Browsing by study line "Yleinen ja aikuiskasvatustiede"

In a varied working environment, individuals are expected to have an increasingly strong ability to tolerate change and adversity. Several research findings point out that a motivated person performs better in challenges, which enables them to succeed in their changing tasks. Therefore, it is important to understand how the factors that influence motivation are un-derstood on the individual level. Quantitative research has widely studied areas of work moti-vation, often using self-determination theory. In this research the theory of self-determination was used to pursue to give structure to the individual’s perception of factors influencing work motivation, and individual’s perceptions and experiences were emphasized rather than their generalizations and connections. The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe and understand media workers` per-ceptions of their motivation and how environment appears as part of perceptions. This research was carried out in collaboration with one media company. The data was collected with semi-structured interviews, where ten employees of the media company were interviewed. Educa-tional background of the interviewees was at least a bachelor’s degree, and all of them were currently working in various media positions. Among the interviewees were digital salespeople, product developers and a journalist manager. The data was analyzed with thematic analysis. As motivating factors media workers emphasized the possibility of influencing their own work, freedom, and responsibility, as well as internal rewards from work. Interviewees perceived as internal rewards the meaning of the work, self-development, and social support, and these were perceived as more significant than the value of the external rewards. The expectations to the organization were centered around development-friendly and equality-oriented work com-munity, where people work together but individual operating models are allowed. Based on this research, organizations would benefit from focusing on designing operating models and prac-tices which would allow for more flexible opportunities in considering individual wishes and goals in future decision making.

The purpose of my Master’s Thesis was to study how gender is presented in secondary school textbooks. I’ve studied both the quantity of masculine and feminine characters presented in secondary school textbooks as well as the roles the characters of each gender are assigned. Prior studies in this field of study (eg. Blumberg 2007; Tainio & Teräs 2010; Ohlander 2010) have indicated that feminine characters are underrepresented in school textbooks and gender is presented stereotypically. This is an important subject to study because gender segregation in Finnish labour force is extremely high. Based on prior studies it is my assumption that school textbooks still portray gender stereotypically. The research material contained 12 secondary school textbooks; six mathematics and six native Finnish language textbooks. The studied textbooks were from two separate publishers. The other publishers’ books were fully digital. Mathematics and native Finnish language textbooks were chosen due to these subjects being studied the most based on hours in the secondary school curriculum. These subjects have also previously been noted to be gendered. The study was done as a qualitative content analysis. A decision to examine the material through a theory-based content analysis was made, because the study material´s categorization is based on a previously established framework. A calculation was made on the quantity of both masculine and feminine characters, as well as characters whose gender could not be identified, based either on the images or text provided in the textbooks. The characters found were placed in predetermined groups, feminine, masculine and neutral characters. The results show, that on average, the studied textbooks contained more masculine than feminine characters. The study showed an attempt to place the characters in gender atypical roles. However, this was found to be the case only for feminine characters. Both feminine and masculine characters were still assigned to mostly traditional gender roles and occupations, and the fluidity of gender was not considered. It can be concluded that secondary school textbooks still portray gender very traditionally and present gender as an inborn identity.

Finnish homelessness work has a long tradition. For quite a long time Finnish homelessness work was largely based on the so-called stairwell model all the way until the 2010s when Housing First model emerged. The arrival of Housing First model has had a lot of effect on the everyday work of professionals in the field homelessness work. Therefore, I’ve decided to pose the following question in my study: What kind of challenges and possibilities lie in multiprofessional collaboration of housing counselling, real estate management and rent control in the context of a Housing First based work. It is worth pointing out though, that Housing First based work entails much more than just the work of housing counselling, real estate management and rent control. Despite this I’ve decided to focus my research to studying multiprofessional collaboration of the three previously mentioned actors in the context of Housing First based work. The material studied was collected by interviewing housing counsellors, real estate managers and rent controllers working at Y-Foundation. The interviews were carried out as theme interviews in groups so, that housing counsellors were interviewed as one group, real estate managers as one group and likewise rent controllers as one group. Narrative analysis and more specifically an analysis of expectations was utilized to produce the results. The research material indicated, that the interviewees were particularly concerned over questions about shared responsibility between professionals, flow of information, professional roles as well as differences in views. In many ways these themes resembled those observed in previous research about multiprofessional collaboration. Moreover, the interviewees viewed the employer as a pivotal actor when it comes to strengthening multiprofessional collaboration and knowledge about Housing First based work.

