Browsing by study line "Yleinen ja aikuiskasvatustiede"

The purpose of this Master's Thesis was to find out the views and experiences of teachers with emotional and interactive skills about the role of a teacher in a traditional school. Underlying the study was previous research on how the dominance of the student-teacher relationship is questioned when teachers study emotional and interaction skills. At the same time, the teacher also becomes more aware of his or her own position and role in the school. Indeed, the theoretical part, which deals with the role of the school, the role of the teacher, and the manifestation of socio-emotional skills in the general school discourse, leads to this research. The study was conducted by interviewing eight teachers with NVC or Nonviolent Communication skills. NVC is one of the emotional and interaction trainings available to teachers, and with it made it possible to limit the research to a specific and concrete method of emotional and interaction skills. The interviews were conducted as thematic interviews in January-February 2020, and their analysis was done by means of discourse analysis. The analysis focuses on how the interviewees use different teacher positions in the interview situation. All teacher positions produced in the interview speech have been classified and presented prior to the actual analysis. Traditionally, the integration of emotional and interaction skills into schools uses the so-called utility discourse. In this research it came up that the teachers interviewed did not refer in their speech to the superficial utility discourse but justified the use of NVC in the context and its meaning. Indeed, NVC and its humanistic values emerged in the first analysis of the interview speech. However, the second interview speech analysis revealed how utility discourse and empirical discourse eventually were highlighted in the speech of the teachers interviewed. In the end, NVC itself left space mainly for teachers to cope at work, which can be seen as representing the typical therapeutic ethos of our time, i.e that individuals have to shape themselves to manage the consequences of structural problems, for example for their own (work) well-being. With the results, the study finally considers change and where there is room for it. When teachers are influenced by educational policy discourses in which economic benefits and efficiency play a guiding role, individual choices and decisions do not always seem to work. Indeed, research ultimately puts the teacher's agency in the limelight.

Goals. The aim of this study was to examine the occupational well-being of Finnish primary school teachers in the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 by viewing their work engagement and basic psychological needs. This study also examines teachers’ self-assessed digital skills and gender connection to work engagement. Earlier studies indicate that there is a positive connection between teachers’ work engagement (vigor, dedication and absorption) and basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness). Methods. Data is a part of the national Bridging the Gaps -research and teachers have answered to it anonymously in spring 2020. The data included 717 primary school teachers of which 613 were women (85%) and 101 men (14%). Age of the participants varied between 23 and 65. The data was analyzed using correlation and hierarchical regression analysis. Results and conclusions. The results showed that autonomy and competence were positively associated with vigor, dedication and absorption. Relatedness was not associated with vigor, dedication and absorption. High digital skills were associated with vigor. Women experienced higher level of work engagement than men. In the future, would be important to promote teachers feeling of relatedness since fulfilling basic psychological needs should support their work engagement.

The aim of this study was to examine what kind of motivational groups can be identified in vocational education students, whether these groups differ in terms of school engagement and school burnout, and if so, how. In order to improve the completion of education and prevent dropping out, it is important to be able to target support measures effectively. With the reform of vocational education, teachers' efforts have shifted from group-based contact teaching to the planning of individualized curricula. Therefore, secondary goal of the study was what kind of students would prefer to study in their own familiar group and for which students individualized study programs are important. The data used was obtained through an online questionnaire in the autumn of 2019, the participants were students at a vocational college in southern Finland (N=786). Well-being was measured by school engagement with the OKI and RAPS instruments, school burnout with the BBI-10 and motivation with the achievement goal orientation instrument. In addition to variable-centric methods, a person-centered approach was utilized to obtain information about students’ individual profiles and how the groups formed differed. Four motivation groups were identified: mastery-oriented, success-oriented, indifferent and avoidance-oriented. Differences between groups in school engagement and school burnout were examined using the Kruskal-Wallis U-test. According to the study, the different motivation groups showed significant statistical differences in terms of school engagement, with the highest engagement being mastery- and success-oriented and the least engagement in indifferent and avoidance-oriented students. Similarly, they differ in terms of school burnout: the mastery-oriented students experience the least school-burnout and avoidance-oriented students the most. There is no difference in the desire to study in the same familiar group between different motivation groups, as the majority of students in all groups would like to do so. Individual study programs are the most important for students who are mastery or success-oriented, strongly engaged to school, and experience the least school burnout. Based on the results, it would seem to be an advantage for schools to identify students who are motivated, school engaged or burnt-out in different ways. Avoidance or indifferent orientation, poor school engagement and school burnout may accumulate for the same students. It might be reasonable to offer support measures to these students. The results also support the idea that differently motivated students benefit from different kinds of support. For example, the indifferent and the avoidance-oriented would benefit from a greater effort to promote engagement to school, while the success-oriented should be counselled towards the joy of learning for the sake of learning.

