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The aim of the study was to investigate how reading interest and reading joy is encouraged in preschools. The studies central questions were: Is the literature available to the children; if yes then in what way? How does the preschool work with literature? What are the preschools’ goals with their literature-work? What are the teachers own attitudes towards reading and literature? The data in this study were collected by qualitative interview with an open interview structure. The sample consists of three interviews with preschool teachers in Finnish-Swedish preschools in Helsinki. The results showed a clear lack of knowledge when it comes to reading interest and the importance of it. The term reading interest was in the first hand associated with learning to read and the reading development instead of the experiences and feelings involved in the reading. The teachers were more prone to associate reading joy with the children’s experiences involved in reading and the teachers reading aloud for the kids. Another interesting result was that the teachers prioritized the reading and saw it as an important part of the curriculum. Reading was thus not only an activity during naptime. Even if encouraging activities did occur, the teachers were not able to connect the activities directly to the development of reading interest. This indicates that the encouraging of reading interest does not happen deliberately. It would be important to raise the teacher’s awareness of the advantages of reading interest and teach them how to implant it in their work.

The aim of this study was to find out what role physical education plays for children aged 3 to 5 years in kindergarten environment. In this study I used quantitative research method and my research material consisted of questionnaire results gathered from several Swedish speaking kindergartens in Helsinki. From each kindergarten, responsible person of group for 3 to 5 year olds, either social worker, childminder or kindergarten teacher, was asked to answer the questionnaire. The most important result of the study is that physical education is arranged once a week in most kindergartens I studied. The distribution between different types of physical activities such as sporty play and obstacle course was quite even. Also distribution of toys and equipment used in physical education was fairly constant. As a result, I found out that most popular activity was sporty play and most regularly used toy was beanbag. In conclusion, I can state that children’s pedagogues consider physical education as a very important method in kindergarten education considering how much it affects the development of each child. Also they believe that physical education is a good tool for both children and nursery staff to have fun together. Children’s pedagogues also stated that regular physical education in kindergarten is important so that children learn exercise to be part of daily routines, also later in life.

The purpose of this study is to investigate what role children's books have in kindergartens and in what kind of situations they are being used. I wanted to know if the kindergarten teachers have pedagogical purposes behind the books that they choose to read with the children. The aim of this study is to get a whole picture of how children’s books are being used in kindergartens. The study is done by qualitative interviews with three kindergarten teachers from three different kindergartens. I have recorded, transcribed and analysed the interviews. The study shows, that the most dominating way of using children´s books in kindergartens is by reading aloud. All three kindergarten teachers find children’s books very important for the children, because of the development of language and ability to fantasize. The study also shows that these kindergarten teachers use book discussions in one way or another. They often discuss difficult words and the story itself with the children. One of the biggest challenges, according to the kindergarten teachers, is to be brave enough to choose literature out of your own comfort zone. The kindergarten teachers also highlight the fact that there is not enough time on the side of the routines to process and work with the children’s books in the way they want to. Lastly, only one of these three kindergarten teachers clearly mentions that the use of children’s books is based on the children’s initiative and interests.

The purpose of this study is to look at bilingualism from a child orientated perspective. The study concentrates on children’s use of language and on their thoughts about Finnish and Swedish. The term language use meaning how children use languages when communicating with people and in different situations. The study is based on theories concerning children’s language development, use of language and learning of a second language. The study was carried out as a qualitative research and was based on observations and interviews. The observations were implemented in a preschool on three days in the mornings and the number of interviews was four. The choice of persons for the interviews was based on the child’s language skills in both Finnish and Swedish, with the parents’ consent in mind. The research material was analyzed in relation to the presented theory, according to the factors in an individual-oriented analysis model and by compilation of children’s comments. According to the results the children’s use of language is determined by the other person and the situation where the discussion is taking place. Even the topic of the discussion has an impact on the choice on language. Whereas code-switching has an impact both on the child and on the function of the interaction. The children’s thoughts about Finnish and Swedish show a positive attitude towards bilingualism even though Finnish seem to have a higher value among the children. The children’s thoughts seem to be influenced by the social environment and the children have a wish of going against the grown-ups rules about the spoken language.

Delaktighet är barnets grundläggande rättighet och personalens ansvar är att se till att barnets rättigheter förverkligas i småbarnspedagogiken. Syftet med denna studie är att ta reda på hur lärare arbetar med barns delaktighet i verksamheten samt synliggöra eventuella utmaningar som framkommer i arbetet med barns delaktighet. Enligt tidigare undersökningar finns det förbättringar gällande barns delaktighet i den småbarnspedagogiska verksamheten (Repo et al, 2019, s. 72). Studiens forskningsfrågor är: Hur uppfattar lärare begreppet delaktighet? Hur möjliggör lärare barns delaktighet? Vilka utmaningar framkommer i arbetet med barns delaktighet? Den empiriska delen består av kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra lärare inom småbarnspedagogik. Informanterna i studien kommer från olika enheter och jobbar med barn i åldern 0–5. Intervjuerna genomfördes via videokommunikationstjänsten Zoom och bandades in och analyserades ur en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Studiens resultat visar att lärare uppfattar delaktighet som att barnen har inflytande i saker som berör barnen själva. Lärare förhåller sig positivt till arbetet med barns delaktighet och skapar utrymme för delaktighet i den småbarnspedagogiska verksamheten. Barnens möjligheter till delaktighet varierar på de olika enheterna. Utmaningar som framkommer i arbetet med barns delaktighet gäller säkerhet och personalbrist. Lärare upplever också arbetet utmanande om barnen saknar erfarenheter eller viljan av att vara delaktiga.

