Browsing by study line "Allmän- och vuxenpedagogik"

Purpose. In the context of rapid digitalization and the need to develop students’ 21st century skills, acquiring a growth mindset is essential. A person with a growth mindset believes that, for example, intelligence and creativity are malleable and develop through persistent practice. The purpose of this investigation was to first, explore Finnish 7th grade students’ mindsets related to intelligence and giftedness. Secondly, this study investigated students’ mindsets relation to academic achievement in mathematics and mother tongue, as well as students’ educational aspirations. Thirdly, this investigation examined how the mindsets are related to students’ sociodigital competence beliefs and perceived digital school practices. Finally, findings of a mindset intervention conducted in a Finnish educational context, which targeted mindsets in intelligence, giftedness and creativity, are reported. Method. Data for Study A was collected with a questionnaire, which was answered by 1059 7th grade students in Helsinki. The questionnaire assessed students’ intelligence and giftedness mindsets, educational aspirations, sociodigital competence beliefs and perceived digital school practices. A TwoStep cluster analysis was used to locate natural intelligence and giftedness mindset groups from the data. Next, two-way ANOVA’s were utilized: identified mindset groups and gender were independent variables and academic achievement in mathematics and mother tongue, educational aspirations, as well as sociodigital competence beliefs and perceived digital school practices were dependent variables. In Study B 21 students answered a questionnaire on intelligence, giftedness and creativity mindsets before and after the intervention. Differences between pre- and post-test were analyzed using a paired samples t-test. Results and significance. The results indicated that 7th graders had a strong growth mindset in intelligence and giftedness, yet groups of fixed, mixed and growth mindsets were found. Moreover, a growth mindset in intelligence and giftedness was positively related to students’ academic achievement in both mathematics and mother tongue as well as their educational aspirations. Further, a fixed mindset in giftedness indicated higher technical sociodigital competence beliefs. Similarly, students with a fixed mindset in both intelligence and giftedness perceived there to be more sociodigital school practices. Study B found that only students’ creativity-related mindsets changed significantly. The investigation proposes that schools should more strongly support students’ growth mindsets and their creative and academic sociodigital competences as they are a relevant part of the 21st century skills.

Horse enthusiasts have insufficient knowledge about horse behaviour and welfare (BW) and learning and human-horse communication (LC), which poses a risk for both human safety and horse welfare. The main objective of this study was to investigate why riding school pupils participate or do not participate in non-riding education in BW and LC, using Self-determination theory (SDT). SDT posits that the quality of motivation is related to the individual’s basic psychological needs. A convenience sample of 568 riding school pupils from Finland and Sweden completed an online questionnaire. The results show that forty percent of the riding schools offered education in BW, and thirty-two in LC. Twenty-seven percent of the respondents had participated in education in BW, and twenty-five in LC at the riding school. The respondents were autonomously motivated to participate in education, i.e., they would participate because it is interesting and personally important. Perceived needs satisfaction at the riding school predicted autonomous motivation to participate. Education was offered to a greater extent in Swedish riding schools and Swedish participants participated more, experienced more autonomous motivation, and relatedness and competence satisfaction. To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore riding school pupils’ motivation towards non-riding education.

Aims. It is generally known fact that personnel training is the most extensive form of adult training in Finland, and for many organizations, competent personnel is mandatory and ensures competitiveness. The goal of the study was to find out what kind of meanings personnel training has for people working in the personnel service sector and what factors encourage and discourage them to participate in the training offered by the employer. The research examines the meanings employees attach to personnel training and their effects on the employees’ own, subjective experiences. The key here is how employees value personnel training. The review also includes what kind of factors guide employees to apply for training offered by the employer and, on the other hand, what factors slow down applying for training. Methods. The material used was the interview material, which consists of interviews with nine people working in a company in the personnel service sector. Five of the interviewees were female and 4 were male. The interviews were carried out using a Teams connection in the spring and summer of 2021. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The interviewees were treated anonymously throughout the research process, as was the company where they work. The analysis method of the data was material-based discourse analysis, and discourse categories containing different meaning systems were constructed from the speech of the interviewees. The starting point here was the speech of the interviewees and the social reality built up in their speech and its examination and analysis. Results and conclusions. The research showed that for all interviewees, personnel training is extremely important and is considered an intrinsic value and self-evident part of the organization. The interviewees see themselves and the organization as active and reciprocal actors and consider themselves responsible for their own competence. Many interviewees built their views on personnel training using the 70/20/10 model. The incentives for applying for training were seen as the development of one’s own competence and the efficiency of operations, as well as collectivity. On the other hand, online mediation, scheduling challenges and content and implementation irrelevance were seen as discouraging factors. On-site training that connects colleagues and develops one’s own core competence is seen as a desirable. On the other hand, online training offered a short notice with irrelevant content is one that you don’t want to participate in. The basis of all this is employee’s strong idea that learning and skill development are seen as positive self-values.

