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The promotion of care and compassion has been regarded as primary goals of education in order to achieve a more sustainable world. For this reason, compassion—inseparably related to both moral and values—should be studied in the context of practical education. The aim of this thesis is to analyze compassion as an empirically observable phenomenon that manifests as emancipatory action targeted against violence and oppression. The data, consisting of video re-cording of a nature school field trip among 10-11 year olds, is approached in the theoretical frameworks of sustainability- and environmental education as well as that of compassion re-search. By theoretically conceptualizing acts of emancipatory compassion, the focus of this study is on the analysis of moral construction. The hypothesis is that these acts are embodied in order to negotiate and criticize the institutional limits of compassion and the emerging circle of concern. As a conclusion, the meaning of compassion is discussed in the context of educating for holistic sustainability. The theoretical conceptualization of emancipatory compassion is based on both empirical observations and theoretical studies concerning compassion, constructional violence, and emancipatory action. Qualitative methodology in the general framework of social constructionism and approaches of grounded theory are utilized in order to analyze the video-ethnographic data using methods of critical discourse analysis and interaction analysis. In the data, there were several occurrences of acts of emancipatory compassion. The phenomenon manifested as exceeding the limitations between human and non-human life, and served to construct the institutional circle of concern in relation to other forms of life. Acts of emancipatory compassion were also used to express several factors relating to the construction of morality; some of these interpreted as acts of oppression in themselves. In relation to normative attempts to define the meaning of both violence and oppression, the teachers embodied moral authority over the students. It is concluded that education promoting holistic sustainability should acknowledge the essential meaning of compassion in the context of education in order to allow the questioning of established moral norms, encourage negotiating the limits of the circle of concern, and to recognize implicit manifestations of violence and oppression. It is also stated, that by identifying the inherently violent nature of the human condition, it is possible to overcome the boundaries constructed by perceiving particular agents as either violent or non-violent—inhibiting inclusive promotion of compassion towards subjects interpreted as being in the wrong.

The purpose of this study is to find out, through the class teachers' own experiences, how differentiation was implemented in the distance education during the exceptional period incurred in spring 2020. This research is focused on finding successes and challenges teachers experienced in distance teachings differentiation. In addition, the study examines the types of support teachers received during this time. Being a fairly topical issue at the moment, the available scientific research, which would specifically address classroom distance learning, is limited. The research approach in this paper is mainly qualitative also utilizing multi-methodological means. The research material has been collected through a questionnaire and four interviews in order to obtain additional qualitative information. A total of 33 primary school classroom teachers from 24 different municipalities responded to the survey. The survey comprised of 26 questions, some of which were Likert-scale questions and some open-ended questions. The respondents were mainly collected from a Facebook community of almost 40,000 teachers and those interested in education. The quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire has been analyzed with Microsoft Excel and the open questions have been coded. Qualitative material was collected through four short semi-structured thematic interviews. The interview questions were based on questions already answered in the questionnaire, that required further qualitative research. The majority of the teachers who responded to the study found distance learning differentiation challenging. However, some found it even easier to implement differentiation than in face-to-face teaching. The most common way to differentiate teaching was the variations in the number and level of schoolwork and the use of implements. The successes of differentiation experienced by the teachers were related to provision of support to pupils who needed it, the usage of new ways of working, such as instructional videos, and more personal communication with students. Majority of teachers felt that the support they received from their colleagues most important form of support. Some would have liked more unified guidance from superiors. Others, on the other hand, found the guidance from their superiors unnecessarily demanding in a situation where support and understanding would have been needed. The challenges faced by teachers in distance learning were mainly due to the rapid transitioning to distance teaching, as well as the unpreparedness.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine with the help of one case factors which make possible the fact that the pupil ended up designing the school massacre and to threaten with it and also what factors prevented him from carrying out his intentions. The idea of the study was created by itself when I was working as a teacher in the centre of events. The case woke me to look for the answers and manuals to the difficult and demanding situation. At the same time, it led to analyse the structures of the school and my own and my values as a teacher also more deeply. Case under examination in this thesis has been teased and suffered from the loneliness during his whole comprehensive school time. The missing of the sense of belonging caused in him anguish, depression and the lack of the motivation. Because the case of the study was examined from two directions, from a teacher's position and from the case examined, I have taken as my one background theory an ecological system theory. I hope that this theory gives a frame to examine the case from wider point of view. The thesis is the case study in which I interviewed the person under examination repeatedly and furthermore, again about five years after he threated with school massacre. In addition to this, the material consists of my observations written by me when teaching him when the events happened. The analysis of the material was carried out with a Grounded Theory approach, reading narratives again and again. I mirrored my own observations to the story of interviewee building the story about them where the experience of the interviewee and my own observation as a teacher who has taught him combine. The study sharpened considerably towards the end, including theory background. The lack of sense of belonging and the loneliness interviewee felt caused him a serious depression and lack of the motivation. The indifference of the adults of the school and fact that the one did not become heard caused anger because of an unjust treatment and lack of confidence towards the adults. All this together leads to hopelessness and rage. For this kind of a young, the big and changing multi-professional expert groups can cause bigger lack of confidence than before towards the school. It would be important to be heard in the school community and feel sense of belonging there to both the teacher and the pupil. The study brought out also the how vulnerable young like this is when moving along from the comprehensive school. The study brought out also the how vulnerable young like this is when moving along from the comprehensive school. The study wakes to think about the new procedures and structures with school bullying and loneliness and for the support of the transitional stage when moving along from the comprehensive school

