Browsing by Subject "päiväkoti"

Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien näkemyksiä lasten tunnetaidoista ja miten niitä voidaan edistää 3–5-vuotiailla lapsilla. Tavoitteena oli saada tietoa lasten tunnetaidoista ja siitä, miten varhaiskasvatuksen opettaja voi edistää lasten tunnetaitojen kehitystä. Työn teoreettinen viitekehys koostuu tunteisiin ja tunnetaitoi-hin liittyvistä erilaisista tutkimuksista kuten Köngäs (2018). Hyödynsin tunnetaito-oppaita li-säämään ymmärrystä tunnetaidoista ja keinoista niiden edistämiseksi. Lisäksi käytin Var-haiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteita 2018 tässä tutkimuksessa tuomaan näkökulmaa siitä, miten ne velvoittavat edistämään ja tukemaan lasten tunnetaitoja. Tunnetaitojen, kuten tunteiden nimeämisen, ilmaisun ja säätelyn ongelmat näkyvät yhä enemmän varhaiskasvatusikäisillä lapsilla. Varhaiskasvatuksen opettajan tehtävänä on tu-kea lapsen tunnetaitoja. Tunnetaitoihin tulisi perehtyä jotta voisi alkaa edistämään niiden kehitystä tavoitteellisesti. Tutkimusta toteutettiin laadullisena tutkimuksena. Aineistoa hankittiin haastattelemalla kol-mea varhaiskasvatuksen opettajaa helsinkiläisistä päiväkodeista. Aineisto analysoitiin sisäl-lönanalyysin avulla. Tämän aineiston valossa näyttää siltä, että tunnetaitoja voidaan tukea varhaiskasvatukses-sa. Varhaiskasvatuksen opettaja voi vaikuttaa siihen olemalla sensitiivinen ja pyrkimällä tunnistamaan lasten tunnetaidot ja etsimällä keinoja tukea niitä. Haastattelujen perusteella näyttäisi, että 3–5-vuotiaiden tunnetaitojen kehittyminen on eritasoista, mikä vaikuttaa opet-tajien valitsemiin keinoihin toteuttaa tunnetaitojen opettelua ryhmässä. Haastateltavat toi-voisivat että tunnetaitomateriaaleja olisi enemmän saatavilla ja täydennyskoulutuksia tu-kemaan heidän tunnetaitojen osaamista.

The goal of this thesis was to point out such faults that may occur with day care’s child welfare notifications when observed through parental partnership’s definition. Besides parental partnership’s definition and diversity, such laws, regulations and guides were took under observation that leads the day care personnel in the process of making child welfare notifications. The meaning of this study was to also clarify how the conversation arenas that the internet and social media offers function with such delicate matters as child welfare notifications. There has been no earlier research with this specific perspective. The research material for this thesis was collected from the internet’s Suomi24–conversation arena. A single conversation was selected for this research with alleged accusations regard-ing a child welfare notification been done with loose or unfounded grounds. The research method used in this thesis was qualitative case study. The research material was analysed using qualitative method of originating from the content. The results of this research showed that in this case study there had been no dialogue be-tween the day care’s personnel and the child’s mother about the worries considering the child before the child welfare notification had been made. With this action it was conducted as a violation of parental partnership’s definition and principles and was found insulting to the par-ent. The results for the reasons leading towards the child welfare notification were seen both subjective and insufficient. As to the role of the internet and social media as a conversational arena, they were found to offer such possibilities to produce and share personal meaning that one would not share face to face. The anonymity offered by the internet gives the op-portunity to share confidential and personal matters but still managing to save ones face. Internet is providing a possibility to claim to be an expert on a certain field without other users questioning ones expertise.

The purpose of the study was to find out how a kindergarten teacher supports the peer relations of children under the age of three during playtime. There is a good amount of prior studies on peer relations, and they cover working in a peer group, as well as the effect of peer relations on development and supporting them in a kindergarten. The study aims to find different ways to support peer relations between children during playtime, and to find out how they can be influenced by a kindergarten teacher. In addition, the study seeks to gather information on the significance of a kindergarten in the formation of peer relations. The material for my qualitative case study was collected from a kindergarten group for under three-year-old children from Helsinki during January 2018. The main collecting method I used was interviews, which I supported by observing their play. I collected the material on two consecutive days. On the first day I observed a group with eleven children. During their play, I paid special attention to how the kindergarten teacher supported the peer relations between the children. I also took note of how actively they took part in the play. On the second day, I observed and interviewed the teacher of the group. The interview was conducted using a half-structured interview. I analysed the data in two phases. First, I organised the data by the themes that appeared on them. Finally, I grouped the results into the means for a kindergarten teacher to support peer relations during play, the forming and significance of peer relations in kindergarten, conscious pondering of peer relations, and supporting them in other activities. The result was that the kindergarten teacher supported peer relations between the children during playtime and consciously took them into account when, for example, planning small-group activities and during moments. The teacher felt that improving group spirit was important and that it supported peer relations. The conclusion is that children need positive experiences of belonging in a peer group, because the feeling of belonging in a group is significant for the development of a child. In a group of peers, the child learns important skills for their social life, such as waiting for their turn while speaking. Furthermore, the physical and functional environment affect the peer relations between children in a concrete manner. Therefore, it is important for a kindergarten teacher to form an environment that supports peer relations by considering how to place different plays in the space.

