Browsing by Subject "change"
Now showing items 1-6 of 6
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(2010)The number of Finnish pupils attending special education has increased for more than a decade (Tilastokeskus 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005a, 2006b, 2007b, 2008b, 2008e, 2009b; Virtanen ja Ratilainen 1996). In the year 2007 nearly third of Finnish comprehensive school pupils took part in special needs education. According to the latest statistics, in the autumn of 2008 approximately 47 000 pupils have been admitted or transferred to special education and approximately 126 000 pupils received part-time special education during the 2007-2008 academic year. (Tilastokeskus 2008b, 2009b.) The Finnish special education system is currently under review. The Reform, both in legislation and in practice, began nationwide in the year 2008 (e.g. Special education strategy document, November 2007 and the development project Kelpo). The aim of the study was the statistical description of the Finnish special education system and on the other hand to gain a deeper understanding about the Finnish special education system and its quantitative increase, by analysis based on the nationwide statistical information. Earlier studies have shown that the growth in special education is affected by multiple independent variables and cannot be solely explained by the pupil characteristics. The statistical overview and analysis have been carried out in two parts. In the first part, the description and analysis were based on statistical time series from the academic year 1979-1980 until 2008. While, in the second, more detailed description and analysis, based on comparable time series from 1995 to 2008 and from 2001-2002 to 2007-2008, is presented. Historical perspective was one part of this study. There was an attempt to find reasons explaining the observed growth in the special needs education from late 1960s to 2008. The majority of the research was based on the nationwide statistics information. In addition to this, materials including educational legislation literature, different kind of records of special education and preceding studies were also used to support the research. The main results of the study, are two statistical descriptions and time series analysis of the quantitative increase of the special needs education. Further, a summary of the plausible factors behind the special education system change and its quantitative increase, is presented. The conclusions coming from the study can be summarised as follows: the comparable statistical time series analysis suggests that the growth in special education after the year 1999 could be a consequence of the changes in the structure of special education and that new group of pupils have been directed to special needs education.
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(2020)Objectives. Many studies, activities, processes, services, and even individual products in sustainability (sustainable development) aim at change either only explicitly or only implicitly. However, change often remains unnecessarily modest considering the severity of the problems. This tendency exists in the field of craft science, fashion and more broadly. The research assignment is to describe, analyse and interpret change for sustainability in the field of fashion. The research task is to analyse the philosophical concept meliorism’s potential to produce new insight to this central question of sustainability. The aim is to examine change and understand with meliorism those conditions in which highly challenging and complex information could still be received without paralysis and acted on in consistent and constructive manners. Methods. The chosen data Fashion Transparency Index is compiled by the world’s leading fashion and sustainability campaign: Fashion Revolution. The index is a comparative review on fashion brands’ transparency on sustainability issues from year 2020. The analysis was done in stages. First it was mainly data-driven content analysis where the phenomenon’s concrete manifestations were more prominent. Towards the end theory-driven analysis with the help of concept of meliorism was in focus. Results and conclusions. In Fashion Transparency Index change for sustainability in the field of fashion remains mostly as vague hope, transparency tool making and optimistic descriptions of the sustainability activities of big fashion brands. However, based on further results of this study, it can be tentatively claimed that if meliorism’s active take on making a difference, the preconditions for change for sustainability could be met. In other words if we are not to sink into hopeless pessimism nor give into unfounded optimism but we actively absorb inaccessible, incomplete and even anxiety provoking information and act in accordance to that information, we have an opportunity to improve the presence and above all the future of fashion field.
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(2014)This study focused on the relations of interest and self-efficacy beliefs of students. The aim was to specify how interest and self-efficacy beliefs are independently and reciprocally related to mathematical performances, and conversely, how changes in achievements influence changes in motivation. Theories that support the developmental tendencies of interest and self-efficacy are emphasized in the theoretical frame. Previous studies have shown that individual levels of interest and self-efficacy beliefs significantly influence learning. Research concerning the interaction effects of the factors has been scarce. In addition, the research on the motivational factors has mostly been quantitative. This study aims to complement the existing conceptual and methodological approaches. The study was conducted by qualitative methodological principles. Six (6) students participated for the interviews. They were selected from a larger sample of student participants based on their achievements in mathematics. The interviews were executed with a semi-structured interview method. The data were analyzed by using content analysis. The research was explorative within its topic and hence, the analysis was not based on any preconceived hypotheses. The individual manifestations of interest and self-efficacy in relation to students' mathematical performances were highlighted in the explorative analysis of this study. The experiences reflected the interactive relationships of the particular motivational factors; with each other and in respect of math performances. According to the views of the students, changes in one phenomenological factor commonly result in changes in another. Within the individual perspectives of this study, no general conclusions can be drawn. However, the previously empirically established significances of interest and self-efficacy in learning were reflected in the experiences of the interviewed students. The interconnection of the motivational factors in relation to mathematics is essential to consider in education. Their predisposition for change offers opportunities to generate new learning experiences, which then again, may improve the feelings of interest and self-efficacy of even older students in relation to mathematical learning.
