Browsing by Author "Vinberg-Mäkinen, Mirja"

Objectives. This study explores the experiences and attitudes of early childhood education professionals in Helsinki from child safety education. Child safety education is part of children's sexual education and focuses on strengthening children's own resources and teaching children the skills they need to cope with various challenging situations. Earlier research has shown that there is a need for child safety education in early childhood education and pre-school education, but in practice, child safety education is not always carried out in early childhood education. The hypothesis of this study was that early childhood educators considered child safety education important, but in practice, teaching of child safety skills was uncoordinated in early childhood education and in pre-school education. The research questions were: 1. What does child safety education mean for early childhood professionals? 2. How is child safety education carried out in day-care centers in Helsinki? Methods. The research was carried out by means of a qualitative research method, and it interviewed two early childhood professionals from Helsinki, each with decades of experience working in the field of early childhood education in Helsinki. Interviews were conducted as a semi-structured interview, and the results of the interviews were analysed on the basis of content analysis techniques, looking at themes raised from interviews. Results and conclusions. The result of the thesis was that early childhood professionals experienced child safety education as a very broad topic, partly difficult to grasp. Early childhood professionals wanted child safety education to be more coordinated. They also hoped for material that was tailored to early childhood education and pre-school education to support teaching and would be fast to absorb.