Browsing by Author "Tran, Muong"

In 2020, many social institutions such as educational institutions faced a new challenge due to a global health and social crisic called the COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic was and still is presented in the news on a daily basis. This master’s thesis examines what exactly was reported about basic education during the first wave of coronavirus in the Finnish media. The goal was to find out what matters and in what way basic education was written about. The study material consists of 68 news articles from the following online news services: Helsingin Sanomat, Yle and Iltalehti. The theoretical section introduces the Finnish school system and school policy and also discusses the curriculum, basic education, the social function of the school institution, social constructionism and the media. The study was made from a qualitative perspective, and discourse analysis was used. The study showed that the news coverage of basic education was versatile and diverse in the Finnish media during the first wave of coronavirus, which is an indication of the significance of basic education and its important role in society. The news coverage was mainly informative, but a significant amount also emphasized opinion, which shows that basic education affects the everyday life of Finns extensively and closely, and which is why it was presented in the media, for example in the form of opinion pieces. The news topics especially highlighted distance learning and teaching arrangements and the related experiences, and these provide relevant topics for further studies.