Browsing by Subject "lärare"
Now showing items 1-10 of 10
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(2020)Purpose. Around 3-15% of all pupils have dyslexia. According to the core curriculum, student assessment should be conducted in a comprehensive way, considering students’ individual difficulties. However, assessment instructions might be considered vague. Earlier studies have also shown that teachers may perceive assessment as complicated, particularly when it comes to students with special needs. The purpose of the study is to describe, analyze and interpret how secondary school teachers experience assessment and grading of pupils with dyslexia. The purpose is also to explore how pupils are enabled to show their knowledge in an adequate way. Furthermore, teachers’ perceptions of assessment fairness with regard to pupils with dyslexia are discussed. Methods. The research was conducted as a qualitative study with a phenomenographic research approach. The material consists of eight semi-structured, individual interviews with teachers working in two Swedish-speaking secondary schools i Finland. The collected material was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results and conclusions. Teachers expressed a genuine will to support pupils with dyslexia and they stated that they could assess pupils in a flexible way. Cooperation with special education teachers was perceived as important. The versatility of the core curriculum was regarded as an advantage for students with dyslexia. The most used accommodations were oral responses, extended time and test writing in a small group. Double assessment, prioritized content and adapted tests were also used, but teachers had different approaches. A student’s positive lesson activity could lead to a better grade. Language teachers struggled with the assessment of misspelled words. IT software was not widely used. The teachers stated that they did their best to take students’ difficulties into consideration when giving them grades, and they normally also thought their assessment was fair. The study shows that teachers do their very best to assess students with dyslexia, but there are differences in procedures between teachers, which might lead to unequal assessment.
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(2023)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.
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(2021)The appearance ideals of today are very narrow and put excessive pressure on individuals to look a certain way. The ideals are seen as so unrealistic that most people cannot reach them. This has led to an increase in body dysmorphia to a degree where it nowadays is normal to be unsatisfied with one’s body. A negative body image can have several serious consequences, such as mental health problems, eating disorders and social and economic problems. Earlier studies have shown that problems with body image also affect children: the majority of children seem to be unsatisfied with their bodies, and many try to lose weight through unhealthy methods, such as skipping meals. Therefore, there is a big need in supporting children’s body image and researchers have highlighted schools as adequate places for this work. The aim of this study is to examine primary school teachers’ comprehensions about children’s body image, as well as their comprehensions about their possibilities to support their students’ body image in school. Six teachers, who at the time of the study were working in grades 1-6 in the primary school in Finland, participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews were used, and data was analyzed by using thematic analysis that took place in the qualitative data analysis software ATLAS.ti. The teachers in this study considered body image as a highly important topic. The teachers seemed to understand what influences children’s body image and they could observe children’s body image in different situations, such as during school lunch and through paying attention to children’s behavior. They also had a strong will of supporting their students’ body image, but at the same time the teachers felt that the lack of knowledge, resources and guidelines made them feel uncomfortable with working with body image. The teachers disagreed on whether supporting children’s body image really was part of their work responsibilities, but despite of this, there was a consensus of the importance that teachers need to be good role models for their students and that teachers should work for a school where every child feels worthy and safe. Based on the results of this study, it can be said that body image needs to be more emphasized in future school curriculums and that teachers need more knowledge in body image and more tools to feel comfortable with teaching this topic. The results of this study can benefit further studies in body image and studies regarding the school’s role in the work with supporting children’s body image.
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(2022)The digital communication between home and school has developed for a longer period besides the digitalization in our society. Studies have shown that the perception of digital communication related to school context varies and there is also an ongoing discussion about it in the media. The purpose of this study is to discover how caregivers experience the digital communication with the class teacher, and which tools are working well and not so well depending on different parts of the everyday school day. This study was executed as a qualitative study and the data was collected through an electronic form. The form was answered by 19 caregivers with children in grades 1-6 in basic education. The analysis in this study was conducted as a thematic analysis. Wilma and social media were used for digital communication between caregivers and class teachers. The digital communication tools were experienced as well functioning in informative occasions but not as well in situations that required a dialog. Lack of guidelines in the usage of digital communication tools were experienced to cause misunderstandings. Results in this study shows that awareness among caregivers and class teachers of how digital communication tools are used can conduct to a development of the digital communication to at best become an effective and smooth way to communicate. This benefits all partners. A well-reasoned usage of digital communication tools increases a feeling of participation and conducts to a feeling of welcomed in the school as a caregiver.
