Browsing by department "Behavioural Sciences"

Target: The purpose of this study was to analyze the descriptions of the expert teachers in the role of expert teachers in the City of Helsinki and their experiences of the City of Helsinki digitalisation program. In addition, the aim of the study was to analyze the expert teachers’ experiences of the factors that support and hinder their professional development work. The study also analyzed the proposals of the expert teachers for the development of the activities of the expert teacher organization. The research is current in a context where digitalizing society, the changing roles of teachers and school reforms challenge the skills of teachers and other school staff. Method: Ten expert teachers from four different expert teacher teams in the City of Helsinki were interviewed. The research material consisted of ten theme interviews conducted during spring 2019. The material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The material was manually coded using Saldana’s (2016) coding methods and the research results were categorized on the basis of similarity. Findings and conclusions: The expert teachers experienced their roles in diverse ways; in the role of the educator, experimenter and developer, in the cross-border and in the unclear role. The role of the expert teachers was perceived to be relatively autonomous and the role could also be modified to some extent in the interest of the expert teacher. The expert teachers’ experiences of the city’s digitalisation program were both positive and negative. Professional skills related to digitalisation and teacher resistance to change were seen as barriers to development and improvements. The expert teachers’ development skills and enthusiasm for recognizing the pedagogical benefits of technology were regarded as assets for development resources. Hardware and software problems continued although improvements were seen. In contrast, intrinsic motivation factors; knowledge sharing and development, willingness to experiment and meaningfulness were perceived as factors supporting the expert teachers’ work. The expert teachers considered the social network important, especially the other expert teacher colleagues. They shared mutual trust that strengthened their collaboration. The use of time, the aforementioned ambiguity of the role and job description, and the experience of the actual impact of the activity all emerged as barriers to the work of expert teachers. Resources such as facilities, changes in teams and access to scientific research, as well as challenges in communication, also hindered professional development work. The obstacles to development work, of course, were linked to the expert teacher development proposals that emphasized hopes for the clarification of working hours and task descriptions, identification of synergies and scalability, and clarification of communication practices. Based on this study, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the expert teacher organization, but there are clear indications of positive, albeit small, impacts on changes in school culture and support for the digitalisation program. Their role can be considered central as to the various professional learning communities and development networks, which promote school change.

At the time of conducting this study, the Finnish upper secondary schools were facing a major change in the school system. Universities were changing their admission system, and a reform in upper secondary education resulted in a new curriculum for the school year 2021, five years after the current curriculum was put into use in 2016. Guidance counseling has gained a more prominent role in the curriculum and individual counseling and development has become increasingly emphasized. The proportion of upper secondary school teachers who often experience stress has risen from 14% to 17% between 2017 and 2019, and previous research indicates that guidance counselors are at risk of burnout. Stressors have been discovered to be lack of timely resources, lack of role clarity and a large workload. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Finnish guidance counselors’ well-being at work, and how they experience their workload. This is explored on the basis of the variables job satisfaction, satisfaction regarding job duties, social support, time resources, access to further training, experienced challenge and experienced stress. The data was collected with an electronic questionnaire sent out to the guidance counselors in Swedish speaking upper secondary schools in Finland, a total of N = 42. The questionnaire was answered by a total of N = 22, all of which were analyzed in the study. The program IBM SPSS 25 was used in the processing and analysis of the data. All group comparisons are performed with nonparametric tests: Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis test by ranks and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The results showed that the guidance counsellors generally experienced a high level of job satisfaction. Symptoms of stress or perceived burnout had a negative correlation with several factors: job satisfaction, perceived social support, timely resources at hand, and a higher experience of stress and challenge. Work experience was also significant for job satisfaction. Despite this, the guidance counselors with experiences of stress or burnout reported a high job satisfaction.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what kind of ideals of a teacher and teaching con-structed in the curriculum texts of teacher education. The research questions are: 1) what kind of discourses can be read out from curriculum texts and 2) what kind of ideals and val-ues are attached in teachers in teacher education curriculum texts. The material of the thesis consists of general descriptions of the program catalogues of teacher education in the univer-sities of Helsinki, Lapland, Tampere and Turku, which were valid in the academic year 2017-2018. The theoretical background draws from curriculum research as well as research on the teacher ideals. The research method is discourse analytical reading of curriculum texts. There are three discourses on teacher education in the curriculum texts. The first discourse is discourse of science that relates teaching to academic teacher education. The second dis-course relates teaching to society considering teachers as actors of social change. I have named the second discourse as the discourse of social change. The third discourse empha-sises the effectiveness of teacher education in responding to the needs of the working life by producing teaching professionals. I have named the third discourse as Discourse of labour market and efficiency. The fourth discourse is an individual-centred discourse in which teaching is discussed as a means to the individual’s own development and the growth of in-dividual strengths. In general, all four discourses are present in each curriculum. The strong-est of these is the discourse of social change. The most significant exception is the University of Lapland where the teacher education cur-riculum text highlights locality, the significance of individual's own internal capabilities and problematisation of gender. The history of the University of Lapland provides the curriculum the specific nature. The question to be considered further is whether it is possible to find strength and new perspectives for teacher education from the strengths of each university in-stead of following the narratives and phrasing of educational ideologies alike in other univer-sities.

