Browsing by Subject "opettajankoulutus"

Aims. The aim of my research was to study those teachers who have not undergone any teacher education and their thinking about teacher's work. This phenomenon was chosen as the research subject because it has been studied very little compared to the research on regular teachers in Finnish schools. My research task was to study the thoughts on and experiences of working as a teacher and formal qualifications of teachers without teacher education. Moreover, the aim was to outline the teaching career of these teachers as well as their thoughts on and experiences of teacher education and professional development. Methods. The research was conducted through literature and through the narratives of six people who either are working or have been working as teachers without any teacher education. Three of these people worked as teachers without any teacher education at the time of the research whereas the other three had applied and been accepted into teacher education after having already worked as teachers. One of the latter had also already graduated with a certificate of education. This was a qualitative study and the data was gathered by doing theme interviews and analysed by using inductive qualitative analysis. Results and conclusions. Many similarities were found in the narratives of the interviewees and a more detailed examination of the themes revealed some outliers. The ways the interviewees had ended up working as teachers were very similar but their plans for the future differed. The thoughts on and experiences of working as a teacher were quite similar whereas formal qualifications elicited contradictory thoughts among the interviewees. Teacher education also divided their opinions. The interviewees who had undergone teacher education evaluated the effectiveness of the education in a similar manner. Nearly all the interviewees also criticised teacher education widely. The interviewees felt they had progressed in different areas during their career, even though most of them had not actively sought personal or professional development. Overall, the research elucidated a phenomenon that had been studied very little beforehand. It also revealed some important themes in education policy, which merit further study.

The main purpose of this study was to find out what kind of means the home economic teachers use to ease pupils who need support in the learning process. The goal of this study was learn how information of the support needed was transferred to teacher and to learn what kind of additional resources are available. In addition, this study focuses on teachers' reactions to integrate the pupils in a normal teaching situation. Also this study focuses on tools that teacher education offers to meet pupils needing special support. The data for the qualitative study were collected during the spring 2014 in two separate stages: by collecting critical incidents and semi-structured interviews. The data were collected by discretionary sampling. Ten home economics teachers working in Pirkanmaa and Uudenmaa region took part in this study. The data were analyzed by qualitative content analysis. According to the main outcome, pupils are heterogeneous groups and the need for support varies from minor to major. The main problems areas for pupils according to teachers are learning and behavioral problems. Also social and psychological problems have increased. The information of support needed among new students was transferred from class teacher to home economics teacher but in some cases the need for support was noticed during classes. Teachers have several means to support pupils' learning. For example, the teachers used demonstrative means, graphic guidance and they split working stages into smaller details. Sometimes it was also possible to get a supportive person into the classroom. The teachers used more time and effort to evaluate the pupils in need of assistance and assigned more practical tasks for them. The communication between teacher and parent is very important according to the interviewees. The idea of integration of the pupils needing support into the normal teaching program is good, but to bring this into practice is challenging. According to the teachers their education did not give them the tools needed in teaching special pupils. Many teachers would like to have more practical guidance to support their teaching methods. Hopefully the findings of this study will raise discussion and help the newly graduated home economics teachers to meet special pupils at their work in the future.

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a goal-oriented process in which the learner monitors and regulates his or her own learning. Meta-skills of learning such as SRL are important both in formal education and in professional development taking place in working environments. For the teaching profession, it is crucial that teacher education supports its students' abilities to critically reflect on and research and develop their own work. In short, teachers need competences for continuous professional learning. This master's thesis analyzes the connection between student teachers' SRL and competences in continuous professional learning. SRL was defined as forethought of learning, learning strategies, and learning skills. Competences in continuous professional learning were constructed on an understanding of the teacher as a professional capable of researching and developing his or her work. Because there are structural and content differences between class and subject teacher education, this thesis also analyzes whether there are differences in continuous professional learning competences between the two programmes. The data were collected using a web-based survey as part of a research project on teacher education. SRL was measured using a self-report instrument for higher education students, including questions about regulatory strategies of learning and motivational factors. The instrument for continuous professional learning focused on teaching professions' reflective features and professional development. Both constructs were measured using a five-point likert-scale. The respondents were student teachers from University of Helsinki and University of Oulu studying to be either class or subject teachers (N = 417). Data analysis was conducted using correlations, t-tests, and linear regression analyses. In addition, confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were conducted in the preliminary analysis. Students' competences in continuous professional learning correlated with the different constructs of self-regulated learning, although none of the correlations could be described as strong. Regression analysis indicated that in the forethought of learning dimension, utility value of studies and self-concept as a learner best explained competences in continuous professional learning. In the dimension of learning strategies, self-management was the only statistically significant explanatory variable. In the learning skills dimension, application of theories and rehearsal best explained continuous professional learning. There was a significant difference between class and subject student teachers in continuous professional learning, although the effect size was moderate. The division between class and subject teachers was also a significant explanatory variable in all regression models. Depending on the model, 6.9 to 11.5 percent of variance in continuous professional learning could be explained. The results indicate that self-regulated learning is connected to continuous professional learning competences, but the explanatory power of SRL is not very strong. In the future, it will be important to investigate whether these results are due to an actual relationship between the two phenomena or a matter of data and measurement. Class and subject teacher education seems to some extent to produce differences in continuous professional learning competences. This could indicate that there is a need to develop subject teacher studies in order to make sure that all teachers, regardless of their training, have the necessary competences to develop professionally.

