Browsing by department "Teacher Education"

The purpose of this study is to find out, through the class teachers' own experiences, how differentiation was implemented in the distance education during the exceptional period incurred in spring 2020. This research is focused on finding successes and challenges teachers experienced in distance teachings differentiation. In addition, the study examines the types of support teachers received during this time. Being a fairly topical issue at the moment, the available scientific research, which would specifically address classroom distance learning, is limited. The research approach in this paper is mainly qualitative also utilizing multi-methodological means. The research material has been collected through a questionnaire and four interviews in order to obtain additional qualitative information. A total of 33 primary school classroom teachers from 24 different municipalities responded to the survey. The survey comprised of 26 questions, some of which were Likert-scale questions and some open-ended questions. The respondents were mainly collected from a Facebook community of almost 40,000 teachers and those interested in education. The quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire has been analyzed with Microsoft Excel and the open questions have been coded. Qualitative material was collected through four short semi-structured thematic interviews. The interview questions were based on questions already answered in the questionnaire, that required further qualitative research. The majority of the teachers who responded to the study found distance learning differentiation challenging. However, some found it even easier to implement differentiation than in face-to-face teaching. The most common way to differentiate teaching was the variations in the number and level of schoolwork and the use of implements. The successes of differentiation experienced by the teachers were related to provision of support to pupils who needed it, the usage of new ways of working, such as instructional videos, and more personal communication with students. Majority of teachers felt that the support they received from their colleagues most important form of support. Some would have liked more unified guidance from superiors. Others, on the other hand, found the guidance from their superiors unnecessarily demanding in a situation where support and understanding would have been needed. The challenges faced by teachers in distance learning were mainly due to the rapid transitioning to distance teaching, as well as the unpreparedness.

The aim of this Master’s Thesis in the field of special education was to find out, in what ways does an explicit intervention programme (ThinkMath) make a difference on mathematical skills of mathematically weak pupils straight after the intervention and also at delayed measures. Also this research was made to find out, is there a statistically meaningful difference in mathematical skills between children, who only have difficulties in mathematics compared to children, who also have difficulties in language additionally with difficulties in mathematics? Considering previous studies on this subject, one could expect an influence from the intervention programme. Also statistically meaningful difference can be expected, considering previous studies which have pointed out, that difficulties in language add risk for difficulties in mathematics. The data of this research consists of 274 primary education children. All children made tests at three different time points. The tests were about mathematical and language skills. After the first timepoint, the children were divided in to groups, which were the intervention group, a control group and the others. The other time point was right after the intervention and the third was delayed after the intervention. / The results of this research are conflicted with previous studies on this subject. The results showed that skills of the intervention group grew more than the control group at first, during the intervention, and better skills showed at tests right after the intervention, but not anymore at the delayed tests. Also, there was not a statistically meaningful difference between the groups with different learning difficulties. These results may occur because of the small size of the groups and also by the wide range of reasons and implications of mathematical learning difficulties. These results can not be generalised, but they give reason to make a new research with larger groups.

Goals. The purpose of the thesis was to find out the professional development of already em-ployed teachers studying to become special teachers, “more than as teachers”. As a back-ground theory, I look at teaching, the profession and career of a teacher, especially from the perspective of a special education teacher. The aim of this research was to find out why an already qualified teacher wants to go to study special education, what are the goals for study-ing and how those goals were achieved. Since it is possible to train as a special education teacher both as a degree student and by completing separate special education teacher´s studies, the research also looked at the difference between the two study methods. Methods. The research was carried out as a qualitative interview. The informants were kin-dergarten teachers, classroom teachers or vocational teachers who studied special education as master’s degree students, completed separate special education studies, or studied spe-cial education at the Open University. The interviews were supplemented with an email sur-vey. The interviews were transcribed and the material was analyzed by content analysis. Results and conclusions. The development of teachers into special educational teachers was described by two paths, which were “alternative” and “goal”. The “alternative” path was the choice of students majoring in special education as a Master of Education, and they had not specifically pursued the teaching profession but rather drifted into teaching. Those who com-pleted separate special education studies were on the “goal” path and were already oriented to the field of education after their secondary education. The special education studies aimed at eligibility and competence for the position of special education teacher, community spirit and knowledge and understanding of meeting special needs students in school. Studies in special education were found to be useful, although there is room for improvement in their or-ganization and practical implementation. Informants saw master’s studies in special educa-tion and separate special needs teacher studies as an important part of professional growth and development.

The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine the perceptions of schoolteachers about the benefits and obstacles of a camp school abroad. Finland has long had a strong camp school culture, but despite the growing emphasis on international education in the national core curriculum for basic education (POPS 2014), not many camp schools have been arranged abroad. In the dissertation I open the concept of a camp school and related themes of global education, intercultural competence and experiential pedagogy. The study is a qualitative case study guided by the following research questions: What perceptions and experiences do teachers have about the benefits of a camp school abroad? What obstacles do teachers see for camp school abroad? The material was collected through e-mail interviews from ten teachers, five of whom had previously attended a camp school abroad. The interviews have been analyzed using data-driven content analysis. Based on the results, teachers’ perceptions of the benefits of a foreign camp school were divided into five main categories: academic skills, practical life skills, internationality, experientiality, and future-related skills. Teachers’ perceptions of barriers to a foreign camp school were divided into two main categories: fears and practical challenges.

