Browsing by Subject "diskurssit mediassa"

The aim of this study was to analyse how various print media cover early childhood education and how the work of kindergarten teachers is portrayed. There has been much discussion in the media about the salary levels of early childhood education teachers, and about who has the right to teach children. The aim of my research was to determine the image that media presents about the present state of early childhood education. My source material was taken from three Finnish newspapers, Helsingin Sanomat, Aamulehti and Kaleva. The theoretical basis of the work was extensive literature on early childhood education, teaching and media research. Previous studies have shown that language and speech build and shape the social reality we live in. This idea formed the basis for my own research. The research I have carried out is informative and could serve as a good basis for further research. The study was carried out using qualitative research methods, and the motivation for it was to present a coherent view of how the media deal with early childhood education and the work of early childhood education teachers. The study covered three of the largest newspapers in Finland. My chosen research method was qualitative text analysis, which is a form of material-based discourse-analytical research. Material-based encoding was used for analysing the texts. The following step is a clear and condensed presentation of what these three newspapers have written about early childhood education and the work of kindergarten teachers, in particular with regard to salary and appreciation of work. In general, the newspapers present a somewhat negative picture of the current state of early childhood education and of the work of low-paid teachers. The study also reveals a fragmentation of interpretations as to how early childhood education should be organised. The results clearly show the effects of the development map for early childhood education that was published by the Ministry of Education and Culture in June 2017, and the related controversy. This roadmap concerns the personnel structure for the early childhood education sector and changes in the job descriptions. Media reporting affects the image of early childhood education and of it’s teachers. The writings published by the newspapers contribute to creating the reality in which early childhood education teachers work. It should be a priority to consider what kind of picture we kindergarten teachers want to present of the work.