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The aim of this research was to examine what colors can be obtained by dyeing two kinds of textile materials with avocado skins and seeds. The materials were bamboo viscose jersey and merino wool interlock. In addition the color fastness of dyed materials was studied. The purpose was to examine whether it is possible to use avocado waste as a source of natural dye on a larger scale and to offer dyeing tips for craft enthusiasts as well. In the future, more environmentally friendly dyeing methods will be needed, as synthetic dyes may be harmful to both the environment and people. In addition, efforts should be made to move from linear economy to circular economy, in which the side streams of food production are also utilized in some way. In previous studies, a dye called persoreangin has been found in avocado seeds. The dyes in avocado seeds and skins have been studied for use as a dye for example in the food industry. The research was conducted using quasi-experimental research methods. A total of 36 samples were dyed with dyes extracted from avocado skins and avocado seeds. Different mordants were used in dyeing and their effect on dyeing and color fastness was examined. The used mordants were alum and tannin. Sodiumcarbonate was used to increase the pH le-vel and cream of tartar was used to prevent the dye molecules from percipitating. In addition, the effect of the dyeing temperature was tested. CIELab values were measured from the dyed samples. The samples were subjected to water washing, rubbing and lightfastness tests. The tests were performed in accordance with national and international standards. Both bamboo viscose and merino wool dyed well with avocado seeds and peels. The samp-les dyed with seeds were lighter than those dyed with skins. The pH of the dye solution see-med to affect the hue of the resulting color. The color fastness of both materials was modera-te. In the water washing resistance test, there was not much staining, but there were many changes in the shade and intensity of the color in the washed samples. Lightfastness was moderate or weak across tested samples. The research provides good information for home dyers and opens up further research opportunities for avocados to be used as a dye.

Objectives. There is a lack of knowledge concerning the contribution of the character traits to the association of work stress and over-commitment with common mental health problems. Primary school teachers are a large, homogenous occupational group that has been related to higher work stress levels and common mental health problems, although to a lesser amount of actual mental disorders. The aim of the study is to examine the extent to which the association between work stress, over-commitment and their interaction with common mental health problems can be attributed to the character traits among primary school teachers. Methods. The data consists of 76 (87% females) primary school teachers from 34 schools randomly selected to a study taking part in the capital area of Finland in 2013-14. There were 1-6 teachers who responded from each school (participation rate 4-33%). Common mental health problems were measured by GHQ-12 (psychological distress) and cognitive anxiety from a state anxiety scale of EMAS (highest tertile vs. two lowest). Work stress and over-commitment (the upper tertile vs. the rest) were measured according to original Siegrist's Effort-Reward-Imbalance Questionnaire. Character traits Self-directness, Cooperativeness, and Self-Transcendence were measured by Cloninger's TCI-questionnaire and each character was dichotomized at median to indicate a higher and lower category of the trait. The control variables were age, working hours and job contract type. The data were analyzed by means of Poisson regression (prevalence ratios, PR, and 90% confidence intervals) and relative rates. Results. Of teachers 30% had common mental health problems. The teachers with high over-commitment in comparison with those with low over-commitment had more often psychological distress (PR=2.5, p=0.018) and cognitive anxiety (PR=2.8, p=0.004). Although work stress was not independently associated with common mental health problems, it was related to the increased psychological distress among those with high over-commitment. Controlling for self-directedness attenuated the association of over-commitment with psychological distress and cognitive anxiety by 29% and 47%, respectively. After all adjustments, an independent association of Self-Directness with cognitive anxiety remained (PR=0.3, p=0.024). The other two character traits didn't have an independent impact on common mental health problems among the primary school teachers, but with the concurrent low self-directedness, low cooperativeness and low Self-Transcendence were related to over-commitment and increased level of cognitive anxiety. Both low cooperativeness and low self-transcendence were related to psychological symptoms. Conclusions: The primary school teachers had higher prevalence of common mental health problems, if they had low self-directedness and were over-committed to their work. Enhancing self-directedness may help in decreasing common mental health problems among overcommitted teachers. In the future the associations of the trait profiles with over-commitment and mental health symptoms should be studied with the larger longitudinal data.