The aim of this study was to describe the collaborative invention process of two groups of elementary school students and to analyze the emergence of matters relevant to agency. The purpose of the study was to examine how the invention process proceeded in the target groups, and what kind of issues relevant to agency were apparent in the activities and discourse of the learners. The research data for this study consisted of video recordings and structured interview material of two groups of elementary school’s 5th grade students (N=8). The groups participated in a collaborative invention project combining different school subjects in the Helsinki capital area during the spring of 2017. Videos were coded with ELAN multimedia annotator to build striped process rugs visualizing the students’ discourse and action during the invention process. The research data was analyzed in three levels by using content analysis method: from the general description of the invention project to the selection of situations relevant from the agency standpoint, further to the more detailed discourse and action manifesting the emergence of matters relevant to agency. Indications of the issues essential for agency were found in the discourse and actions of the students. Students perceived their own knowledge and expertise through their personal strengths and weaknesses. The activities of the groups were co-regulated by taking responsibility for the activities of the group, by regulating other group members behavior, involving all group members to common activities and collectively overcoming obstacles. Group members provided social support and encouragement to each other, and all learners participated in group work and social interaction. Learners strove to make compromises, work together and keep the group together. The subject-specific expressions related to the invention were divided into the themes of producing the invention, taking responsibility for it and finding the invention meaningful. The results of the study provide insight into how learners’ agency can manifest itself in a collaborative invention project and how participating in such project can support the development of learners’ agency. The importance of this study culminates in the development of pedagogical models that support learners and their agency in a collaborative learning process.

Even though it is well-known that creative use of socio-digital technology enables adolescents’ learning and the development of twenty-first century skills, adolescents are not offered enough structured support for developing these advanced digital competences. In an effort to bridge this creative participation gap and to support the innovation equity, Innokas Network organized a game making project called Game it now!. Teams of comprehensive school students from all over Finland participated in the project designing and making digital games. The purpose was that students make all the elements of the game themselves using Scratch or GDevelop as game development platforms. I examined, what working in the game making project was like, how students’ socio-digital competences developed and how the game making project supported connecting informal and formal learning. Theoretically this study relied on the understanding of learning as collaborative knowledge-creating activity, as well as maker culture, which both focus on inspiring students making tangible artifacts with digital fabrication tools. Furthermore, this study relied on the understanding of connecting formal learning with students’ informal learning so that it is interest powered and peer supported, students share the same purpose and learning supports their academic orientation. The study relied on a mixed-methods approach combining statistical analyses and qualitative content analysis. The data was collected with two different self-report questionnaires. At the beginning of the game making project in winter 2019 students were asked to evaluate their socio-digital competences and at the end of the project in May 2019 students re-evaluated their socio-digital competences as well as answered questions regarding the nature and the effects of the game making project which were based on connected learning measures. In addition, the students were asked to describe their roles in the game making project and what kinds of games they made. After combining the data, it consisted of 98 students’ (32 girls, 66 boys and 29 primary school, 69 secondary school students with varying player backgrounds) answers. The results revealed that by working in the game making project the students were participating in challenging and collaborative knowledge-creation. Students supported each other and offered help and ideas when developing digital games. Moreover, working in the project improved students’ socio-digital competences. The game making project had positive effects on students’ participation at school, as well as outside of school. Some of the students reported discovering an interest they did not know they had, and some had started making a digital game on their own. The game-making project appeared to be a pedagogically meaningful way of connecting students’ informal and formal learning as the project inspired and challenged students whilst taught them knowledge-creating competences and other essential competences needed in the twenty-first century. This study indicated that extending creative maker culture into schools enriches the school as a learning environment and also impacts positively on students’ learning.