The purpose of the present multiple case study was to examine how highly regarded expert consultants specialised in design and development of digital products and services, reflect on the nature of their professional expertise. The study focused, further, on qualitatively tracing personal social networks of the key experts and their ways of developing and cultivating their expertise in their network-centric organization. Organizational consultancy is creative knowledge work taking place at inter-organizational contact zones. Because technological and social innovations are interdependent, consult work is closely related to organizational learning, transformation, and change. The theoretical foundations of the study were provided by Senge’s theory of learning organisations, Nonaka’s theory of knowledge-creating companies, Engeström’s theory of expansive learning, and theories of social networks. The study was carried out within a Finnish consultancy company, developing digital systems for supporting public and private organizations in transformation of their workflows and practices. Interviewees for this study were selected by asking employees of the organization to nominate colleagues who they see to be experts in consulting and team-building. Two people who gained the most mentions in each skill area were invited to take part in the study, whom all agreed. Interviews were conducted via video call. Beyond background information, the participants were asked to reflect on the nature of their own expertise, active efforts of developing expertise and building of personal network. They were also asked to report critical incidents they saw to have a positive impact on the development of expertise. A personal network was drawn by the experts with the instructions of the interviewer, using an infinity board tool, and analysed qualitatively. Gathered data was first coded and then analyzed by relying on qualitative analysis of content. The results indicated that each expert consultant had unique and sophisticated expertise, and it was connected to their professional identity. The results revealed that the experience years of the experts were a relevant factor while considering how confident the experts were with their own expertise. Experts felt that both skills were difficult to define but they appeared to value similar aspects while defining these skills. Experts appeared to learn the most while working on a project. The significance of mentors was also important, especially in the early phases of a career. Different challenges and solving them with various methods appeared to be significant in developing consulting and team-building skills. The size of the personal network emerged not to be the determinant factor of the development of expertise. Experience and current work description appeared to affect what kind of personal connections experts value. Each expert approached the active development of one's skills differently, and only one expert felt that he was not actively developing his skills. Challenges regarding the cultivation of these skills appeared to relate to communication and unclear career paths. The expertise of consultants is a complex entity. It comes to life in the processes and conventions between consultants, clients, and organizations. The origin of this expertise is hard to track, and it requires time and effort to build it. This study scratched the surface of how experienced consultants develop and cultivate their skills. Shedding light on this matter is necessary so that the steps to begin further examination become visible.

Finnish school choice policy is primarily an urban phenomenon. In practice, it is only possible in a few municipalities that have sufficient infrastructure for school markets. The municipalities in the capital region in particular face challenges of growing segregation manifested in socio-economic disparities, residential areas, and schools. The municipalities in the capital region have ended up with very different solutions when evaluating the most suitable school choice environment for their respective municipalities. One significant recent factor in shaping the current state of Finnish school choice policy is the Basic Education Act of 1999, which has partly enabled the development of various school choice environments between municipalities. The focus of the study is on the types of solutions that have been made in the municipalities of the capital region regarding the school choice environment, the desired future of the school choice environment in the municipalities, and how these goals are justified. For my Master's thesis, I used interview data collected in the School Markets and Segregation - The Societal Cost of School Choice research project. The data is the most recent interview material available, and it includes interviews with educational policy actors in the capital region. A total of nine educational policy actors from the capital region were interviewed for the study. Of the interviewees, three hold senior positions in metropolitan municipalities, three are in administrative positions in different municipalities, and three are members of municipal education boards. In analyzing the interview data, I employed two concepts by Kenneth Burke: "the Idea of the Negative" and the "Dramatistic Pentad" as analytical tools. Overall, the school choice environments in the examined municipalities differed from each other, and the current school choice environment seemed to be linked to the desired future school choice environments in the municipalities. The new frameworks for school choice environments formulated by the interviewees in the interview data varied to some extent based on the current school choice environment in the municipalities. The new frameworks for school choice environments outlined by the municipalities differed from each other. However, despite the current frameworks for school choice environments, there were a few common aspects that connected all municipalities regarding the new frameworks as well. None of the municipalities desired the public disclosure of school-specific learning outcomes or a completely unrestricted and unregulated new school choice environment.