The objective of the study was to understand individuality in Muslim women's dress. The research problems were, how individuality forms and appears in their dress. To answer these questions interviews were made with nine Muslim women who live in Finland. The interviews were analysed with the phenomenologically oriented content analysis method. The research report proceeds in a dialogue between theory and the analysis. In this study individuality in dress was studied as a process. Factors affecting to this process were considered: the individual, the set of identities, personality, self, religion, culture and social relationships. An essential part of the process was searching for a positive experience of self. The experience meant intuitive self-identification and satisfaction with the mirror reflection for the women. Individuality was the result of searching for the positive experience of self-identification, because for each woman different kinds of dress gave a feeling of suitability for the self. For example, for some Muslim women head covering is a way to express the self. They experience this as the right way for the good Muslim woman. For others head covering can mean the loss of positive self experience. Individuality in dress appeared in various ways. Some women cover their whole body including their head in public. Some women do not cover their head and some dress even in tight and revealing clothes. There are also Muslim women who cover their faces, they are not included in this study. Individuality appears also within groups that dress similarly. Individuality appeared with different kind of clothes, hairstyles, make-up, choices, details and colour. However, individuality is not only the noticeable differences in dress, but how each Muslim woman belongs to this reality and expresses herself within dress. This means that in this study individuality in dress is seen in a way that many Finns would not consider as individuality.

The aim of this study was to understand the process by which children produce meanings with adults and in peer groups. Courage was selected as the theme of the study, as it is an abstract concept that is concretely present in a six-year-old's life. In the interview, the children were asked to explain in their own words what courage means. Explanatory questions examined the different kinds of meanings of the word courage that children have, as well as what kind of narrative method results in children telling stories that can be interacted with by their peer group as well as adults and children. The theoretical framework is based on a socio-cultural point of view and narrative research methods. The study outlines the narrative as well as the methodology and pedagogical methods. The study involved 15 preschool-age children at a day-care center. They were interviewed both individually and in groups, which was the setting used to examine the storytelling method. The study encompasses qualitative research; it is a case study that examines and describes the meanings of children produced by a group of children. The data were classified by means of content analysis and narrative research methods. The study also focuses on ethnographic features in order to understand and explore the phenomenon from the children's point of view, as well as from that of the teacher and researcher. The results of the study indicate that the children produced meanings of courage that can be divided into three categories: courage portrayed in images, courage that can be translated into concrete acts, and courage presented in the fairytale world. The meanings the children produced were directly related to their own experiences. The interviews contained numerous narrative moments, in which children told little stories that described an important experience of courage. The children's collective narrative was marked by spontaneous verbal description, as well as by playing with the worlds of media effects and the disorder of civilizations. This study demonstrates that the use of narrative methods can assist with understanding children's ways of communicating and forming meanings.

