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Aims. The aim of this study is to examine what children that take part in a sport club in their spare time think about physical education (PE) classes and groups. The study examines the children’s thoughts on exercising in coeducational PE. This study focuses also on their parents’ views. The parents were asked to describe their thoughts on same-sex and coeducational PE. Methods. Eight children between classes 3 to 5 that take part in sports club activities during their spare time participated in this study. At least one of each child’s parents also took part in the study. The data was collected through semi structured interviews in May 2018. The research method in this study was a data based qualitative content analysis. Results and conclusions. The results state that the children who take part in sports club activities during their spare time, have a positive attitude on PE classes. The positive view was justified through different disciplines, variety, functionality and one’s own sporty background. Half of the children wished to participate in a coeducational group and the other half in a same-sex group in PE class. Arguments in favour of coeducational PE were the atmosphere in class, positive challenges and the fact that there is no real reason to separate boys and girls into different groups. Arguments against coeducational PE were the physical differences of pupils, problems with working in peace, hobbyism and the gender juxtaposition. According to this study, all parents supported coeducational PE. Some parents indicated that PE classes could occasionally be organized in same-sex groups, especially if physical sports are practised during the class. The parents also stated arguments in favour of coeducational PE. The arguments were divided into two categories: educating children to become members of society and increasing diversity in PE.

The present study describes the experiences and understandings of classroom teachers related to the loneliness of pupils: what kind of difficulties do classroom teachers encounter in their work and how do they try to resolve them. The research aims to establish a deeper understanding of the work of a classroom teacher in relation with the loneliness of pupils. A fifth of the children suffers from loneliness. The official instructions guiding the actions of a teacher, e.g., National Core Curriculum for Basic Education, finds the welfare of pupils important, which indirectly tries to prevent loneliness. However, the loneliness of pupils is not discussed in the instructions and no methods for recognising and encountering loneliness are offered. Also, loneliness is not covered in the education of a classroom teacher per curriculum. The research was conducted using half-structured theme interviews on five classroom teachers of a primary school in southern Finland. The interview results were analysed with a content analysis method. The descriptions of classroom teachers highlighted both concretely experienced difficulties and general difficulties related to the nature of loneliness. The interviewed teachers described their solutions in two ways: solutions to the problems experienced by teachers and solutions aiding the welfare of teachers. Based on these results, a theoretical classification was formed, enlightening the dynamic phenomenon of loneliness in the context of the work of a classroom teacher. Comparing the results to earlier researches, teachers found the mental disorders of pupils hard: they are difficult to recognise, encounter and handle. Teachers used solutions similar to other studies: self-development, communality of the working environment and external support promoted the managing in teaching work. As a conclusion, teachers should evidently be educated and supported more related to the loneliness and mental welfare of pupils.

Objectives. This thesis examines the European Union higher education governance. Previous research has shown that political steering of higher education institutions has strengthened over the recent decades, and growing convergence between the education policies of European states. The purpose of the thesis is to examine the kinds of thinking according to which the Union governance seeks to shape the space it governs, and what kind of position the higher education occupies in the picture. The European Union hasn´t got educational policy competences for steering educational institutions, but previous research has shown that the Union nevertheless does practice education policy steering. Methods. In this thesis, the European Union higher education governance was scrutinized by analytics of governing with the data consisting of Higher Education for Smart Specialization manual, produced by the European Commission. The HESS Manual is directed to the Union Member States regional administrators with a higher education policy competence and responsible for regional development. The manual instructs regional administrators to carry out such regional governance and higher education steering model reforms that serve the political objectives of the Union. The analysis of HESS Manual was carried out by Peter Millers and Niklas Roses analytics of government, according to which the HESS Manual was scrutinized as a technology of government, with the aim of specifying characteristic thinking of Manual and therefore of governing. Results and conclusions. The thesis demonstrates that the characteristic thinking of the Union values economic and technological progress and seeks to harness both the governed space and the higher education towards this ambition. The thesis also shows that according to the characteristic thinking of the Union, existence must be earned through contributing to political objectives. The thesis shows the Union governs by setting prerequisites to resources in an environment which requires economic resources.

