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(2017)Goals. According to Finnish curriculum (2014) the environmental science includes five subjects in primary school: biology, geography, physics, chemistry and health education. The purpose of this study was to examine the primary school teachers' self-efficacy and capacity to teach health education in primary school. The purpose was also to examine teachers' views and experiences about health educations' importance in primary school. In this thesis the self-efficacy is based on Albert Banduras self-efficacy theory (1997) and health education competence includes teachers subject expertise, exploratory grip, health literacy and the diversity of teaching methods. This study investigated the relations of teachers' self-efficacy and health education capacities. In this thesis teachers' views and experiences about their capability and likeness to teach health education were also examined. Methods. The data were collected in March 2017. The method for collecting the data was an electronic survey. 31 classroom teachers from Helsinki, Tuusula, Nurmijärvi, Hyvinkää and Jokioinen participated in this thesis. The study was executed with mixed methods, partly quantitative and partly qualitative methods. The quantitative analysis included correlation of self-efficacy and health education capacities. Crosstabulation was used to examine dependency of gender, work experience and competence to teach health education. Qualitative analysis was executed by phenomenographic analysis and considered teachers' views and experiences about the importance of health education, health literacy as well as their self-evaluated capacity to teach health education in primary school. Results and conclusions. Despite the primary school teachers' slight health education training, the results show that teachers' were fairly health-concious. Self-efficacy correlated especially with subject expertise and health literacy. Teachers' experienced the health education as important subject in primary school and themselves fairly competent to teach health education in primary school.
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(2018)Aims. Meaning of the study was to find out teacher’s use of time, factors that have effect on their time usage and how to get rid of thoughts linking to their work at free time. Meaning was also to find out if teacher`s time usage has some effects on their well-being at work. The purpose of this study was to find out teacher`s time usage and well-being at work through teachers own opinions. It is important to research teacher’s time using because there is not a lot studies about that, although teachers coping at work is an important and much discussed subject. Theory part in the study consists of importance of teachers own personality, about many roles in teacher`s profession, teachers time usage, importance of free time as a counterbalance to work and about research about teacher`s well-being at work. Previous studies have shown that teacher`s time usage differs from other professions time usage and teachers face a lot of work-linked rush and stress. Methods. The study was a qualitative research. Five interviewees took part in the study. Two interviewees have less work experience than three others. Study was done with theme interview. Interviews were recorded. Afterwards interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Results and conclusions. According to results of the study class teachers have quite similar time usage models. They all tried to keep work life separate from their free time. They all had difficulties to get rid of work-linked thoughts in their free time. Teachers own personality in teachers work and having ideas for work through social media had a lot to do with getting rid of work related thoughts. Work community and work experience had a positive effect on teachers use of time. All interviewees had been more stressed and exhausted in the beginning of their careers when they still had not built their own ways to be a teacher and how to use time. Especially the first year as a teacher had been difficult. According to study it is possible to make a conclusion at least in some measure that teachers use of time has some effect on their well-being at work. According to the study work experience has great impact on teacher`s time usage and well-being.
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(2022)Aims. School buildings have gone through a change in recent years in Finland. Many schools have more open spaces and traditional classrooms have turned into open physical learning environments. An open physical learning environment refers to a large space where there could be several teachers teach several groups of students. There is little re search or studies on open physical learning environments. The purpose of this study is to find out the views of class teachers about open physical learning environments. In particular, the research aims to find out how open physical learning environments affect learning. The theoretical framework of the research is formed around the concept of learning environment. The research questions of the study are: 1. What perceptions do class teachers have about open physical learning environments? 1.1 How do open physical learning environments support learning in the class teachers' views? 1.2 In what way do the open physical learning environments make learning more challenging in the view of class teachers? Methods. The research was conducted as a qualitative case study. The data was collected using a semi-structured interview. Seven class teachers from the same southern Finnish school participated in the study. The interviews were conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. The research material was analysed using theory-driven content analysis. Results and conclusions. Based on the research, there are factors that support and hinder learning in open physical learning environments. The results were a lot like previous studies. In the teachers' answers, the problems of the stimulus environment of open physical learning environments were seen as factors making learning more difficult. Concerns arose especially in matters related to the planning of the school's everyday life. The simultaneous teaching of different subjects in the space and the passage of groups of students in the space were particularly highlighted. In addition, open physical learning environments were not seen as suit able for all students. The teachers were especially worried about students with special needs. On the other hand, according to the teachers, the advantage of the open physical learning environment was the opportunities it offered for versatile and individual work. The possibility of co-teaching was seen as an advantage of the space. Different learners should be considered when planning open physical learning environments. In addition, it would be important for new schools to know the possible problems that may be encountered in open physical learning environments. In this way, a painless transition to new types of open physical learning environments could be implemented.
