Browsing by Subject "grundskola"

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Covid-19 pandemic has had a serious psychological impact on individuals. This also applies to teachers. Previous studies have also shown that 57% of teachers are considering changing their professions, which is partly because their well-being has been deteriorating. Positive psychology, in turn, has received more attention when it comes to students' well-being. The aim of this study is to investigate what role positive psychology can play in the promotion of teachers' well-being, with a specific focus on the well-being after the COVID-19 pandemic. Six (6) teachers in basic education in Finland participated in the study. They were interviewed through semi-structured interviews. The interviews were taped, transcribed and analyzed through a hermeneutic analysis method. The results showed that all teachers were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and distance learning, although not all of them thought so themselves. What affected the teachers the most was the lack of social interaction and loneliness that the pandemic brought. The results also showed that the teachers in this study had good practices when it came to promoting their own well-being. These methods can be classified as methods belonging to positive psychology. Although teachers did not have good knowledge of what the concept of positive psychology means, these methods were used unconsciously.

Young carers have a responsibility to a close relative who, due to physical or mental reasons, has a reduced functional capacity. The responsibility is often kept within the family and affects the well-being of the young people in both a negative and positive sense. Difficulties with building friendships, lack of opportunity to participate in hobbies and reduced social capital are some of the challenges young carers face. Increased responsibility can also develop resilience and self efficacy. Young people spend a significant share of their time in schools. This makes schools a key player in the work of identifying young carers and supporting them in their everyday school life, as they have an increased risk of becoming marginalized. The objective of this study is to highlight these young people and make their voices heard. Furthermore, the aim is to find out how the care responsibility affects young carers’ and former young carers’ everyday school life and what kind of support they would need from the school. A qualitative, phenomenographic method was used for the study, which was conducted with semi-structured interviews. The informants were seven young carers and former young carers. The interviews were analyzed through a thematic analysis. The results show that the young carers experienced challenges in balancing the care responsibility and their own lives. Friends were considered important, but for the majority, social relationships were at times challenging. The young people appreciated the security and routine that school provided in their everyday life. They wanted more regular opportunities to discuss their burdens with student care and to be noticed by the school staff, especially by their own teacher. Tools for teachers are required to help them better engage with this group in a respectful way. Young carers must feel secure in sharing their stories with school staff. This requires the stigma, especially around mental health problems to be reduced. The young carers’ future study ambitions were limited by the care responsibility, which indicates that these young people also need attention in secondary education.