Browsing by department "Beteendevetenskaper"

Teaching of socioemotional skills for schoolchildren increases good atmosphere and improves learning outcomes. Students ’chances of success in school and life improve. Socioemotional learning has a positive effect on a student's wellbeing through good interpersonal relationships and better school performance, among other things. Awareness of one's own socioemotional competence is the first step in learning these skills and regulating emotions in different situations. The regulation and recognition of emotions affect the learner’s motivation and attention, selfconfidence, and both flexibility and perseverance. However, learning and teaching socioemotional skills is a complex process. Structuring the challenges and significance of socioemotional research is important so that these skills can be better learned in the future. The aim of this study is to determine whether socioemotional skills develop differently at the level of different socioemotional skills in five different European countries. The material was divided into three groups by country and these formed three skill levels of socioemotional competence: low, moderate and good. In the dissertation, the data were analyzed by T-test to see if there was a change in the groups between the initial measurement and the final measurement. The main result was statistically very significant. It was found that if a student’s starting level of socioemotional skills is relatively low, i.e., he or she belongs to a low-skill group, then socioemotional teaching has a significant healing effect on the level of socioemotional skills of these students. A significant result was also that for those students with a relatively good baseline level of socioemotional skills, their skill level decreased significantly after the intervention. In conclusion, therefore, it is worthwhile to tailor socioemotional education to different skill levels.

Finnish educational research has repeatedly noted how strongly heteronormativity is present in education, placing people in unequal positions according to their gender and sexual orientation. On the grounds of previous research, it seems that heteronormativity in education affects espe-cially the agency of LGBTQ+ people. The educational environment being predominated by a binary conception of gender and an assumption of heterosexuality, LGBTQ+ people often don’t tell about their gender and/or sexual diversity to others, but instead comply with the het-erosexual order so as to not get discriminated or bullied. This thesis examines heteronormativity in the context of Finnish education and its effects on the educational agency of LGBTQ+ people. The data consists of focused life history interviews conducted with five LGBTQ+ persons. The interviews were analysed through a narrative ap-proach and from a feminist point of view, utilizing the interviewees’ small stories about educa-tion as well as fictional storytelling in the analysis. The analysis builds a conception in which heteronormativity and the order of gender become produced and reproduced in education through everyday, routine-like repetitions, affecting the construction of agency and restricting LGBTQ+ agency. In my data, the requirement of com-plying with heteronormativity seems strong especially in basic education. In upper secondary education the hegemonic position of heteronormativity appears to weaken, and the stories situ-ated in higher education outline a positive and aware atmosphere regarding the diversity of gender and sexuality, even though some differences between fields are understood to exist. In terms of agency it appears that the primary factor is the individual’s impression of what kind of attitudes their social environment and particularly their peers, i.e. other pupils and students, seem to have towards gender and sexual diversity. When the educational environment is viewed to react negatively to LGBTQ+ people, they hide their sexual orientation and/or non-binary gender, which often appears as unnecessary in an educational environment with seem-ingly positive attitudes.

Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Aim of the Study: Firstly, the purpose of this study is to examine how teachers are supporting students and what kind of obstacles they face. Secondly, the purpose was to examine teachers experiences of support and it`s significance for society. This study is important and current. Resent studies have shown that supporting students in their studies has influence for student`s advancements of studies and prevents discontinuing studies. Also, the new legislation obligates teachers to plan for students an individual way to continue studies and support student s in many ways, even if, in the same time the financial support of vocational education has changed and decreased. Methods: This study was conducted using qualitative methods and it was based on the theme interviews of seven vocational teachers. One of them was working as a special vocational teacher. The theme interviews were analysed by using a qualitative analytic technique as the inductive content analysis method. Results and Conclusions: Firstly, teachers were supporting students in many ways. In this study teachers were supporting students in life management, learning and in difficult life situations. In the most severe cases, such as mental health issues and substance misuse issues, students did need occupational help from social and health services. Secondly, vocational teachers were also facing obstacles in supporting students. These obstacles that they were facing included lack of resources like time. Teachers considered importance in supporting students in equal ways, but they were facing obstacles to do so because of the large amount of support that was needed. Thirdly, there were also some vocational teachers who did not consider supporting students to be part of their work, only in the learning issues. On the other hand, some of the teachers considered the support of students have more wider consequences in the society: preventing discontinuing studies and social exclusion and it`s economical influence. From the point of view of social policy and preventing social exclusion, teacher`s role and how they will be educated, have importance in how students will be supported also in other things than just their learning issues. Also, the teacher education has an important role. It would be important to include in the teaching plans the issues considering the supporting students in different ways, not only about difficulties in learning. Vocational teacher needs competence to work in different kinds of networks also with student welfare services and with guardians. Vocational teachers need knowledge about social services and capability to guide students in these services. It demands the courage from teachers to meet students comprehensively. It is needed to develop the forms of vocational teaching and to do individual plans for the students and it is needed to provide more time for graduate for those who need it. Vocational education should have more resources to support students in many ways and possibilities to co-operate with all teachers, vocational counselors, vocational special teachers and with the whole student welfare services. These are the most important ways to prevent students to discontinue studies and to prevent social exclusion.