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(2023)In the last years the concern on mental health has been on the rise, especially of children and adolescence. The covid -pandemic has increased the concern furthermore. To promote mental health in primary schools, MIELI Mental Health Finland and the City of Hämeenlinna have developed a programme on mental health skills called Hyvän mielen taitomerkki. Mental health skills include emotional, social and self-awareness skills. Primary school as an institution offers many possibilities in promoting mental health. In this thesis the views and experiences of teachers, who have used Hyvän mielen taitomerkki in their work as class teachers, was studied. Their views and experiences on mental health skills and promoting mental health skills in general and the Hyvän mielen taitomerkki were the specific interests of this thesis. The material was collected by semi-structural interviews with remote connections in January and February 2022. The sample of the thesis consisted of 5 teachers. The data analysis was carried out between April and June 2022. The analysis was based on qualitive data-driven content analysis. The objective of the study is to produce knowledge about the views and experiences on mental health skills, promoting mental health skills and using Hyvän mielen taitomerkki in promoting mental health skills of class teachers who have been using the programme in question. The thesis was carried out in co-operation with MIELI. The thesis showed that the teachers saw mental health skills to be simultaneously individual and profound humane. The teachers also saw that promoting mental health skills in school is highly dependent on school`s operational culture. Multidisciplinary between teachers, psychologists and social workers was seen as a great potential but needed more viewpoint of promoting mental health. Hyvän mielen taitomerkki was seen as a functional programme by the teachers. Their experience was that it coordinates and gives structure, deepens gradually and is open to adaptation. As conclusions can be said that mental health promotion in schools would help many skills needed in school and outside, such as self-regulation, learning and interaction with others, but needs to be part of the operational culture of the school. Hyvän mielen taitomerkki is a functional programme and can be used in many kinds of situations.
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(2018)Objectives. This study is part of a larger discussion in the Finnish society on religious education (RE). The central topics in this discussion are whether religion should be taught in Finnish state schools and how RE should be organised in schools. Earlier research has studied the views of both ordinary citizens and teachers regarding RE. The interest of this study is on the views of class teachers in this matter. As experts on education working in primary schools, class teacher could be seen as having a unique view on the subject of RE. The objectives of this study are to discover which kind of religious education models class teachers regard as best, and what sort of positive or negative aspects do they see in their model of choice. It is also of interest to find out how the views of class teachers differ from the general discussion on the subject. Methods. For this purpose, an e-survey was sent to about a thousand Finnish elementary school teachers. In the survey the teachers were asked to write an essay, in which they would present what they regarded as the best religious education model along with arguments on its behalf and also against it. 78 teachers answered the survey. This study is partial to the qualitative research tradition and the data was analysed using theory related content analysis. The survey answers were categorised based on which model of religious education it represented. Within these main categories the arguments for and against the model and variations within the model were categorised. These categories were the premises for the results. The theory presented in this study was used in the categorisation process whenever it was deemed applicable. The results of the categorisation was also reflected on the theory. Results and conclusions. Three main categories were formed from the data: current model, common subject and combined model. The last was a combination of the two first models. The arguments for the current model were related to the understanding of Finnish cultural history and to furthering the pupil's sense of self. The arguments against this model were practical in nature. The arguments for the common subject were related to the removal of confessional RE from schools, the increased dialogue between students and the low cost of the model. The arguments against were related to freedom of religion and the qualifications of the teacher. The combined model produced arguments similar to the other two models.