Aims. The purpose of this thesis was to examine what kind of achievement goal orientation groups can be found in the context of non-formal, job-related online learning, and how the discovered groups differ from each other in perceived costs of online learning and in assessment of work organization’s supportive learning culture. The study’s context offered a unique application to the goal orientation profile research, as the examined type of learning was non-formal learning, or more specifically, non-formal online learning related to work. This study contributes to building an understanding of motivational processes among people in working life and presents practical implications for the development of online learning practices and materials so that those would be more encouraging and supportive to a wider audience of learners. Methods. The research data was collected by an online questionnaire during January and February 2021. Altogether, 170 individuals from Europe and North America, working in different roles and fields, participated in the study. The participants were classified into goal orientation groups by utilizing a person-oriented approach and Two-Step cluster analysis. To examine in-between group differences, analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed. Results and Conclusions. Four distinct goal orientation profiles were identified: learning-oriented, success-oriented, performance-avoidance-oriented, and avoidance-oriented. Learning-oriented differed from the other groups in perceived costs, as they assessed the online learning costs to be significantly lower. In organizational learning culture, avoidance-oriented evaluated their work organization to have a less supportive learning culture than the rest of the groups. After further examination of the study results, it was found that performance and avoidance goals seem to be connected to higher perceived online learning cost, while mastery goals seem to be related to an assessment of a more supportive organizational learning culture. Based on these findings, this study also presents practical implications in the latter part of the paper. All in all, the results indicate that understanding and knowledge of different motivational patterns is crucial for the development and expansion of non-formal, job-related online education.

Objectives. Earlier research has identified the potential of compassion in enhancing the ethical and socioemotional competences of individuals. A framework grounded in compassion has been proposed to integrate pedagogical approaches supporting well-being. Furthermore, earlier research suggests that recognition of the significance of compassion in university pedagogy impacts beliefs defining teaching, student-teacher interaction, grading and pedagogical practices. However, valuation and interpretation of compassion in university pedagogy by teachers and pedagogical developers has remained a grey zone in research. This study seeks to contribute to filling this gap. The objective of the study was to investigate what kind of meanings compassion is given in university pedagogy, and what kind of promoting and impeding factors exist for demonstrating compassion. The research questions were: 1) How do the university teachers and pedagogical developers perceive the significance of compassion in university pedagogy? 2) What kind of factors promote compassion in university pedagogy according to university lecturers and pedagogical developers? 3) What kind of factors impede compassion in university pedagogy according to university lecturers and pedagogical developers? Methodology. Data consisted of ten semi-structured thematic interviews with participants that had a minimum of five years of pedagogical experience. The participants’ target audience of teaching included university staff, graduates, and undergraduates. The participants were asked e.g. how compassion was demonstrated in teaching, the benefits and disadvantages of compassion, and the role of the teacher as a proponent of compassion. The interviews were analysed using an abductive content analysis. Results and conclusions. The study identified compassion in university pedagogy as a strategic, implicitly transmitting social phenomenon realizing proximally. The pedagogical meanings of compassion were conceptualised as compassion strategies that were divided into well-being -centric, learning-centric, community-centric and structure-centric strategy. Factors inhibiting compassion were mainly linked to teaching structures, leadership, and organizational culture. Factors promoting compassion were especially linked to collective awareness and organizational values. The distal, societal, and planetary impacts of compassion were evident in the case of individual interviewees. This outcome, together with the identified holistic significance of compassion, raise the question about awareness and need for targeted cultivation of compassion as an integral part of pedagogical and societal mission of higher education.