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(2020)A good occupational health is what every human wish for. Because people spend a lot of their time at the workplace the concept occupational health is an important factor to consider as a leader. Also due to a raise in the retairement age and changes in worklife, occupational health has become a current and known topic at workplaces. Occupational health refers to wellbeing at work and that an employee should experience physical, psychological and social wellbeing at the workplace. In this study the teachers occupational health is in focus. This study aims to find out wether a headmaster conducting a healthpromoting leadership would be of advantage for the teachers, when it comes to experiencing a good occupational health. It also aims to find out if teachers have any certain expectations regarding healthpromoting leadership and what thoughts they have conserning the topic occupational health and their own experienced occupational health. Background and contextual research consist of theory and previous studies on leadership, leadership in schools, healthpromoting leadership, educational leadership and occupational health. The thesis is a qualitative research project with a phenomenograpic perspectiv. The data was collected in fall 2019 and the sample consisted of eight teachers from swedishspeaking schools in the south of Finland. The data was collected through semistructured interviews and was later on analysed with help of inductive content analysis. The result refers to that most of the teachers have sometime during their career experienced a minor setback concerning their occupational health and consider therefore a healthpromoting leadershipstyle to be desireble. The teachers expectations are many and individual. Their expectations refer to being present, structured and flexible, and communicativ as a headmaster. Characteristics of the headmaster that the teachers refer to as being important for their occupational health are trust, honesty and personality. Other important leadership qualities for a headmaster to have is to give support and structure, and to be good at allocating resources and time. The research result can hopefully contribute to a better occupational health for the teachers true healthpromoting leadership. In addition, the result can give an indication, not only to the headmasters, but also to municipalities and state institutions, concerning what has to be accomplished and altered within education for the teachers to achieve a good and sustainable occupational health.
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(2022)All schools in Finland are required by law to ensure equality of treatment on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and other individual characteristics. Previous studies have shown that young people who do not conform to heteronormative expectations are more likely to have mental health problems compared to their peers and are more likely to feel that school is an unsafe environment. Teachers, for their part, often feel that they do not have enough knowledge about how different sexualities and gender identities should be taken into account in their practical dealings with students. Previous studies have primarily focused on the school experiences of teenagers and young adults rather than on the experiences of younger students. The purpose of this study is to examine the views of seventh-grade students regarding the sex education they have received from first grade onwards, and how teachers accommodate gender diversity in their teaching. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with four native Swedish-speaking seventh-grade students from southern Finland. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed that all the students who participated in the study felt that sexuality and gender identity were not properly discussed in grades 1 through 6. By contrast, they felt that the information they were given about puberty and reproduction in grades 5 through 6 was sufficient. The analysis also suggests that although the students felt that some of the teachers were clearly concerned with advancing gender equality, the atmosphere in the school in general was still quite heteronormative. All the students who participated in the study felt that more sex education was needed, and that there should be greater discussion of gender diversity, preferably even before fifth grade. In their view, this would help foster a more respectful and inclusive atmosphere at school. In future studies, it would be of interest to find out more about what kind of support teachers would benefit from to develop sex education, and what would help them to accommondate gender diversity in their teaching.
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(2023)The purpose of this survey was to analyze teachers' perceptions and experiences of the current teaching model for studies in religion and secular ethics in primary school, as well as how it supports the students' identity development and learning. The goal was also to analyze whether the teachers have suggestions for changes to the current teaching model of studies in religion and ethics. Studies in religion and ethics has been a debated topic throughout the existence of primary schools. Previous research has shown that a large proportion of Finns, as well as teachers and principals, would like to see a change to the current model. Previous research has shown that students begin their identity development at a young age. Religion and different worldviews are one of the most important building blocks of identity. This means that both school and religious education have an influence on the students' identity development. The survey was conducted as a qualitative study. The data collection took place through five semi-structured interviews with teachers in Nyland. The data was analyzed using content analysis. The results showed that the majority of teachers are not satisfied with the current teaching model. The teachers believed that an intergrated teaching model, may it be secular ethics or a completely new subject, most benefits the students identity development. Arguments raised for an intergrated model were that it favors the students capacity for emphaty, morality, ethics and understanding of other people, culture and religions. Arguments that the teachers raised agains an intergrated model were that the students with minority religions could feel left out, and lose interest in their own religion.