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(2016)Aims. According to literature and former study children's operating environments have become more diversified and schools should take into account the possibilities offered by informal learning environments. Exploitation of out of school environments can be seen to support learning. The study examined the views of class teachers' about using informal learning environments from the perspectives of learning, class teacher's work and possible ways to support the use of informal learning environments. Methods. Eighteen class teachers that work in Lahti, took part to this study. Research material was gathered in February and in March 2015 using an electronic questionnaire. The open ended questions were in an important role in the electronic questionnaire. Research material was analyzed with content analysis. The quantification was also utilized as part of the analysis. Results and conclusions. The study showed that the nature and various cultural sites were the main informal learning environments that class teachers utilized in their teaching. Exploitation of out of school learning environments was considered important from the perspective of child's learning although the exploitation of environments can bring challenges to teacher's work, especially from the perspective of time management. Exploitation of environments was considered to bring variation to class teachers work. Exploitation of informal learning environments was seen to increase motivation to learn as well as to support remembering. The lack of resources and the location of the school were considered to affect the utilization of environments. The exploitation of environments was supported by the cultural program and also the interaction in work communities was considered important way to support the use of environments. However, the support was seen as inadequate, and additional support was needed, especially reduction of transport costs as well as additional information to classroom teachers were considered important ways to support the use of informal learning environments. The study shows, that despite of factors limiting the exploitation of informal learning environments, teachers experience that environments are important in learning.
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(2021)Assessment of visual arts and the development for the assessment is currently very topical, as the assessment part of the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education (2014) has been renewed. In the future the final assessment will include the criteria for grades 5, 7 and 9 in addition to the current criteria for grade 8. Previous research shows that assessing with the current criteria for grade 8, does not enable equal assessment. Teachers have also been dissatisfied with the support provided by the curriculum in the final assessment. The purpose of this master’s study is to examine the views that classroom teachers have on the support provided by the curriculum in the assessment of visual arts. In addition, the aim is to find out how classroom teachers who teach art react to the idea of producing the criteria for the grades 5, 7 and 9 in elementary school as well. The study was carried out using qualitative methods. The research material was collected with an electronic questionnaire and one thematic interview. Eleven classroom teachers who teach art from three different municipalities responded to the questionnaire. The results of the survey were deepened with one in-depth interview. Content analysis was utilized in the analysis of the material. Based on the results of this study, the classroom teachers deemed that the current visual arts’ assessment criteria in curriculum worked moderately on average. Some classroom teachers found the assessment of visual arts difficult and challenging. With the exception of one respondent, all the classroom teachers who responded to the survey wanted elementary school also to have the evaluation criteria for visual arts in the future for grades 5, 7 and 9 in addition to the current criteria required for the grade 8. According to the analysis of the questionnaire and the interview, the classroom teachers believed that the assessment would be equalized, facilitated and clarified if they had these number-specific criteria in the assessment. In addition, teachers wished for clarity and concreteness regarding the curriculum.
