Browsing by Subject "myötätunto"
Now showing items 1-13 of 13
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(2020)Compassion has been a recent interest in research field when trying to solve the challenges Western work culture of efficiency such as burnout. Research shows that compassion in work community increases well-being at work, innovativeness and meaningfulness for work. That’s also why it’s seen to be a great asset in organizations. Working from stagnant to functional, proactive compassion culture may be difficult without the knowledge of the factors that effects compassion at work. Aim of this study is to represent some of those factors from early childhood education and care (ECEC) actors’ point of view. In this study, I examine the different meanings associated with compassion, its enabling and inhibitory factors in work community and self-compassion. This study was conducted by analyzing interviews with selected participants so the sample does not represent the generalized view of ECEC actors on compassion. By ECEC actors I mean ECEC nurses and teachers, heads of ECEC units and regional managers. The data consists of twelve thematical interviews which were analyzed utilizing data and theory based content analysis. The results show that participants saw compassion as an important aspect in their work. Compassion is enabled through structures and leading compassion, compassionate leadership, interaction and encounters, work communality and outlining empathy and compassion. Inhibitory factors were large unit size and individual qualities. Answers to self-compassion had three different aspects which were self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness that were in line with previous research (Neff, 2003a).
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(2019)The promotion of care and compassion has been regarded as primary goals of education in order to achieve a more sustainable world. For this reason, compassion—inseparably related to both moral and values—should be studied in the context of practical education. The aim of this thesis is to analyze compassion as an empirically observable phenomenon that manifests as emancipatory action targeted against violence and oppression. The data, consisting of video re-cording of a nature school field trip among 10-11 year olds, is approached in the theoretical frameworks of sustainability- and environmental education as well as that of compassion re-search. By theoretically conceptualizing acts of emancipatory compassion, the focus of this study is on the analysis of moral construction. The hypothesis is that these acts are embodied in order to negotiate and criticize the institutional limits of compassion and the emerging circle of concern. As a conclusion, the meaning of compassion is discussed in the context of educating for holistic sustainability. The theoretical conceptualization of emancipatory compassion is based on both empirical observations and theoretical studies concerning compassion, constructional violence, and emancipatory action. Qualitative methodology in the general framework of social constructionism and approaches of grounded theory are utilized in order to analyze the video-ethnographic data using methods of critical discourse analysis and interaction analysis. In the data, there were several occurrences of acts of emancipatory compassion. The phenomenon manifested as exceeding the limitations between human and non-human life, and served to construct the institutional circle of concern in relation to other forms of life. Acts of emancipatory compassion were also used to express several factors relating to the construction of morality; some of these interpreted as acts of oppression in themselves. In relation to normative attempts to define the meaning of both violence and oppression, the teachers embodied moral authority over the students. It is concluded that education promoting holistic sustainability should acknowledge the essential meaning of compassion in the context of education in order to allow the questioning of established moral norms, encourage negotiating the limits of the circle of concern, and to recognize implicit manifestations of violence and oppression. It is also stated, that by identifying the inherently violent nature of the human condition, it is possible to overcome the boundaries constructed by perceiving particular agents as either violent or non-violent—inhibiting inclusive promotion of compassion towards subjects interpreted as being in the wrong.
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(2022)Objectives. The ability to have compassion is crucial for the survival of the human spe-cies and the well-being of communities and individuals. Acts of compassion are mostly done when another person expresses displeasure. The causes of displeasure often depend on time and place. Acts of compassion have been studied extensively in early childhood education in recent years but acts of compassion in a flexible scheduled early childhood education and care have remained unexamined. Flexible scheduled ECEC offers children a different environment, and for this reason, acts of compassion that take place in that context should be studied. This study aimed to find out which moments of displeasure occur in children between the ages of 1 and 5 in flexible scheduled ECEC and which acts of compassion children and adults do in the same context. The study brings an important addition to the field of compassion research, where displeasure and compassion in flexible scheduled ECEC have not yet been studied. Methods. The material is 25 hours of video footage filmed in flexible scheduled ECEC, written notes and a photo. I have identified 42 episodes in which children express displeasure and/or children or adults show compassion. The duration of the episodes varies from a few seconds to more than ten minutes. I have processed the material using the method of qualitative content analysis. I have also analyzed interaction that happens in the moments of compassion. The method has been influenced by the ethnographic approach. Conclusions. The results complement the understanding of the development of dis-pleasure and compassion in early childhood education. Children experience displeasure, for example, in situations where their own will is not fulfilled and their abilities are limited. In times of displeasure, especially adults do acts of compassion. Children also did acts of compassion and compassion initiatives, but these differed from what adults did and there were fewer of them. Children's agency in doing acts of compassion should be strengthened. The acts of compassion they do should be given time and space. Due to the varied composition and age of the group of children in early childhood care, there are plenty of opportunities for developing compassion when the children practice working side by side with different children of different ages.