Youth mental health has become a central topic of public discourse. However, the significance of social structures, such as gender norms, for emotional wellbeing remains understudied in Finland. Previous research on men’s mental health has shown that conformity to traditional masculinity ideals can cause men to undermine their health or lessen their likelihood to seek help. However, these studies often lack the perspective of men’s agency in reproducing and challenging these ideals. To address this gap in research, the first objective of this thesis was to examine what kind of masculinity discourses young Finnish men produce. By analysing these discourses, I studied how young men view the gendered expectations to be connected to their presumed mental health. My second objective was to analyse what kind of reactions young Finnish men have to the public mental health discourses. Thus, the context of this study is within the broader mental health and gender discourses in Finland. The study was conducted applying a thematic discursive approach to the open answers in a large questionnaire data about young men’s mental health gathered by Nyyti ry and the Family Federation of Finland in November 2020. Thematisation served mainly as a tool to organise the data, while the discursive approach allowed me to examine how the masculinity and mental health discourses in the data were constructed, and to analyse the ideas and practices within these discourses that shape social reality. Young men produced three lines of masculinity discourses, which highlight how the traditional hegemonic masculinity ideals remain strong in Finnish society, upheld with narrow representations of masculinity. These ideals were portrayed as restricting, limiting the actions of young men, and to create gendered conditions of opportunity to show weakness, ask for help, and talk about mental health. As a reaction to the public mental health discourses, young men produced critical discursive reactions, illustrating how the prevailing mental health discourses are insufficient in quality and quantity, too individualised, and seen as discriminatory towards men. This research indicates a need to address the structural, gendered expectations in order to widen the positions available for men in society and to find useful solutions to support the mental health of young men.

Finnish elementary students’ mathematics performance is well above average in international comparison, but research shows that it is declining. Also, students’ motivation is not as strong as could be expected according to their performance. We used the person-centred approach to investigate Finnish third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students’ mathematics motivation profiles. In addition, we explored differences between the motivation profiles regarding students’ mathematics identity, performance, and their parents’ mathematics-related attitudes Participants were 304 Southern Finnish third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students from five separate schools and their parents/guardians (N=241). The surveys were conducted during spring of 2021 in the pilot stage of an international research project focusing on students’ mathematical motivation. Analysis was conducted with Mplus. Motivation profiles were derived by a latent profile analysis (LPA), additional analysis used bch and r3step methods and crosstabulation (spss). Analysis revealed three distinct types of math-related motivation profiles: highly motivated, non motivated and indifferent. Further investigation of the profiles showed that students’ higher mathematics identity is represented strongly in highly motivated group, as are students’ mathematics performance scores. Parents’ self-reported perceived low mathematics competence is highly represented in those students belonging to the non motivated profile. The article: ” Examining motivation profile differences across students' mathematics identity, performance, and parents’ attitudes” is planned to be published in the LUMAT-journal.

Objectives. Cleantech, as an emerging new industry, its development involves the influences from various aspects. As a small to medium-sized cleantech company, the activity in China can be very challenge to study holistically. This research is aimed to provide a holistic view of the challenges and possibilities of a small to medium-size cleantech company's activity in China from the expansive learning perspectives. The purpose of this research is threefold. Firstly, it analyzes the object and network to uncover the three historical phases of GreenStream's long trajectory leaning process. Secondly, it analyzes learning actions and contradictions to uncover the driving forces of development and the expansiveness of the activity. Thirdly, based on the historical analysis an analysis of expansive learning cycles is made, with the purpose to sketch the zone of proximal development across the learning cycles and address the future possibilities and challenges. Methods. The research case Company is GreenStream, a small to medium-sized Finnish cleantech company in China. 8 Interviewees were chose from the different parties involved in its China activity. 4 of the interviewees from the case company GreenStream, 1 interviewee from its Chinese partner, and 3 interviewees from the third parties. The data is firstly analyzed by the historical analysis, namely analysis of object of activity system and analysis of network, following the analysis of expansive learning cycles, namely analysis of learning steps and analysis of learning actions and analysis of developmental contradictions. The zone of proximal development is sketched based on the historical analysis and analysis of expansive learning cycles. Results and conclusions. Interesting findings emerge through the systematic analysis. Three historical analyses reveals the object and network transformed in 3 phases. The object has transformed in 3 historical phases with the unchanged main motivation, the evolving economic imperative, and other emerging forces from different element of the activity. The partnership activity emerged and consolidated with the network development. Object formation and network development thus form the criteria to divide the 3 historical phases from "Small Spark in China", to " Great Success in China" and then to "Standing on Two Feet in China". Analysis of expansive learning cycles reveals that the 3 historical phases contours 3 expansive learning cycles. The first learning cycle was disrupted, the second learning cycle completed and expanded, and the third learning cycle is under development. Each learning cycle has its own character, and within each learning cycle, different levels of contradictions emerged as the driving forces of the development of GreenStream. Through tracing different levels of contradictions through the 3 expansive learning cycles, the expansiveness of GreenStream's activity could be detected with regard to the expansion of the object and expansion over interruption. Object formation, partnership and policy over clean-tech industry become important three elements for the zone of proximal development of GreenStream's activity in China. Through the understanding of these dynamics and momentum of the China activity in the past and present by means of expansive learning aspects, the subject can better master and build the development of the activity system in the future.