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(2023)The purpose of this study was to investigate primary school teachers’ views on teaching social functioning in physical education. The theory part of this study is driven by the keywords of this study, which are social functioning and physical education. In this study, social functioning refers to aspects such as emotional skills, co-operation, interaction and responsibility. The focus of my research was on six primary school teachers who teach physical education. Schools physical education classes provide an excellent environment for teaching social functioning, as physical is taught in unique settings compared to other subjects, and physical education classes involve a lot of pair and group activities. The study adopted a phenomenographic approach, aiming to understand the research subjects’ experiences on the chosen topic. I collected data for my study by conducting six theme interviews, each lasting 30-50 minutes. The data analysis was carried out using thematic analysis. The thematic analysis was data-driven, meaning that the themes I identified emerged from the data rather than being driven by theory. Based on the research results, primary school teachers had limited but generally accurate perceptions of the concept of social functioning in the context of physical education. According to teachers, social functioning included interaction and teamwork skills. Teachers considered the emotions generated in physical education to be a fertile ground for teaching social functioning. Teachers perceived giving responsibility to students and collaboration within groups as essential aspects of teaching social functioning. Additionally, the safety of physical education classes was seen as a crucial element of teaching social functioning. The teachers also emphasized the importance of their own example and being a role model in teaching social functioning. Based on the research results of this study, one can consider whether primary school teachers have enough knowledge of social functioning to teach it effectively in physical education classes. However, based on this study, it can be concluded that primary school teachers consider teaching social functioning to be a highly important part of physical education.
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(2018)Goals. Along inclusive thinking ever more students’ equality and participation has been higlighted in Finnish education system. Finland like numerous other countries has signed many international agreements, such as Salamanca statement and United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilites. The development of education according to these agreements has been exposed in many public records in last decades. Variable school culture sets new challenges to teachers and above all requires collaboration between teachers. Co-teaching is one way to react to the challenges of school culture. Goal of this study is to set co-teaching into larger context and investigate what kind of meanings class teachers give to co-teaching and how they react to co-teaching. The purpose of this study is in co-teaching between special education teacher and class teacher. Methods. This research is qualitative research. Research material has been obtained by interviewing three elementary school teachers in Oulu area. Interviews were carried out as theme interviews. The duration of interviews varied between 25 minutes to 45 minutes. The material has been analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions. In this study class teachers’ attitude for co-teaching was found positive. They saw co-teaching to be compatible with inclusive teaching. Teachers emphasized the role of pedagogical leadership in executing the co-teaching. School’s pedagogical administration can support co-teaching by structural arrangements, changing the working culture and by increasing awareness of co-teaching. Co-teaching also caused contradictions. The teachers saw, that disagreements were induced by division of roles as well as interactional contradictions. Conflicts were mainly clarified by discussing. The key points of solving contradictions had been changing the way of acting, self-improvement and support from principal.
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(2023)Goals The aim of this study is to find ways in which a classroom teacher can support students with ADHD. The goals of the thesis are to examine how experienced teachers support ADHD students in school and in teaching. This research also aims to provide more information about ADHD and its support in school context. The interest of this the-sis’ topic arose from the need to find support strategies for common challenges in the field of education. The thesis primarily addresses the most common challenges of ADHD in the school context, as well as the strategies used by classroom teachers to address the challenges of ADHD students. In addition, the study focuses on classroom teachers’ knowledge of ADHD, ADHD diagnosis, and treatment. Methods The study is qualitative research in which research data was collected through thematic interviews. The interviews involved primary school classroom teachers from different classes, each of whom had at least 10 years of teaching experience and experience in teaching ADHD students. The research data was analyzed using a data-driven content analysis approach. The interviews were transcribed, and then the data was examined in relation to pre-vious theory. Results and conclusions The study revealed that that a classroom teacher can support ADHD students in many ways. In teaching, clear goals and structure, as well as multi-modal guidance, were crucial in supporting ADHD symptoms. It is particularly important fo ADHD students to know what is expected of them in class and what they need to do to achieve the goal. Multi-modal guidance, which is visual and verbal, asl well as step-by-step, helps maintain the atten-tion span of ADHD students. ADHD students understand instructions more ef-fectively when using step-by-step guidance. In addition, classroom teachers can support students with ADHD by differentiating tasks, providing immediate feedback, and making the teaching as engaging and active as possible. In ad-dition to work, classroom teachers can support student concentration by break-ing the teaching into shorter segments, allowing the attention of ADHD stu-dents to last longer. All of these strategies are aimed at ADHD students, but these strategies are often beneficial to the entire group.