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(2023)Objectives. The ability to show compassion has developed in humans to strengthen social relationships and to enable social functions. Compassion is conceived as a state of concern for others suffering and as a desire to alleviate it. Previous studies have determined that compassion in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) is constructed culturally and that it is dependent on the actions of the adults. This study describes how children react when they confront a crying child in the ECEC setting and explores how children take part in showing compassion to crying children. Methods. The research data was 50 hours of video footage. There was identified 27 episodes where children were crying. The children participating in the study were aged between 1-4 years old. Firstly theory-based content analysis was applied in the data and then the categories that were formed were analysed by multimodal interaction analysis. Conclusions. This study highlights the previous studies in which it was defined that compassionate acts in the ECEC are most often performed by the adults. It was determined that the children mostly continued their previous actions or gazed at the compassionate acts that were performed when other children were crying. The children could also refuse to show compassion to the crying child. The compassionate acts that the children performed were made with the support of the adults, together with the adults or independently. In this study compassion was always shown to the crying child. It should be established how to increase children’s compassion in the ECEC and how to utilize the adult’s role in it.
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(2019)The aim of the study was to research the manifestation of compassion in the peer interaction situations of toddlers in day care center and the impact of adult involvement on the expression of children's compassion. The research is part of a research project on Constituting Cultures of Compassion in Early Childhood Education (CoCuCo). Compassion research has not been done earlier by observing children's interaction in a natural environment. This study will provide the elements for developing early childhood education environments and interaction situations for toddlers in a day care center in order to strengthen the compassionate culture. Interest in the meaning of compassion for social change has increased. The meaning and power of compassion has been studied from many perspective of sciences. In this qualitative video research the research material was the video material compiled by the CoCuCo-research team on the different interaction and action situations of children aged 1–3 years in one day care center in the metropolitan area in Finland. The research methods were the observation and analysis of the video material. In the analysis of the data, I shared the compassion situations I found with the episodes in two main categories: 1. expression of compassion in children's interaction situations and 2. the effect of adult involvement on the expression of children's compassion. After this, I analyzed the various manifestations of compassion and the various effects of adult involvement that I found within the episodes. This study showed that there were compassionate acts of interaction between toddlers in terms of comforting, sharing, helping, and anticipating. Most often, the acts of children's com-passion were appeared as physical and verbal comforting or through objects and functional sharing. Adults contributed to their day care with their involvement, mostly to promote com-passion, but sometimes to undermine compassion. The results of this study support the view that young children have a natural way of working with compassion. The influence of adults on the development of a compassionate culture is very important. Adults need to realize the importance of the moments leading to compassion and give children time enough and compassionate guides.
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(2018)Objectives. The research on compassion has been studied in many fields but in the context of early childhood education, especially in conflict situations, study of compassion is still missing. The aim of this study, in the light of interaction based “practise perspective” theoretical framework, is to find out the ways in which compassionate acts occur in kindergarten 2 to 5-year-old children`s group in conflict situations, and what enables or hinder compassion in early childhood context. The interaction based theoretical framework shows how compassion is built and develops in interaction with people in different cultural contexts. This study has been conducted as part of “Constituting Cultures of Compassion in Early Childhood Education” (CoCuCo) research project. Methods. The data of this study was gathered by observation in a kindergarten setting over ten days period, approximately five hours per day. 26 children and five adults participated in the study. The current study has implications of collective ethnography due to its naturalistic setting and having, at times, up to four observers in the field at once. Having more than one observer gave opportunities for reflective discussions. 57 conflict situations were found from the data after using qualitative research analysis methods. Compassionate acts were analysed from those conflict situations. Findings. In a kindergarten 2 to 5-year-old children`s group compassionate acts occurred in 15 conflict situations. Compassionate acts, which were helping, defending and comforting, received a child from a teacher, a child from another child and a teacher from a colleague. Verbal forms of compassion were the most common. Teachers ways of dividing tasks and recurring practices in working methods enabled or hindered the ways compassion was expressed. The ways teachers organize kindergarten groups activities, seems to impact the ways compassion occurs in interactional situations.
