Browsing by Author "Stenbäck, Reija-Riikka"

The Covid-19 pandemic forced the Ministry of Education and Culture to make a historical decision, based on which all schools and educational institutions in Finland switched to dis-tance education on March 18, 2020. If necessary, contact teaching was offered only to pupils in grades 1 – 3 or with special support. The purpose of this dissertation is to record the experience of pupils aged 7 to 12 years and their parents of the distance school routine overshadowed by exclusionary activities of soci-ety. It was mentally a very difficult period. The aim of the dissertation is to find out how dis-tance education was perceived, especially in terms of the mental well-being of pupils and what opportunities the teacher has to support in the community of pupils and other mental well-being in the situation of distance education. This qualitative research has a narrative approach. The material consists of diary-based WhatsApp messages from three students and loosely structured thematic interviews with stu-dents and their parents. The material has been compiled during exceptional circumstances, and it was possible to find out changes in school practices and pupils’ moods as the distance learning period progressed. The results show the importance of different teaching practices on mental well-being of the pupil the differences in the level of teaching practices. The data shows the spring 2020 was challenging. As expected, it highlighted loneliness caused by social isolation but also the po-tential of the school to support community. At it’s best, distance education was challenging but diverse learning environment that devel-oped future skills and self-esteem of the pupil. At worst, it turned out to be a grueling and lonely drill for the pupil when even the provision of basic learning goals was uncertain.