Noviisiopettajana peruskoulussa : Aloittelevien opettajien autenttisia kokemuksia ensimmäisestä opettajavuodesta

As a Novice Teacher at Comprehensive School: The authentic experiences of the beginning teachers during their first year of teaching The aim of this study is to explicate the novice year of teaching in the light of teachers´ authentic experiences. The subject of this investigation is the teachers´ subjective world of experience during their first academic year of teaching and the sharing of these experiences in collaborative consulting meetings. The themes discussed in the meetings were introduced into the collaborative group by the novice teachers themselves, and the progress of discussion was con-trolled by them. The research data was gathered in a consultative working group where the way a novice teacher starts to interpret, analyze and identify his/her own complex and dynamic teaching situations was observed. The research data gathered in this way illuminates novice teachers´ world of experience and mental picture as well as the unconscious sides of school life. In a theoretical frame of reference, the work of a teacher is identified, according to systemic scientific thought, as a dynamic triangle in which the basic elements are the personality of the teacher, the role of the teacher and the school as an organization. These basic elements form a whole within which the teacher works. The dynamics of this triangle in a teacher’s work are brought to light through the study of the phenomena of groups and group dynamics since a teacher works either as a member of a group (working community), as a leader of a group (teaching situations) or in a network (parent – teacher cooperation). Therefore, tension and force are always present in teaching work. The main research problem was to explain how a novice teacher experiences his/her first working year as a teacher. The participants (n=5) were teaching at five different comprehensive schools in the city of Helsinki. This was their first long-term post as a teacher. The research data consists of seven collaborative consulting meetings, as well as recordings and transcripts of the meetings. A classificatory framework was developed for data analysis which enabled a sys-tematic qualitative content analysis based on theory and material. In addition to the consulting meetings, the teachers were interviewed at the beginning and at the end of the process of collecting the research material. The interviews were used to interpret the meanings of the content analysis based on raw data. The findings show that there is a gap between teacher education and the reality of school life, which causes difficulties for a novice teacher during his/her first teaching year. The gap is rather a global educational problem than a national one, and therefore it is independent of cultural factors. Novice teachers desire a well-structured theory of teacher education and a clear programme where the themes and content delve deeper and deeper into the subject matter during the study years. According to the novice teachers, teacher education frequently consists of sporadic and unconnected study and class situations. An individual content weakness of teacher education is the lack of insufficient initiation into evaluation processes. The novice teachers suggest that a student must be provided good-quality and competent guidance during the study years and during his or her induction. There should be a well-organized, structured and systematic induction program for novice teachers. The induction program should be overseen by an organization so that the requirements of a qualified induction can be met. The findings show that the novice teachers find the first year of teaching at comprehensive school emotionally loaded. The teachers experienced teaching as difficult work and found the workload heavy. Nevertheless, they enjoyed their job because, as they said, there were more pleasant than unpleasant things in their school day. Their main feeling at school was the joy of success in teaching. The novice teachers felt satisfaction with their pupils. The teachers experienced the more serious feelings of anger and disgust when serious violence took place. The most difficult situations arose from teaching pupils who had mental health problems. The toughest thing in the teacher´s work was teaching groups that are too heterogeneous. The most awkward problems in group dynamics happened when new immigrants, who spoke only their own languages, were integrated into the groups in the middle of the school year. Teachers wanted to help children who needed special help with learning but restated at the same time that the groups being taught shouldn’t be too heterogeneous. The teachers wished for help from school assistants so that they could personally concentrate more on teaching. Not all the parents took care of their children according to the comprehensive school law. The teachers found it hard to build a confidential relationship between home and school. In this study, novice teachers found it hard to join the teaching staff at school. Some of the teachers on staff were very strong and impulsive, reacting loudly and emotionally. These teachers provoked disagreement, conflicts, power struggles and competition among the other teachers. Although the novice teachers of the study were all qualified teachers, three of them were not interested in a permanent teaching job. For these teachers teaching at a primary school was just a project, a short period in their working life. They will remain in the teaching profession as long as they are learning new things and enjoying their teaching job. This study is an independent part of the research project on Interplay – Connecting Academic Teacher Education and Work, undertaken by the Department of Applied Sciences of Education at the University of Helsinki. Key words: novice teacher, emotions, groups and group dynamics, authority, co-operation between home and school, teacher community, leadership at school, induction, consulting

Virtuaalimaailmoja valtaamassa : verkko-opetusinnovaation leviäminen koulun maantieteeseen vuosituhannen vaihteessa