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(2023)Objectives. Earlier research has identified the potential of compassion in enhancing the ethical and socioemotional competences of individuals. A framework grounded in compassion has been proposed to integrate pedagogical approaches supporting well-being. Furthermore, earlier research suggests that recognition of the significance of compassion in university pedagogy impacts beliefs defining teaching, student-teacher interaction, grading and pedagogical practices. However, valuation and interpretation of compassion in university pedagogy by teachers and pedagogical developers has remained a grey zone in research. This study seeks to contribute to filling this gap. The objective of the study was to investigate what kind of meanings compassion is given in university pedagogy, and what kind of promoting and impeding factors exist for demonstrating compassion. The research questions were: 1) How do the university teachers and pedagogical developers perceive the significance of compassion in university pedagogy? 2) What kind of factors promote compassion in university pedagogy according to university lecturers and pedagogical developers? 3) What kind of factors impede compassion in university pedagogy according to university lecturers and pedagogical developers? Methodology. Data consisted of ten semi-structured thematic interviews with participants that had a minimum of five years of pedagogical experience. The participants’ target audience of teaching included university staff, graduates, and undergraduates. The participants were asked e.g. how compassion was demonstrated in teaching, the benefits and disadvantages of compassion, and the role of the teacher as a proponent of compassion. The interviews were analysed using an abductive content analysis. Results and conclusions. The study identified compassion in university pedagogy as a strategic, implicitly transmitting social phenomenon realizing proximally. The pedagogical meanings of compassion were conceptualised as compassion strategies that were divided into well-being -centric, learning-centric, community-centric and structure-centric strategy. Factors inhibiting compassion were mainly linked to teaching structures, leadership, and organizational culture. Factors promoting compassion were especially linked to collective awareness and organizational values. The distal, societal, and planetary impacts of compassion were evident in the case of individual interviewees. This outcome, together with the identified holistic significance of compassion, raise the question about awareness and need for targeted cultivation of compassion as an integral part of pedagogical and societal mission of higher education.
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(2018)In United State of America compassion of work culture and work community has been researched for years. In Finland has been studied same kind themes of compassion, like empathy and sympathy. The Finnish project CoPassion lasted three years until it ended last year. According to results compassionate working culture increases welfare of the work community and also grows profit of the company. Nowadays working culture is busy and requires creativity, so it is important to take care of work well-being. Early childhood educators work with people, so feelings and interaction are essential and those issues reflect on children. This is qualitative research, which studied what kind of suffering and compassion experiences first year students of early childhood master’s degree have. The aim was to find out what kind of things made people suffer and what kind of feelings followed up. The other aim was to find out what kind of compassion acts had people done and what kind of feelings came after the compassion acts. The students wrote freely about “compassion”. The research consist of 20 narratives. The narratives were analysed by content analysis. The analysis found five themes: source of suffering, feeling of suffering, giver of compassion, compassion act and feeling of compassion. After the analysis the themes were organized to a matrix. The themes were organized by sources of suffering: Work, Conflict in work community and Personal life. According to the results all of compassion acts were verbal and nonverbal. In Work- theme suffering was caused by problems in work of early childhood education. There were disagreements of personal values and also feelings of inadequacy. In Conflict in work community -theme professional conflicts caused suffering. At first the aim of narrators were good, but in the end other persons attacked them because they didn’t have a same opinion. The narrators felt desperation and questioned their own professional ability. In Personal life -theme suffering was caused by narrators’ personal life, like problems in relationships. Shock, fatigue and sadness were caused by sufferings of personal life. Acts of compassion were encouragement and discussions. Acts of compassion were experienced to be essential, because narrators got feeling that they were understood. Early childhood education is ponderous work and there is lack of resources. There should be done more research about compassion fatigue or fatigue of ponderous work and how fatigue affects well-being of individual and work community. Climate of early childhood education will affect the children, who are future of Finland. How could compassion affect positively the well-being of individuals and work community?