The purpose with this study is to see how some kindergarten teachers are working with the theme children’s feelings and acting out behavior. The theory part is supported by the law, the national regulatory documents and scientific literature within the field. The thesis will also go deeper into the fundamental of the low arousal approach. This study is a qualitative study where the material is collected by an interview with four randomly picked kindergarten teachers. The interview questions are semi-structured and my informants have got the interview questions beforehand. The analysis of the material has been made by looking for similarities and differences between the informants’ answers. Through the analysis of the databases it did appear that the informants were thinking that the theme feelings is an important, but hard subject. The informants were largely working in the same way, but there were some differences though. One of the conclusions in the study is that kindergarten teachers perhaps could need more support and in-service training within this theme, in order to get the tools that are needed in order to work and support children’s emotional development in the best possible way.

Barn har genom tiderna på ett naturligt sätt ställt frågor om liv, död, förluster och andra typ av livsfrågor. Olika teorier och tidigare forskning om hur barn förhåller sig till och hanterar olika fenomen i sin omvärld visar att barns livsfrågor är viktiga på flera sätt, barn utvecklas och deras unika livsåskådning bildas med hjälp av livsfrågor. Vuxnas förhållningssätt kring barns livsfrågor har en stor betydelse för hur barnen vill och vågar ställa olika typer av livsfrågor. Barns livsfrågor är ett relativt outforskat område inom småbarnspedagogiken men viktigt, detta gjorde att mitt intresse för pedagogers uppfattningar om barns livsfrågor och vilka är pedagogers arbetssätt kring barns livsfrågor vaknade. Mina egna erfarenheter av barns livsfrågor har gett mig osäkerhet, rädsla och försiktighet för hur jag som pedagog ska hantera barns olika livsfrågor, detta är också en orsak till att detta ämne blev intressant att studera. Eftersom intresset för föreliggande studie är att ta reda på pedagogers erfarenheter kring barns livsfrågor blev ansatsen i denna studie kvalitativ. Jag fick möjligheten att åka på nordiskt studentutbyte till Norge för att samla data inför studien. I studien deltog tre lärare som samtliga arbetar inom småbarnspedagogiken. Intervjuerna var semistrukturerade, de bandades in och transkriberades senare. Analysmetoden är innehållsanalys. Resultaten visar att informanterna är insatta i vikten av livsfrågorna inom småbarnspedagogiken. Informanterna hade erfarenheter om många livsfrågor och de ansåg att det är en del av vardagen. Resultaten visar att besvarandet av barns livsfrågor inte är simpelt. Det är en hel del aspekter pedagoger ska ta i beaktandet då de svarar på barns livsfrågor. Informanterna berättar att de fått bra stöd i svåra situationer, men i krissituationer kunde det vara meningsfullt med en utomstående expert som kunde hjälpa pedagoger och barn genom svåra situationer och diskussioner.

The purpose of this thesis is to provide an introduction to the subject of children’s stress in child care settings. The paper discusses the neuropsychological foundation to stress, as well as what this implicates for the educator’s work on reducing stress in child care settings. The research questions were as following. 1. How does the stress system work in a child? 2. How can the educator use current research on stress to help children improve their stress management skills and reduce stress in child care settings? The method that has been used in this thesis is a narrative literature review. The thesis arrives at the conclusion that educators need to broaden their knowledge on how the stress system works in a child. The thesis also identifies which aspects of the child care setting and the educator’s working method that are importiant in reducing children’s stress. The thesis argues that there is need for a working method that is more conciously focused on reucing stress.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore children´s perception of their possibilities to participate in and influence the daily activities and their learning in preschool. This study emphasizes the children´s perception by exploring the phenomenon from the children´s perspective. The theoretical background focuses on influence and participation as concepts, democratic rights and factors that have an impact on children’s possibilities to be able to affect the daily activities and their own learning. The study´s empirical part was executed as a qualitative interview with preschool children. Ten preschool children participated in the interview and the interviews were conducted in pairs at the preschool. The research approach for this study is phenomenographical, because I wanted to research children´s perceptions of their influence and participation at preschool. The study shows that children perceive limited possibilities to affect the daily activities of the preschool. An interesting result is that children perceive that it is mainly the educators who decide at preschool and that free play is the only activity in which the children feel that they can decide freely what to do. In the results differences in perceptions of the possibilities in the free play emerge since some children consider that they can decide independently while other children consider that they can decide almost independently. It is found that the children have a possibility to affect the planned daily activities to some degree. Though it is entirely depending on if the educators offers the children the opportunity. The results show that most of the children perceive that they can affect their own learning, with help from their own dedication the children can get assistance in learning.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate how kindergarten teachers experience daycare start. Within the Swedish speaking daycare in Helsinki, the work is based on the "With the eyes of children" approach. This working model addresses following questions; how do kindergarten teachers perceive home visits, how do they experience the soft landing period in daycare and what thoughts do they have about the self-care model. The theoretical part focus on theories associated with the self-care model, previous research and hence emphasize national governing documents. A qualitative research method was used in this study and data was collected by using a semi-structured interview. Three kindergarten teachers participated in the study and the interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed. The results reveals that kindergarten teachers perceive the self-care model as one of the most important tools in the field. Home visits are seen as an important trust building link between families and teachers and therefore are home visits perceived to deepen the relationship between the teacher, parent and child. Soft landing as a method creates a safe foundation for a child to start daycare as the child and teacher already have a connection with each other. Some improvement suggestions concerning the soft landing method are addressed. One improvement suggestion could be to clarify parents’ participation in the self-care model. Additionally was pointed out, that a self-caregiver at the daycare start, is quite tied up and that the self-care model does not always work out in the best possible way. This means that as a self-caregiver you have to be flexible and be able to adapt the self-care model in a neat way.