Tutkimus käsittelee verkko-opetusinnovaation leviämistä perusasteen ja lukion maantieteeseen vuosina 1998–2004. Työssä sovellettiin opetusinnovaation leviämismallia ja innovaatioiden diffuusioteoriaa. Aineisto hankittiin seitsemänä vuotena kyselylomakkeilla maantieteen verkko-opetuksen edelläkävijäopettajilta, jotka palauttivat 326 lomaketta. Tutkimuksen pääongelmat olivat 1) Millaisia edellytyksiä edelläkävijäopettajilla on käyttää verkko-opetusta koulun maantieteessä? 2) Mitä sovelluksia ja millä tavoin edelläkävijäopettajat käyttävät maantieteen verkko-opetuksessa? 3) Millaisia käyttökokemuksia edelläkävijäopettajat ovat saaneet maantieteen verkko-opetuksesta? Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että tietokoneiden riittämätön määrä ja puuttuminen aineluokasta vaikeuttivat maantieteen verkko-opetusta. Työssä kehitettiin opettajien digitaalisten mediataitojen kuutiomalli, johon kuuluvat tekniset taidot, informaation prosessointitaidot ja viestintätaidot. Opettajissa erotettiin kolme verkko-opetuksen käyttäjätyyppiä: informaatiohakuiset kevytkäyttäjät, viestintähakuiset peruskäyttäjät ja yhteistyöhakuiset tehokäyttäjät. Verkko-opetukseen liittyi intensiivisiä myönteisiä ja kielteisiä kokemuksia. Se toi iloa ja motivaatiota opiskeluun. Sitä pidettiin rikastuttavana lisänä, joka haluttiin integroida opetukseen hallitusti. Edelläkävijäopettajat ottivat käyttöön tietoverkoissa olevaa informaatiota ja sovelsivat työvälineohjelmia. He pääsivät alkuun todellisuutta jäljittelevien virtuaalimaailmojen: satelliittikuvien toistaman maapallon, digitaalikarttojen ja simulaatioiden käytössä. Opettajat kokeilivat verkon sosiaalisia tiloja reaaliaikaisen viestinnän, keskusteluryhmien ja ryhmätyöohjelmien avulla. Mielikuvitukseen perustuvat virtuaalimaailmat jäivät vähälle sillä opettajat eivät juuri pelanneet viihdepelejä. He omaksuivat virtuaalimaailmoista satunnaisia palasia käytettävissä olevan laite- ja ohjelmavarustuksen mukaan. Virtuaalimaailmojen valtaus eteni tutkimuksen aikana digitaalisen informaation hyödyntämisestä viestintäsovelluksiin ja aloittelevaan yhteistyöhön. Näin opettajat laajensivat virtuaalireviiriään tietoverkkojen dynaamisiksi toimijoiksi ja pääsivät uusin keinoin tyydyttämään ihmisen universaalia tarvetta yhteyteen muiden kanssa. Samalla opettajat valtautuivat informaation kuluttajista sen tuottajiksi, objekteista subjekteiksi. Verkko-opetus avaa koulun maantieteelle huomattavia mahdollisuuksia. Mobiililaitteiden avulla informaatiota voidaan kerätä ja tallentaa maasto-olosuhteissa, ohjelmilla sitä voidaan muuntaa muodosta toiseen. Internetin autenttiset ja ajantasaiset materiaalit tuovat opiskeluun konkretiaa ja kiinnostavuutta, mallit, simulaatiot ja paikkatieto havainnollistavat ilmiöitä. Viestintä- ja yhteistyövälineet sekä sosiaaliset informaatiotilat vahvistavat yhteistyötä. Avainsanat: verkko-opetus, internet, virtuaalimaailmat, maantiede, innovaatiot

Matkalla suomalaiseksi ja hoiva-alan ammattilaiseksi? : Venäläis- ja virolaistaustaisten naisten ja suomalaisuuden kohtaamiset kuulumista rakentamassa