The internal structure of the NEPSY-II, a developmental cognitive test, was examined by explorative factor analyses (EFAs). The EFAs were conducted employing the NEPSY-II Finnish standardization sample. The structure of the NEPSY-II, as presented in the manual, is divided into six cognitive domains: Attention and Executive Functioning, Language, Memory and Learning, Sensorimotor Functions, Social Perception and Visuospatial Processing. The objectives of the current study were: 1) To explore what are the best fitting factor structures for 3- to 4-year-old, 5- to 6-year-old, and 7- to 15-year-old children; and 2) To compare the resulting factor structures to the NEPSY-II six cognitive domains. Four-factor structures were found best fitting for all the age groups. These structures shared three roughly similar factors: Language, Visuospatial/Motor Functions, and Processing Speed, although the exact set of subtests loading on each factor differed from one group to another. The four-factor structures considerably differed from the NEPSY-II six cognitive domains. Further, although there were similarities between the factor structures, there were also notable differences in how the subtests related together. The thesis produces scientific knowledge on the relations between the subtests that may also be employed in clinical assessment. The presented psychometrical knowledge might clarify how the problems that present themselves in distinct subtest in an assessment setting are related. Thus, it provides an additional perspective to clinical assessment alongside the prevailing neuropsychological knowledge.

Objectives: The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health has developed a method of Change Workshop to promote occupational well-being in organizations. Change Workshop is based on the activity theory and developmental work research methodology. The aim of this study was to analyse the emergence of an expansive learning cycle in the Change Workshop and to ascertain what share interventionists and participants have in the learning process. The second objective was to analyse the developmental cycle of one developmental project called "Annual Clock" during the different phases of the Change Workshop. The Annual Clock was developed as a tool to distribute work load among persons in different Services. Methods: The research data was from a Change Workshop conducted for the Finnish Forest Centre during 2012-2013. The Change Workshop consisted of five sessions each lasting about three hours and which were attended by 12-25 persons and 2-3 interventionists. The Change Workshop sessions were videotaped and audio-recorded. Transcriptions were made from video and audio recordings. There were a total of 1,190 speaking turns. Thematic analysis was applied to analyse the transcriptions. Since the first objective of the study was to examine the emergence of an expansive learning cycle (questioning, historical- and actual - empirical analysis, modelling, examination of the new model, implementation of the new model, reflection on the process and consolidating the new practice), so these formed part of the coding. This was supplemented by some additional codes based on the data: non-expansive learning, organizational issue, Change Workshop method and off-topic or non-related issue. Each speaking turn was first analysed to ascertain if it could represent any phase of the expansive learning cycle. If this was the case, a closer analysis was made to decide which phase in the expansive learning cycle. Quite a number of speaking turns were classified into several classes of expansive learning cycle, e.g. including elements of questioning, the prevailing situation, analysing the actual empirical situation and modelling. If the speaking turn did not indicate any traces of expansive learning, it was coded under the other headings: non-expansive learning, organizational issue, Change Workshop method or off topic (non-related) issue, and only in one of these headings. Since one speaking turn could be coded under several subcategories of expansive learning actions, the number of discursive elements was 1,378. In addition, a distinction in coding was made between interventionists and participants (except for the off-topic). For the analysis of the developmental cycle of the Annual Clock, a separate table was constructed by collecting all the speaking turns including the word "Annual Clock" and all such disturbances expressed in which the Annual Clock provided a solution. Results and conclusions: Expansive learning comprised 52% of the discursive elements. The learning process proceeded mainly according to the expansive learning cycle, but some of the learning actions, such as questioning, historical, actual-empirical and modelling, appeared throughout the Change Workshop process. The consolidating phase was not discovered during the Change Workshop, but was discussed in an evaluation meeting of the Change Workshop process two months later. The share of participants in discursive elements was 60% and the share of interventionists 37%. In the expansive learning category, the share of discursive elements by the participants was 81% and the share of interventionist was 19%. The Annual Clock as a germ cell appeared already during the first Change Workshop meeting, but it was mentioned not at all in the assignment for the second Change Workshop meeting, whereas afterwards the Annual Clock was again appearing in the discussions and the development of the idea continued according the expansive learning cycle until the 5th Change Workshop meeting.