The study explores the educational debate in Sweden by analysing how Finnish education and the Finnish school is discussed in the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter. The aim is to investigate how education is discussed in Dagens Nyheter and in what way Finland is highlighted in the debate and what is said. The purpose is to clarify what Finland's function in the debate is. Is Sweden compared to Finland and if so, in what way? Is Finland seen as a role model or as something antiquated or something completely different? The dissertation is based on a general theory, Niklas Luhmann's systems theory and on the research theories, externalization, reference society and the role of the media in education policy by opening the contemporary diagnostic phenomenon, the Finnish school in Swedish media commentary. Previous studies have shown that it is common in today's globalized world to look at other countries in education policy and that large-scale international comparisons of education systems such as PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) have led to other countries' results becoming reference points and legitimizing arguments in global education policy. For the empirical study, data was collected from Dagens Nyheter's digital service and archive. The material consisted of a total of 38 articles published between 2010-2018 and the news source's own search engine was utilized by using the keywords "education", "school" and "Finland". During this period, two PISA results were published in 2012 and 2015, which also significantly "heated up" the debate. After the material collection, a thematic content analysis was performed of the identified articles. The articles that highlighted Finland and Finnish education could be categorized according to three different main themes that were recurring and central to the Dagens Nyheter debate. The articles covered in Theme 1: Swedish school policy and reform debate, Theme 2: Teachers, teacher training and teacher salaries and Theme 3: PISA, learning outcomes and assessment. In addition, the function of Finland in the debate could be categorized by subcategories in which Finland's function was seen as either 1) a role model, 2) something antiquated or 3) a reference but not an influence. The study's results suggest that when Finland is seen a role model, Finland's function is a positive reference in which various good aspects of the Finnish educational system are presented and projected against the Swedish system. In addition the results show that when Finland is seen as something antiquated, it is not about Finland's function being a negative reference but more about how Sweden makes excuses to Finland's PISA success in legitimizing its own decisions. Finally, the results show that Finland's function can also be seen as a reference but not an influence when observing Finland and comparing but neither in a positive or negative sense or that Finland is seen as one among other reference countries. One can also distinguish that the education debate was "heated up" especially when new PISA results have been published and that the debate in Dagens Nyheter has been most lively during the years 2011-2012. In summary, the study results indicate that Finland is raised in the debate and has a function as a reference but that the degree of intensity varies and that it is always linked to the ever-changing dynamic between countries and who is the one referred to at that particular moment.

The aim of this study is to show how university students in humanities talk about their interest in disciplinary choices and studies at their first academic year. The research questions examine which narratives university students in humanities use in talking about their choices. Also, the role of the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in three identified narratives of 1) interestingness 2) self-regulation and 3) profession is investigated. This study shows how students used these narratives in terms of time perspective: past, presence and future when talking about their interest in their discipline. By recognizing the power of interest of humanities students it is possible to see what we can learn from academically motivated students. As a result of these three identified narratives and their temporal aspect, we can note that the interest development of humanities students often seems to have a long history in the past before they entered their academic studies. Humanities students seem to own strong interpersonal skills and they use their strong intrinsic motivation and interest as a resource to proceed in their studies despite the uncertain future employment goals. The results also show that these students operate in the middle of the academic freedom with multiple choices and often lack a clear view about the future employment of their field after graduation. Also extrinsic motivation in disciplinary choices was used to ensure a safer path into the labour market. A strong personal strong trust to future and personal interest experience was found to be a key resource in the students with well -developed interes. These narratives of student interests give tools to the student guidance to understand humanities students who often seem to have well developed individual interest about their disciplinary choice already in the beginning of their academic studies. This study also agrees with the previous result about the importance of student guidance and student support throughout the university studies. Qualitative content analysis was applied in the study. Instead of using narrative analysis in the traditional way, the “mini-narratives” were identified and explored to capture qualitative understanding about the role of interest in the first year. Temporality in relation to identified narratives of interest offers wider understanding about the interest development during the university studies The data collection was executed by Dr. Johanna Mikkonen in 2006 as she interviewed university students in humanities as part of her doctoral dissertation “Interest in university studies. Its role and relation to motivational variables”. In the future it would be interesting to examine whether these identified narratives change or develop within the university studies and how after intervention to improve student support services.

