Browsing by Subject "narratiivi"
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(2015)Objectives. The meaning of this Master's thesis is to analyze the development, transformation and meanings of teachers' professional identity in narratives produced by teachers covering memorable students. The study pursues to explain how teachers' professional identity is built in narratives, explain the meanings connected to teachers' professional identity, and specify factors between teacher and student encounters. Teachers' different roles are constructed to structure the variety of features in the profession of a teacher. The frame of reference for the study is an encounter -point of view, in which the concepts of identity and otherness are intertwined. Methods. The study is qualitative by its nature and based on the constructivist philosophy of science. The material consists of five narratives produced by teachers covering memorable students. The narratives were collected in spring of 2014 and consist of a total of 15 pieces. The data was processed by analyzing the content through narrative analysis after which it was possible to perceive a narrative model of the culture of teachers. Through themes and classification I reconstructed this model producing four fictional narratives, in which the original themes occurred. I interpreted each narrative on the basis of the theoretical framework, and analyzed the identities, roles as well as the possibility for encounters constructed in the narratives. Next, I examined the common features of the narratives produced by teachers, after which I considered concrete answers to the research questions. Results and discussion. Through the model stories conveyed an image of the shared values and beliefs of teachers. Teachers' values appear to be founded on traditional basis and characterized by the teacher's personal identity. Teachers' professional identity can be interpreted consisting of the roles of an enhancer, educator, teacher and supporter. The narratives conveyed a contradictory world in which teachers are balancing between these roles, and strive to build their own professional identity in the context of the model story. The narratives, which show characteristics of encounters, shared similar descriptions of the teacher's desire to help and understand the challenging situation of a pupil. In encounters the identities of the teacher and student confront, and both are heard and understood.
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(2015)The study examines teacher-child interaction in the early childhood classroom using improvisation as an analytic tool to locate pedagogical moments of spontaneous play and sustained shared thinking. The goal was to contribute to the understanding of the interactional mechanisms that occur when creativity is distributed throughout the group. Research of play interaction is fundamental in the context of early childhood education. More precise theoretical formulations of what happens during the play-based interaction between an adult and children are yet rare. One of the reasons is that play as a research phenomenon is complex and hard to operationalize in a systematic way. This study explains, by the means of in-depth case study findings, how the theoretical concept of improvisation can produce more careful descriptions about the early childhood teaching and the intricacies of teacher-child interaction in play based activity. Data for the narrative case study was collected through observations and video recordings of naturally occurring activities and encounters in a toddler play-based classroom. Data was enriched through video-elicited interviews (stimulated recall) of a single teacher. Research material was transcribed and analysed by the means of critical narrative analysis (CNA). Video recordings were also analysed through observing the involvement of the children (LIS-YC) and the engagement of the adult (AES). Focusing on early childhood education and play from the perspective of adult-child relational interaction, this research puts forward and presents evidence for two claims. First, in the context of early childhood education play should be understood as a professional skill of an adult and as a life-long qualitative dimension of interaction. Second, study findings suggests that improvisation, pedagogical sensitivity and introspective self reflection together could provide a new, more holistic interpretation to educational activities such as play in the viewpoint of adult's pedagogical practise. The results indicate that there is similarities between the logic of improvisation and the characteristics of pedagogical sensitivity. Study findings are consistent with theoretical perspectives that emphasize the active role of the adult in the development of the children's play competence.
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(2011)War children were sent away to shelter without their parents to other Nordic countries, mainly to Sweden. The phenomenon was remarkable. During the Second World War nearly 80,000 children were sent from their homes by trains or boats. These children travelled to foster homes where they were placed with new parents looking after them. After the conclusion of the peace, for some months or sometimes years later, orders were given to send the children back to their families in Finland. Returning back to Finland and to their biological parents and families was not always easy. Deep bonds between the children and their foster families were created and leaving caused grief to those small travellers once again. In some cases, distances were created in the relations between Mothers and their daughters. Many had forgotten their Finnish, and returning to school proved difficult. Some of the war children felt rootlessness, a result of being torn away from their family and culture. The aim of this study is to describe how former war children became mothers by themselves, and later on grandmothers. The study also explores how they describe the meaning of the war and their childhood in their own parenthood and what were their experiences of time in foster homes. Seven former war children and three daughters were interviewed for this study. Interviews were biographical. A narrative approach and thematic reading (by Riessman 2008) has guided the analysis of the texts. According to the results of this study, the importance of having your own home , family and security in childhood relationships is significant. Caring and having responsibility for disadvantaged others was important for former war children. What come from the detailed experiences of the 'war childhood' most of all were the difficulties they found on returning to Finland. Some of them had become very attached to their foster parents. There were varying degrees of language problems among the returnees. Some of the interviewees had completely forgotten their native language. Given that, starting the school at home was difficult. They also remembered continuous travelling.When asked on the outcome of their relationship with their biological mother, most interviewees were happy, with a few experiencing some distance in this relationship. Security and being available to protect their children were important in their own motherhood and grand motherhood. In difficult family situations like divorce, they wanted to give their time and support for helping with grandchildren. Another important aspect in family life is interaction between all its members. Talking things through in families and also in War Child Associations was highly valued. However, talking of war childhood had been silenced in some families. In conclusion, the experiences of former war children should take in consideration when difficult situations between parents and children or children's positions in war zones are resolved. War children also have a lot to give for further educational study.
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(2018)The subject of this study is the historical consciousness, historical culture and national identity of ninth graders. This study continues a research tradition, where students are asked to write about their nation’s past. The objective was to find out how students understand Finland’s history and how they reflect historical culture and national identity in their narratives. The research material consists of 28 narratives written by ninth grade students. The students also filled a questionnaire about how they acquire historical knowledge. The data gathered from the narratives was analyzed using a qualitative content analysis. The answers to the questionnaire were analyzed using quantitative methods. According to this study the ninth graders’ historical knowledge was affected by both official and public history culture. School was recognized as the most relevant source of historical knowledge, but movies and family followed closely. Friends and games were mentioned the least. There were no major differences between the sexes, except in games, which were more frequently mentioned by boys. The narratives produced by the students focused heavily on wars and on Finnish independence. Many of the students described Finland inadvertently drifting into wars, which is contrary to the discourse portrayed in contemporary textbooks. The civil war was the only war, where the students mentioned any casualties. The students have thus assimilated the narrative from the collective memory of the civil war being a national trauma. Only a few individuals were mentioned in the narratives, and even fewer were portrayed as active agents. Thus an individual’s capability to have an impact on historical events was not recognized.
Now showing items 1-4 of 4