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(2018)In accordance with the fact that the core curriculum for basic education 2014 came into effect in the autumn of 2016, the discussion about teachers' digital competence has flared up in the media. The diverse views regarding the use of digital tools in teaching contributed to the Thesis's subject. The purpose of this survey was to identify the attitude of the teachers towards information and communication technology (ICT), as well as to investigate whether psychological factors and factors in the work environment affect the attitudes of ICT in teaching. The survey was conducted as a quantitative study and was limited to primary and secondary school teachers in Swedish-speaking schools in the metropolitan area. Data was collected using an electronic questionnaire sent to 40 headmasters by e-mail, which were then forwarded to the teachers. The questionnaire was sent out in January-February 2018 and was answered by a total of 87 teachers. The material was processed and analyzed using the SPSS statistics program. The results showed that the teachers largely seemed to be positive to the use of ICT. Nevertheless, there were many open comments that were critical to digitalization, resources and the possibility of further education. Attitudes towards and perceptions of ICT were unrelated to gender, age and school level, number of pupils and work experience as a teacher. However, the psychological factors engagement and workload had a positive versus negative impact on attitudes.
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(2021)Finnish teachers’ workload has been high for a long time and because of the Covid- 19 pandemic their workload has further grown (Eskonen, 2018; FSL, 2019; Korkeakivi, 2018; Kröger, 2020; OAJ, 2018a; OAJ, 2018b; OAJ, 2020; Råholm, 2020). Which means that the Finnish teachers’ heavy workload is an issue that needs to be solved. Previous studies have shown that co- teaching can have a positive impact on teachers’ workload (Ahtiainen et al., 2011, s. 36–37; Pulkkinen & Rytivaara, 2015, s. 9; Walther-Thomas, 1997, s. 401). Therefore, the aim of this study is to form an understanding of teachers’ experiences of co- teaching and its impact on their workload in basic education. The participants of the study consisted of 24 teachers in basic education in Swedish speaking schools in Finland. The data collection was done through qualitative surveys in an electronic format. The data was analyzed by using thematic analysis. The teachers in the study experienced that they, through the co- teaching partnership, had more social support, could share their work responsibilities and learn from each other. In addition to this, the participants experienced that they had better opportunities to form an inclusive and differentiated classroom through co-teaching. Therefore, co- teaching can lessen teachers’ workload. Although, the participants of the study also experienced lack of resources, as well as conflicts and an unfair work distribution in the co-teaching partnership. Through this, co- teaching can also lead to a greater workload. Lastly, the teachers in the study also experienced that resources, good collaboration and positive attitudes towards co-teaching promotes the use of co- teaching. Consequently, lack of recourses, poor collaboration and negative attitudes hinders the use of successful co- teaching. However, some teachers experienced that there is nothing that hinders the use of co- teaching.
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(2020)Finnish Schools on the Move is a program with the goal to establish a more physically active school environment for children in the Finnish comprehensive schools. The program was ini-tially piloted in 2010 and by 2018 the program had been expanded to reach 90 percent of all schools in Finland. The teachers play a key role in the process of implementing school re-forms, which is the motivation for this study. The aim of the study is to investigate how prima-ry school teachers experience the program, how it affects their work and their opinion on the effectiveness of the program. Furthermore, this study aims to uncover which details of the implementation that are advantageous and disadvantageous for the success of the program, from the teacher’s perspective. Based on the results of the program’s own assessment on the program the majority of Swedish–speaking primary school teachers in Helsinki experi-enced a lack of competence or the opportunity to develop the competence needed to com-plete the requirements of the program. This study uses educational reform theories as a framework. The methods of implementation, the roles of the concerned parties carrying out the implementation, teachers and principals, and collegiality have in prior research been shown to be key factors in carrying out educational reforms. This study has a qualitative approach and the data-gathering is being done by semi-structured interviews. The study had eight participants, with seven primary school teachers and one principal from five different primary schools in Helsinki. The material will be analyzed through thematic analysis and compared to earlier research. The results showed that the program has had a positive impact on the teachers work, but that the program caused additional work for some teachers. According to the results, the program was successful in schools where the principal’s leadership, collegial support and a perception of competence among the teachers was present. Unlike this, the program did not work as well in schools where is a lack of collegial support and supporting structures needed for the implementation of the program The perceived lack of competence was in other words not a crucial factor if the leadership was functional and the colleague’s attitude towards the program was positive.
Now showing items 1-10 of 10