Objectives. The purpose of this study is to compare Mexican and Finnish classroom teachers’ perceptions of the role and status that teachers have in a society. I also aim to find out reasons for choosing a teaching career. The theoretical background of this study will introduce both Mexican and Finnish educational systems, as well as teachers’ training. In addition, the concepts of vocational selection and teacher’s role and status are under scrutiny. Methods. Eleven Mexican and nine Finnish classroom teachers participated to this qualitative and comparative study via semi-structured e-mail inquiry. Mexican respondents come from all over Mexico, while most of the Finnish respondents come from Southern Finland. Both ages and teaching experience of all the respondents vary significantly. The research material was analyzed by means of content analysis. The role of theory was directional in the analysis. Results and conclusion. The results of this study showed that Mexican and Finnish respondents had similar thoughts about their vocational choice and congruent understanding of teachers’ role in both school environment as well as in society at large. Among both respondent groups, there were six types of similar definitions concerning vocational choices: (1) desire to teach and help the children learn, (2) the possibility to have an impact on children, (3) attachment to work with children, (4) diverse and creative vocation, (5) the influence of family and friends on the choice of career, and (6) employment. Regarding teachers’ role in schools and in society, nine groups of similar perceptions emerged: (1) educator (2) a role model (3) a mentor (4) a ’parent’ for the childen, (5) many roles outside teacher’s profession (6) producer of good citizens (7) supporter, (8) authority, and (9) companion. The results indicate that teachers’ vocational choices and the variety of roles inside the teaching profession are a global phenomenon. However, the social status of teachers is, according to Mexican teachers, bad, while Finnish teachers consider their social status to be good. Regarding the social status of teachers, there were three groups of similar perceptions among both respondent groups: (1) low wage, indicating the lack of appreciation, (2) liberty to choose the teaching methods and, lastly, (3) good status/position in relation to the pupils.

Previous studies indicate that positive learning experiences are related to academic achievement as well as to well-being. On the other hand, emotional and motivational problems in studying may pose a risk for both academic achievement and well-being. Thus, emotions and motivation have an increasing role in explaining university students learning and studying. The relations between emotions, motivation, study success and well-being have been less frequently studied. The aim of this study was to investigate what kind of academic emotions, motivational factors and problems in studying students experienced five days before an exam of an activating lecture course, and the relations among these factors as well as their relation to self-study time and study success. Furthermore, the effect of all these factors on well-being, flow experience and academic achievement was examined. The term academic emotion was defined as emotion experienced in academic settings and related to studying. In the present study the theoretical background to motivational factors was based on thinking strategies and attributions, flow experience and task value. Problems in studying were measured in terms of exhaustion, anxiety, stress, lack of interest, lack of self-regulation and procrastination. The data were collected in December 2009 in an activating educational psychology lecture course by using a questionnaire. The participants (n=107) were class and kindergarten teacher students from the University of Helsinki. Most of them were first year students. The course grades were also gathered. Correlations and stepwise regression analysis were carried out to find out the factors that were related to or explained study success. The clusters that presented students' problems in studying as well as thinking strategies and attributions, were found through hierarchical cluster analysis. K-means cluster analysis was used to form the final groups. One-way analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis test and crosstabs were conducted to see whether the students in different clusters varied in terms of study success, academic emotions, task value, flow, and background variables. The results indicated that academic emotions measured five days before the exam explained about 30 % of the variance of the course grade; exhaustion and interest positively, and anxiety negatively. In addition, interest as well as the self-study time best explained study success on the course. The participants were classified into three clusters according to their problems in studying as well as their thinking strategies and attributions: 1) ill-being, 2) carefree, and 3) committed and optimistic students. Ill-being students reported most negative emotions, achieved the worst grades, experienced anxiety rather than flow and were also the youngest. Carefree students, on the other hand, expressed the least negative emotions and spent the least time on self-studying, and like committed students, experienced flow. In addition, committed students reported positive emotions the most often and achieved the best grades on the course. In the future, more in-depth understanding how and why especially young first year students experience their studying hard is needed, because early state of the studies is shown to predict later study success.