The purpose of this study was to examine how HR professionals working in private employment sector view and experience their own expertise. Expertise is a phenomena that can be interpreted in many ways and it has been studied a lot from different perspectives. In this study the focus was on professional expertise and on experience of having expertise. My research question was: What kind of perceptions HR professionals have of their own expertise? With this research question I wanted to find out how the HR professionals view their own expertise, what are the main elements of it and what kind things and experiences affect the development of their expertise. This research was a qualitative case study. The research data was collected by interviewing eight HR professionals working for a private employment company WorkPower Oy. I used thematic interviews as a data collecting method. The research data was analysed with a phenomenographic analysis. The phenomenographic analysis focuses on individuals’ perceptions and experiences on certain phenomena. The results of this study show that the expertise of the HR professionals consists of many different elements. Wide enough knowledge, capacity to act, social skills and ability to reflect one’s actions and know-how are key elements of HR professionals’ expertise. Also the ability to find the right words in different situations is vital, since the work in human resources is mainly based on interaction with different people. In addition, this study showed that constant learning and development of one’s skills and knowledge is also important to the expertise of HR professionals. There are several different challenges to the development of expertise, such as a busy working schedule, constant changes in one’s daily work and insufficient support. According to this study, practical experience and work-based learning are crucial for the development of expertise for the HR professionals working in private employment sector.

Previous studies indicate that a background in elite sports is seen as a positive experience in recruitment. However, concurrently many elite athletes feel that finding the first job after a sports career is both challenging and time-consuming. Studies addressing generic skills have shown that skills especially valued in work-life in today`s society are good co-operative skills, goal orientation, persistence, and commitment. Studies made in the field of elite sports show that these skills are found and highlighted precisely among employees who have an elite sports background. The purpose of this study is to examine recruiters’ viewpoints on how they find a job applicant’s experience in elite sports and what type of generic skills they associate with elite athletes. Moreover, the purpose is to clarify how recruiters feel that their own background influences their perspective as recruiters. There were eight recruitment consultants from an international company in the recruitment industry participating in the study. The study used qualitative research method and the data was collected using semi-structured theme interviews and analysed using a theory-based content analysis. The analysis was guided by the data as well as the hypothesis formed based on Mustonen (2016) whereby a sports background of a recruiter is felt to have an influence when recruiting elite athletes. Theoretical background was also conducted by previous research on present-day generic skills and elite athletes’ transition from sports into working life. Recruiters who are former athletes felt that they understand the demands and sacrifices of elite sports and value the skills gained through sports. Recruiters that did not have a sports background comprehended elite sports more often as a hobby or as an experience similar to collective activities, whereas recruiters with sports background saw elite sports as work experience. The recruiters had rather similar views on elite athletes’ generic skills, which highlighted good interpersonal skills, co-operative skills, commitment, and goal orientation, as in the earlier research. The study showed that elite sports experience is seen in varying ways depending on the recruiter, and it articulated the importance of the ability of job applicants with elite sports background to verbalize their generic skills during a recruitment process.

The aim of this research was to find out how the digital media use of Finnish children and young people has been researched and which themes and topics are emphasized in it. The research questions were guided by the generally noted problems and the prevalence of the concern-based research in the research field. Previous research has highlighted, that the theory and methodology of digital media research should be improved (Orben ym., 2020; Granic ym., 2020). Digital media has caused wide concern generally, but especially with children and young people using it (Orben, 2020b). This way of thinking can be seen in the research as well (Orben, 2020b). This research focuses on gaps of the research on the digital media use of Finnish children and youth. The research questions were answered using metascience, which aims to evaluate and improve research practices (Ioannidis ym., 2015). The data is composed of 119 research articles published between 2015 and 2020. Classification and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data. The results had a lot in common with the earlier research. Digital media was a popular research topic, cross-sectional studies and self-reported measures were common and open science approaches (Avoimen tieteen koordinaatio, 2020) were rare. Also the age groups of young people and adults were comparatively common, most of the journals were of the basic level (Julkaisufoorumi, 2022) and quantitative research methods were used more often than qualitative methods. The most highly researched theme was digital media use in general. This shows what a diverse phenomenon digital media is. The diversity adds to the need to be thorough with concept definitions used. The research themes showed signs of concern-based research. This point of view stood out from the themes of threats of digital media use and problematic use of digital media. Future research should address these research gaps, add the use of the open science approach and diverse the research themes of digital media use.

According to the results, female entrepreneurs define their entrepreneurial identity in many ways. Both individual and social factors are part of the negotiation of entrepreneurial identity. In the entrepreneurship of women entrepreneurs, self-listening and realization are meaningful. In addition, societal factors is also a factor of formation of one's own entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial identity. Balance between one's own well-being and self-fulfillment is important in the entrepreneurship. The study supports previous research on women's holistic way of acting as entrepreneurs (see Kyrö 2004). Some of the female entrepreneurs wanted to keep the size of their company small, which supports previous research. However, in this study, there were also female entrepreneurs whose goal was to grow their business, or their business had already expanded internationally, which differs from previous research data. In addition, with this study, it was revealed that for the female entrepreneurs in the study, taking care of their own well-being is an important part of their entrepreneurship.

