Browsing by Subject "yhteenkuuluvuus"
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(2022)Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Objectives. The goal of this thesis was to examine, what are the prerequisites for building be-longing from the point of view of children who need significant support in early childhood education, and what concrete actions are used to build this belonging. This was clarified by interviews with early childhood education professionals. The aim of this research is to produce new information and bring out the "silent knowledge" in the field of early childhood education through the joint speech of the discussants. The frame of reference in this research, is in early childhood education and with children who need significant support, and in building their belonging. The research opens up the concept of inclusion as a central principle guiding ear-ly childhood education. The concept of inclusion is essentially related to the concept of be-longing. With the help of current legislation and studies, the research opens up how to organize the support a child needs in early childhood education. In the theoretical framework, the child's participation, the politics of belonging and the means by which belonging can be built, are discussed. Methods. This thesis was inspired by a project called VAKA-TUVET, that aimed to increase awareness of significant support in early childhood education. The research material was collected with two focus group interviews and one individual interview from nine special teachers of early childhood education. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the interview material. With the help of the analysis, the data was loosely connected to the theoretical framework. Results and conclusions. From the results, it could be concluded that formation of belonging is a changing process, that must be consciously built and constantly evaluated through joint discussions. From the point of view of children in need of significant support, the inclusive culture of the work community was seen as a key. Taking individuality into account and re-moving obstacles is seen as an everyday matter in such a community. In discussions in teams, the importance of belonging to the child must be opened up, and information about the support required must be shared. In these discussions, a plan must be made on how to build belonging in everyday situations. Belonging was seen to be built in everyday life from individual solutions where the needs of all children are taken into account, keeping in mind the overall picture in terms of belonging. The sensitive and multidimensional role of professionals as builders of belonging of the children in need of significant support, and of the entire group, was felt to be essential. In concrete everyday situations, belonging was built with material actions, the pedagogical practices of the group, and the functional actions of professionals, which guided children to connect with others. In the linguistic actions of the professionals, speech that builds community was emphasized, as well as the creation of barrier-free opportunities for communication. The results are largely consistent with previous results, the importance of sensitive professionals who build belonging was highlighted and belonging should be built consciously in everyday life. It was felt that more information is needed about significant support, this information can increase understanding. Based on the data, the joy and absorption of work emerges, which can be experienced at work among children who need significant support. This requires properly sized resources and an operating culture that builds belonging. Diversity and the individual needs of children can be a wealth for the whole group.
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(2022)Goals. Deci and Ryan's (2000) self determination theory has been researched in the context of schools. The significance of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relat-edness on learning, motivation and well being has been proven through much research. This re-search aims to find out how these basic psychological needs are found in the memories of pris-oners, what kind of strengthening or weakening aspects of motivation and well being can be found in the memories and to take a look at the weaknesses and strengths of school systems that can be found in the memories of the prisoners. Method. The material used, VASORA, which was collected from 11 Finnish prisons. 243 pris-oners answered an open questionnaire in which they were asked to depict their school memo-ries, more specifically, their memories of peer relationships, teacher relationships and coping in different studies. The research is qualitative in nature and the data analysis method used in this study was content analysis. Results and conclusions. The key finding was that basic psychological needs were not suffi-ciently met during the prisoners' school period. Bullying, loneliness, learning difficulties, prob-lems of concentration and hyperactivity, absence and other factors that weaken the well be-ing were highlighted in the data. For developing schools, it is key to note these weak spots of the system in which the student is in danger of sliding towards exclusion.
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(2017)Aims. Previous studies have shown, that an environment that supports the fulfilment of basic psychological needs such as autonomy, competence and relatedness, has a major impact on human's well-being. Those studies have also found out that spending time in forest environment decreases stress, increases energy and enthusiasm, improves attention and concentration, and also enhances team spirit and willingness to relate with others. The aim of this thesis is to study how well pupils experience autonomy, competence and relatedness in natural science lessons. The study also explores how teacher's pedagogical choices in classroom and in forest can create circumstances that support the fulfilment of basic psychological needs of the pupils. Methods. This thesis is a case study about well-being of 4th grade pupils in natural science lessons. The study was conducted in one school in southern Finland in the spring of 2016. There were 25 pupils participating in the study. During the research period, the data of this mixed methods -study was collected by two ways. Pupils were given questionnaires that measured the fulfilment of their basic psychological needs, and their teacher kept an informal diary about the lessons. Statistical methods were used to describe the data collected by questionnaires, and non-parametric tests were used in analysis. Teacher's diary was analysed by a qualitative theory-based content analysis. Results and Conclusions. In this study, the basic psychological needs of the pupils were fulfilled reasonably well in all lessons. When comparing the learning environments, the results were a little bit better for those lessons that were held in forest environment. The connection between competence and learning environment was found to be statistically significant. In this study, plenty of circumstances were found to contribute to the fulfilment of basic psychological needs. In conclusion, the well-being of pupils can be enhanced by activating them and encouraging them to participate, and by offering them opportunities to have an impact on the issues that are important to them. In addition, the well-being of pupils can also be enhanced by offering appropriately challenging tasks, and by fostering safe and approbative atmosphere.
