Browsing by Subject "kuvatuki"

The objective of this research is to study cultural imagery within inclusivity driven learn-ing environments, particularizing in visual aid and the representation of diversity. The subject of the research is visual aid pictures found in the learning environments of public day care centers in Helsinki. The focus of the research is to examine what kind of visual aid pictures are selected to be used in the public areas of the day care centers and if they portray their user. The user be-ing a diverse customer group, based on the values of inclusive early childhood education suitable for all. Do the visual aid pictures depict the features of the majority groups, or are disparities disclosed in the imagery selected? Diversity and disparities are defined accord-ing to prior theory taking into consideration the perspectives of the narratives. In which ways are the majority groups or deviation from it portrayed in Finnish early childhood education and is the opposition of these concepts visible in the selection of vis-ual aid used in the learning environments? Prior theory states that the main values in in-clusive early childhood education revolve around a child’s sense of being seen and heard. In order to produce a sense of being seen and heard for all children, the chosen imagery must also depict this. All children have the right to be seen and accepted for who they are and experience social cohesion within inclusive early childhood education regardless of their heritage, physical features and abilities, gender, illness, disability or belonging to any other minority group. The data was compiled between December 2022 and February 2023. The data collection was executed by photographing visual aid pictures inside of public day care centers in five different ECE districts of Helsinki. The data was analyzed by using qualitative content analysis and quantitative coding. Empirical information was formed by means of coding, responding to the research problems about the quantity of diversity visible. The research hypothesis is that the diversity visible in the used visual aid pictures varies between different ECE districts, according to the customer base and employees. If the em-ployees are qualified and adequately educated, it can be presumed that the pedagogically selected visual aid is of good quality and portrays values of inclusion well. If the customer base of the day care center is diverse, it can be assumed that diversity is seen as the norm in the visual aid pictures. The availability of visual aid pictures can be presumed to have an impact on the selection. If the results indicate that visual aid pictures are selected from a sparse source base, it will reduce the quantity and extent of diversity and disparities. The main hypothesis of the research is, that visual aid which a child relates to and reminds a child of itself increases the experience and sense of being seen and heard, advancing the actualization of the values of inclusive early childhood education.