Browsing by Subject "COVID-19"

Finnish educational leaders (FELs) experience high levels of stress in their work, which has prompted interest in their psychological wellbeing. Research shows that they have various roles and responsibilities, which can lead to poor psychological wellbeing. Most studies have focused on occupational resources, in line with the Job Demands-Resources theory when investigating how psychological wellbeing of FELs can be improved. Previous research highlights an association between sleep and stress, and how they have both been affected by COVID-19. This study examines the role of sleep as an external resource and its association with the stress of FELs as an indicator of their psychological wellbeing, and cognitive stress, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study has three research questions with the following hypotheses. Firstly, that there is an association between sleep and psychological wellbeing of FELs. Secondly, that COVID-19 has had a negative effect on the psychological wellbeing of FELs. Lastly, that COVID-19 has had a negative effect on the sleep of FELs. The research sample in this study were FELs who were part of the Finnish school principal’s association and completed the Finnish Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey. The sample consisted of 1727 FELs over four years of data collection from 2019 to 2022. The measures of sleep, stress as an indicator of psychological wellbeing and additionally cognitive stress were collected using the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire II as part of the wider survey. The data was analysed using Jamovi v.2.3.21 and the types of data analysis used were Pearson correlation, linear regression analysis, comparing means and One-Way ANOVA. The study showed that this sample of FELs are generally stressed. The results showed a statistically significant association between sleep and psychological wellbeing. Sleep was also found to have an association with cognitive stress to a lesser extent. However, there were no significant findings for gender and year of study, in the association between sleep and psychological wellbeing. The results indicated that there was a slight decrease in stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a slight increase in sleeping problems, but these were not statistically significant. The study contributes to an understanding of the association between sleep and psychological wellbeing of FELs. The study highlights that further research is required to explore the association in more depth, and that FELs could consider practical strategies to sleep and wellbeing, whilst schools could consider strategies to lessen demands.

This thesis aims to explore the main factors causing learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic by conducting a literature review. The research questions are formulated in response to the practical needs and theoretical frameworks that have emerged due to the pandemic's disruptive impact on the education sector. The purpose of the study is to identify and understand the main factors causing learning loss among students worldwide. The literature review incorporates studies from various countries and diverse educational levels to gain a global perspective on learning loss during the pandemic. By analyzing both quantitative and qualitative research, the thesis aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing learning outcomes. The methods used in this research involve a systematic review of existing literature, gathering data from academic databases and scholarly sources. The findings from the selected studies are synthesized to identify common themes and patterns of main factors causing learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature review provides a comprehensive summary of previous studies, highlighting the main factors causing learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. These include the disruption of in-person learning, unequal access to technology, limited parental involvement, and the impact on student's mental health. These interconnected factors collectively shape students' learning experiences during this unprecedented time.

Goals: The aim of the study was to examine, how Finnish middle school students experienced social support from their teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the fall of 2020. In addition, the study sought to find out connections between specific types of social support provided by the teacher and middle school students assessment of their self-regulated learning skills during the emergency remote teaching period. Potentially, the results of the research provide teachers with ways to support their students in their studies, even in the middle of a crisis in distance learning context. Based on earlier studies, social support from the teacher, as well as self-regulated learning skills, are connected to learning outcomes and school attachment in distance education. Methods: The research was carried out using a quantitative research tradition. The methods used in this study included analysis of the statistics, linear correlation analyses, multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVA) and linear regression analysis. The data used in this study is a part of a larger longitudinal study conducted in autumn 2020 as part of the Schooling, teaching and wellbeing in the school community during the COVID-19 pandemic (CEA, University of Helsinki; REAL, Tampere University; NEDIS, Tampere University; Ministry of Education and Culture) project. The final sample included 36,542 students from grades 7–9 from different schools around Finland who had participated in the anonymous online survey implemented by the project team. Results and conclusions: According to the results and the analysis methods used, Finnish secondary school students experienced very little social support from their teachers during the emergency remote teaching period in the autumn 2020. Boys received slightly more social support from their own teachers than girls, and non-binary students even less than boys or girls. There was a positive correlation between all four types of social support from the teacher and the self-regulated skills assessment given by the middle school student. Regarding the types of support mentioned above, there are no clear differences between the types in terms of the strength of the effect. Nonetheless in the future teachers should be able to support their students learning during difficult periods of time by providing them social support, even in remote teaching context.

This study discloses practices born with the COVID-19 pandemic, to which consumers have had to adapt on short notice. Earlier research has recognised that consumers have experienced changes in how they buy and eat food during the pandemic. Buying food online increased and in-person grocery shopping habits changed to evade the risk of illness. Eating shifted from eating varyingly in different places to eating at home. Consumers also started to pay interest in food and food preparation. This study examines how consumers experience buying food and eating during the pandemic. Research material consists of social media comments (n=133) made anonymous. The comments were published in October 2020. The comments were replies to a question asking what changes you have experienced in food related functions during the pandemic. The research material was analysed using qualitative methods and content analysis. Phenomenological tradition guided the whole of this study. In phenomenology experiences and their meanings are fundamental. The COVID-19 pandemic changed buying food and eating in four different sectors. Buying food was planned more, executed more cautiously, and carried out more often through online services. Eating happened more at home. This increased eating with family and eating alone. Eating more often at home also increased interest in food preparation. The social aspect of eating was perceived as important. People missed eating with loved ones and colleagues. The pandemic might permanently modify the ways we buy food and eat. It has already accelerated the digitalisation of buying food, as consumers have started to buy food online. Under-standing the effects of this global pandemic is important, as is the ability to prepare for them in the future.

Objectives. The objective of this study is to research digital games in everyday life, during COVID-19-epidemic and distance learning period in Finland during spring 2020. The purpose is to find out what significances students give to digital games in their daily lives, and how the distance schooling affected the interviewees' playing. The starting point of the study is a syn-thesis built from previous games studies and everyday life research, which seeks to describe and define digital games and everyday life before state of emergency, considering the possi-ble effects they might have. The issue is current as the COVID-19 epidemic brings new challenges to the daily routines both in school and family life, and no significant research is yet available on the changed daily life. Methods. The study was conducted as a two-day game diary and as a thematic interview for eight fifth-graders. Qualitative data was analyzed by a phenomenographic analysis method. Results and conclusions. The significances of playing digital games in everyday life during distance schooling can be themed on 4 categories: Interaction, experiences of accomplishment, leisure, and challenging self. When looking at how playing digital games has changed during COVID-19 and distance schooling, interaction, leisure, and self challenging have also been consciously pursued goals.