Browsing by Subject "sairaalan varhaiskasvatus"

The purpose of this study was to research hospital-employed kindergarten teachers’ experiences regarding their professional significance in the hospital environment, and to specifically research their experiences regarding children’s hospital-related fears. Kindergarten teachers are childhood specialists in the multi-occupational treatment environments of hospitals. There were seventeen kindergarten teachers working in the hospitals of Finland (2008). In addition there is a variable amount of educators working in hospitals with various educational backgrounds; educators such as hobby leaders and children’s instructors. The aim with this study was to also bring attention to the job of hospital-employed kindergarten teachers, seeing how there has been very little research done on kindergarten teachers in hospitals. This is qualitative case study. The data was collected through interviewing four kindergarten teachers working in the same hospital in November 2010. The interviews were conducted as focused interviews that were recorded and transcribed. The transcription was then analysed through inductive content analysis. The results show that kindergarten teachers in hospitals found their work meaningful, because of the strong child-centeredness of the work and the large amount of positive feedback received from children, families and the nursing personnel who especially understand the work that they are doing. Kindergarten teachers also feel that the experienced insufficiency of both time and early childhood education personnel decreased the experience of their professional significance. Kindergarten teachers regularly encountered hospital-related fears that come up amongst children in various ways. According to kindergarten teachers, the most important tools that assist with the processing of children’s hospital-related fears are play, conversation and preparation for procedures.