The research examines the process by which a sense of belonging to Finnish society is constructed among women of Russian and Estonian background who are multiply marginalised in Finnish society. It does so by analysing the encounters between their nationality and 'being Finnis'. Attention is focused on the question of what kind of "journey" they take after moving to Finland, how a sense of belonging is constructed especially along the paths followed in education and at work, and what kind of agency is available to them. The thesis is connected with post-colonial research and also draws from studies on citizenship and nationality as well as the social structures of interaction, when analysing careers. As the educational system forms the most central context of the research, the work is also focused on educational sociology. The research methodology includes life history and a narrative approach. The raw data is from thematic interviews concerning the life experiences of women of immigrant backgrounds. They were studying in Finland to be practical nurses or to complete Bachelor of Social Service degree. According to the study, the women had been encountered as alien, strange, and carrying a shade of "otherness". The experience of inclusion in Finnish communities and society turned out to be conditional, an inclusion based on the notion of a citizen worker, which is defined by national needs. The person from abroad is placed in the position of someone who fills gaps in the services of the welfare state. The choice of education in the care sector and the overall necessity of obtaining Finnish education turned out to be socially directed. Gendered structures of education and working life were found to act as a frame in which the decisions of the immigrant women were made. Although national education policy emphasis as an orientation to global labour markets, the immigrant student is placed above all in the position of an object to be made suitable for the Finnish labour market. Citizenship, a goal of education, requires consent to being "socialised" into Finnish society as well as learning to be Finnish. One s only option to negotiate appearing suitable as a member is to construct oneself into someone who adopts Finnish and Western cultural values, values which favour individuality. However, Finnish education is a resource to Finnishness. Finnish education enables a sense of being Finnish, and empowers the job applicant for example, and in addition to providing cultural, human and social capital strengthen inclusion as well. The study confirms the view that the encounter of an immigrant is still characterised by its colonial nature. It shows that encounters with Finns and Finnish society place the person of immigrant background, even one receiving a Finnish education, in the position of "the other". The journey as an immigrant continues. The immigrant has access only to certain predefined subject positions, which limits agency. When categorised as an immigrant, one becomes a per-son who is different and "other", while the sense of belonging as a member of Finnish society without conditions appears to be somewhat unreachable. Yet, new arrivals are capable of acting change. An immigrant woman can challenge the positions offered to her and present herself as strong. Her life story has often included struggle, and she has the fortitude strength to change her circumstances. Key words: life story, post-colonial encounter, nationality, citizenship, the career of immi-grant, position, agency

Kiusaamisen kasvot kasvatusyhteisössä : Päivähoitoyksikön esimiesten kokemuksia ja näkemyksiä työpaikkakiusaamisesta

The subject of my research was analyzing how psychological violence appears in educational communities in both preschool and kindergarten environments. The superiors of every daycare unit (a total of 80 units) in Vantaa were asked to tell about their own views and experiences of psychological violence in educational communities. In addition I cleared out the superior’s views on what the role of workplace counseling is in clearing out cases of psychological violence. A workplace always consists of people connected through work and the workplace creates a context for psychological violence. Working is public in an educational environment, as also customers set expectations and make wishes on how the work should be done. Different thoughts on what the working community should be creates pressure for the workers. My aim was to find out about the superior’s views on different types of psychological violence in the workplace, how one’s personality effects on an experience on psychological violence, the superior’s abilities and possibilities on noticing psychological violence in an early stage and the necessity of intervention. I also wanted to map the superior’s views and experiences on the value of workplace counseling in straightening out cases of psychological violence. The research point of view used was triangulation with hermeneutical and phenomenological features. The research method used was a semistructured questionnaire with a few open questions used to seek answers for the problems that have come up in the research. I analyzed the collected data partly from quantitative and partly from qualitative point of views, and also my aim was to understand psychological violence in the workplace as a phenomena in the communities within the early phases of education and to give this worker-to-worker mobbing a face. As a result of my research, I found out that the psychological violence inside the educational communities is more passive and scheming than aggressive or straightforward. The most important outcome of my research was finding a risk factor, where the superior is in danger of being the target of workplace psychological violence. Out the superiors who answered the questionnaire, 12% told they had been the target of this psychological violence after being transferred in to an old unit to work as the new superior. I hope this result will be of use when changes similar to this are known to take place. Avainsanat – Nyckelord – Keywords Psychological violence, educational enviroment, moral and ethic at work, role of the superior, role of a workplace consultant

Uskonnonopetuksen tunnustuksellisuus koulun kiistakysymyksenä : Evankelinen herätysliike oppivelvollisuuskoulun kristillisyyden asialla 1912-1926

