Browsing by Author "Sairanen, Elina"

The purpose of the study is to describe, analyze and interpret the aims and purposes of physical education in the curriculums of the Finnish comprehensive school. The timeline and data used in the study include all curriculums (POPS 1970, POPS 1985, POPS 1994, POPS 2004 ja POPS 2014) during Finland's comprehensive school's history. There has not been previous studies covering this subject. The method of the study is qualitative, data based, comparative analyzation. The research frame is Grounded Theory in which analyzation and the background theory is built in discourse (Strauss & Corbin, 1994, 273-274). The data is public with unlimited access which increased the credibility of the study. Nine internet based articles were analyzed for the formation of the third research question. For making the data more comprehensible content analyzation method was used. Bereday's comparative method was the main research method (Bereday, 1964, 28). The study shows that the main goals and purposes of the Finnish comprehensive school's curriculums have remained the same during the timeline. However the significance of the social skills has increased during the years. Based on the data, four overreaching goals of the Finnish physical education were found: 1. Educating towards physical lifestyle, 2. Creating positive physical education experiences, 3. Developing social skills, ethical abilities, values and co-operation skills and 4. Practising basic motorical skills. These four goals are in line with Hakala's life management tools (Hakala, 1999, 29-30). The study also shows that even though the literal representation of different sports has changed, the content of the sports remain the same in the most previous curriculum.