Aims. Research has shown that self-esteem predicts success and well-being in important areas of life, such as relationships, work, and health. Thus, it is important to study self-esteem, its development and the factors that influence its development. Parents have a major influence on adolescents’ self-esteem and good relationships between adolescents and parents have been found to be associated with adolescents’ higher self-esteem. Only little research has been done on the association of the adolescent-parent relationship with a person's self-esteem in middle age. The first aim of this study was to investigate whether the adolescent-parent relationship is associated with self-esteem at age 16. The second aim was to find out how the quality of the adolescent-parent relationship predicts the self-esteem of the subjects at age of 52, considering the level of self-esteem in adolescence. Methods. The data is part of the Stress, Development and Mental Health (TAM) research project of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. The data has been collected when the respondents were 16, 22, 32, 42 and 52 years old. In this study, data collected in 1983 and 2019 were used when the subjects were 16 (N=2194) and 52 (N=1160) years old. The variables used in the analyses were conflict proneness, closeness and trust, and self-esteem. Research questions about the associations between adolescent-parent relationships and self-esteem at age 16 and 52 were answered using stepwise linear regression analysis. Results and Conclusions. The study found that the adolescent-parent relationship was associated with self-esteem in adolescence (at age 16) and predicted self-esteem in middle age (at age 52), when the level of self-esteem in adolescence was considered. From the aspects of the adolescent-parent relationship, it stood out that girls showed a stronger association of conflict proneness with lower self-esteem and boys showed a stronger association of parental trust with higher self-esteem and a stronger association of conflict proneness with lower self-esteem. In middle age, women showed a stronger association of closeness in the adolescent-parent relationship with higher self-esteem, while men showed a stronger association of parental trust with higher self-esteem. The results suggest that a good adolescent-parent relationship is associated with good self-esteem in adolescence, but also with higher self-esteem development to middle age. A key factor behind good adolescent-parent relationships is effective and trusting communication - this could also be a potential area for development in interventions.

Aims. This study investigated what kind of emotions work-life evokes in young adults. The aim of the study was to get a full picture on young adults’ emotions that were focused on their work-life. Theory of psychological construction of emotions and emotions circumplex- model was used as the main theoretical framework. Complexity in the concept of emotions makes it challenging subject to study. Emotions in the area of work-life have been studied in the field of organizational psychology, and in these studies the research has focused on examining emotions connected to work engagement or burnout. However, no previous studies exist concerning young adults’ emotions towards work or work-life. Methods. This study is a part of longitudinal FinEdu (Finnish Educational Transitions) study. Young adults’ emotions were examined with an open question which was presented to the research subjects (N=551). The participants were 27-28 years old young adults. The responses were categorized and merged to the circumplex- model of emotions. Results and conclusions. Thirty emotion categories were formed based on young adults’ responses (e.g. joy, anxiety, hope), and 27 of them ended up to the final analysis and as a part of circumplex- model of emotions. In addition, 4 upper categories formed the circumplex- model, which was further divided into 11 lower categories. Work-life raised more positive activating emotions in young adults’ that any other upper categories. The most common emotions that young adults reported were positive activating emotions, such as general positive emotions, joy and excitement. However, young adults also experienced negative activating emotions, such as stress, anxiety and fear. Concerning deactivating emotions, the most common were tiredness or feelings of burnout/exhaustion. As a conclusion, todays’ work-life raised mostly positive activating emotions, and some negative and/or mixed emotions. Negative and mixed emotions can result from todays’ uncertain and demanding work culture. In the future, organizations should invest to the health and wellbeing of young employees.