The MeToo movement struck like a flash of light through social media worldwide in 2017. Since then, the dialogue concerning sexual harassment has continued, despite the discussion remaining subdued in several places. The deep-rooted culture of silence seems to choke the words in our throats. How should the prevailing silence be broken? The purpose of this research is to investigate the forms of sexual harassment that occur at Finnish workplaces and the consequences these harassments have for individual victims and entire work communities. Furthermore, I am interested in how sexual harassment is prevented in Finland. The theoretical framework consists of definitions of sexual harassment and the MeToo phenomenon as well as an examination of current legislation, previous research and the construction of the culture of silence. The research was conducted as a qualitative study with a phenomenographic research approach. In addition, an educational-feminist perspective has been used, which is illustrated as the perception that knowledge is produced collectively and is context-bound. The material consists of five semi-structured interviews. The material collected from the interviews was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results revealed that the informants ask for clear practices for action when there is a suspicion that sexual harassment takes place in the workplace. Further, different ways of harassment are described as well as workplace cultures, which enable harassment, discrimination and the current culture of silence. The consequences of sexual harassment vary between individuals, two of the informants sought outside help, two did not mention the topic at work and one did not experience the harassment at work as particularly anxiety-provoking. With my research, I want to highlight concrete practices through which Finnish work communities can effectively fix and prevent the occurrence of sexual harassment.

Aims: The aim of the research is to identify the sphere of work among academic middle managers and the dilemmas they face in their profession. During this millennium, academic leadership as a research area has increased. Yet there is little research on the subject despite the fact that academic leadership is directly connected to a university’s main goals and tasks, and therefore linked to the university’s overall success. An academic middle manager is a supervisor, a coordinator, a strategic leader and a change agent. They have a wide range of tasks and they work with many stakeholders. The position is, by its nature, one where tensions arise, which is highlighted through the context of an academic work environment and its culture. The tensions in the position may increase if the career path of an academic middle manager falls on them unintentionally. During the past decade, there have been various changes in the universities, which have shaped both the organizational structure and the tasks of an academic leader. Methods: The research data consisted of eight semi-structured theme interviews that were collected from academic middle managers working at the University of Helsinki. The interviews were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. The research follows an abductive strategy on the analysis part. Based on the analysis, two work task areas were emphasized and four dilemma groups were identified; community dilemmas, operative dilemmas, change dilemmas and leaders’ career dilemmas. Results and conclusions: The research highlighted two main areas in a middle manager’s sphere of work; 1) strategic and operative leadership and management, and 2) people leadership. Other tasks within their sphere of work had been delegated to others. The research also showed that middle managers face both weak and strong dilemmas in their work, which were categorized into the four dilemma groups introduced above. Within these four dilemma groups there were three dilemmas that especially created tension. The first was the tension between individualism and collectivism. The second was caused by the power dynamics of an academic middle manager and the academic community. Also, lack of time appeared in three different dilemma groups creating tension in different situations. The research showed evidence of the dilemmas that academic middle managers face. The evidence and results may be used for building academic leadership training programs.

This master’s thesis sets out to examine the reasons behind high school seniors’ choices in application to higher education. Focus of this thesis is directed to seniors’ family history and future goals. Application reform to Finnish higher education takes place during the making of this thesis and therefore the effects of this reform will be also investigated. I utilize theoretical ideas and concepts by Pierre Bourdieu. Earlier studies have shown that social class is connected to consumption of education. I aim to reveal cultural manuscripts, which are connected to application to higher education. I interviewed ten final year students from two high schools from Helsinki. Both high schools demand high grade point averages from their applicants. Qualitative methods and especially analysis of expectations is used in examining the material. As a conclusion, many cultural manuscripts were found to guide seniors in their choices in applying to higher education. Some of them were more obvious to the seniors than others. The pressure by highly educated parents was an easily recognizable storyline, whereas many manuscripts were formed in such a long period of time and were repeated so frequently that they had become invisible and a natural way of life. Cultural manuscripts were formed within the surroundings and communities of the high school seniors. Resources as well as habitus gained from the childhood has helped seniors in their studies. They had gained working routines and adequate skills to cope in the school system, which has made their studies feel pleasant and relatively effortless. Educational institutions have given validation to their habitus and resources, which has driven the students to follow a cultural manuscript of aiming to the highest of educational paths. The experiences of success in school have motivated seniors to keep going and to aim higher. As a result, many potential options are left as non-alternatives to the seniors during application process and correspondingly other options are considered even if they are not appealing to the applicant.