This research explores the experiences of nursing and teaching staff in Helsinki's Early Childhood Education area about unprofessionality and its emergence in the interaction between the adult and the child. Based on my experience and previous research, it can be stated that the documents guide early childhood education practice very loosely and interpretatively. Both, unconscious and conscious, decision making and value basis and their interpretation development, causes variation in the quality of work in an early education settings and, also between workers.   It was interesting to find out what the nursing and education staff think is unprofessional, about how they felt when they had to intervene, and how the responses showed the theoretical starting point for a high-quality educational interaction. However, day-care staff are expected to be familiar with the legislation and documents governing the field. This is a phenomenographic mixed method research, which is a one-time transversal survey. The material was collected with an E-questionnaire from one of Helsinki's early childhood area.  54 early childhood educators answered the questionnaire. The material was analyzed using content analysis and separation. The results showed that the respondents recognized unprofessional situations, but they had difficulty and variation in evaluation the gravity of the situation. Respondents also found it difficult to respond to unprofessional situations. The lack of agreed policies in their work community, lack of theoretical knowledge and understanding of the basis of legislation and documents, that creates the foundation of quality interaction between a child and an adult, makes intervention problematic and difficult. The results showed that there were deficiency in professional knowhow, communication as well as in the operating culture and leadership.

The purpose of this thesis is to get more information about parents’ perceived trust towards kindergartens. This study will find out which themes concerning kindergarten are calling forth discussion in the internet web sites among parents of pre-schoolers. Besides that the study aims to delineate how the trust is manifested in the internet discussions. The new document of the grounds of early childhood education is coming into effect in the autumn 2017. The importance of cooperation with parents is emphasized in this document. Educators have to be conscious of parents’ opinions and be able to develop methods of cooperation with the help of that. Previous surveys have pointed out that parents’ trust towards Finnish early childhood education is quite strong. Research data in this thesis was written material in internet. The research material consisted of 23 message chains containing 1–38 messages. The messages were written during August and September 2016. The material was assembled in vauva.fi and kaksplus.fi –internet discussion areas. The thesis was executed with qualitative methods by content analysis. The material showed that parents were discussing about ways of action in separate kindergartens, characters of workers and security of kindergartens. In addition of that they inquired opinions about separate kindergartens from each other. Other families’ ways of action and public reporting news of kindergartens was also called forth discussion. The material showed that parents often perceived distrust towards kindergartens. In spite of that they trusted they have chance to influence and the principals could help if needed. The research results differ greatly from earlier findings. These results extend people’s knowledge about parents’ trust towards kindergartens. The trust is not so unambiguous that earlier findings show. The realistic picture of parents’ perceived trust towards kindergarten could be formed by studying the situation by using varied range of research methods.

Objective. In the thesis the learning environments of two Norwegian kindergartens and schools are observed and studied. The Norwegian kindergarten act and education act are opened for discussion. Especially the links between the values presented in the acts with the corresponding field of education are emphasized. Procedure. The data for the thesis was collected by observing two Norwegian kindergartens and schools in the Spring 2016. To support the observation the staff was interviewed. The learning environments of the kindergartens and schools are being analyzed through the theory of Kopko, which discusses the effect of crowding, noise and quality of neighborhood. The construction of social skills in childhood is also viewed through Stig Brorström’s theory of childhood construction. Results and Conclusion. Connections were found between the acts and the kindergartens and schools. The Norwegian kindergarten act and both kindergartens observed emphasize care, play, respect for human and nature, equality, solidarity and creativity. The schools ob-served named Koulu1 and Koulu2 focused on knowledge and skills presented in the Nor-wegian education act. Also equality and solidarity listed in the school act was emphasized with Koulu1. The students should be couraged to solve problems together and share their knowledge. The process of learning is ought to aim at a shared experience, where the skills of an individual are brought to day light and being developed further with the peers.

The aim of the study was to determine the state of art education in Finnish early childhood education from the point of view of art education and the daycare environment. The study is a descriptive literature review and aims to find out the role of art and visual arts in education and how visual arts education is reflected in Finnish early childhood education from the point of view of art education and the day care environment in the 21st century. The study creates an overview of the traditions of art education, the effects of modern and postmodern thinking on arts and art education and the theories developed for helping art education. The study studies the social and educational tasks and goals of art education. The study describes the kindergarten teacher as a visual arts educator and the kindergarten as a learning environment in visual art education. The research used literature sources on arts education and visual arts education and other research literature, Early Childhood Education Act (2015) and the Basics of Early Childhood Education Plan, which came into effect in 2017. The role of art was viewed in the study through the art's intrinsic value and its instru-mental value. The study found that the instrumental role of art is to act as a combiner of the inner and outer world of the child and as a contributor to the development of other areas of learning. The essence of art, it's intrinsic value, lies in the emotions and experiences which can be lived through art. The research showed that the identity of an art educator in early childhood education lies in the personal relationship between the kindergarten teacher and the perception of art and early childhood education. The art educator in early childhood education has a sensitive way to see the child and child's way of being, participating and engaging to the action. A sensitive art educator uses suitable pedagogic models in the right way and at the right moment. As a kin-dergarten teacher, he creates a shared cultural space with children. A kindergarten as a learning environment for visual arts education enables every child to engage in ac-tivities. Materials and tools are available to everyone. In such a learning environment, children act as active providers of knowledge and skills. Through this research, edu-cator in early childhood education becomes familiar with the traditions of art educa-tion, the art education and the kindergarten as a learning environment for visual arts education and gives new perspectives to their own relationship with art.