Abstract This study examined the networked expertise and transformative agency of employment professionals in a local government pilot on employment. Employment coach is a new profession title, which was created for the use of local government pilots on employment in 2021. In this study I focused on one team inside a local pilot. I wanted to find out what kind of networks this team has built and how professionals in this team are using their networks to create new work practices and build the job description of this new profession employment coach. I viewed employment coaches in this team also by looking into their level and possibilities of participation and network building depending on their organizational background. I also wanted to bring into attention the effects that working remotely with digital technology and platforms have made to a government work team´s professional learning. This study is based on the sociocultural view of professional learning and cultural-historical activity theory. The study relied on qualitative methods and the data was collected using semi-structured interview and egocentric network assignments. The sample consisted of individual interviews of employment coaches (N=10) working in the local government pilot of employment team that I studied and of the network assignments (N=13) which were collected from volunteer team members separately. The interview data was analyzed by using qualitative theory-driven content analysis and Atlas TI -analyzing program. The egocentric network assignment data was analyzed using Geph 0.10.1 coding and visualizing program. The results suggested that the networked expertise in the team of local employment pilot has been built through using the knowledge and practices that the team members shared together in Teams meetings and conversations. The professionals in the team have built very strong networks inside the team and the networks also reached to other teams in the local pilot, as well as employment office professionals. The study indicated that the studied team has benefitted from small groups creating practices and facing problems and that coworking can be seen as transformative agency inside the team. At the same time, using digital technology seems to have affected the team´s network building and networked expertise by silencing some of the team members. The study also shows that the professionals, who had municipality as their organizational background, felt that they did not have access to all the resources, and also felt somewhat less members of the team. Based on this study, team member´s transformative agency should be supported better by organizational means, such as resources and bringing the ideas from the joint developing and creating better into practice. The sociomaterial aspect of agency should be taken into notice, when using digital technology, so that the agencies of professionals could become more visible. That requires new approaches and stronger practices in organizational level to using for example Teams as the main channel of networked expertise in local government pilot on employment.

Generation Z is currently the youngest generation in the working life. They are described as a different generation who is unwilling to commit to organizations. The purpose of this study was to add knowledge about Generation Z’s organizational commitment. The aim of this study was to examine Generation Z’s thoughts on organizational commitment and to analyse the underlying factors affecting it. Several studies have shown that strongly committed personnel is a prerequisite to an organization’s success and competitiveness. This, together with the fact that there are only few studies regarding Generation Z, raises the importance of this study. Eight working representatives of Generation Z participated in the study. The participants had graduated from universities and their backgrounds were from economical and educational sciences. The study utilised qualitative research methods and the data was collected by individual semi-structured interviews. Theoretical content analysis was used as a research method. The analysis was steered by the data itself together with Meyer & Allen’s (1990) three component model of organizational commitment. Different organizational and individual related factors were found to be influencing Generation Z’s organizational commitment. Opportunities to develop oneself, work community and balance in life were highlighted in the interviews as the most valued factors. The influencing factors and thoughts regarding organizational commitment both seemed to have signs of the ongoing change in work. While the representatives of Generation Z described themselves to be committed to organizations, they considered moving from one organization to another to be normal in today’s working life. Generation Z’s representatives felt that committing only to couple organizations in your career would be odd and scary. Based on this study, organizations should try to figure out how to commit young employees in the long run.

Goals. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of teachers work arrangements, digital skills and age to teacher’s well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring 2020. Well- being was examined through three basic psychological needs of the self-determination theory. Three basic needs are autonomy, competence and relatedness. These needs indirectly affect the teacher's well-being, as the social and physical environment affects the satisfaction of the needs. It is important to examine and support the well-being of teachers because it affects students’ learning, well-being and success at school. Methods. The data (N=717) was collected from teachers around Finland during the Spring 2020 as part of the Bridging the Gaps – research project. Participants filled in questionnaires that measured well-being, work arrangements, digital skills and self-determination. Participants were divided into groups based on their work arrangements during the school closures. Differences in psychological needs between the groups were examined by analysis of variance. Two-way ANOVA was used to analyse the effects of teacher’s age, digital skills and work arrangements to teachers three basic needs. Finally, the long-term effects of the pandemic were examined with t-tests by dividing teachers into two groups according to the date of response. Results and conclusions. Generally, teachers’ well-being was strong during the pandemic but few differences between the groups were identified. Teachers working remotely experienced weaker relatedness than teachers working in classrooms. In addition, poor digital skills were found to be linked to a lower sense of competence and relatedness. Teacher’s age seems to be also linked to teachers' competence, autonomy and digital skills, with older teachers experiencing stronger autonomy and competence than their younger counterparts. Inversely younger teachers have better digital skills than teachers with more seniority. The results were mainly in line with previous studies, but in the future, closer examination of the effects of the pandemic would be necessary to be able to better support teachers in atypical situations.