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(2021)The aim of this study is research teachers’ pedagogical thinking in oral health education. The study was interested in what contents classroom teachers consider important in relation to oral health, and what kind of teaching methods and materials they use when teaching these to their students. In addition, the challenges and opportunities for creative class teachers in oral health education were examined. The theoretical frame of reference for the study was Kansanen’s (1993b) Model of Pedagogical Thinking and the Herbartian Didactical Triangle. Teachers’ pedagogical thinking was approached from the arguments they shared. In this case study, eight classroom teachers were interviewed, seven of whom were currently teaching in primary school. In the interview situations, the I love mouth video of the Finnish Dental Association was used as a stimulus. The data were analyzed by inductive as well as deductive content analysis, also utilizing the quantification of the data. Class teachers considered it important to teach students content related to dental care, nutrition, intoxicants, and oral health and well-being. The most popular teaching materials in oral health education were textbooks, model teeth, and videos. Oral health was taught in everyday situations as well as through concreteness and functionality, group work and teaching discussions. Oral health care visits were considered desirable and their lack was regretted. As challenges in oral health education, classroom teachers saw a small role for oral health in curriculum content. In addition, there was a lack of teaching materials and one's own knowledge was not perceived as very strong. Directing students to a healthier life was seen as an opportunity. As in previous studies, the pedagogical thinking in this study also focused on the action level. Teachers justified the teaching of oral health based on, for example, their own experiences and everyday observations. The main emphasis in the explanatory memorandum was on the didactic relationship, therefore teachers’ relationship to the student' s learning. Additionally, the pedagogical relationship was almost as evident. Instead, the teachers’ relationship to content remained in the smallest role. Regarding the pedagogical thinking of teachers in the teaching of oral health, it can be stated that teachers should have more theoretical competence in the teaching of oral health.
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(2020)Tiivistelmä - Referat – Abstract Objectives. The aim of this study was to obtain more information about grouping and its different dimensions in the first two grades of elementary school. The development of the group and its stages have previously been studied mainly in adults and adolescents. The aim of this study is to examine classroom teachers' perceptions of grouping and the methods used for grouping in the context of first two grades of elementary school. School satisfaction has also been studied in the past, but the research has focused mainly on young people. As no research can be found and lower primary education is a relevant time for grouping, the research was limited to lower primary teachers. The purpose of the study is to find out how classroom teachers understand grouping, its methods and their own pedagogical role in this process. In addition, the purpose is to map the benefits and challenges of grouping and the impact of grouping on school satisfaction. Bruce Tuckman's model has been used as a theoretical basis, as it best suited the nature of the study. In addition to the new research data, this research is also intended to provide understanding for grouping both classroom teachers already working in the field and those still studying. Methods. The study was conducted as a qualitative research in which 4 class teachers who worked in the first two grades of elementary school in the Helsinki metropolitan area were interviewed. A theme-based individual interview was used as the data acquisition method. Inductive content analysis and data quantification were used as the analysis method of the study. In addition to data-driven reasoning, the study also used theory to support research findings. Results and conclusions. Class teachers felt that grouping and their own role in the process were very important. The effect of grouping and school satisfaction was also seen as significant. The most important method of grouping were named plays and games, changing seats, and the daily maintenance of grouping. The main benefit was that teachers felt successful in pair and group work, and the challenges were again associated with shyness, undesired behavior and the general language problems. It would appear, that school satisfaction is influenced by the teacher and the level of class grouping, which in turn affects class group dynamics and atmosphere, which also affect school comfort. A grouped class in which students feel safe would also seem to predict better motivation to study and a willingness to come to school, which in turn promotes learning and maintains school satisfaction.