Goals. Previous research has shown that games and gamification have potential in education. Games and gamification are also mentioned In Finnish Core Curriculum (2014), but still games have not become mainstream in Finnish schools. It can be difficult for teachers to find learning games that are suitable for their students, and because of that, it is suggested that teachers could act as game designers. In recent years, it has become possible to design games without programming skills by using digital platforms. There are only few studies focusing on teachers designing games on digital platforms. The target of this study is to understand how teachers experience gamification on a digital platform. In this study, teachers use Seppo platform to design learning games for their students. The study aims to find out what kind of Seppo games teachers create, and how they experience designing and implementing Seppo games. Method. 14 basic education teachers participated in the study. The data consisted of semi-structured theme interviews and games made by the teachers. The data was analyzed using data-oriented content analysis. Results and conclusion. Results showed that Seppo is an easy-to-use teaching tool that can be used for many purposes in basic education. Most of the games were linked to different school subjects and, in addition, many games focused on practicing transversal competences. Gamification was an important goal for a few teachers, but many of the teachers considered Seppo as a functional way of studying or an e-learning platform more than a game. In many cases, Seppo games changed practices of teaching and made studying more versatile, for instance, by extending learning environment outside the classroom. Teachers felt that designing Seppo games was technically easy. However, teachers may need support in content design, since some of the teachers considered difficult to combine gamefulness and learning goals in meaningful ways. Teachers experienced that students mostly achieved the learning goals by playing Seppo games. According to the teachers, almost all their students participated in Seppo games actively and liked playing the game. In conclusion, Seppo games made by teachers have potential to support learning that is based on curriculum.

There is currently a lively public debate about change in working life and future skills needs. When working life changes, it is important that knowledge and leadership should also change. The aim of my thesis was to examine changes in work and skills in the restaurant industry from the perspective of the restaurant manager. The goal was to describe and add to the understanding of the restaurant manager's work and role through their experience and vision. Knowledge management is an integral part of the competence, which is part of the work of the restaurant manager. The thesis examines what knowledge management means for supervisors and how competence development is reflected in work and practice. The theoretical framework of the thesis is made up of literature related to knowledge, leadership, competence management and managerial work, as well as a brief overview of the nature of the hospitality industry and the future. The empirical part of the thesis was carried out with semi-structured theme interviews and the results were analyzed by theory-driven content analysis. The data was collected between May 2018 and December 2018. Ten restaurant managers working at Fazer Food Service were interviewed in the study. As a result of the study, it became clear that the work of a restaurant manager in that organization was interdimensional and consisted of many different tasks and roles. It was important for the restaurant managers to act as superiors and to encourage their staff. Interaction with staff, customers, supervisor and colleagues was important. Knowledge management was one of the tasks that was performed as part of daily management. As a future challenge, restaurant managers saw problems with the availability of skilled labor. The availability and commitment of the workforce can be influenced by good leadership, competence development and employee appreciation. The study found that leadership should change in a more human-oriented direction.

Positive psychology in education is an ideological umbrella term for an educational approach that has an emphasis on the well-being and happiness of the individual. There are many schools that had elements from positive psychology before its creation but the first school to adopt a school wide Positive psychology in education approach in 2007 was Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia. This study is a holistic approach with the attempt to understand how the teachers at Geelong Grammar School look at education and the students from a positive psychology perspective. A qualitative phenomenological hermeneutic research design was applied so that the focus could be put on the ten teachers lived experience in the school environment. Semi-structured interviews were used as a method to gather the needed data, which was thematically analysed. The results demonstrate how the teachers are impacted by the environment; the way in which the teachers deal with and view a very diverse group of students reflect the positive psychological perspectives. The teachers report clear benefits both in their class environment and also offers distinct tools in how they approach the students. Most of the teachers reported an individual benefit from a self-growth perspective. Geelong Grammar school does not demand a certain level of positive psychology, that choice is up to the teachers. This choice is reflected in the research results and shows how it impacts them personally in a positive way, and how they think it impacts the students. The results show both common universal challenges, typical for a school, but there are also challenges unique to the positive psychology environment they live in. This study facilitates the understanding of adopting positive psychology in education seen from the teachers perspective. This study also highlights some of the broader challenges in our culture and life dictated by the consequential demands of economics.

