Browsing by Author "Pasanen, Suvi"

The aim of this study was to find how teachers and student teachers perceive diversity in school, as well as how children relate to diversity according to the beliefs of their teachers. Diversity and multiculturality have been studied in Finland from the diversity education perspective, however, little has been explored about how children perceive these individual differences. Previous studies have indicated that teacher's personal knowledge, values and attitudes are essential when it comes to acknowledging diversity in schools. For this reason, it is important to examine how present and future teachers understand diversity. Participants of this research were three class teachers and three student teachers from the university of Helsinki, the data for this study was gathered with theme interviews. Data was analysed with qualitative content analysis, as well as dialogical analysis of multivoicedness. The results of this study indicated, that children actively acknowledge differences in individuals. Contradictions between children appeared mainly because intrinsic qualities of people were not understood and accepted. Especially gender appeared as clear categorizations for the children. Furthermore, how children reacted about diversity was influenced by multiple factors. The ability to understand the theme of diversity varied between teachers and student teachers. All in all diversity was seen as value- and attitude-centered, as well as constantly changing phenomenon. Also, teachers were seen as active agents in considering diversity in their work. Interacting with diverse people, as well as experiences about positioning to be the other were perceived to support the competences of teachers. Finally, due to the dialogical analysis, participants were perceived to be talking from the positions of experts, ethical agents and members of school communities. On the other hand teachers referred to the knowledge of other experts in education, to the ideology of homogenous Finns, as well as to the polarized conversation of the society.