The aim of this study was to clarify which factors constitute an e-portfolio that supports and promotes learning in craft education, and how these factors appear in authentic e-portfolios made by lower secondary school pupils. The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014 emphasizes learner centrism, self-directed learning, learning-to-learn skills, goal setting skills, and problem-solving skills as objectives of education. The basis of craft education is in the examination of transversal themes in a holistic manner. In addition to learning the holistic craft process, e.g. versatile use of ICT and reflective and critical thinking are considered objectives of craft education. Assessment in craft education is based on documentation of the holistic craft process. In this study, the e-portfolio method is examined as a way of implementing the objectives and meanings of craft education in practice. A content model of e-portfolio for craft education was constructed based on previous studies, literature and the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014, summarising the central contents, aims and potential of e-portfolios in craft education. 8 e-portfolios made by lower secondary school pupils in craft education were analysed. The data was collected as a part of the Growing Mind -research project in one Helsinki-based comprehensive school. The data was analysed through qualitative content analysis to examine the ways the factors of the content model were embodied in the e-portfolios. The e-portfolios appeared as stories and diaries communicating the learning processes from the pupils’ viewpoint. The e-portfolios provided information about the authors’ thought processes, activities, and the grounds of their activities. The e-portfolios were produced in different ways and their contents and emphasis varied. All of the e-portfolios expressed the craft learning process in forms of goal setting, artefact documentation, feedback and inter-action, interdisciplinary learning, learning ICT-skills, and holistic craft process containing the generation of ideas, the design, the making process, and the assessment of the artefact and the process. The results of this study indicate that the e-portfolio is worthy of consideration as a method and tool in craft education especially when it is produced in a dynamic way as a part of a learning task.

Objectives. The aim of this study was to examine the development of cognitive, language and play skills of special needs children, who participate either in integrated special group or in a regular group receiving the help of early childhood education special needs teacher. The three research questions were: 1. What kind of differences appear when comparing the development of children with special needs in the integrated special day care group and children with special needs in a regular day care group with the support of early childhood education special needs teacher, with subquestions a) what were the differences between peer children, children in the integrated special day care group and regular day care group special needs children at the start of the study, b) what differences appear in the development of skills in different status groups? 2. What kind of differences appear between girls and boys? 3. How do the skills of peer children and special needs children advance? This study utilizes the Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969) to discuss children’s social attachment and the effect of peer interaction. This study is a part of LASSO-project. Methods. The study was conducted by combining two sections of the LASSO-project. The data consisted of parts of the WPPSI-III and NEPSY-II intelligence and neuropsychological tests and Play School Play Behavior Scale. These tests were used to measure children’s cognitive, language and play skills. The children were between three to seven years old during the study (N = 366). The data was analysed with repeated measures two-way ANOVA, non-parametric Friedman’s, Kruskall-Wallis -, Mann Whitney U -tests and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient with SPSS 25 -tool. Results and conclusions. The study revealed that there were differences in the development of different group forms and between status groups. The peer children were ahead in skill development when comparing them with group form or status group. The children who received the support of early childhood education special needs teacher had better skills comparing to the children in integrated special day care group. The children with severe disabilities had the lowest scores among status groups. There was a positive albeit mediocre correlation between cognitive and language skills as well as positive correlation between social play variable and cognitive and language skills. Based on the results it would seem that special needs children could benefit being in a regular day care group with the support of the early childhood education special needs teacher.

The purpose of this study is to examine children's experiences of participation in everyday preschool life. Children’s participation is considered as an important part in legal documents regulating the field of early childhood education in Finland. However, previous studies show that child participation is poorly implemented in early childhood education. Barriers to participation have been seen as a various understanding of the concept of participation, and the lack of policies that support children's participation. Children's participation is best realized in play and small everyday moments. Instead, in situations involving children’s basic functions, routines take precedence over children’s participation. (Turja & Vuorisalo 2017; Virkki 2015; Fabric 2016) Methods. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study of one pre-school group. The study involved 19 children aged 6-7 years. The research material was collected using method triangulation. The data were collected through five group discussions of 4-5 children and observations of the group´s daily life. The children also took pictures of things they like in preschool. They shared a reason for the pictures they took. The analysis was guided by abductive reasoning. The study followed the basic principle of childhood studies; Children have their own important self-worth and a wealth of information that can only be obtained by asking the children directly (Alanen 2009). Turja's (2011) model of multidimensionality of participation was used in the analysis. Results and conclusions. Children see adults in a pre-school as limiting their activities. They believe that adults decide almost everything in preschool. In addition to supervised activities and daily routines, adult control extends also to children's free playtime. The children had useful and sensible suggestions for activities they felt needed change. The children thought that the daily rest was a function that needs to be changed. Preferably, they would remove it altogether and exchange it for play. Play was an area where children felt participated. In the play, they were allowed to decide who to play with and what to play with. The nice thing about the play is "That you can do whatever you want." The play and friends gained a lot of importance in the children’s speeches and the photos they took. The activities of pre-school education were strongly planned by adults. However, the consideration of the children's interests and the children's ideas fit within the framework of the plans. These children’s ideas, which strengthen children’s participation, engaged them noticeably. Supervised pre-school activities were fun for many children. However, it should be considered how to enable the full participation of children in early childhood education so that it also goes beyond the planning of activities.

