Browsing by Subject "fysisk aktivitet"

Aims This study aims to explore teachers in Aland Islands,' perspectives on the relationship between students' physical activity and mental health, aiming to understand teachers' efforts to promote both aspects and raise awareness of their significance. In today's society, students tend to be increasingly sedentary, coinciding with a rise in mental health issues among them. Particularly in Aland Island,, alarming statistics have emerged in the past year, indicating higher rates of mental health challenges compared to the rest of Finland. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how teachers in Åland perceive this relationship and what measures they take to promote both physical activity and mental health among their students.To gain insights into this connection, the following research questions were formulated: What importance do teachers in Åland attribute to physical activity for students' mental health? What importance do teachers in Åland attribute to students' mental health for their physical activity? How do teachers work to increase students' physical activity and promote their mental health? How do teachers describe the relationship between students' physical activity and mental health? Methods This dissertation employed a qualitative research method with a narrative analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three active teachers in Åland for data collection. The collected material then generated three unique narratives serving as responses to the central research questions in the dissertation. Results Teachers emphasized the positive effects of physical activity on students' mental health, citing increased energy, joy, improved social interaction, concentration, and stress management. At the same time, the teachers said that students' mental health can influence their conditions, endurance, and motivation to engage in physical activity.Students facing mental health challenges might struggle to find motivation and energy to engage in physical activity. To promote both physical activity and mental health, schools in Åland participated in various events and break-time activities. Ultimately, the study participants were convinced that there was a connection between students' physical activity and their mental health, even though the extent of this connection could vary. This thesis raised awareness of the link between physical activity and mental health, providing insights into how teachers in Åland worked to support students' well-being. It also emphasized the need for additional resources and support, especially in the field of school psychology, to effectively address these challenges and promote students' health and well-being.

Purpose: Studies show that Finnish children and youth are insufficiently physically active. The program Liikkuva koulu (author’s free translation from Finnish: ”A school in motion”) began as a pilot project in 2010, but has since grown to be a nationwide program. The aim of the program is to provide students with physically more active and pleasant schooldays, to support their learning and increase their well-being. The activity itself for Liikkuva koulu can in many ways be seen to require a student-focused approach to teaching. Thus the theoretical background for this study came to comprise of ”Approaches to Teaching” by Prosser & Trigwell (1999). The aim of this study is to examine teachers’ experiences of physical activity as a part of their teaching. Furthermore an objective for this study is to explore in what way a teacher’s approach to teaching may relate to those experiences and execution of physically active lessons. Methods: The research was conducted as a quantitative study. A survey was sent to five Swedish-speaking elementary schools within the Helsinki region. The survey included 30 multiple-choice questions/statements along with 4 open-ended questions. A total of N = 27 teachers participated in the study by responding to the survey. The data was mainly analyzed quantitatively (qualitative data analysis was applied to the open-ended questions). Results and conclusions: The teachers mainly implemented physically active lessons and their experiences of Liikkuva koulu were as well mainly positive. For many of these positive experiences, they correlated with each other. The teachers reported mainly a student-focused approach to teaching. The study found a correlation between higher teacher-focused approach to teaching and a stronger experience of Liikkuva koulu being experienced as an additional burden within teaching. There was also a dim correlation between the teacher’s (increased) age and less experience of Liikkuva koulu providing for increased students’ participation.