The purpose of the study was to find out, if the character strength intervention that is based on the See the Good! -character strength pedagogy by Lotta Uusitalo and Kaisa Vuorinen influences children’s well-being. Many previous research show that character strength education advances children’s well-being. The intention of this study was to examine more closely what kind of effect the character strength intervention has on chil- dren’s subjective well-being, school related happiness and self-esteem. These influ- ences were observed between boys and girls and between boys and girls of different age. The aim of this study was to offer relevant research data for care and education sector for them to understand what kind of significance the character strength education has for children’s well-being. This study was carried out as a quantitative intervention study and the intervention was a part of a larger #uuttakoulua initiative. The data was collected in the beginning of the intervention in September 2019 and then again when four months of the intervention had passed in December 2019. The final measurement in 2020 wasn’t used because of the coronavirus pandemic. 240 comprehensive school students took part in the study. There were twelve municipalities and nineteen comprehensive schools involved in the #uut- takoulua initiative and those who wanted participated in this character strength interven- tion. This study consisted of a sample group with 184 students and a control group with 56 students. An electronic questionnaire was used to collect the data and the data was analyzed by SPSS-program with Wilcoxon signed rank test. Generally, there were no statistically significant differences in different well-being sectors in the sample group during the character strength intervention. However, there was a statistically significant rise in subjective well-being in the 10-year-olds from the sample group during the intervention. In the same way there was a statistically significant rise in school related happiness in the 12-year-olds from the sample group. Whereas the 11- year-olds’, from the sample group, the subjective well-being lowered statistically signifi- cantly. Little differences from different genders emerged when boys and girls of different age were compared. The results of this study indicate that character strength intervention has moderate effects on children’s well-being. Further research is needed to get confir- mation for the results of this study.

Previous research shows that multicultural and multilinguistic organizations can be more effective and creative than other organizations. Building trust in workplace strengthens commitment to work and eliminates conflicts and disagreements between colleagues. Organizational culture is partly impacted by how trust building materializes in practice in work community. The purpose of the study was to discover how international experts experience trust building and work commitment in a multicultural organization. The study was conducted in the IT organization that is part of a bigger Finnish organization. The study answered two research questions: (1) What should an organization guarantee to its employees to build trust and commitment? (2) What informal factors contribute to building trust in a multicultural work community? This study was conducted qualitatively, and semi-structured interview was used as a method to collect research material. In total, six people were interviewed for the study. They all work for the IT organization and do not speak Finnish as their mother tongue. Three of the interviewees had moved to Finland when they started working for the organization and three others work from their home countries as consultants for the organization. Theoretical content analysis was used as the analysis method. The results of the study suggest that international professional’s benefit from clear goals, roadmaps, and strategies that guide their work. These should be available in English. In addition, multicultural teams’ benefit from being able to build their own ways of working that takes multiculturalism and language barriers into account. Informal acquaintance is also useful in building trust. International colleagues had positive experiences of colleagues and supervisors who had helped them when they moved to Finland, for example. In addition, it has been important for the international experts to learn Finnish and learn about the Finnish culture. In order to build trust and commitment, it is important that the organizational culture supports the needs of multiculturalism and multilingualism, and the employees implements the culture in everyday life. The results of the study can be applied in building trust and commitment of multicultural teams.

The aim of this master’s thesis was to describe special education teachers’ perceptions of the ways to support their students’ reading-related self-concepts. Reading difficulties and reading related learning disabilities create a risk for the development of students’ reading-related self-concepts. Students reading-related self-concept is in many ways related to students’ reading skills and performance in school as well as general well-being. Thus it is important to pay attention to the students’ reading-related self-concepts’ significance and to find means to support it. The theoretical framework used in the study consists of the main themes of the study, which are learning and teaching to read, reading difficulties and reading-related self-concept. The aim of this study was to examine special education teachers’ work in relation to reading difficulties and reading-related self-concept. The purpose was also to find out how special education teachers comprehend the connection between reading difficulties, school-performance and reading-related self-concept. This study focused on describing the ways in which a part-time special education teacher can support students’ reading-related self-concept. This study was a qualitative study and it was carried out using a phenomelological research method. The data was produced by interviewing part time special education teachers in elementary schools. The method of analysis was content analysis. The results showed that part-time special-education teachers’ work was multifaceted and focused on taking into account students’ individual needs and reading difficulties. Reading-related self-concept was seen to have a strong influence on students’ studies and well-being. Part-time special-education teachers used several different methods of supporting their students’ reading-related self-concept: improving students’ reading skills, motivation, collaboration with other teachers and students’ guardians, teacher-student-interaction, differentiating teaching and enabling the feelings of success as well as emotional support and positive working climate.