The aim of this study is to find out how high school -aged adolescents are involved in home cleaning, what kind of cleaning tasks the parents require them to do, and how they are motivated to do home cleaning. Additionally, this study aims to find out what kind of cleaning practices exist in the families of adolescents and how the cleaning practices in a childhood home affect parents’ cleaning habits. This is related to how and where cleaning skills are learned. This study is qualitative by its nature, and the data were collected by interviewing six mothers of high school adolescents in the metropolitan area. The interviews were conducted in late autumn 2019, and the interviews followed the theme interview pattern where the interview proceeded according to predefined themes and related refinement questions. The interviews were transcribed and the data was analysed using a method of qualitative content analysis. The importance of home economics education at schools in learning cleaning skills was nearly insignificant. Cleaning skills were taught to children alongside their everyday household activities, without realizing it as a teaching or educational task. It seems that the primary responsibility for teaching cleaning skills to adolescents lies with the parents. The adolescents took part in the cleaning of the home by performing daily cleaning and organizing work, and they also kept their own room clean. Organising the cleaning work was the responsibility of the parents. A clear and balanced division of labor helped to involve the children in the cleaning and housework. In addition, the clear division of domestic tasks between parents affected couples' satisfaction with the division of homework.

Aims. The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of classroom teachers in the metropolitan area about the realization of freedom of belief in school. The topic is topical, as the pluralism of society has sparked much debate regarding the organization of spectacle teaching, the school’s festive traditions, and student equality. There has been little educational research on freedom of religion and conscience, but there is some jurisprudence research on the subject. However, little research has been done on teachers experiences. This study seeks to examine the topic from the perspective of educational science and legislation. The research questions are: In what ways is the freedom of belief of students realized in school? How are teachers' freedom of belief realized in school? Methods. My research was qualitative in nature, which I conducted as an interview. Interviews with seven classroom teachers took place between November 2019 and February 2020. I selected classroom teachers from the Helsinki metropolitan area for interviews. I collected my material from classroom teachers in the Helsinki metropolitan area because the area is different from the rest of Finland. Qualitative research does not aim for generalizability and the aim of my research was to obtain information about teachers ’experiences. The material was analyzed using content analysis. Results and conclusions. Based on the results of the study, the student's freedom of belief was implemented quite well in school. The student's positive freedom of belief was supported by the opportunity to teach according to one's own religious beliefs and the opportunity to express one's own beliefs at school. Negative freedom of belief, in turn, was realized as an exemption from teaching and opportunities in accordance with the recognition of a foreign religion. Based on the results, the teachers' negative freedom of belief did not materialize. In addition to religious occasions, the teaching of religion could conflict with the realization of freedom of belief. Based on the research, teachers are aware of the challenges associated with a student’s religious beliefs at school.

The study examines the manifestation of dignity and the relationship between dignity and survival in the documentary “Autolla Nepaliin – Unelmien elokuva” and in the charity project which was described in the documentary. As the project had achieved its aims, it was considered a success. The material used was the speech of the documentary, transcribed to text. The speakers were the project team as well as people who had experienced comparable issues as the project team. The study represented a qualitative research method. The material was analyzed by the means of theory-based content analysis. The study was based on self-determination theory, which claims person succeeds and feels better when psychological needs, ie autonomy, competence and relatedness are met (Ryan & Deci 2000, 68.) From the theory Martela (2015, 37–54) has derived the concept of the motivational diamond used in the study. It is divided into dignity and survival. Survival consists of acceptance and status as well as safety and resources. Relevance requires the realization of relatedness, contribution (doing good), competence and autonomy. Most observations were made of relatedness, which was evident in the four circles: insiders, related people, project-connected circle, and random people circle. Doing good turned out to be a planned dream of volunteering. Autonomy permeated the entire project and was reflected in ideas, enthusiasm and patient work. Alongside autonomy, responsibility emerged. Competence was realized as learning and development, as well as identifying skills, sources of strengths and barriers. Most of the survival material was related to safety and resources resources, including travel progress, equipment and health. Acceptance and status were realized in social media approvals which affected the accumulation of money. Emotions determined the relationship between dignity and survival, forming a dialogue between them. The project serves as a metaphor for working life projects and their success. It is necessary to identify and define the circles of relatedness, to consider the development of competence, the manifestation of autonomy and the possibilities of contribution. Although funders approve goals defining the project work, it is also worth setting a goal that is relevant to oneself. This also supports the achievement of the official goals.