Global education deals with wide-ranging and complex global phenomena. In this dissertation, the theory of global education is examined primarily from a postcolonial perspective. Although global education is a cross-cutting theme in Finnish primary education, its implementation varies in schools as well as in teacher education. The dissertation examines the views of teacher educators, especially about the aims of critical global education and the challenges and opportunities of its implementation in teacher education. The research material acquired on the principles of action research consisted of group discussions of a workshop on critical global education for teacher educators, text material related to the workshop, and registration and feedback forms. The workshop was based in part on a discussion method which utilizes critical literacy issues. The workshop was organized in co-operation with global education organisation Taksvärkki ry and was attended by five (5) teacher educators from three Finnish universities. Most of the participating teacher educators had previous knowledge about the themes of global education. The material was analysed by inductive content analysis. In the speech of teacher educators, global education appeared as a starting point for education and teacher training. However, the discussions highlighted various tensions, for example in relation to the value base of global education, the nature of change and action. In teacher education, opportunities to address broad and complex themes were presented through, for example, dialogue, criticality and changing of perspectives, experiential learning, student encounters, and extensive collaboration. Challenges to the implementation of global education included a solid division of subjects, the ambiguity of global education, efficiency and lack of time, broad learning objectives, and formal learning environments. On the other hand, the introduction of critical thinking through subject didactics, a holistic approach to all teaching and the strengthening of the role of the educator in teacher education were also mentioned as examples. It is important to discuss global education and its goals both inside and outside teacher education and to co-operate in the wide-ranging implementation of global education.

The aim of this study was to research class teacher students’ conceptions of emotional skills and the education of emotional skills and its significance in the context of primary education. Another ambition was to investigate how the contents of emotional education were considered in the university studies, based on the experiences of class teacher students. Based on earlier studies, emotional education has a holistic effect on the development of children, but regardless of it, the teachers receive only little education to help developing pupils’ emotional skills. The training of teachers is one of the most significant factors in emotional education of the pupils, according to other studies, hence the aim of this paper is also to research how the teacher education could be improved to prepare the class teacher students to feel more secure about emotional education in primary education. The material of the research consisted of the interviews of eight master’s degree class teacher students, who were in their fourth or fifth year of studies in the University of Helsinki. The material was collected and analysed with a qualitative method. The interviews were semi-structured, and the material was analysed with a phenomenographic approach. The results of the study are based on categories of description formed by phenomenographic analysis. According to the results, class teacher students had a structured understanding of the holis-tic significance of primary education’s emotional education for children’s development. Emo-tional skills were considered as skills that improve children’s ability to identify and control feelings, empathy, social skills, and interaction with others. Emotional education was consid-ered an important part of primary education, whose aim is to create a base for the develop-ment of emotional skills and to improve the most significant emotional skills, as viewed by the primary school teacher students. The class teacher students felt as though they had not re-ceived enough education related to primary education’s emotional education and its imple-mentation. The class teacher students think the university should provide the basis and more information about practical methods that work in implementation of emotional education. The class teacher students would improve the teacher training’s methods of teaching and contents, in order to make processing emotional education more relevant and consistent.

This study examines the perceptions of pre-service teachers’ emotional skills and education related to those skills, as well as their self-efficacy as future emotional skills educators. Additionally, pre-service teachers’ conceptions of a teacher's role as an emotional skills educator were examined. In previous studies, it is well-established that recognizing, regulating, and expressing emotions are essential for maintaining social relations and promoting well-being, with emotional skills being learned from adults in early childhood. The quality of emotional skills education is known to be influenced by the teacher's own emotional competence and educational background. The present study was conducted using a qualitative, phenomenographic approach. Data was gathered from semi-structured interviews with six pre-service teachers in their final year of studies. The transcribed data was analyzed to form outcome spaces. The results indicate that the pre-service teachers had a comprehensive understanding of emotional skills and their importance to a child's development and life. They also demonstrated knowledge of methods to develop children's emotional skills and integrate them into elementary school education. Despite these results, the students also expressed feelings of uncertainty about their skills as future emotional skills educators due to their lack of education and work experience, as well as the challenges of well-being at work and the limitations of a teacher's influence on children's lives. However, they also showed partial self-efficacy as emotional skills educators based on their own perceived strong emotional skills. The teacher's role as an emotional skills educator was seen as part of their responsibilities, with the development of their own professional skills and shared responsibility for upbringing being especially important. This study highlights the need for further research and development to improve teacher training in emotional skills education. Examining the perceptions and conceptions of future teachers’ self-efficacy provided valuable insights into emotional skills teaching.