This work studied the creative process of musicians. The subject was chosen partly due to the attention given to creativity in social discussion. The approach was material-based, because during the work it became clear that the theoretical models describing the creative process in general did not provide adequate tools for the examination of musical creation. In this study, the creative process was defined as a process, which generated a work found by the musician novel to him or her. There were two principal research questions: 1) How does the creative process of musicians progress? 2) What makes a process creative? The main emphasis was on the first question, because the study aimed at modeling the creative process of musicians. The material for this study was collected by interviewing five professional musicians, each qualified by an expert of music to be creative. The interviews were thematically linked with each musician's recently implemented creative process. The work generated in the process was used as a stimulant in the interview. The main themes of the interview dealt with the musician's concrete action, cognitive functioning and affective experience during the process. Secondary themes included his or her goals as well as the factors that enhanced or inhibited the process. A material-based analysis was made of the interviews. The conceptualization and modelling of the creative process was founded on a phenomenological-hermeneutic interpretation. In addition to the primary interviews, also supplementary interviews were made in order to ensure that the description of the musician was understood correctly. Further supplementary interviews were made when the material was analyzed and results were deduced. This aimed at increasing the reliability of interpretations and conclusions. The study resulted in a four-level model representing the progress of a creative process. The levels were defined by means of the conception of state. The levels used in defining the process were 1) the state determining the potential of the process, 2) the state delimiting the process, 3) the state orienting the process, and 4) the state determined by the process. The progress of the process was described as changes taking place in the state. It was discovered that the factors having an effect on the creativity of the process were the dynamism of the process, the musician's work in relation to his or her inner standard and the impulses that caused variation in the musician's thinking. The interview method used in this study proved to be a very suitable tool in an examination of a creative process. Thus it may well be applicable in other research contexts associated with creative processes. The outcome of this study, the model of the progress of a creative process, should also provide a feasible basis for the examination of different kinds of creative processes. It enables a comprehensive examination of a creative process, simultaneously justifying the dynamic nature of the process.

Our society and its technology are evolving rapidly and therefore schools are getting new tools and materials to use in their teaching. In addition to the development of technology, teaching methods are also evolving and changing. The rapid development of our society has brought to the forefront the already known ability, creativity. Creativity is an important aspect of development of new innovations and has also been said to be a revitalizing part of the national economy (Malmelin & Poutanen 2017). The purpose of this master’s thesis is to present the experiences and views of primary school teachers on the use of tablet devices in music education in general and also in terms of creative learning and creative production of music. The study was conducted as a qualitative study using thematic interviews. Six primary school teachers participated in the interviews and the interviews were conducted remotely using the ZOOM-communication service due to Covid-19. A phenomenographic research approach was chosen as the research approach, and content analysis served as a means of analysis. Previous research on creativity, creative learning, creative production of music and music technology was used as a theoretical frame of reference. For the purposes of this study, music technology referred to tablet devices and their applications. In addition, the contents of POPS (2014) regarding music teaching were highlighted in the study. The study found that students get excited and motivated to music education in a different way as they get to take advantage of tablet devices. Interviewees indicated that they use tablet devices to teach music, but there could be more use of the tablet device. Interviewees who mentioned that tablet devices could be used more could say that it is not always possible to get them for music education. In addition, the size of the classes was mentioned as a challenge. However, the use of tablets was seen by interviewees as a fruitful tool for creative learning and creative production of music.

