Browsing by Subject "maahanmuuttaja"
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(2007)The main idea of this study was to find out how immigrants understand and define successful co-operation and professional partnership in early childhood education. Another target of this research was to think over how the parents see professional partnership from their viewpoint, and how willing / ready the they are in engaging in the professional partnership with the day care personnel. The theoretical part of this research is based on theories of immigration and theories of it's different forms, theories of cultural varieties and theory of modernizing co-operation through using professional partnership. Also guidelines and policies for day care and early childhood education play a part in the theory section. Theory part is written to support research problems. The research method used in this study is peer interview. The interviewed are both immigrants and customers of day care services. The data collected is comprised of materials from peer interviews and personal background information. The interviewed were of Somalia and Russian ethnic groups. Interview were carried out in each group in the participants own mother tongue. These peer interviews showed that parents were interested and willing to discuss professional partnership. From this research one can conclude that the term professional partnership is seen as a complex term, and as a term difficult to understand. From the results it is seen that quite often the principles of professional partnership are not carried out in practise. According to the material gathered, the parents feel that lack of common language and prejudice against immigrants effectively prevents the professional partnership from being formed. The cultural differences can become challenging in a professional partnership. Based on this research, one can conclude that when different cultures meet, there has to be mutual will to understand and to be understood in order to make sure that the children's development, both educational and physical, is supported in a best possible way.
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(2016)The objectives: The number of children under three years of age with an immigrant back-ground has increased in early childhood education. Most children are in all-day childcare, which may cause that the Finnish language overtakes the native language of the child. For the child, his / her native language is also the language for feeling and thinking. Maintaining the native language is a precondition for the parent-child interaction. According to studies on the subject, strong skills in the native language also facilitate the learning of another language. The purpose of this study is to chart out how parents maintain and enrich the native language of their child in the new home country, how they value their own native language and what kind of guidance they have received in supporting bilingualism. My questions for this research are: How do parents maintain and enrich the native language of their child in their new home country? How important do the parents experience maintaining the native language of their child to be? What kind of guidance / information have the parents received in supporting the native language from the early childhood education personnel, from the school, and / or the child welfare clinic? Eight parents with an immigrant background, part of whom have lived in Finland already for a long period of time, were chosen to participate in this research. Methods: The research was carried out as a qualitative research. The method of the research was thematic interview. The data was analyzed by means of content analysis. Results and conclusions: As a rule, the parents spoke to their children their own native language, and preserving the native language was considered important. A general rule in the families was that at home only the native language was to be spoken. However, the parents experienced maintaining the native language as a challenge in the new home country. The parents had received very little support from the professional personnel to the means of maintaining the native language.
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(2016)Earlier studies have shown that in Finland immigrant children have on average poorer numeracy skills than native Finnish children. More and more children with immigrant background enter schools so effective means to support their numeracy skills are highly needed. The study explores if immigrant children's early numeracy skills can be supported with an intensive early numeracy intervention programme. A total of ten six-year-old immigrant children participated in the study in a preschool in the metropolitan area. Half of the children had intense training in early numeracy skills during the day in preschool twice a week for about eight weeks. The other half of the children formed a control group who participated in preschool activities as usual. The children's early numeracy skills were measured with Early Numeracy Test (Van Luit, Van de Rijt & Aunio, 2006) as pretest, immediate posttest and delayed posttest. There was also a logbook that was filled during and immediately after the training sessions so that assessment of fidelity would be possible. The participants' background information and level of Finnish skills were asked from the preschool teachers. These pieces of information were used as control variable. The children in the intervention group improved their early numeracy skills during the intervention more than the children in the control group. Especially the effect was seen in understanding mathematical relations. The intervention group performed statistically significantly better in the immediate posttest and the delayed posttest than the control group. In counting skills the results weren't significant. In the Early Numeracy Test (Van Luit, Van de Rijt & Aunio, 2006) as a whole, the intervention group performed significantly better in the immediate posttest, but the gap was not statistically significant in the delayed posttest. This study shows that by supporting immigrant children's early numeracy skills with an evidence-based intervention programme, their skills in understanding mathematical relations improve significantly and permanently. The immigrant children can also get their numeracy skills to the same level with the native Finnish children and so the intervention programme for one can prevent them from dropping out of the school system later.
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(2017)Immigration has increased in the capital region of Finland. It is predicted that the number of immigrants will continue to rise in the future. Nature and green areas are easy to be found in Finland, also in the capital region. Previous studies have shown that nature can enhance psychological, physiological and social well-being. However, we know little about the relation between nature, integration and immigrants' well-being. In addition, it remains unclear how immigrants relate to nature, and what nature means for people from different cultures. The purpose of this thesis was to describe, analyze and interpret the meaning of nature for eight immigrants living in the capital region. One of the goals of this thesis was to analyze how immigrants would see nature as a place for enhancing well-being, and that way, possibly support the process of integration. This study was carried out as a case study research in August-September 2016. The participants were eight adult immigrants living in the capital region. The participants' ages varied between 30 to 55 years and they had lived in Finland from 2 to 12 years. This thesis included theme interviews and three guided nature walks in the capital region. The data consisted of theme interviews done before the nature walks and feedback forms filled in the end of the last walk. The data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. According to the content analysis, the immigrants seemed to have mainly positive and everyday relation to nature. Immigrants also told that moving to Finland had had an impact on their relation to nature by waking it up or making it stronger. Nature close by was thought to be a meaningful place for rest and relaxation, and a significant source of day-to-day well-being. According to immigrants, moving in and learning about nature could have a positive impact for the integration process by supporting social and cultural integration, enhancing well-being, and introducing new places. Participants also brought up that both cultural and practical topics related to nature could be more significant part of the integration education.