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(2015)Objectives. Education for sustainable development related to efficacy beliefs has been studied in the past, for example, among the subject teachers, but among the class teachers, research-based information is still scarce. Aim of this study was to investigate the class teachers efficacy beliefs and their connection to school action culture in context of education for sustainable development. The study also surveyed the realization of education for sustainable development with classroom teaching and school action culture. In addition the study examined the class teachers and their schools, the differences between their efficacy beliefs and the implementation of education for sustainable development. Methods. The study was conducted utilizing SEED research, supported by the Academy of Finland, sub-project by University of Helsinki, Department of Teacher Education, collected survey data. The SEED projects (Sustainable Food Education for Self-Efficacy Development) aim has been to study and develop the education for sustainable development in Finnish basic education. Sub-project of University of Helsinki Department of Teacher Education surveyed teachers and students factors which influenced sustainable development actions. The questionnaires question sets were analyzed by statistical methods and the questionnaires open questions were analyzed utilizing content analysis. The study was conducted in spring 2010 with national stratified sampling and the questionnaire was answered by 231 class teachers from 80 schools. Results and conclusions. Class teachers described their efficacy beliefs in education for sustainable development as mediocre. Best known was ecological sustainability and the least known part was economic sustainability. The knowledge of the curriculums cross-curricularity of sustainable development was mediocre. From aspects of the Sustainable development the ecological point of view was best achieved in school culture and the worst one of them was the economic aspect. The school action culture which supports sustainable development was found to affect class teachers education for sustainable development positively. Between class teachers there did not show up any differences in sustainability education based on sex, age, class level, the school or the schools classification in the municipality. Schools showed differences in teaching of sustainable development, schoolwork and school culture influence, as well as in the implementation of sustainable development in socio-cultural dimension.
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(2018)The objective of this research was to examine attidutes of teachers towards general education differentiation and differentiation of physical education. Also investigated teachers attidutes towards physical education and skillful student. The research emphasized the differences of skillful student and frail student. This phasing of a question has been born based my bachelor`s thesis and my own experience. The research was carried out as qualitative attidute survey and interviewees was divided in two groups. Both of them was three elementary school teachers. The material gathering methods was performed either at schools or homes of the interviewees. The research material was transcribed and after this the material was categorised and analysed utulising different themes. Interview claims were coded by colours and research questions. After this these groups sought differences and similaritys. Every research questions consisted several themes. These themes were established in research results. As a result, the teachers had a contradictory attidute towards differentiation. Differentiation was important but challenging. Challenges was lack of time and space and the wellbeing of teachers. One of the results was emphasis frail students differentiation in real subjects and skillful students differentiation in practical subjects. Differences of students were noticed diffe-rent ways. Teachers own enthusiam and attidute was an important role in terms of students intrest and motivation. The research came out that teachers has a big responsability as a physical education bredeer. This theme is important to research beacause differentiation seem to be a baseline of differentiation. Students learning suffer if differentiation doesn´t work. As a conlusion, it can be stated that teachers reconize the importance of differentiation but doesn´t execute it at work like they want. Physical education has been investigated a little. This topic is important to study so that teachers gets more information about differentiation and they can self reclect and this way give high quality teaching for the students.
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(2017)Aims. Touching is an essential part of human life and well-being: touch is a way of communicating in human interaction, and touching has positive influence on growth and development of a child. Thus, touching should also be a part of school life in interaction between a teacher and a student. On the other hand, many studies discuss concerns that teachers have regarding touching students. In this study, the aim was to discuss primary school teachers' attitudes towards touching as a pedagogical tool: is it allowed to touch children, do teachers want to touch in the first place, in what kind of situations do teachers touch, and how is touching discussed in schools. The purpose of this study is to enhance understanding of touching in schools. Methods. The research data was gathered by interviewing six class room teachers, and I applied theme interview in the interview. This study was a qualitative study, and I applied phenomenography study's analysis model in the analysis. Phenomenography is based on different kinds of ways of understanding the same phenomenon: therefore I observed primary school teachers' different views about touching in school. Results and conclusions. Primary school teachers associated six different meanings with touching: touching as natural and common thing; as a tool for calming and guiding; as caring; as a worry; as an object of avoiding; and as restricting. The factors that influence teacher's decision to touch are the norms of society and community, context of the situation in which touching occurs, teacher's own touching history, characteristics regarding a student, instructions or pedagogical freedom, and conscious decision making or spontaneous action. As a summary for these results, there was formed five different roles for teachers as touchers: teacher as an educator, as a communicator, as a restrictor, as an avoider, and as a victim. Even though the results cannot be generalized to apply every primary school teacher, the results imply possible ways of comprehending touching as a pedagogical tool.