In the early years of independence the Finnish school system went through a major change. Both the Compulsory school attendance act (1921) and the Religious freedom act (1923) were legislated almost simultaneously. Although the legislators were deciding on the whole content of the citizenship education given in the compulsory school, their attention was mainly concentrated on the issue of the religious education. The former study concerning the subject shows that this issue was strongly influenced by the political power struggle between the conservative and the socialist parties. One of the underlying factors was also the Church s decreased authority concerning the elementary school. The aim of this research was to study the Finnish evangelical movement s attitude and opinions on the issue of religious education and on its status and nature. Their opinions on the issue were especially investigated from the point of view of their own evangelical lower elementary school teachers seminar, which was deeply connected with the matter of confessionalism. The source material of this research of educational history consist of documents of the school administration and the Lutheran Evangelical Association as well as of vast collection of educational, Church s and evangelical movement s journals. According to the results of this study, the evangelical movement plead very strongly for denominational religious education. However, the confessionalism they were pursuing differed from the common understanding of the concept at that time. This became evident both because of their demands for increased education on the Christian doctrine and because of their sharp criticism against loosely confessional, generally Christian religious education. The evangelical movement s strict opinion was combined with their effort to emphasize the Lutherian doctrine in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland. The founding of the Evangelical seminar for lower elementary school teachers in Karkku was a significant indication of the evangelical movement s dedication to strive towards school s Christianity. The objective of the evangelical seminar was to change the school by means of training evangelical minded teachers. The seminar was only a part of much larger plans of evangelical education and home missionary work. However, maintaining the seminar proved to be impossible, especially as the National Board of Education was absolutely against it, claiming that it would endanger the unity of the compulsory school. The National Board of Education indicated that the objectivity of citizenship education would be forfeit, if every marginal ideological movement could educate their own teachers.

Kemian ylioppilaskokeen tehtävät summatiivisen arvioinnin välineenä

The main purpose of the research was to illustrate chemistry matriculation examination questions as a summative assessment tool, and represent how the questions have evolved over the years. Summative assessment and its various test item classifications, Finnish goal-oriented curriculum model, and Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives formed the theoretical framework for the research. The research data consisted of 257 chemistry questions from 28 matriculation examinations between 1996 and 2009. The analysed test questions were formulated according to the national upper secondary school chemistry curricula 1994, and 2003. Qualitative approach and theory-driven content analysis method were employed in the research. Peer review was used to guarantee the reliability of the results. The research was guided by the following questions: (a) What kinds of test item formats are used in chemistry matriculation examinations? (b) How the fundamentals of chemistry are included in the chemistry matriculation examination questions? (c) What kinds of cognitive knowledge and skills do the chemistry matriculation examination questions require? The research indicates that summative assessment was used diversely in chemistry matriculation examinations. The tests included various test item formats, and their combinations. The majority of the test questions were constructed-response items that were either verbal, quantitative, or experimental questions, symbol questions, or combinations of the aforementioned. The studied chemistry matriculation examinations seldom included selected-response items that can be either multiple-choice, alternate choice, or matching items. The relative emphasis of the test item formats differed slightly depending on whether the test was a part of an extensive general studies battery of tests in sciences and humanities, or a subject-specific test. The classification framework developed in the research can be applied in chemistry and science education, and also in educational research. Chemistry matriculation examinations are based on the goal-oriented curriculum model, and cover relatively well the fundamentals of chemistry included in the national curriculum. Most of the test questions related to the symbolism of chemical equation, inorganic and organic reaction types and applications, the bonding and spatial structure in organic compounds, and stoichiometry problems. Only a few questions related to electrolysis, polymers, or buffer solutions. None of the test questions related to composites. There were not any significant differences in the emphasis between the tests formulated according to the national curriculum 1994 or 2003. Chemistry matriculation examinations are cognitively demanding. The research shows that the majority of the test questions require higher-order cognitive skills. Most of the questions required analysis of procedural knowledge. The questions that only required remembering or processing metacognitive knowledge, were not included in the research data. The required knowledge and skill level varied slightly between the test questions in the extensive general studies battery of tests in sciences and humanities, and subject-specific tests administered since 2006. The proportion of the Finnish chemistry matriculation examination questions requiring higher-order cognitive knowledge and skills is very large compared to what is discussed in the research literature.