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(2017)The purpose of the study is to explore the acculturation of eating habits among Somali immigrants: What kind of acculturation happens and which factors prevent or promote the change in their eating habits. In addition, it is studied how important role food has from the perspective of the stability or change of identity. The main research question is as follows: What kind of acculturation has occurred after moving to Finland? The study had three additional questions: 1. How is acculturation reflected in eating habits and the choice of food? 2. What are the main factors that prevent or promote the change? 3. How the respondents find that the acculturation of eating habits affects their Somali identity? In this study, the model of adaptation to a new dietary pattern (Koctürk-Runefors 1991) is an important part of the theoretical framework. The data were collected in March 2017 through individual, pair, and group interviews from fourteen Somali immigrants, aged 19 to 46 years. All the interviewees were women who had lived in Finland six to twenty-six years. They were interviewed in Finnish. The interviews were audiorecorded and transcribed into written form. After that the data were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. According to the study, acculturation had taken place at different levels. Meal rhythm, the content of meals and choice of food had changed. The number of the meals increased in Finland. The breakfast was usually prepared by the Finnish way. If there was enough time, the breakfast would be prepared by a Somalian way. The lunch would be prepared in a Somali way if it was eaten at home. Legumes were often offered for dinner in Somalia but no longer in Finland. The religion prevented any major changes in the diet. The socio-economic status affected food choice: higher education and income level affected the choice of the food. Media, household technology and catering services promoted the change. Somali identity is strong and the identity is supported with eating habits. Food restrictions defined by religion were kept unchanged, and they did not reflect acculturation in this study.
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(2024)My Master's thesis deals with the educational experiences of second-generation immigrant youth. I looked at which things have promoted and which have hindered their progress on their educational path, and how they explain their lower school success than the general population. For the research, I interviewed six young people with a second-generation immigrant background. It is a qualitative study and I used phenomenological content analysis to interpret the results. The research results showed that several factors influence the educational path of second-generation immigrant youth. The encouraging and understanding teachers who supported the students' learning and motivation emerged as positive factors. In addition, family support and parents' positive attitude towards education were significant contributing factors. A good command of the Finnish language also helped the students to be more successful in their studies. Complicating factors were school bullying and racism, which had a negative impact on students' enjoyment of school and self-esteem. Lack of language skills, especially with regard to the Finnish language, was a significant challenge that weakened the students' school success. Cultural differences and the feeling of being different also made it difficult to adapt to the school community. Second-generation immigrants explain their lower school success than the mainstream population with many different factors. First of all, lack of language skills and bilingualism can cause learning difficulties, especially if you do not have a strong command of the Finnish language. In addition, school bullying and racism create an unfavorable learning environment, which weakens students' concentration and motivation. Cultural differences and lack of social support also make it difficult to go to school, as young people with an immigrant background may feel like outsiders and isolated in school communities. Overall, the research emphasizes the importance of versatile support measures, such as improving language skills, promoting cultural sensitivity, supporting families and individual study guidance, so that second-generation immigrants can succeed in their educational path and reach their full potential.
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(2017)The purpose of this study is to point out ways of talking about immigrants in the Opettaja magazine. The point-of-view is educational. The theoretical framework is based on theories of power relationships, otherness and critical pedagogy. The research questions are: What kind of immigrant related discourses can be found in the articles of the Opettaja magazine? How is the immigrants' own voice heard in the material? The material of this study consists of writings of immigrants in the Opettaja magazine during the years 2015 and 2016. These articles helped get an understanding of immigrants as persons. 25 articles were chosen into the final analysis. Discourse analysis was used as the research method. The method enabled getting reach of ways of talking and what speech actually produces. As a result of the study and as an answer to the first research question five different discourses were found from the material: 1) Discourse that produces otherness 2) Benefit discourse 3) Challenge discourse 4) Inequality discourse 5) Humanity discourse. One discourse was found as an answer to the second research question. I named it A successful immigrant discourse. As a conclusion of the study I argue that ways of talking create otherness but it also reveals elements of humanity and sympathy. Equal treatment is desired but at the same time it's shown that lots of work must be done to reach it. This was exposed in the inequality discourse. Immigrants were seen beneficial for Finland and as a challenge for teachers. The own voice of the immigrants was particularly present in descriptions of successful immigrants. The Successful immigrant discourse was e.g. built on speech that emphasizes resilience and happiness. Bringing ways of talking used in the media and what is produced through it into day light, enables influencing inequality and otherness that stems from structures and social practices.
Now showing items 1-7 of 7