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(2023)The term lifelong learning is often associated with class teacher work. Lifelong learning continues after class teacher training, during which one's professional competence is developed and maintained. The development of one's professional skills can be sup-ported through continuing education. However, there are various opinions on the sub-ject of continuing education for class teachers. Criticisms have been raised, for exam-ple, regarding the poor organization of continuing education, fragmented content, and the lack of support for the development of knowledge and skills acquired in basic edu-cation. The work of class teachers is very diverse, and continuing education should meet teachers' wishes and needs for the development of their work. The purpose of this master's thesis is to explore the desires and needs of class teach-ers regarding continuing education. The focus is on any potential changes that may have occurred in continuing education for class teachers. The obtained research re-sults are compared with a study conducted in 1997, which examined class teachers' thoughts on the need for continuing education at that time. The research is qualitative, and the collected data is analyzed using content analysis. The research data was col-lected through an electronic questionnaire containing both closed and open-ended questions. 69 class teachers from different parts of the Uusimaa region participated in the study. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that class teachers' desires regard-ing continuing education have partly remained the same and have partly transformed over the past twenty-five years. Teachers feel that they need continuing education the most in digital skills, differentiation and special education, as well as in work well-being and stress management. Both digital skills and special education have maintained their positions in class teachers' desires for the past twenty-five years. On the other hand, work well-being and stress management as a topic have emerged more prominently in teachers' desires compared to the study conducted in 1997.
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(2019)The purpose of this study was to find out what kind of collaboration the classroom teachers had with other teachers, and whether the experience of collegial collaboration was related to classroom teachers' conceptions of ability. There is an increasing emphasis on collaboration in schools, so research on collegial collaboration is topical. Collaboration between classroom teachers was classified using a collaborative model for different needs, which includes every way to collaborate. The research questions were influenced by their own interests in cooperation and previous research results on teacher cooperation. A total of 46 classroom teachers participated in the study, but the material contained 45 useful answers for the study. Class teachers participated in the research all over Finland. Class teachers were asked to participate in the research through social media and email. The material was collected primarily through a questionnaire, after which the class teachers had the opportunity to participate in the interview if they so wished. The interview was conducted as a semi-structured interview. The classroom teachers had tried and worked with a variety of collaborators with other teachers. For the most part, the class teachers had done collaborative teaching and joint planning with others. Class teachers said they were the ones who benefited the most from collaborating by sharing ideas and materials with others. On average, the highest personal teaching ability was found among class teachers who taught for 5 to 10 years and general teaching ability among those who taught between 0 and 5 years. Personal teaching ability was found to be the weakest among those teaching 0-5 years and the lowest overall teaching ability among those teaching 5-10 years. In fact analysis, the claims loaded for the most part as in previous studies. Minor exceptions were noted. A statistically significant association was found between the classroom teachers' conceptions of ability and the perceived benefit of organizational needs.
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(2017)Aim. Teachers' coping and well-being at work has been discussed recently in school communities as well as in the media and the approach has mostly been negative. It is important to also research the positive side of well-being at work. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors are the most important for well-being of class teachers together with how class teachers experience work engagement and whether the experiences differ in different stages of the career. The objective was to examine newly graduated and experienced teachers' well-being at work and work engagement. The assumption was that the results would differ from each other between these two groups. Methods. The study was a qualitative research. The research data consisted of individual interviews with four newly graduated and four experienced teachers. The interviews were semi-structured and were collected in Spring 2017. Data from the interviews was analysed by using thematic analysis. Results. Class teachers found the work community, work and working, the physical working environment, their own health and attitudes as well as leisure time to be important factors for their well-being at work. Work community was a particularly important factor for newly graduated teachers. Pupils, work community and the chance to influence on their own job were the most important factors that produced work engagement. For the newly graduated class teachers the work community was the key factor in being able to experience work engagement. Things that teachers felt hard were the factors that challenged work engagement. The work engagement manifested itself as a desire to learn and develop, enjoyment at work and co-operation. Teachers also experienced the three dimensions of work engagement: vigor, dedication and absorption. Experiencing work engagement can be seen positively related to well-being at work. For teachers' well-being at work, it is important that teachers have enough resources in their work.