Ett' varttuisi Suomenmaa : Suomalaisten kasvattaminen kulutusyhteiskuntaan kotimaisissa lyhytelokuvissa 1920-1969

The birth of the Modern Consumer Society in Finnish short films 1920-1969 The main subject of this research is Finnish short films in 1920-1969. These short films were produced by film studios for private enterprises, banks, advisory organizations, communities and the state. The evolution of short films on consumer affairs was greatly influenced by a special tax reduction system that was introduced in 1933 and lasted until 1964. The tax reduction system increased the production volumes of educational short films significantly. This study covers 342 Finnish short films, more than any other study in the field before this. The aim of this research is to examine how short films introduced Finns to modern consumer society. The cinemagoers were an excellent target group for different advisory groups as well as advertisers. Short films were used by organizations and private enterprises from very early on. In the 1920's Finns were still living in rural areas and agriculture was the dominant industry. Consumer society was still in its infancy, and the prevalent attitude to industrially produced goods was that of suspicion. From the cultural and ideological point of view the evolution of trust was one of the first steps towards the birth of the consumer society. Short films were an excellent means for helping to transform public attitudes. During the war period short films were an important means of propaganda. Short films were produced in abundance and shown for big audiences. They guided people how to survive shortages caused by the war. Even though the idea of rationalization was presented in short films somewhat in the 1920's and 1930's it became a national virtue during the war period. The idea of rationalization widened from the industry to households expecially in the late 1940's and the 1950's. New household apparati and the way in which daily chores were taken care of were presented not as luxury consumption but as a way of rationalization and saving money and effort. Banks and the advisory organizations guided the public to save their money for a specific target. Short films were use to help the public to acceps industrial goods and the notions of planning and saving. The ideological change from an agrarian society to consumer society was based on old acricultural ideas and self-sufficiency was evolved into rational and economizing consumerism. This made Finnish consumer society to value durable consumer goods and own homes. The public was also encouraged to consider their own decisions in the national context - especially after the second world war Finland laced capital, and personal savings were strongly presented as a way to help the whole nation. Modern hedonistic values were not dominant in Finland in the1950's and 1960's. Initial traces of modern hedonism can be seen in the films, but they were only marginal paths in the bigger.

Kokonaisvaltainen fysiikanopetus peruskoulussa fysiikan valinnaiskurssilla

Holistic physics education in upper secondary level based on the optional course of physics Keywords: physics education, education, holistic, curriculum, world view, values A physics teacher s task is to put into practice all goals of the curriculum. Holistic physics education means in this research teaching, in which the school s common educational goals and the goals particular to the physics curriculum are taken into account. These involve knowledge, skills and personal value and attitude goals. Research task was to clarify how the educational goals involving student s values and attitudes can be carried out through the subject content of physics. How does the physics teacher communicate the modern world view through the content of the physics class? The goal of this research was to improve teaching, to find new points of view and to widen the perspective on how physics is taught. The teacher, who acted also as a researcher, planned and delivered an optional course where she could study the possibilities of holistic physics education. In 2001-2002 ten girls and two boys of the grade 9th class participated in that elective course. According to principles of action research the teacher-researcher reflected also on her own teaching action. Research method was content analysis that involved both analyzing student feedback, and relevant features of the teacher s knowledge, which are needed for planning and giving the physics lessons. In this research that means taking into account the subject matter knowledge, curriculum, didactic and the pedagogical content knowledge of the teacher. The didactic includes the knowledge of the learning process, students motivation, specific features of the physics didactics and the research of physics education. Among other things, the researcher constructed the contents of the curriculum and abstracted sentences as keywords, from which she drew a concept map. The concept maps, for instance, the map of educational goals and the mapping of the physics essence, were tools for studying contents which are included in the holistic physics education. Moreover, conclusions were reached concerning the contents of physics domains by which these can be achieved. According to this research, the contents employing the holistic physics education is as follows: perception, the essence of science, the development of science, new research topics and interactions in physics. The starting point of teaching should be connected with the student s life experiences and the approach to teaching should be broadly relevant to those experiences. The teacher-researcher observed and analyzed the effects of the experimental physics course, through the lens of a holistic physics education. The students reported that the goals of holistic physics education were achieved in the course. The discourses of the students indicated that in the experimental course they could express their opinions and feelings and make proposals and evaluations. The students had experiences about chances to affect the content of the course, and they considered the philosophical physics course interesting, it awakened questions, increased their self-esteem and helped them to become more aware of their world views. The students analytic skills developed in the interactive learning environment. The physics teacher needs broad knowledge for planning his or her teaching, which is evaluated in this research from contents maps made for the tools of the teaching. In the holistic physics education the teacher needs an open and curious mind and skills for interaction in teaching. This research indicates the importance of teaching physics in developing attitudes and values beside substance of the physics in class environment. The different points of view concerning human beings life make it possible to construct the modern world view of the students and to develop analytic skills and the self-esteem and thus help them in learning. Overall and wide points of view also help to transfer knowledge to practice. Since such contents is not employed by teaching the physics included in the standard curriculum, supplement relevant teaching material that includes such topics are needed.