The study deals with non-productive activities in the primary school context as experienced by teaching staff. At the center of the teaching staff's experience has been a non-productive student. The study material consists of 87 responses, of which 63 were selected for this study. The material was collected during the CICO (check in, check out) training in autumn 2017 and spring 2018. The responses of these study were analyzed by data-based qualitative content analysis. The theoretical part of the study is linked to the definitions of students' non-productive behavior, the school's non- productive studies in general and the ecological classroom model. The method of data analysis has been influenced by Hood's (2007) generic inductive qualitative research model (IQRM). The study emphasizes the subjective experiences of the teaching staff on students' non-productive behaviors, with the emergence of other non-productive themes in the school context. The research results formed the model of the teaching staff's experiences of non-productive activities in primary school. The aim of this study was also to provide information that could help to increase the understanding of the phenomenon of non-productivity to the needs of the elementary school teaching staff in general. According to the results of the research, teachers' experiences of pupils' non-productive behavior at primary school were related not only to the students' own activities but also to the teaching staff, school culture, caregivers and school stakeholders. In addition, the background factors related to the non- productive and productive activities of the school were mapped. Pupils' unproductive behavior seems to be well known to the teaching staff in the school context. Although the phenomenon is recognized and other factors related to the school context can be identified, schools should consider, among other things, what proactive and collaborative interventions for non- productive behavior of pupils would be good to develop.

Goals: Due to the Covid-19 situation, Finnish schools moved to distant education in spring of 2020. Interaction is a particularly important element in learning. Studies had shown that it affects the whole experience of learning for students and teachers. The quality of interaction also determines results and attitudes towards future learning. Distant learning has mainly been studied with adults and higher education. These studies showed that good interaction is an especially important element in distant learning. This could be formed through safe on-line environment and well-planned lessons. The purpose of this study is to find out how have students in Finnish schools experienced distant learning in the spring of 2020. Method. There were eight different interviews made for this thesis. There were nine different interviewees altogether in ages between 13-18 during the spring of 2020. Interviews were conducted in the winter of 2021, almost a year after the quarantine. The interviewees were given choises to take the interviews individually, in pairs or groups. They had also an opportunity to choose the interview face to face or with distant connection. About half of the interviews were made via distant connection and all but one individually. The analysis was made using content analysis. Results. The overall impression of the distant learning in quarantine time of 2020 was mainly negative. The results show that experiences of presence and interaction had diminished during distant learning. The interviewees experienced participation and asking during lessons mentally harder than in normal lesson. The learning environments on-line were found to feel unsafe and that was one of the main reason participation was diminished. Many had problems because of the lack of peers in class, and they missed normal school environments and habits, like recess. Positive results were that distant learning tended to be calmer, and it contained less hustle. There is a possibility to create more interaction and participation in distant education classes by thorough and versatile planning and making possibilities to do group work.There should be more ways to cultivate the feeling of safety in distant learning.