For decades, the Finnish education sector has suffered from a lack of qualified early child-hood education (ECE) teachers. If qualified applicants are not available, it is possible to deviate from the eligibility requirements and recruit an unqualified applicant. One of the reasons behind the shortage of labour is the stature and appeal of the profession. Although the im-portance of ECE is widely recognized, frequent changes to its requirements and core func-tions have affected the stature and education of the staff. In fields with shortage for qualified labour, the competition between employers naturally intensifies. This increases the importance of employer branding and well-functioning recruitment process, and some employers attract more applicants than others. This Master's thesis examines how employer branding can be seen in recruitment announcements and what expectations the announcements set for the applicant. The thesis also identifies some of the key challenges faced in the recruitment by the day-care managers and different approaches to facing them. For the thesis, 31 recruitment announcements for ECE teacher’s position were analysed. The announcements were collected from the website of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy and from the recruitment service for the Helsinki metropolitan area. From the analysed announcements, four recruiting day-care managers were selected for interviews for deeper insight into the process. The announcements showed a lot of variation both in terms of content and length. Some announcements did not include any information about the job or requirements for the applicant. In the interviews, managers' responses highlighted challenges with labour shortages and different approaches to overcome those. A diverse perspective to recruitment as well as the manager's own actions in the process can affect the number of applicants. Careful preparation of the recruitment notice, together with creating a smooth recruitment process from the applicant’s viewpoint are critical in a sector suffering from labour shortage.

Aims. This study investigated to what extent servant leadership is associated with teachers’ work engagement and burnout and whether the form of teacher’s employment relationship influenced this association. The job demands-resources (JD-R) model and conservation of resources theory were used as a theoretical framework of the study. Previously it has been found that servant leadership is positively associated with work engagement and negatively associated with burnout. There are incoherent results on the effects of the form of employment relationship on work engagement and burnout, but recent study suggests that those on a permanent contract experience more work engagement compared to those on a fixed-term contract. It is hypothesized that servant leadership is positively associated with work engagement and negatively associated with burnout. It is also hypothesized that servant leadership and permanent contract are positively associated with work engagement and for those on fixed-term contracts, servant leadership is negatively associated with burnout. Methods. The material of this study is from a study in which teachers from Mind the Gap -research schools participated in 2015. The participants filled in an online questionnaire concerning servant leadership, work engagement and burnout. The data was analysed using linear regression analysis. Results and conclusions. The results showed that servant leadership was positively associated with work engagement and negatively associated with burnout. Considering the form of the employment relationship, it was noticed that for both those with a fixed-term and permanent employment relationship, servant leadership was positively associated with work engagement and negatively associated with burnout. As a conclusion, leadership style is associated with employees’ wellbeing at work. Workplaces could pay attention to leadership styles and develop policies that support wellbeing at work. There should be more specific studies about the association between employment relationship and wellbeing at work.