Aims. Based on previous empirical studies decreases in school principals’ well-being are alarming in many countries. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the well-being of Finnish school principals by examining the latent profiles of work burnout and work engagement by using a person-orientated approach. In addition, this study examined how the identified profiles differed in job-related demands (workload and emotional demands) and resources (autonomy and social support from colleagues). The job demands and resources (JD-R) model was used as the theoretical framework of the study. The purpose of this study was to examine what kind of occupational well-being profiles could be identified among school principals, and to what extent different demands and resources are associated with principals' belonging to the profiles. Methods Research data was gathered as a part of a wider international Principal Health and Wellbeing -research project. The data was collected by sending a questionnaire to all 1 200 members of the Finnish Principals’ Association. Altogether 424 principals completed the questionnaire regarding their work burnout symptoms, work engagement and well as work demands and resources. The data was analysed using cluster analysis and multinominal logistic regression. Results and conclusion The study found that three different well-being profiles could be identified among the school principals: those who were engagement (41%), those at risk of burnout (40%) and those who were already experiencing burnout (18%). The more demands the principals experienced the more likely they were to belong to the burned out profile. Experiences of autonomy increased the probability of belonging to the engagement profile. Social support from colleagues didn’t demonstrate correlations with any of present well-being profiles. In conclusion, most of the principals feel engaged towards their work, however there are many principals who have burnout symptoms.

Tiivistelmä - Referat – Abstract The goal of this ethnographic research is to bring out the mechanisms of a classroom’s moral order. The study is based on a thought which considers the moral order to be a tool in deconstructing the power structures of the school system. The moral order brings forward all the kind of behavior which is considered right or wrong in the classroom or good or bad. The study is rooted in poststructuralist equality research. The background theory in this study is Deleuze’s rhizome theory. The rhizome theory is a target state of the moral order. In the target state the moral order would be flexible and ready for change therefor one wouldn’t need to compare the differences between students in a negative way. Previous studies about moral order in Finland have mainly focused on adult education. International studies and articles in sociological education sciences have aimed to deconstruct moral orders but failed to give any means to the deconstruction project. The data of this study has been conducted in southern Finnish elementary school with ethnographic observation and interview. Observation period lasted for one month and the interviews were conducted during the one month field period during the year 2017. The research data included of five group interviews of pupils and one interview of the class’ students. Analysis used was episodical analysis in which observation and interview data are been read across using both data while it brings more variation and reliability to the research data. The study shows moral order of the studied class is been guided by the confrontation of the opposite sex. A small variation inside gender group is also been seen. Previous studies have showed that the confrontation of opposite gender is one of the greatest challenges of the school institution. To bullying pupils, react by not telling to the teacher but by wanting to solve conflict between students.

There is a shortage of staff in the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Finland in the time of this study. A shortage of qualified workers and the revised Act on Early Childhood Education and Care (580/2018) have created dissatisfaction as eligibility requirements have been tightened. The vocational designations have also been changed, and the title kindergarten teacher has been changed to Early Childhood Education (University, bachelor’s degree) or Bachelor of Social Services (University of Applied Sciences). The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors (challenges and resources) that influence a change of work field from ECEC based on the theoretical model Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) and previous research in subjects such as educational leadership, work communities and the Finnish ECEC control documents. The data was collected in the spring of 2018 with an online survey that was sent to trade unions Talentia, SuPer and the Early Childhood Education Teacher’s Union of Finland (ECE Teachers Union). The survey was forwarded to 3635 people working in ECEC in Finland. The survey was answered by N = 643 persons which gave a response rate of 17.6%. The material was part of a pilot study for the research project ENJOY your work! which is conducted at the University of Helsinki. For this study, the material was limited from eight (8) to two (2) open questions, 749 individual responses were analysed, and qualitative content analysis was used as a method in this final thesis. The results showed that regardless of professional designation or plans to change the working field, the demands and resources of the respondents in the early childhood education were similar. The educators saw the children, good cooperation within the work team, positive feedback from the supervisors (day care managers) as energizing resources in the work. The requirements in ECEC were physically heavy work, incompetent foremen, unauthorized staff, time pressure, no opportunities for planning and a lack of appreciation from society. The demands were physically heavy work, incompetent supervisors, unauthorized staff, time pressure, no opportunities for planning and a lack of appreciation from society.

Today, children in Finland live in a complex linguistic environment, which offers interesting opportunities for studying how they perceive and discuss their own and others’ language use. The objective of this study is to analyse and interpret how children express stance (Du Bois, 2007; Jaffe, 2009) in relation to language use and language skills in the context of a group interview. From the perspective of stance, interaction is viewed as the central process of meaning-making and identity construction. The study is based on qualitative, thematic focus group interviews on language use, language learning and language skills with students in second grade in a bilingual municipality in Finland. A total of 15 students participated in the study, of which 9 students attended a school with Finnish and 6 students a school with Swedish as the language of instruction. The interaction of the children is analysed from a stance perspective, aiming to demonstrate how the children use available resources to position themselves and others as language users, and how their stances can be interpreted in the sociocultural context. The results illustrate how children both implicitly and explicitly position themselves and others as language users by using social categories, topicalizing and not topicalizing language skills and by negotiating epistemic authority. In the interviews, the children positioned themselves in relation to each other and to their collectively constructed ideas about language identities, language use and language skills. The study adds to the growing body of research that applies stance theory to study how cultural and language identities are expressed in interaction, and exemplifies how stance can be used to analyse the interactions of children. It also relates to the larger discussion on how individual interactions serve as opportunities for stancetaking and meaning-making, and how they can contribute to the construction of more enduring identities and ideas.