Design embraces several disciplines dedicated to the production of artifacts and services. These disciplines are quite independent and only recently has psychological interest focused on them. Nowadays, the psychological theories of design, also called design cognition literature, describe the design process from the information processing viewpoint. These models co-exist with the normative standards of how designs should be crafted. In many places there are concrete discrepancies between these two in a way that resembles the differences between the actual and ideal decision-making. This study aimed to explore the possible difference related to problem decomposition. Decomposition is a standard component of human problem-solving models and is also included in the normative models of design. The idea of decomposition is to focus on a single aspect of the problem at a time. Despite its significance, the nature of decomposition in conceptual design is poorly understood and has only been preliminary investigated. This study addressed the status of decomposition in conceptual design of products using protocol analysis. Previous empirical investigations have argued that there are implicit and explicit decomposition, but have not provided a theoretical basis for these two. Therefore, the current research began by reviewing the problem solving and design literature and then composing a cognitive model of the solution search of conceptual design. The result is a synthetic view which describes recognition and decomposition as the basic schemata for conceptual design. A psychological experiment was conducted to explore decomposition. In the test, sixteen (N=16) senior students of mechanical engineering created concepts for two alternative tasks. The concurrent think-aloud method and protocol analysis were used to study decomposition. The results showed that despite the emphasis on decomposition in the formal education, only few designers (N=3) used decomposition explicitly and spontaneously in the presented tasks, although the designers in general applied a top-down control strategy. Instead, inferring from the use of structured strategies, the designers always relied on implicit decomposition. These results confirm the initial observations found in the literature, but they also suggest that decomposition should be investigated further. In the future, the benefits and possibilities of explicit decomposition should be considered along with the cognitive mechanisms behind decomposition. After that, the current results could be reinterpreted.

This master’s thesis includes two sections: the present summarizing report and the article manuscript. The purpose of the study is to explore the benefits of an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)-based intervention course to university students’ well-being, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The COVID-19 pandemic has decreased university students’ well-being and increased their risk of burnout. The declined state of student well-being calls for measures in exploring ways of promoting student well-being and preventing study-related burnout. The intervention course aimed to increase students’ psychological flexibility and organized studying skills, as means to positively impact their well-being and studying. A total of 189 participated in the study in the spring of 2021. Students’ risk of burnout was measured pre- and post-intervention, to statistically define whether students experienced that the course impacted their risk of burnout. To explore the course benefits in depth, students’ written reflective reports post-intervention were analyzed using abductive content analysis. The results were statistically compared according to the risk of burnout group assigned pre-intervention. The results showed that the intervention course led to a positive change in students' risk of burnout. The content analysis revealed seven main categories of benefits of the course: 1. improved general well-being, 2. improved self-knowledge, 3. increased psychological flexibility, 4. improved study practices and study motivation, 5. increased self-compassion, 6. gained peer-support, and 7. improved organized studying. These benefits were experienced by students regardless of their initial risk of burnout. The study highlights the potential of ACT-based intervention courses in improving the well-being and studying skills of university students, suggesting a need for further research on burnout prevention through such measures. The prospective publication channel for the research article manuscript is Research in Higher Education by Springer.