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(2007)The purpose of this study was to describe and get a deep understanding of pedagogical change process. The phases of pedagogical change process and the nature and the role of teacher's pedagogical thinking in it were mapped. The change process as a whole was also modeled. The previous research of teaching change process has had been scarce on an individual teacher level, but on a school level it has been investigated abundantly. The theoretical background of this study consists of theories of teacher's pedagogical thinking and action and how their thinking and action change and develop. Teacher change has been researched from the point of view of both school change and professional development. The basic principle in the theoretical frame is that change in teacher's thinking leads to change in action. Three men teachers and a woman teacher who have put change into practice took part in this study. The data consisted of two parts: teachers' essays of their change process and interviews that were based on the essays. The data was analysed by content analysis. The categorizations of both parts of the data were made separately but they were interpreted together. In this way a deep understanding of pedagogical change process could be reached. The results of this study were descriptions of the phases of pedagogical change process and the nature and the role of teacher's pedagogical thinking in it. In addition a model of pedagogical change process was presented. Pedagogical change process started up because of disorder in teacher's pedagogical thinking and action. The disorder leads to an absolute necessity to change the activities. Change activities stabilize throughout intuitive experiments and reflection-on-action. The change in a teacher's thinking is a prerequisite for the start of the process but also, a teacher's thinking develops as a result of the process. Thus, the whole process results in a real, deep level change in instruction and in the teacher's thinking. That is why pedagogical change processes are visible, significant and they have wide and extensive effects. The study gives out information of controlling the change processes. Consequently, the results of this study encourage teachers to confront change and put their new ideas into practice.
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(2016)Changing work as well as changing expertise requirements are an often discussed topic in our current public discussion. In this study, the main interests were the conceptions of expertise and experiences of changing work and expertise requirements. The participants of the study (n=12) were a group of professionals working in a company providing language services. The aim of the study was to analyse how the participants understand expertise and what kind of changes and new expertise requirements they have experienced at their work. The main analytical concept of the study is expertise, and the theoretical framework consists of research literature on expertise on individual and collective dimensions which were compared to the conceptions of expertise among the sample group. The changes the research subjects have experienced at work were thematically analyzed by mirroring their views against some viewpoints on changing work and the historical work types. The study is based on a qualitative research strategy and the material was analysed by applying phenomenographic content analysis. The material was collected through one-to-one interviews. The work related expertise as described by the participants is presented through examples, whereas the phenomenographic analysis focuses on the participants' conceptions of expertise and on experiences of changes of work. To conclude, the results of the study were collected to categories of description. The results clearly showed that the contextual dimension of expertise as experience in the professional field was considered as one of the most important element of expertise. In addition to knowledge, skills, self-awareness and education, expertise was also related to learning new things as a prerequisite for expertise development. Also, knowing the customer was seen as expertise. In addition, respect from others was also seen as part of being an expert. In this material, expertise was portrayed more as an individual rather than a collective quality, even though the work was considered a team effort. The changes at work were related to increasing customer demands, changing technology and financial pressures. Despite these changes, the underlying nature of work was seen as unchanged and overall, the changes were not considered to lead to any completely new expertise requirements.
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(2012)Aims. In the year 2010, the Finnish national core curriculum for basic education went through some amendments and additions when it comes to support for learning and schooling. A new three-step support model was introduced. The new support model contained general, intensified and special support. The aim of this thesis is to find out how primary school teachers execute the three-step support model at Vantaa: what support measures are most valued and who fills out the support model's pedagogical documents? The support model's aims and goals are also examined. The last aim is to compare the three-step support model to the idea of an inclusive school. Can we say that our education system is now more inclusive than what it was before? Methods. The research began with an interview with the person who is responsible for the planning of education in Vantaa. After the interview, part of the primary school teachers of Vantaa (N=61) answered to a questionnaire about the three-step support model. The research was conducted as a mixed method research because it has elements from both qualitative and quantitative research. The interview answers were analyzed by using content analysis. Quantitative methods were used while analyzing the questionnaire answers with the IBM SPSS Statistics 20-program. Results and conclusions. The study showed that the primary school teachers value differentiation, collaboration between school and home and part-time special education the most. Special education was valued as a part of the special support. Pedagogical documents were most likely filled by the class teacher or the special needs teacher although the work is assigned to class teachers . Collaboration between teachers was valued when filling the pedagogical documents. It's difficult to estimate how the goals of the three-step support model have been achieved. During the time of this research the new model had been used only for six months. The teachers admitted that more pupils are studying in mainstream education because of the new support model. Nevertheless the teachers felt that the education system needs special education schools and classes. They did not agree with the idea of shutting down all the special education schools.
Now showing items 1-6 of 6