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(2018)Goals of the study. Studies of compassion in organizations indicate that compassion experienced in work communities strengthens positive emotions and commitment to the work. Compassionate acts are central to an employee’s ability to makes sense of him or herself, co-workers and the work community as a whole. There has been relatively little research about compassion as a phenomenon in early childhood settings. This study aims to explain how master’s students of education sciences depict the construction of compassion and the sensemakings of suffering in narratives. Furthermore, the study explains what the compassionate acts are in the master’s students’ narratives. The study is part of the research project Constituting Cultures of Compassion in Early Childhood Education. Methods. The research material was collected in the lecture room. Master’s students in education were asked to write a one-page narrative about their experiences of compassion in work communities. 26 narratives were collected. Qualitative, theory-driven content analysis was used to analyze the data along with abductive reasoning characterized by a dialogue between empirical perceptions and theoretical ideas and concepts. Results and conclusions. According to the narrative approach, the construction of compassion contained sensemaking processes and compassionate processes. The study by Lilius et al (2008) served as an analytical framework. The sensemakings of suffering included personal concerns, experiences of unfair treatment, workplace conflicts, work-based requirements and concerns, as well as injuries and accidents. The compassionate acts in master students’ narratives contained providing emotional support, giving time and being flexible, providing material support and informative support. It appeared that it was also challenging to express compassion in early childhood settings. It is important to acknowledge humanity in work environments and enhance possibilities for compassion. Even small compassionate acts are central in order to support well-being and mutual trust in work communities.
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(2020)Compassion in early childhood education settings is a phenomenon that hasn´t been researched a lot despite its appearance in everyday interactions in early childhood education. In this study I examined how the acts of compassion were constituted in a Finnish 2-5-year olds kindergarten class. I conducted this research by using an observation method resembling ethnography and analysing the data using Grounded Theory -method. I answer to three research questions which were: 1) How the need for compassion is noticed in kindergarten? 2) What kind of characteristics can be found on situations where there are compassionate acts in kindergarten? and 3) What kind of compassionate acts are done in a kindergarten setting? This survey was conducted in one Finnish metropolitan area kindergarten class where there were 27 children, aged 2¬–5, two early childhood education teachers, two nurses and one nursing student doing her practical training. The research material consisted of observation notes of situations where there was suffering or compassionate acts during 10 days of observation. In this research construction of compassion included different ways of noticing the need for compassion, situational factors and assessments and acts of compassion. The child´s need for compassion could be noticed by the child’s emotional reactions, the way the child acted, hearing about the need for compassion or anticipating a situation likely to cause the need for compassion. In this kindergarten class the acts of compassion consisted of the acts of comforting, helping, influencing the person or matter that produced the need for compassion, flexibility, including, sharing and humour. Compassionate acts were not automatic. There were situational elements and assessments that could have had an effect on whether compassionate acts were conducted. Conduction of compassionate acts seemed to be influenced by who noticed the suffering, in what kind of situation suffering was noticed and what kind of assessments were made in the situation. This research is a qualitative research and it has limitations to its generalization, but it can shed a light to the phenomenon of compassion and construction of compassion in early childhood education settings.
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(2016)Objectives. The research of prosocial behavior indicates that toddlers are able to engage in prosocial behavior and acts of compassion, which are one form of prosocial behavior. Children's compassionate acts have been touched upon in the field of prosocial behavior research. However, the research consists mainly of relatively small samples and has often been conducted in laboratory playrooms. Therefore the research of children's compassion in their naturalistic settings is still missing. The aim of this study is to find out what are the 1.5 to 2-year-old children's acts of compassion and how acts of compassion are structured in a kindergarten setting. This study is part of a research project "Constituting Cultures of Compassion in Early Childhood Education" (CoCuCo). Theoretical framework. The theoretical framework of the study is based on two traditions of compassion research. The psychological tradition sees compassion as an individual trait, and the tradition ponders in which age are children capable of acts of compassion. The interaction tradition considers compassion as a collective activity that is produced in interaction. Methods. The data of the current study was gathered by observing a group of toddlers in a kindergarten setting over ten days, three to four hours a day. The acts of compassion and the context were recorded by using a semi-structured observation form. Eight 1.5 to 2-year-old children participated in the study. The data consisted of 47 episodes that contained acts of helping, sharing and comforting. The data was analyzed by using qualitative research methods. Findings. Comforting, helping and sharing were the 1.5 to 2-year-old children's acts of compassion. Compassion was expressed mostly in physical forms, such as hugging, stroking and physical helping. In some acts also verbal aspect was used. Adults had an impact on children's compassion and they could either nurture or hinder the compassionate acts.
