Browsing by Subject "selviytymiskeinot"

Research aims. The aim of the study is to examine what types of conflicts arise within first and second graders in primary education and how teachers experience these conflict situations and the process of resolving them. Numerous conflicts arise within first and second graders in their everyday school activities that require teacher’s attention. Previous studies have shown that these types of conflicts and the process of resolving them create a significant amount of stress for teachers. This study examines these conflict situations and how they come to existence in a school setting. Furthermore, teachers’ well-being at work and ability to manage work-related stress is being investigated together with questions such as which factors create stress for teachers, how stressful do teachers experience conflicts and the process of resolving them, what types of coping skills do teachers have for handling the stress arising from these conflicts and where do teachers acquire resources for their work. Methods. Five teachers who had experience on working with first and second graders in Helsinki region were interviewed for this study. Three of them were highly experienced whereas two were in the beginning of their teaching careers. Semi-structured interviews that were later carefully transcribed were used for data collection. Method of study was data-driven content analysis. All transcribed data was initially read through for an overall view. Later content that was most essential for research purposes and questions was inspected in more detail. The analysis was categorized to match research question of the present study as well as categories from previous studies and also connected to a broader research on the field. Finally, after describing the conflict situations and forming categories analyzing teachers’ experiences and coping skills, the most pivotal results were gathered. Results and conclusions. The conflicts within first and second graders emerged mainly in situations in which there was no adult supervision, when moving from one place to another or during class. The reasons behind these conflicts were often based in relationships, individual personality traits or specific situations that occurred in fast-phased school environment. According to the teachers, the most challenging part of the conflict resolution was the feeling of inadequacy. The less experienced teachers found these situations more challenging compared to those with more teaching experience as the latter often had better tools not only for resolving these conflicts but also for preventing them. Tools that the teachers used for resolving these conflicts were mostly resourceful and solution-focused.

The aim of this study is to find out, describe and interpret the novice classroom teachers' perceptions of the challenges they encounter in their job in the elementary school and how they cope with them. The main research question is: what kind of professional challenges and coping methods novice classroom teachers have at the beginning of their career. To help answer this question there were two subquestions: which factors are challenging at the beginning of the career according to novice teachers and which factors help coping with the challenges and, therefore, help the novice teachers at their job. The gap between the university studies and the actual work, the induction phase of a novice teacher and the challenging nature of the profession from a novice teacher's perspective have all been previously studied and the studies have proven that the induction is hard and strenuous on the novice. The previous studies as well as my own experience as a novice teacher formed the theoretical context and basis for this study. The material for this study was gathered from seven novice classroom teachers who worked in the Helsinki region and who had experience in teaching no less than one and no more than three years. I interviewed each novice teacher individually. I analyzed the interviews with the help of content analysis based on previous theories. I looked for themes in the interviews: what kinds of challenges and coping methods were mentioned. The interviews provided information on which factors are considered challenging and which support the novices' work and how. Novice teachers mentioned multiple challenges at the beginning of their career. Some of the challenges overlapped with each other and they concerned the number of different tasks and roles a teacher has, the pupils, the work community and the difficulties in collaboration, the everyday aspects of being a teacher, the school practices, teaching, the community outside the school, and the collaboration with parents. The coping methods and factors supporting the work concerned a well-functioning work community, peer support, pupils and their parents, the balance between work and free time, the novice's own attitude, and feeling that the work is meaningful. A few factors, for example the work community and the pupils, were in some cases a challenge and in other cases something that supported the novices in their work. The results of my study could be utilized in the induction phase, making it easier, and at the final stage of the university studies, when the teacher students are being prepared to start their teaching careers.

Global problems and a fast-paced and stress-filled society can undermine well-being and resilience in everyday challenges. The concept of resilience has been discussed a lot in recent years, for example due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the war situation in Europe. Resilience and the associated sense of self-efficacy are important to support even young children in finding ways to cope with the challenges they face throughout life. Previous studies have shown a variety of protective and promoting factors (e.g. po-sitive peer relationships and good self-esteem) that can be associated with different character strengths (e.g. sense of humor and self-regulation). When supporting resilience and self-efficacy, the roles of the family and the school are emphasized. The aim of this thesis is to explore the challenging situations, coping mechanisms and the use of strengths experienced by students, as well as beliefs about one's own abilities in challenging situations. The purpose is to examine whether there are similar features in the coping mechanisms that students tell us about in terms of the factors that promote and protect resilience. The thesis aims to bring more understanding to the connections between strengths and resilience and to highlight the importance of the thoughts and perspectives of small students about different challenges and coping mechanisms. The material for the thesis was produced by interviewing second graders from a primary school in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. 20 students were interviewed with semi-structured theme interviews. The material was analyzed by theory directed content analysis with common themes. The results of the thesis showed that students experience challenging situations in different ways and use a lot of different coping mechanisms. The results showed that the use of strengths is a natural part of coping. The coping mechanisms described by the students were compatible with previous research. In general, the students felt they could cope well in different challenging situations, but there were also those who felt they could cope less well. Based on the results, it can be concluded that even small students can have problem-solving and reflection skills in challenging situations. Especially students who cope less well and who are vulnerable need more support to develop resilience.