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(2022)Previous research has suggested that job demands and resources are related to teacher’s wellbeing. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to find out how inclusion in classrooms is connected to classroom teacher’s work-related wellbeing. In this thesis it is tried to find out what kind of demands inclusion brings to teachers and what kind of resources teachers have. In addition the aim is to find out which factors are especially weakening techer’s wellbeing and how they affect it and which factors support teacher wellbeing. This thesis was carried out as qualitative research. The qualitative data was obtained through half-structured interviews. There were four interviewees and all of them worked in inclusive classrooms as classroom teachers. The data was analysed with content analysis. The job demands of inclusion and the resources the teachers have were categorized as institutional, classroom and personal demands and resources. The demands factors that weakened the teachers wellbeing especially were the feeling of insufficiency combined with a too challengin job. This consisted of too many students with special needs and too few resources, especially not enough adults in the classroom. In addition behavioral problems and excessive workload by paperwork as well as more multiprofessional cooperation and parent-teacher meetings were such factors. Resources and factors supporting teacher wellbeing included especially good school climate, support from colleagues. administration and parents, teamwork and simply enough appropriate resources. In addition, smaller groupsize was considered as a resource. Teachers’ weakened wellbeing demonstrated as e.g. sleeping problems, tearfulness, being tense, disengagement and as feelings of despair and anxiety. Classroom teachers felt that they were less excited about their work and felt their work motivation decreasing when their wellbeing was compromised. In conclusion, inclusion in classrooms may weaken teacher wellbeing if the resources and demands do not match.
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(2021)Previous research shows that more and more teachers are considering a career change. Indicators measuring working conditions provide information on the fatigue experienced by teachers. The number of applicants for classroom teacher’s education programme has decreased from time to time, and graduates of teacher education may not be employed as teachers. The purpose of this master’s study was to better understand why a candidate for classroom teacher education ends up choosing not to do the work of a classroom teacher. The study examines why teacher students who give up classroom teaching have initially applied for classroom teacher’s education programme. In addition, the focus is on how different applicant profiles explain the abandonment of teaching. The research is guided by Watt and Richardson's (2007) FIT-Choice model of applying for a teacher and the model of giving up teaching based on the research results of Räsänen and partners (2020). The study was carried out using qualitative methods. The research material was collected by interviewing nine teacher students who are giving up classroom teaching at the University of Helsinki. Theory-guided content analysis was utilized in the analysis of the material. The analysis process began with a background study on the application of subject persons for classroom teacher training. The background study served as a support for the theory-guiding content analysis in the interpretation of the actual research problems. Disappointments with changes in the school system, challenges in interaction, heavy workload and lack of commitment contributed to the abandonment of classroom teaching, as discovered in previous research. In this study, the abandonment of teaching was further explained by the overturned ideals and negative experiences. For each teacher student, there were a number of interrelated reasons for giving up classroom teaching. The result of the research was a circle of abandoning classroom teaching. Applicant profiles did not differ significantly in terms of the factors behind the abandonment of classroom teaching. The heavy workload of the work explained the abandonment of classroom teaching most strongly for each applicant profile. However, several interrelated reasons were found between applying for a school teacher and giving it up. The research results can be utilized in the development work of the classroom teacher's profession and teacher education in order to keep future teachers motivated for their work. The research results support claims that teachers’ working conditions should be improved and the respect towards their work increased.
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