Browsing by discipline "Kasvatustiede"

The purpose of this thesis was to study the assessment mentioned in Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education. Previous studies have shown that it can be seen transitions from comprehensive assessment to individual assessment and documentation of child's development and learning in Finnish early childhood education. The Core Curriculum is an administrative document that guides the local curriculum work. It is also a part of curriculum including pedagogical guidance. The aim of this thesis was to specify how the assessment in National Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education is defined and how the core curriculum will guide the assessment. The objective was also to study the changes to the references related to the assessment in core curriculum. The theoretical framework of this study is consisted of research and literature about the assessment in early childhood and pre-primary education and about core curriculum. This thesis was carried out as a qualitative research and the theoretical framework is a social constructionism. The research data and material consisted of Core Curricula for Pre-Primary Education 2000, 2010 and 2014 published on the website of Finnish National Board of Education. The data were analyzed using critical discourse analysis, but also based on an analytic orientation approach and text-oriented. On the grounds of the study results the amount of references related to the assessment has increased and become more exact in Core Curricula for Pre-Primary Education in 2000, 2010 and 2014. Though, only in Core Curriculum 2014 the assessment was defined as a concept. It could be seen the emphases of child's individual assessment. This is the result of practices concerning the support for growth and learning which are added to Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education in 2010 and specified in 2014. Based on the study results, these practices have brought individual support needs and early identification and intervention in pre-primary education. These include a thought about child's individual assessment which enables that the support needs can be identificated and can be influenced. Interpretations and classifications made on the basis of the assessment will enable to targeting support as accurately as possible. These involve also features that standardize children and childhood. The analysis indicates that the general principles in the core curriculum emphasize more child's assessment than assessment of pre-primary education operation but the situation is changing. The latest Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education 2014 emphasized in assessment increasingly the action of pre-primary education and learning environment. The assessment in pre-primary education, especially the assessment of operation seem to be associated with discourse of quality mentioned in previous studies. How the changes will be seen in practices of the pre-primary education i.e. how the guidance of core curriculum will affect in future, is the subject of future studies. This thesis will provide further information about the assessment in National Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education and it will form basis for further discussions.

The Finnish national core curriculum for basic education is currently being renewed at the National Board of Education and the new curriculum will be implemented in August 2016. A curriculum defines the value basis and aims of teaching as well as the core contents to be taught. A curriculum is closely bound to its surrounding society reflecting its prevailing values, customs and traditions. Therefore, in order to renew the curriculum, it is essential to understand the societal changes and values recognized as important in the society. The drafts of the new curriculum were posted for the first time on the website of the National Board of Education for public commentary. This research examined what the feedback of the new curriculum draft was like; what themes did the commentators hold important concerning the curriculum and education in present and in the future? The research data consisted of 963 comments that were posted on the webpage of the National Board of Education regarding the draft of the general part of the new curriculum. The feedback form was open for 17 days in November and December 2012. The qualitative data analysis was done by coding with the help of Atlas.ti software. The comments discussed several issues regarding the Finnish school, its mission and the appreciations of the commentators. As a result, four major themes were found: 1) equality in education; 2) the use of authentic learning environments and multi-professional collaboration with surrounding community; 3) the role of Finnish cultural heritage and religious education and 4) sustainable development and global citizenship. These results reflect the values and topics the commentators held important for the future in terms of developing the Finnish school and society.