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(2016)A large body of experimental research indicates that from an early age children are able to engage in compassionate behaviour. However, less focus has been paid on how children's compassionate behaviour is constituted in naturalistic settings. The aim of this study was to investigate what are children's compassionate acts in a natural kindergarten setting and how do children's peer relationships interrelate with these acts. The study is part of the research project "Constituting Cultures of Compassion in Early Childhood Education (CoCuCo)". The theoretical framework of the study is based on the complex concept of compassion and the constitution of children's compassionate behaviour in social contexts. Although human's have a natural tendency to empathy and compassion, the sociocultural context in which people interact has a great influence on whether compassion is nurtured or suppressed. Previous research suggests that as children age their compassionate behaviour changes, which might be due to the increase in children's social understanding. The current study was conducted by observing 30 5-7-year-olds children's interaction in a kindergarten setting. Children's compassionate acts and contextual factors were recorded by using a semi-structured observation form. The data was analysed using qualitative analysis methods. Sociograms compiled by child group's staff were used to define children's peer relationships. The findings of the study showed a wide variation in children's compassionate acts. Acts such as helping and defending a friend were more frequent among children than acts of caring, comforting and inclusion. There was no clear correlation between children's compassionate acts and peer relationships. Children exhibited more compassion towards other peers than close friends but also failed to respond to the need of a non-friend peer more frequently. In addition, children with more reciprocal friendships seemed to engage more in compassionate behavior while at the same time failing to react compassionately to peers' needs more frequently than children with less reciprocal friendships. The findings strengthen the idea of compassion's complex nature and call for broader research on how children's acts of compassion are constituted in naturalistic settings in children's everyday life.
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(2019)Objectives. Compassion is a fundamental motivational system in the human being (Gilbert 2015). Its function is to alleviate suffering (Goetz, Keltner & Simon-Thomas 2010). Compassion is one of the key skills needed in a global world (OECD 2016). Supporting the development of compassion and the skills of taking others into account is an obligation imposed on professionals by the National Curriculum Guidelines on Early Childhood (EDUFI 2016; Lipponen, Hilppö, Rajala 2018). Compassion has not been studied as an independent feeling in children’s natural environment. Previously research has been done about prosociality from individual psychological point of view (Warneken & Tomasello, 2006; Dunfield, et al. 2011). The research assignment of my thesis is to examine the every-day practices of spontaneous compassion in an early childhood group. The thesis is part of the CoCuCo research project. My goal was to generate new information about the compassion from practice perspective. The research problems were how sensemaking is occurs during the compassionate process and how compassion relates to the flow of action. Methods. I compiled the material I used in my thesis in an early childhood education group of Helsinki city. The group consisted of 23 children, an early childhood education teacher, a part-time special education teacher, and 2 nannies. I observed group members' who participated in the study for 2 weeks. I performed observation and material analysis with an exploratory and ethnographic approach. The data consisted of 32 observations I recorded on the observation form. The observation form served as a heuristic tool that guided me to discover acts of helping, comforting, sharing, and including others. In the data analysis, I used data-driven and theory supported methods. Results and conclusions. Sensemaking continued throughout the compassionate process. Joint understanding was formed through negotiations and non-verbal reaction to one another's actions. Sensegiving and sensebreaking occurred during negotiations of meanings. Verbalizing feelings and others’ points of view supported the compassionate process. During the compassionate process, emotions were regulated, conflicts were resolved, others were involved, and care was taken of oneself, others, and the environment. Through the compassionate process, interrupted action was able to continue, new action emerged, and previous action took new course. Compassion acts as a social tool that directs the flow of action. It supports children’s participation in activities, role in the kindergarten group and the development of positive peer relationships. By modelling compassionate interaction, early childhood teachers and caregivers can support compassionate processes between children.
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