The aim of this study was to examine what type of assumptions leaders working in central government agencies and institutions have when it comes to the qualities and abilities of a manager as a coach. The other aim was to observe its effects on well-being capital. The study introduces a current issue because modern organizations are more interested than ever in taking their leadership culture one step further and going into an interactive and individualized working environment. Managerial coaching provides an implement for this need. This study’s qualitative material was collected in the spring of 2021, with the use of theme interviews. The material included interviews of eight leaders, working in central government agencies and institutions. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the dialogical thematic analysis method. It provided the theoretical insights and earlier research results to interact with the collected material as well as with the researcher’s own assumptions. The formed categories (28) were created from the interview material, and the analysis ended up with five themes. These themes described the viewpoints, qualities, and abilities of managerial coaching as well as its impact on competence development and coaching interaction. The well-being capital formed a theme of its own, including the examination of the extended view on the intellectual capital. The results of this study were found through the dialogue of the materials from the interviews and the earlier theory and research findings. The five themes described the viewpoints on the managerial coaching qualities and skills, such as value systems, the importance of feedback and the emotional skills. The competence development was treated as a fundamental part of managerial coaching processes and it was associated with the phenomena of productivity and well-being. Interaction was considered as a special enabler of the managerial coaching processes and it was also attached to the praxes of well-being at work. The factors attached to well-being capital were also recognized both from the study’s material and from the theory context. This study was commissioned by a coaching company so the results of this study can be used in the field of managerial coaching education in the future. It also provides insights to the leadership development of the central government, due to the interviews of the eight leaders working in central government agencies and institutions.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the everyday life of teaching professionals. Induction phase teachers’ commitment to the profession takes place specifically during the first years of their career, which COVID-19 pandemic has been threatened. Previous studies have shown that the professional agency in the classroom is an important part of teachers’ professional identity and commitment to work among induction phase teachers. Work engagement is a concept related to work well-being, which is used to studying well-being through the meaningfulness of the work. Based on the results of previous studies, teachers experience work engagement, also during the COVID-19 pandemic. Work stress, a phenomenon that weakens work engagement, has increased among teachers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers’ work stress has increased. The feeling of inadequacy in the teacher-student interaction is a part of comprehensive work burnout, and based on the results of previous studies it has been found to be negatively related to teachers’ experiences of professional agency in the classroom. The aim of this thesis is to provide information about induction phase teachers’ professional agency in the classroom, work engagement, work stress and feeling of inadequacy in the teacher-student interaction connections during the COVID-19 pandemic. The material used in this study was collected as a part of a wider international research project “Early Career Teachers’ Professional Agency Across Four European Countries” (Soini, Pietarinen, Pyhältö & Toom, 2018-2022). The target group of the research project were elementary school teachers, subject teachers working in middle school and special education teachers in elementary school (grades 1-9). The research material was collected between the years 2020-2021 from Finnish teachers, and 209 teachers responded. The IBM SPSS Statistics 28 -program was used in the analysis of the data. Sum variables were formed (professional agency in the classroom, vigor, dedication, absorption and feeling of inadequacy in the teacher-student interaction). Connections between variables were examined using Pearson’s correlation coefficients. Differences in background variables (gender and teacher group) were examined by using t-tests. The results of this study showed that there were statistically significant connections between the examined variables. Teachers in the induction phase who experience strong professional agency in the classroom reported that they experienced work engagement together with a lesser work stress and feeling of inadequacy in the teacher-student interaction. Those teachers who experience work engagement reported lesser work stress and feeling of inadequacy in the teacher-student interaction. There were no statistically significant results between gender and teacher groups.

The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the social engagement scale among students at Finnish comprehensive schools. Another aim was to examine the interaction effect of social engagement and introversion on self-esteem, schoolwork engagement and burnout. The purpose of this was to understand how introverts with higher social engagement perform in terms of their self-esteem, schoolwork engagement and burnout in comparison to introverts with lower social engagement. The theory of this study focused on social engagement, which has been suggested the fourth dimension of school engagement. Social interactions help students’ learning, and enhance critical thinking and problem solving. Introversion was selected for this study as introverts are usually stereotypically seen as unsocial and unwilling to work with other people. The data for this study were collected through questionnaires of the Mind the Gap Research Group of the University of Helsinki in 2013–2016. Sample size was 862 students. The analytical methods were confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hierarchical multiple regression. The results indicated that a two-factor model best fit the social engagement scale. These two dimensions were named the social engagement approach and social engagement avoidance. When examining self-esteem, the interactions between the social engagement approach and introversion were significant. This suggests that introverts with high social engagement have higher self-esteem than introverts with low social engagement. Interaction terms for the social engagement approach and social engagement in terms of schoolwork engagement and burnout were not found.