Aims: The aim of the study was to study representations of family, relationship, parenting and gender produced in the Perhebarometri, and to make an interpretation of what types of families, partnerships, parenting and gender are accepted. The research questions were: 1. What kind of representations does the Perhebarometri produce about family, relationship, parenting and gender? and 2. What is left unsaid in representations? I explored representations against Riitta Jallinoja's familism and good parenting and Jaana Vuori's discourses on motherly care and shared parenting. Methods: The study's material was “My Family” — Finnish perceptions of the family in 2007 and 1997. I analysed the material with a content analysis preceded by the theme of the expressions of the following: family, relationship, gender, marital status, fatherhood, motherhood and parenting. I interpreted the material through social representation. Results and conclusions: The family meant intimacy, mental support and being together for the Finns. Children, the form of a couple and kinship determined the family in both years. The form of a couple relationship had a large impact as a determinant of the family and accepted patterns of partnership included marital and cohabitation and registered partnerships obtained in the 2007 data. The relationship models were determined by regularity and evidenced by the form of residence, marriage or registered relationship. Parent sexuality was assumed to affect the abilities to raise children and parenting appeared as good and right or different and bad, according to the material, which emphasized the hetero assumption in the parental relationship and the importance of the nuclear family. Gender had been brought up in the Perhebarometri through two sexes, male and female. The regulation of society by laws and collectively shared perceptions, as well as norms, influences what type of family an individual belongs to. If a family form is not recognized in official definitions, it does not statistically exist. Perspective of equality, people should not be categorized outside in surveys by their gender, and the survey options should consider gender diversity.

Aims. The aim of this study was to examine what kind of identity profiles are found among high school students in Finland and whether the groups with different identity profile differ in social identity and in school belonging. Personal identity refers to an individual's consistent understanding of who he or she is and what he or she wants to pursue. The sense of belonging is examined through social identity and school belonginess. Social identity is decsribed as identification with different groups, and school belonginess can be described as an individual's social and emotional connection to school. It is important to study the connection between personal identity and the sense of belonging in order to gain a deeper understanding of how identity formation takes place in the context of the social environment and how young people can be supported in these processes. Methods. The data (N=766) was collected as part of Bridging the Gaps-project from high school students in Helsinki during spring 2019. Participants filled in a questionnaire that measured identity, social identity and school belonging. Participants were divided in groups by using Two-Step Cluster analysis. Group differences in social identity and school belong- ing were studied by analysis of variance. Results and conclusions. Five different identity groups were identified, and the groups were named as achievement, searching while committed, carefree diffusion, troubled diffusion and moratorium. About third of students were committed to identity goals. More than 60% of the high school students had an unclear identity and about 40% of them were worried about their future. Identity groups differed in terms of school belonginess as well as their social identity. High school students with a higher commitment to their future goals had a higher sense of belonging in school as well as in different groups. Those high school students who were worried about their future experienced a lower sense of belonging to different groups. Based on the study, it seems that commitment to identity is related to a sense of belonging. The results are largely in line with previous research.

The aim of this study was to examine the validity of a new measurement instrument called Recovery Profile, which was developed by Psycon Ltd. Recent changes in work life have brought psychological recovery to the debate. Research has shown that personality is associated with stress, burnout, and work engagement. The hypotheses of this study were that optimism, internal locus of control, and conscientiousness foster recovery from work whereas neuroticism, cautiousness, and pedantry hinder recovery. A need to lead as well as a need for achievement were associated with either as fostering or hindering characteristics depending on the work context. Recovery Profile was compared with the established Need for Recovery Scale (NFRS). The research data of NFRS were collected from Psycon personnel assessment clients (N=194) by using an online survey during the spring of 2022. NFRS results were combined with the results of the personality inventories that the respondents had filled in during their personnel assessment. The data analysis was conducted by using explorative factor analysis, correlations, and linear regression analysis. The results suggest a two-dimensional construct of the need for recovery: experience of a heavy workload and lack of social energy. Personality seems only to predict the lack of social energy dimension. The results show that personality predicts recovery from work although the proportions of variance explained are low. As regards the personality traits measured by Recovery Profile, this study indicates that high optimism, a need for achievement, and internal locus of control are associated with a low need for recovery, whereas high neuroticism and cautiousness are associated with a high need for recovery. Individual differences, work context as well as the impact of society should be considered when studying recovery. The consultant can help the client to find the most effective ways to recover from work by using Recovery Profile as an assisting tool in coaching sessions. In addition to the individual level, Recovery Profile is a prominent tool in the field of leadership development.