Browsing by Subject "joustava esi- ja alkuopetus"

Pre-primary and early education can be seen as a very significant time period in child’s life. It has been addressed that there is a need for improving the curriculum for the continuation of pre-primary and early education. One of the most central forms of this development trend is the so called flexible pre-primary and early education. New development projects have started to emerge in Finland, with the goal of discovering new solutions for children’s early education. This research examines one of these projects. The task of this research is to describe what kind of experiences class teachers have about the “Alkuluokka” -development project that has been initiated in Southern Finland. The objective of this research was to survey the class teachers’ experiences and examine ways to improve the “Alkuluokka” -model based on that information. My research was a qualitative case study that examined the “Alkuluokka” -development project that was started in Southern Finnish municipality. The research was conducted by interviewing three class teachers in a semi-structured format. I analyzed the material using thematic analysis and visualized the results with thematic networks. “Alkuluokka” is a class form where pupils of pre-primary and early education are assigned to the same learning group. “Alkuluokka” can consist of both preschoolers and first- and second-graders. “Alkuluokka” is taught jointly by class teacher and kindergarten teacher. The main themes for describing the class teachers’ experiences were the following: teaching in the “Alkuluokka”, learning in the “Alkuluokka”, and improving the “Alkuluokka” model. The class teachers’ experiences were very favourable and they felt positively about collaborative teaching. They also deemed the opportunity for individual advancements in studies as one of the major advantages of “Alkuluokka”. It was noted that communality and peer learning are well emphasized in the model. Class teachers raised some questions about the administrative sector.