Browsing by Author "Boije af Gennäs, Heli"

Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract The father of kindergarten Friedrich Fröbel and his pedagogic views have not been a popular research study during the recent years. However, the history of Finnish kindergarten has been studied. According to these studies, Fröbel had a strong influence in Finnish kindergartens up until the 1980’s. Since the 1980’s there have been some changes in the Finnish kindergartens, e.g. in the operational culture and the eligibility criteria of the staff The emphasis has shifted from social pedagogy to early education with emphasis on pedagogy. Kindergarten teachers were trained according to Fröbel’s pedagogy until the late 1970’s. Therefore, many of the kindergarten teachers still working have received education that emphasizes Fröbel’s pedagogy. The hypothesis of this study is that Fröbel's pedagogy is still visible also in the Early childhood and Pre-school curricula. Part of the hypothesis is that the Fröbel’s pedagogy has changed compared to the early days’ Finnish kindergarten. This study aims to find out what is Fröbel’s pedagogy is and how it is reflected in the Early childhood education and Pre-school curricula. This study is a descriptive content analysis. The material used in this study includes Fröbel's textbook (in Swedish) Människans fostran and thereto related preface. The pedagogics described in Fröbel's textbook is later compared with the pedagogy described in Pre-school curriculum 2014 and Early childhood education curriculum 2016. In order to provide a comprehensive view of Fröbel’s pedagogy in Finland I have included also Elise Lujala's PhD Lastentarhatyö, kansanopetuksen osa ja kotikasvatuksen tuki – toiminnan päämäärät ja toteutuminen Pohjois-Suomessa 1800-luvun lopulta vuoteen 1938 and Maija Meretniemi's PhD Hyvä koti ja henkinen äitiys lastentarhatyön esikuvina: Aate- ja käsitehistoriallinen tutkielma Suomen varhaiskasvatuksen taustasta. To understand the shift of education criteria of kindergarten teachers I have studied an article by Eeva-Leena Onnismaa, Marjatta Kalliala and Leena Tahko-Kallio Koulutuspoliittisen paradoksin jäljillä – Miten varhaiskasvatus muotoutui sosiaalialan koulutuksia suosivaksi. In addition, the material also includes lectures by Marjatta Kalliala and Nina Sajaniemi at the University of Helsinki in 2016 and 2018. According to this study, some parts Fröbel's pedagogics agreed with the Early childhood education curriculum and the Pre-school curriculum. Fröbel concept and importance of childhood, play as part of learning, the developmental psychological view of child growth and development were also reflected in the Early childhood curriculum and Pre-school curriculum. Additionally, the idea kindergarten or early childhood education as a first part of life long education was visible in Fröbel’s textbook and the above-mentioned curricula. There were differences as well, Fröbel’s theological philosophy was not part of the curricula. There were also differences in the weighting of subjects in teaching. It goes without saying that Fröbel's pedagogy does not include media or technology education. Both the curricula and Fröbel’s textbook are works of their time. This study also helped me to understand the current state of early childhood education in Finland and the varying emphasis between social pedagogy and pedagogy during the recent years, and the contradiction between these in history and today.