. Although a lot of attention is paid to bullying in particular in our society, and measures to prevent it are constantly being developed, it still occurs in many schools. Research has shown that bullying is a multi-faceted phenomenon that is influenced by a variety of risk factors at the individual, class and school levels. It’s important to address conflicts and bullying immediately and by adequate means. Sometimes, however the situations escalate and especially then they can threaten both the well-being of the individuals involved as well as the school community. Aseman Lapset provides support for schools in resolving challenging and prolonged bullying and conflict cases in the form of K-0 project. The purpose of this study is to examine bullying and conflicts in the school context from the viewpoint of K-0 employees and to find out what kind of factors may influence the prolongation of these cases. This study was conducted as a qualitative study with phenomenological-hermeneutic features. Thematic interviews were used to collect the data. The interviews were conducted in the autumn of 2021, and a total of nine (N=9) K-0 employees participated in three group interviews. The data was transcribed and then analyzed using data-driven content analysis. The themes that were described by the interviewees in this study were related to school culture, students and their families, and more broadly to society in general. These included school climate and anti-bullying/conflict practices, peer relationships, individual needs of the students, strong emotional responses of the parents involved, and the availability of community support services. Especially school culture and its different aspects were emphasized in the interviews.

The aim of this study was to describe and analyse the notions and experiences ageing employees have about the development of expertise as well as collaboration with fellow experts. The research questions were firstly, how does expertise develop, secondly, for what purposes are shared expertise and networking used at work, and thirdly, how do ageing and experience manifest themselves at expert work? This topic is relevant, because the changes in information work and the more complicated work environments require development from employees in their own as well as in cooperative work. According to previous studies a shared, aim-specific course of action develops collective acquisition of information, which in turn results in growing collective expertise. However, ageing has not been sufficiently recognised or profited from in the previous studies about the development of expertise. This provides a motive for this study. The theoretical framework of the study focuses on examining the development of shared expertise from the viewpoint of building information by combining cognitive, unshared expertise and the kind of expertise that arises from sociocultural theory. The data were gathered through thematic interviews with ten employees between 50 and 64 years of age. With the help of content analysis the answers were divided into three categories: the development of expertise, cooperation and networking, and age and experience at expert work. In addition to these, the theme of changes in expertise arose from the data. In accordance with theoretical framework, the results highlighted the fact that expertise was not seen merely as an unshared characteristic, but instead its development required interaction with others. Usually this development coincided with a change that caused a push forward. Aim-specific actorship, networking, and the sharing of skill and information helped the experts to reach better results. Expertise was seen as something developing through age and experience, but varying ages proved to be an advantage when different strengths and experiences could be profited from as a part of shared expertise. As a conclusion it is advisable to support, share, and make use of the skills and knowledge of people of varying ages more than before in order to develop shared expertise.

Aim: People with severe and profound intellectual disabilities communicate with early communication skills through their life. It is difficult for them to interact with other people in their daily life and that is why they usually end up on the edge of interaction. Usually people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities communicate mainly with staff members. Staff members' abilities and time determine how the interaction will work between the communication partners. The purpose of this study was to find out how the HYP model, developed for supporting interaction, works. The aim was also to find out which are the benefits of the use of HYP model and opportunities for the staff members to support the interactions between them and persons with intellectual disabilities by using the HYP model. The aim of this study is also to produce information that people with intellectual disabilities would get more opportunities for interaction. Methods: This research data were collected in the Communication and Technology Center of the Finnish Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Tikoteekki). The data were collected during autumn 2013 and spring 2014 in three different Finnish units where the first trials of the HYP model were accomplished. Participants of this study were staff members and clients. Staff members were altogether 48, 2 to 7 per client. They were, for example, teachers and school assistants. The clients were people with intellectual disabilities and people with autism. The data consisted of different HYP forms, which the staff members had filled in during the HYP periods. These data were analyzed using the Grounded Theory methodology. Results and conclusions: The core category from the data forms through Grounded Theory methodology to be reciprocal interaction. The main categories were cooperation, presence, contact and initiative. The core category collected the whole data and all the different categories together. It was, for example something what the staff members tried to reach during the HYP interaction or it was a wish to achieve with their clients. By using the HYP model the staff members got to know their clients' different interaction styles better. Because of these elements reciprocal interaction was easier to be accomplished during the HYP moments.