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(2014)Objectives. The main task of the study was to find out what kind of pedagogical knowledge, methods, practices and models does a teacher take advantage of when building a class into a well-functioning group. This study investigated primary school teachers' use of pedagogical theories and practices in creating a communal and supportive classroom atmosphere. The research problem was formulated into two research questions: What kind of pedagogical knowledge does a teacher use in grouping a class? What kind of methods, practices and models does a teacher use in building a cooperative attitude in a class and a safe and positive learning atmosphere? Methods. The research strategy was based on a qualitative study. The data collection strategy was based on reminiscence and reports methods. The data was collection by requesting essays from experienced teachers. The call for essays was published in the Teacher-journal and in Facebook. Also other methods were used in the data collection. Eight essays were received. The teaching experience of the surveyed teachers ranged from 3 to 38 years. The teachers were all women and they lived in different parts of Finland. The essays were analyzed through a data based content method in which the results were constructed based on the essays. The data was grouped and classified into themes and the results were reported based on the research questions and the used theory. Results and conclusions. The essays revealed the teachers' pedagogical knowledge and common methods in creating a class into a well-functioning group. The key concepts of teacher's pedagogical knowing were e.g. encouragement, positive feedback, building trust, teacher's own role, enticing students into trying, and noticing an individual student as a person. The used methods were e.g. common rules, responsibility and involvement of students, cooperation in the class, emphasizing belonging into a group and active participation. Group formation of a class was considered as an important part in teachers' work. However, not all teachers in the teacher profession see the class formation process so important.
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(2024)Introduction. The aim of the present study is to examine using the framework of the self-determination theory to what extent autonomy, competence and relatedness are associated with middle school students' grit. In addition, possible gender differences in grit and basic psychological needs were examined. This study is part of the Growing Mind project, which aims to create ways to develop schools as well as teachers and students at the personal, social and institutional level. The study may help finding ways to increase middle school students’ grit. It is important to support the grit of middle school students since it is associated with better school engagement and academic performance. Methods. The data was collected using online questionnaires from 8th grade students at the Helsinki metropolitan area in the fall of 2022. The data (N=1342, of which 46.1% females, 46.1% males and non-binarity 7.8%) was examined using regression analysis and two independent samples t-test. Gender differences were examined between girls and boys. Results. According to the results, basic psychological needs were positively associated with to students' grit. Basic psychological needs explained 26% of the variation in grit. Gender differences were observed in autonomy, competence, relatedness and grit. Boys reported higher values than girls in all basic psychological needs and grit. Based on the results, we can assume that supporting basic psychological needs is relevant in terms of supporting student’s grit. The national core curriculum for basic education has been assembled according to a learning concept that emphasizes active agency, promoting activities that support basic psychological needs. Thereby the results support the use of the practices of the national core curriculum for basic education, which emphasize the students' active agency and aspirations and skills to improve and learn together with others.
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(2023)Objectives. According to the socio-constructivist understanding of learning, the child is seen as an active participant in his group, who learns by building knowledge based on his previous experiences in different social contexts and interactions (Kauppila 2007, 47). Finnish early childhood education is based on a learning concept, according to which children’s active and social activity in group-based institutional education is recognized as a significant factor in a child’s learning, growth, and development (Core curriculum of ECEC 2022, 21–22). The purpose of this thesis was to deepen the understanding of the sense of community built in kindergarten groups in Finnish early childhood education, which requires an understanding of the interactive and social dimensions of learning. Methods. The research data for this thesis was collected using a narrative literature review as the method of data acquisition. The research data consisted of a total of eight dissertations and two research articles, in which the research had been carried out in the context of Finnish early childhood education. The data included studies that touched on the sense of community, solidarity, cooperation, agency built in peer relationships and interaction between children in early childhood education. The search was targeted at research on Finnish early childhood education. The data was analyzed using the six analysis steps of Braun & Clarke’s (2022) thematic analysis. Results and conclusions. Based on the research data, a three-level structure could be created about the sense of community built up in the early childhood education group. According to the three-level structure a sense of community is built at the level of the framework of early childhood education, operating culture, and the child’s activities. At the level of the framework of early childhood education, the guiding documents of ECEC, the rules imposed by the structures and the physical learning environment affected the sense of community. At the operational culture level, especially the role of the early education teacher, the everyday routines and the atmosphere influenced the formation of the group’s sense of community. At level of the child’s activity, on the other hand, significant factors were peer relationships, and children’s cooperation. The teacher’s role as a key factor in the sense of community and cooperation of a group of children should be studied more in the future. At the same time, this thesis opened reflections about the importance of high-quality teacher training and the economic pressure on the cooperation of the group of children.
Now showing items 1-6 of 6