Target: The purpose of this study was to analyze the descriptions of the expert teachers in the role of expert teachers in the City of Helsinki and their experiences of the City of Helsinki digitalisation program. In addition, the aim of the study was to analyze the expert teachers’ experiences of the factors that support and hinder their professional development work. The study also analyzed the proposals of the expert teachers for the development of the activities of the expert teacher organization. The research is current in a context where digitalizing society, the changing roles of teachers and school reforms challenge the skills of teachers and other school staff. Method: Ten expert teachers from four different expert teacher teams in the City of Helsinki were interviewed. The research material consisted of ten theme interviews conducted during spring 2019. The material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The material was manually coded using Saldana’s (2016) coding methods and the research results were categorized on the basis of similarity. Findings and conclusions: The expert teachers experienced their roles in diverse ways; in the role of the educator, experimenter and developer, in the cross-border and in the unclear role. The role of the expert teachers was perceived to be relatively autonomous and the role could also be modified to some extent in the interest of the expert teacher. The expert teachers’ experiences of the city’s digitalisation program were both positive and negative. Professional skills related to digitalisation and teacher resistance to change were seen as barriers to development and improvements. The expert teachers’ development skills and enthusiasm for recognizing the pedagogical benefits of technology were regarded as assets for development resources. Hardware and software problems continued although improvements were seen. In contrast, intrinsic motivation factors; knowledge sharing and development, willingness to experiment and meaningfulness were perceived as factors supporting the expert teachers’ work. The expert teachers considered the social network important, especially the other expert teacher colleagues. They shared mutual trust that strengthened their collaboration. The use of time, the aforementioned ambiguity of the role and job description, and the experience of the actual impact of the activity all emerged as barriers to the work of expert teachers. Resources such as facilities, changes in teams and access to scientific research, as well as challenges in communication, also hindered professional development work. The obstacles to development work, of course, were linked to the expert teacher development proposals that emphasized hopes for the clarification of working hours and task descriptions, identification of synergies and scalability, and clarification of communication practices. Based on this study, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the expert teacher organization, but there are clear indications of positive, albeit small, impacts on changes in school culture and support for the digitalisation program. Their role can be considered central as to the various professional learning communities and development networks, which promote school change.

This study describes the current situation and development areas of Finnish education export from experts' point of view. The aim of the study was to research what Finnish education export includes and why it's being carried out. The other aim was to research challenges and promoting factors of Finnish education export as well as how Finnish education export can be developed. In this study education export is viewed as a cross-border service or product. Education export comprehensively covers exporting of education system and education expertise that is carried out by higher education institutions as well as private companies. The development of education export has been influenced by globalisation and internationalization of education. The data collection method in this study was semi-structured interview. Interviewees were selected based on their positions within their respective organizations. Interviewees work or have worked in the field of education export. Interviews were carried out as five individual interviews and one pair interview. There were seven interviewees altogether. In the analysis of interview material and the interpretation of results a modified actantial model was used. The aim of the actantial model was to create a systematic scheme for data analysis which was used for collection and interpretation of results. Aided by the actantial model, actants, in other words various factors within in the data, were identified and their respective relations were formed. Actantial model describes the structure of education export field as well. Study results showed that Finnish education export includes various services and products and it is carried out in many ways, frequently in co-operation between different operators. Motives for education export are often commercial but they may also include desire to share good practices and make long lasting impact in the field of education. Results showed demoting and promoting factors of education export as well. In addition, following factors were identified as crucial components in the development of Finnish education export: improvement of co-operation between different agents, development of services and products, improvement of education export expertise, increase of research in the field of education export, quality maintenance and improvement of the Finnish education system and modification of university activities to better support education export.

The purpose of this work was to clarify how lecturers and university lecturers in Finland's third-stage educational institutions experience the use of learning platforms in their education work. I wanted to investigate if there is a connection between perceived control of data and openness for learning new skills, trust in authority and experienced stress levels at work. The subject is relevant because the use of digital aids in support of teaching has expanded in recent years, but the consequences of this have remained obscure as few scientists in the past have been sufficiently involved in research of digital teaching to successfully produce objective knowledge of the phenomenon. This survey was quantitative and aimed at describing Finnish university lecturers’ experiences using digital learning platforms in teaching. Learning platforms are tools for designing, producing and managing online courses. Data was collected by a questionnaire sent to the lecturers in four different colleges. The questionnaire contained 31 multiple choice questions in perceived openness, stress, trust and subjective control. The collected material was analyzed using SPSS. The results indicated that universities need more specific training programs in using learning platforms. Non-commercial platforms were used more often than commercial ones. The frequency of use and time of commercial learning platforms was less than for non-commercial ones. Lecturers seem to prefer to use non-commercial platforms. This can be linked to data security and the trust that authorities handle data carefully was high in all reference groups investigated. Openness and stress correlated positively and the more open the informant was towards the platforms the more they used different platforms actively, which increased the stress. It is important to remember that the stress can also be perceived as positive. Another interesting find was that there were no statistically significant differences between any of the background variables in terms of subjective control.