Vuoden 2014 opetussuunnitelmauudistuksessa ohjelmointi tuotiin osaksi peruskoulun oppimäärää kaikilla luokka-asteilla. Uudistuksen yhteydessä ei luotu uutta tietotekniikan oppiainetta, vaan ohjelmointi sijoitettiin osaksi matematiikan sisältöjä, matematiikan aineenopettajien opetusvastuulle. Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa kartoitetaan matematiikan aineenopettajaopiskelijoiden ohjelmointitaitoja TPACK-teorian viitekehyksessä teettämällä opiskelijoille lomakekysely, jossa aineenopettajan pedagogisia perusopintoja suorittavia matematiikan aineenopettajaopiskelijoita pyydettiin määrittelemään ohjelmointiin liittyviä keskeisiä käsitteitä, tulkitsemaan ohjelmakoodia ja tuottamaan ohjelmakoodia. Vastauksia saatiin 36 kpl, eli melkein yksi täysi vuosikurssillinen. Vastaajista noin joka neljäs oli suorittanut vähintään perusopinnot tietojenkäsittelytieteessä, mikä oli suoraan kytköksissä hyvään ohjelmointiosaamiseen. Käsitteistä erityisesti algoritmi osoittautui hyvin vaikeaksi määriteltäväksi. Vaikeimpiin koodinlukutehtäviin harvempi kuin joka viides vastaaja osasi vastata hyväksyttävästi. Koodintuottotehtävissä hyväksyttävän vastauksen osasi tuottaa noin neljännes vastaajista. Vastauksissa oli nähtävissä hierarkkinen rakenne: koodintuotto edellytti koodinlukutaitoa. Kyselyn validiteettia arvioitiin teettämällä sama kysely myös pienelle joukolle ammattiohjelmoijia. Ammattiohjelmoijat suoriutuivat tehtävistä odotetusti erittäin hyvin. Kaiken kaikkiaan ohjelmointitaito osoittautui puutteelliseksi. Aikaisempi tutkimus on osoittanut, että puutteellinen sisältötietojen hallinta on kytköksissä heikkoon opetuksen ja esimerkiksi virheellisten mallien välittämiseen. Tämän takia olisi syytä tarkastella sitä, onko nykyinen opetussuunnitelman ratkaisu sijoittaa ohjelmointiopetus matematiikan oppiaineeseen hyvä, pitäisikö ohjelmoinnilla ja tietojenkäsittelytieteellä olla laajempi rooli matematiikan yliopisto-opinnoissa ja millaisia täydennyskoulutusmahdollisuuksia matematiikan aineenopettajakunnalle tulisi tarjota.

Objectives. In 2010, an amendment to the Basic Education Act introduced a three-step support model and its introduction has had a significant impact on the operational culture of schools. At the same time, it has also significantly shaped the work of teachers. When evaluating three-step support and its introduction, it is important to highlight the experiences of teachers who practice it on a practical level. In previous studies, teachers have highlighted several challenges related to three-step support and its practice. Teachers have experienced their skills to support students with special educational needs as weak. The purpose of this study was to find out how novice teachers in the early stages of their careers experience three-step support and its practice. The aim of the study was also to find out what kind of skills novice teachers felt teacher training had offered them to practice three-level support. Methods. The study involved four novice teachers, all of whom had less than three years of work experience after graduation. All teachers had graduated from the University of Helsinki. Teachers had experience of practicing three-step support in their own work. The data was collected by semi-structured interviews. The data was analysed using data-driven content analysis. Results and conclusions. Teachers felt that the three-step support model included some functional elements such as the structure of the model, collaboration, and the structure brought by pedagogical documents. The model also saw much to be improved such as flexibility, boundaries of support steps, consistent practices and resources. The practice of the three-step support was stressful due to poor know-how, laborious documentation and high responsibility. Teachers experienced that co-operation with the work community and other professionals supported their work. Teacher training was perceived to provide mainly theoretical skills, while practical skills had remained weak. Teacher training was felt to contain lot of theory and the importance of learning through practice was emphasized.