This study examines the experiences of students with chronic illnesses in higher education. I chose to study rheumatic and other musculoskeletal diseases because they are group of diseases that are nationally significant in Finland. From students experiences I do interpretation of their agency. My research problems are: What kind of obstacles and possibilities student with chronic illness experiences in studying? What kind of obstacles illness set up for the agency or does it set any? How agency of student with chronic illness shows in the context of the university? I collected the data by using interview and focus group method. Additionally I had different kinds of documents of accessibility and equality in the university. Interviews were like halfstructured theme and open interviews. Focus group method I have applied. All the people that participated in the study were students from the university of Helsinki. They all have rheumatic or other musculoskeletal diseases. I have five interviewees and the group consisted of two people and the researcher. In the data analysis I use categorizing by the themes. Students that participated in my study spoke about their pain related experiences of their illness which also connected to their experiences of the higher education. Students agencies were limited the more they experienced pain. Pain forces students to certain activity - one actions avoidance and another's favouring. If part-time studying would have been possible economically, it would have made the life easier for a part of the students. Students were aware of the available resources of their body - for some of the students illness and life control set challenge and for some it set conditions. Students thought that university education is more possible to them than vocational education. Students didn't feel their own body limited in the context of university that emphasize intellectual and knowledge connected values and some of the students had reversed their illness as a resource of studying. However students felt their illness as a private matter and they considered illness profit and disadvantage before telling about it, which I interpreted limiting students agencies. In the university terms of students agencies were bond to individuality that came up in positive and negative. Freedom of studying was positive but official and individual study accommodations made agency bounded. Majority of the students didn't see possibilities to do differently in the university's practice but some of the students had recognised values underneath the practices that made it possible to reflect them, do differently and made space for agency.

Adolescence is a unique time, which includes different development tasks. One phase strongly linked with adolescence is the act of becoming independent and thus moving to a home of your own. Adolescence has changed over the past years, which has had an effect on the youth`s emancipation. Emancipation still heavily includes management of different everyday skills. The know-how of the everyday skills can be considered important because of that. Still improving these skills requires training, in which the childhood home plays an important role. The role of the parents, before and after the moving-out process of their emancipating adolescent, is irreplaceable. The goal of this study is to approach emancipation from the adolescent`s perspective, trough everyday skills. My research questions are the following: 1. What skills living an independent life requires? 2. What challenges has emancipation brought forward? 3. What type of support adolescents need for emancipation? The material consisted of 6 interviews, in which the emancipation of adolescents was handled. Supporting the interviews was pictures taken by adolescents from their own everyday life. The material was analyzed by using content analysis. The study showed, that the skills learned at childhood home, helped with the moving out process. All of the adolescents in the interview talked that, with gaining independence they have had to take responsibility of their everyday life in a completely new way, thus improving their mastery of everyday life. Financial and emotional support if the parents was seen as a significant positive factor in the emancipation procress. Emancipation had also brought changes to their own everyday life and routines. For some of the adolescents this meant more freedom in life, while for some others emancipation meant, for an example a decrease in quality of sleep and nutrition. Every adolescent saw that the moving out process was an important phase of their youth, which gave the possibility of a more independent life. Even though the childhood home was nice to visit after moving out, the youth didn`t consider moving back in. Own home was the placem where they could be on their own, and the same time be Mr. Oneself.

The aim of the study was to find out, how the craftsmen of textile of the archipelago reach for ecological sustainability. In addition, what does the ecological orientation mean for the craftsman and how to understand ecological handicrafts. Both the product and the creator serve as a narrator. To answer these questions interviews were made with nine craftsmen who live in the Archipelago. The interviews were analysed with content analysis method. The research report proceeds in a dialogue between theory and the analysis. The relationship between the sustainable development and the handicrafts of archipelago was observed as the theoretical basis of the research. By investing in cultural, social, financial and industrial sustainability the fundamental aim of ecological sustainability is possible to attain. Values, skills and knowledge of a craftsman have an influence on the various sectors of the development. The operational environment of the craftsmen is the archipelago, its nature and the culture created by man. One objective was to work out, how the archipelago and its notion played a part in their way of working and telling about their products. Ecology in the handicrafts of the archipelago appeared in various ways. Cultural and social sustainability materialized better than economical and industrial sustainability. Education seemed to be the best way to get intermediate goals on the way to the sustainable development. Handicrafts was seen as a part of the culture of archipelago and the networks in a sparsely populated area is experienced as an important thing. The ecological acting is commonly connected to the material of handicraft and its methods of production. Values take shape, when the craftsman talked about his family and told his story about growing into the craftsmanship. Striving for ecological sustainability in handicrafts aroused also mixed feelings. Craftsmanship is lifeblood on the market, which is ruled by the global market economy. Does it mean that striving for ecological sustainability is an attempt to reach for truth?