The purpose of the study is to highlight the processes of autism spectrum disorder’s social construction and to construe reality in behalf of more equal and free society. This thesis targets the theoretical framework of social constructionism to specific social contexts that illustrate autism spectrum disorder through real life experience. Material used in this thesis is published by the Finnish Association for Autism as a part of their 100 autisms campaign. Material is interpreted as a political statement by the Finnish Association for Autism that aims to advance positive knowledge of autism spectrum disorder. Analysis of this study is conducted with discourse analysis using Erving Goffman’s sociological perspective to interaction and theory on facework. The theoretical framework of social constructionism showed the social construction of autism spectrum disorder through language based meanings that gave the phenomenon its construed essence. As an element of social interaction autism spectrum disorder was to explain and help, but also something that brought both challenge and joy to other participants of interaction. Autism spectrum disorder was found to be an unnecessary element in certain circumstances.

The increasing immigration in Finland has led to a situation where pupils with immigrant background need to be considered even more than before. In Finland pupils with immigrant background usually start studying in an instruction preparing for basic education which is meant to create adequate language and study skills that are needed in the basic education classrooms. The increasing amount of pupils studying in their second language comes with the need to implement more reasearch in classrooms where communication does not happen in pupils’ first language. The ways that pupils attempted to get teacher’s attention and express their need for help in the instruction preparing for basic education were examined and analysed in this research. Also teachers’ ways to respond to pupils requests for help were examined. According to earlier studies the most conventional ways to attach teachers’ attention are addressing the teacher and raising hands. Earlier studies also demonstrate that when studied in second language teacher’s help is needed in both problems with the language and problems with solving excersises. Research data was filmed in four classrooms in different schools in the metropolitan area of Finland. The data consists of 7 hours and 37 minutes of filmed lessons in the instruction preparing for basic education. There were 21 pupils examined in total and there was a teacher as well as a special needs assistant in every classroom. The data was transcribed and analysed by using conversation analysis as a method. During the filmed lessons the researchers also took notes and the teachers also gave some important information about the pupils that were examined such as how long they have lived in Finland. According to the research results pupils in the instruction preparing for basic education strived for teacher’s attention by addressing teacher, looking at them as well as raising a hand and approaching the teacher. The pupils’ ways of expressing their need for help were divided in two categories: verbal and nonverbal expressions. Verbal expressions consisted of direct questions, ”I don’t understand/know/remember/don’t know how to –expressions, verbal word searches, teacher-centered expressions and repetitions. Nonverbal expressions consisted of bodily word searches, body language and facial expressions. The teachers’ ways to help pupils were steering pupils towards solution, giving the right answer, explaining word meanings, using other pupils’ knowledge, steering pupils’ proceeding, code-switching and rephrasing.