This Bachelor’s thesis was aimed to find out, what kind of factors in working culture and in food education in Finnish daycare centres are affecting the realization of children’s educational potential in daily eating situation in daycare. Thesis was also aimed to research what factors in interaction makes daily eating situations smooth and pleasant for children. Research questions were: 1) what are the major factors that affect children’s food education in daily eating situations? and 2) in what way does interaction and working culture affect the realization of children’s educational potential in daily eating situations. There was not much prior research on subject in Finland. To apply international research to Finland is complicated, because many factors in eating depend on local culture and the differences in practises between countries are big. Method was literature review. Source material was searched in methods of systematic literature review. What was done in search was written so that this research could be repeated if necessary. Results were written in methods of narrative literature review, by giving out a picture of food education in Finnish daycare in general and of major factors that are affecting the quality of interaction and working culture. Results show that interaction is the major factor in food education. In the quality of interaction important is how the educator gives social and emotional support to the children. In daily eating situations there are many factors that can provoke challenging situations for educators. Challenging situations are connected to self-regulation skills that children are learning. Besides of giving social and emotional support to children it is important to give food education in age-appropriate ways. Children’s knowledge on food is different than adults in quality.

The goal of this study was to examine how much dissociative behaviour preschool teachers observe in 56 year old children in day care, what kind of dissociative behaviour the children exhibit in day care and in what kind of situations dissociation occurs. An additional goal was to investigate teachers’ perceptions of the reasons for dissociative behaviour in preschool children and the methods they use to respond. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized in this study. Data was collected using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire comprised of The Child Dissociative Checklist, a validated measure of dissociation by MD Frank Putnam, and a set of open-ended questions. Research data consisted of 19 questionnaires filled by preschool teachers. The quantitative data was analysed using statistical analysis and the qualitative data using content analysis. The participants observed dissociative behaviour in 2 % of the 213 children in their classes, on average. One child (0,5 %) displayed more dissociative behaviour than is considered normal. The most common dissociative behaviours found were denying misbehaviour de-spite obvious evidence (9 %) and difficulties learning from experience (4,7 %). Other types of dissociation were observed in 03,3 % of the children. Most commonly, dissociation was used in interactive situations where conflict of some kind was involved. The teachers con-sidered dissociative behaviour to stem from emotional difficulties, attempts at self-regulation and getting in control, difficulties facing one’s own shortcomings, home environment or de-velopmental problems. They responded by reducing the child’s experience of shame when facing denying misbehaviour despite obvious evidence, difficulties learning from experience, rapid changes in personality or intense outbursts of anger. In case of hearing voices, re-gression or talking to oneself they resorted to normalizing the experience. Trance-like states, somatization and traumatic reactions were met with sensitivity without exception. Poor sense of time and variation in learned skills and preferences were taken into account using clear communication.

The aim of this study was to examine kindergarten teachers' knowledge and expertise produced by two separate study programmes, because currently it's possible to graduate to a kindergarten teacher in Finland via university or polytechnic. My subject of research was the University of Helsinki's Bachelor of Education and the Laurea University of Applied Sciences' Bachelor of Social Services. The method of this study was qualitative content analysis. The subject of examination was the public curriculums of the two study programmes mentioned above. This research's theoretic background was Karila's (1997) knowledge fields (raising, context, child and didacstical knowledge), which describe the central content of finnish kindergarten teachers' expertise. First, the courses were categorized into the different knowledge fields by their content. Then the study credits and the expertise produced by different studies and courses were examined in relation with Karila's knowledge fields. This study shows, that the asset of the University of Helsinki's Bachelor of Education's was didactical knowledge with 67 course credits (44%), where as Laurea University of Applied Sciences' Bachelor of Social Services' studies only had 10 course credits (5.6%) in didactical knowledge. On the other hand, Laurea's Bachelor of Social Services' asset was context knowledge with 120.5 course credits (66.9%), where as Bachelor of Education only had 15 course credits of studies relating to context knowledge. Similar research results has been gained also in other studies. According to the published analysis by OAJ (2003) Bachelor of Social Services and Bachelor of Education supplement each other in kindergarten's work assignments, however profiles based on different expertise should be dissociated from each other. Conclusion of this study is, that the field of early childhood education should recognize and utilize the differing emphasis of the two study programmes, for an example in the division of work.