Aims. The present national core curriculum of Finnish comprehensive school highlights creative music making, such as improvising and composing, as one of the main contents and aims of music education. Firstly, the primary aim of this research is to study how music teachers conceptualize creative music making and what kind of meanings they give for creative music making in elementary school context. Secondly, the study explores what are teachers' perceptions of their qualifications on teaching creative music making, and where they view that the qualifications originated from. Finally, the study finds out what kind of support are teachers getting for teaching creative music making, and what kind of obstacles are preventing them from teaching creative music making. Methodology. This research is a qualitative case study. It is based on five thematic interviews with teachers who teach music in elementary school. The analysis of the data includes features from content analysis and fenomenographic analysis. Results and conclusions. The interviewees expressed diverse conceptions about creative music making and their conceptions were similar to the forms of creative music making highlighted in previous literature and theory. The interviewees were able to adapt the exercises for different age levels. Furthermore, they experienced creative music making as a meaningful part of music education for multiple reasons. According to the interviewees, creative music making improved learning skills, joy of learning and skills of thought. It also strengthen the active role and creative self-expression of the pupil. Interviewees also highlighted the transfer effect of the creative music making. It was also experienced meaningful for grouping and developing social atmosphere. However, all the interviewees experienced their qualification for teaching creative music making at least partially insufficient. Qualifications were more often originated from hobbies and from prior work experience than from university education. Almost all of the interviewees experienced that new teaching material and updating training is needed. In addition, the interviewees experienced that the lack of resources in time, environment and equipment were obstacles for teaching creative music making. Also, the competence of the teachers and group related factors were seen as obstacles for creative music making. The study highlights that there is a need to pay more attention to the material and time resources as well as to teachers receiving better university level training for teaching creative music.

The purpose of this research is to study preschool childrens play as a field of creativity. The emphasis is on creativity, which is outlined from an individual-centered, systemic and developmental perspective. The importance of free play is seen for the purpose of serving its development task. Although the importance of play is generally recognized, the field of education requires a deeper theoretical understanding of how it can be supported more effectively. The study's interpretative framework is social constructivism, which is directed to the linguistic construction of meanings. The point of interest is what meanings are shared in the play, how the play is being constructed, and what kind of field childrens play is for creativity. The material of the study was videoed play of children aged 3-5 years and it was collected in a kindergarten in Vantaa, Finland, in the spring of 2017. The plays were videotaped in the childrens normal play environment, and a few objects were introduced for the purpose of research, and the application of which was part of the research. The analysis was carried out as an analysis of the content of the playspeech. The content and functions of the spoken language were studied, as well as the episodic structure of the play. According to the results, childrens play appeared as a two-level functional and interactive entity, in which the outer "concrete worlds level" was at the service of the inner "imagination worlds level". Smoothness of play was the central aim in action. Creativity appeared as experimenting together in the play, and previously learned and new experiences intertwined in a constructed and ever-reconstructing world of play. The play was mainly based on describing, naming, and expressing new ideas and its structure was episodic. These "building materials" of play were based on personal experiences, and on new ideas available in the play.

This study explores the narrative world of cross-generations through education and related beliefs through online discussion materials. The thesis was based on a topical public debate on the development of educational inequalities. Earlier social science-focused educational research has shown that both education and socio-economic status tend to move down from one generation to the next. The study seeks to address, through narratives, educational inequalities that are culturally and socially constructed. The research material used was education and career narratives on open online discussion forums that recalled discussions and interaction in childhood families. The study was conducted as a qualitative study. The method of multidisciplinary research, based on the educational framework, was the narrative and the netnographic approach. The research approach was based on social constructionism, where the construction of social reality takes place through the use of language. The main findings were about cross-generational cultural, social and economic capital. Findings revealed inherited, story-based beliefs, partly gender-based distribution of tasks and exercising of power. On the basis of the results, the stories distributed within the families were renewing the social positions of the individuals and maintaining social inequalities. As a subject of educational sociology, educational cross-generation can be viewed as a cultural phenomenon of public debate. The study is also an overview of the time of educational equality in Finland at the turn of the 2010-2020s.