Purpose. Around 3-15% of all pupils have dyslexia. According to the core curriculum, student assessment should be conducted in a comprehensive way, considering students’ individual difficulties. However, assessment instructions might be considered vague. Earlier studies have also shown that teachers may perceive assessment as complicated, particularly when it comes to students with special needs. The purpose of the study is to describe, analyze and interpret how secondary school teachers experience assessment and grading of pupils with dyslexia. The purpose is also to explore how pupils are enabled to show their knowledge in an adequate way. Furthermore, teachers’ perceptions of assessment fairness with regard to pupils with dyslexia are discussed. Methods. The research was conducted as a qualitative study with a phenomenographic research approach. The material consists of eight semi-structured, individual interviews with teachers working in two Swedish-speaking secondary schools i Finland. The collected material was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results and conclusions. Teachers expressed a genuine will to support pupils with dyslexia and they stated that they could assess pupils in a flexible way. Cooperation with special education teachers was perceived as important. The versatility of the core curriculum was regarded as an advantage for students with dyslexia. The most used accommodations were oral responses, extended time and test writing in a small group. Double assessment, prioritized content and adapted tests were also used, but teachers had different approaches. A student’s positive lesson activity could lead to a better grade. Language teachers struggled with the assessment of misspelled words. IT software was not widely used. The teachers stated that they did their best to take students’ difficulties into consideration when giving them grades, and they normally also thought their assessment was fair. The study shows that teachers do their very best to assess students with dyslexia, but there are differences in procedures between teachers, which might lead to unequal assessment.

There has been a decline in the interest of children and the young in natural sciences. This phenomenon is worrying because it is known that interest affects learning and performing in science positively. Teaching methods have an impact on interest. This research will focus on science camps that are non-formal science education environments. The study describes the interestingness of the teaching methods used in biology science camps from a child's perspective. The study also investigates the development needs of the activities and the tutors' own development during the camps. In the summer of 2016, the BioPop class of the LUMA science education center organized six biology science camps for two age groups of children: 7–9 years old and 10–12 years old. The material of the research was collected from these science camps, while the researcher herself was a tutor of the science camps. The research material consisted of questionnaires for campers (N=99) and tutors (N=8). The campers evaluated the interestingness of the activities on the Flechen-scale from 1 to 5, and filled out open-ended questions about what they 'liked' and what they did 'not like' in the camps. In addition, the tutors evaluated the interestingness and development needs of the activities, and their own development as tutors. The material was analyzed by using simple statistical key figures. It was analyzed by Mann-Whitney U-test whether gender or previous participation in BioPop camps had any effect on the interestingness of the activities. The open-ended questions were analyzed by theory-based content analysis. The campers were very interested in the activities – lab assignments and experiments, outdoor education, plays and nature videos were the most interesting activities. The results of the research supported previous studies of the relationship between teaching methods and interest in teaching natural sciences: for children, functional, inquiry-based and interactive teaching methods were the most interesting. Child's sense of autonomy, optimal challenge and novelty of the activities seemed to be central to children's interest. There were significant differences between the camps in the interestingness of some activities: activities gained mostly higher interest rates on the second camp week than the first. One possible explanation for this is the development of the activity guidance, in which the tutors think they had advanced during the camps. Especially in the older age group, inquiry-based, pupil-centered and interactive activities were the most interesting among children. The younger age group was more interested in independent and teacher-led activities compared to the older age group. Girls were more interested in independent and teacher-led activities than boys. The results of the research can be utilized in the future when developing science camps more inquiry-based, pupil-centered and interactive learning environments of science education.

Objectives. The aim of this study is to describe, analyze and interpret teachers' perceptions of co-teaching and how to support positive education, the reasons for their co-teaching, what positive teaching means to them in regard to using positive education in their teaching, and the positive presentation of positive co-education. Methods. A total of 8 primary school teachers participated in this study in the fall of 2017. The teachers were interviewed by semi-structured theme interviewing and the research material was analyzed in accordance with qualitative content-based content analysis. Results and Conclusions. The study highlighted three main themes, which are the charm of co-teaching, the importance of positive education, and to describe positive education from the perspective of co-education. The teaching methods used in co-teaching were the well-being of the teacher, the collegial models in everyday life, and the learning situations and characteristics of everyday life. Positive education was seen to be very significant, especially as a classroom teacher, for the development of work prosperity and self-education, as well as for the students' perceptions and learning. The conditions for co-operation in positive education were manifested through a specific culture of operation and interaction. The benefits of joint teaching in positive education increased with collegial support, use of time as well as planning and assessment and lastly through the social and emotional integration of the students and the interaction between the student and the teacher.