Human Rights in Action

In the post-World War II era human rights have emerged as an enormous global phenomenon. In Finland human rights have particularly in the 1990s moved from the periphery to the center of public policy making and political rhetoric. Human rights education is commonly viewed as the decisive vehicle for emancipating individuals of oppressive societal structures and rendering them conscious of the equal value of others; both core ideals of the abstract discourse. Yet little empirical research has been conducted on how these goals are realized in practice. These factors provide the background for the present study which, by combining anthropological insights with critical legal theory, has analyzed the educational activities of a Scandinavian and Nordic network of human rights experts and PhD students in 2002-2005. This material has been complemented by data from the proceedings of UN human rights treaty bodies, hearings organized by the Finnish Foreign Ministry, the analysis of different human rights documents as well as the manner human rights are talked of in the Finnish media. As the human rights phenomenon has expanded, human rights experts have acquired widespread societal influence. The content of human rights remains, nevertheless, ambiguous: on the one hand they are law, on the other, part of a moral discourse. By educating laymen on what human rights are, experts act both as intermediaries and activists who expand the scope of rights and simultaneously exert increasing political influence. In the educational activities of the analyzed network these roles were visible in the rhetorics of legality and legitimacy . Among experts both of these rhetorics are subject to ongoing professional controversy, yet in the network they are presented as undisputable facts. This contributes to the impression that human rights knowledge is uncontested. This study demonstrates how the network s activities embody and strengthen a conception of expertise as located in specific, structurally determined individuals. Simultaneously its conception of learning emphasizes the adoption of knowledge by students, emphasizing the power of experts over them. The majority of the network s experts are Nordic males, whereas its students are predominantly Nordic females and males from East-European and developing countries. Contrary to the ideals of the discourse the network s activities do not create dialogue, but instead repeat power structures which are themselves problematic.

Exploring primary school sex education in Greece : policies and praxis

This study examines how sex education is currently developed and implemented in Greek primary schools. The four publications that comprise it explore the following themes: (1) the position and visibility of sex education as one of the topics for health education programme development; (2) the inhibiting and enhancing factors in the development and implementation of primary school sex education programmes; (3) how issues of sex, sexuality, the human body and romantic relationships are visually and textually represented in primary school textbooks; (4) the impact of sex education on teachers and pupils; and (5) teachers experiences as practitioners who deal with sexuality- related issues at school. -- The research was based on conducting multiple sub-studies using a mixed-methods approach. Specifically, qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed. The initial quantitative data that had been obtained by questionnaire was followed by the collection and analysis of qualitative data. The qualitative data were acquired by way of examining one particular case, various texts, interviews with teachers and self-reflective material. The results of the sub-studies are presented in a more detailed manner in the study s four publications. -- In general, the sub-studies found that sex education as an educational activity occupies a marginal place within the instructional practices of Greek primary school teachers, since the subject is hardly mentioned in classroom material, such as textbooks. However, engaging in the provision of sex education programmes can become a meaningful and rewarding experience for many teachers as well as pupils and their families. Further, teachers classroom experiences pointed to school settings as sexualized environments. These contextual factors and conditions nevertheless affected teachers practices and perceptions on a personal and professional level.Health indicators in Greece provide a picture of a population that faces various sexual health related problems. However, as many studies (including this work) indicate, sex education programmes that meet specific standards can have a positive impact on students overall health and well-being. Sex education teaching has always been a controversial issue. Its successful implementation in Greece demands knowledgeable educators and responsible policy-makers. The findings of this study suggest that the content of Greek primary school textbooks needs to be revised in order to include texts and pictures that deal with the human body and human sexuality, encourage pupils to become involved in designing the content and methods of programmes and give teachers the opportunity to reflect on and discuss their experiences. Keywords: sex education, primary school, Greece

Lasten toiminnan dokumentointi varhaiskasvatuksessa

Early childhood education carries multiple experiences, activities, challenges, disappointments, achievements and encounters. Small children have difficulties to remember, piece together and pass on those experiences and feelings to their teachers or parents. The aim of this study was to examine the contex and organization of early childhood education where documentation raises and develops. Furthermore it was examined what the documentation of small children means in practice and how the teachers understood it. In this study the mixed methods have been used to expose different perspectives about the subject. Also the material was collected using several methods and is a part of two other studies. The quantitative study was made with material which included 892 randomly chosen children and their teachers from 313 daycare units in the metropolitan area of Finland. The material is a part of a Children´s agentive perception uncovered study (2010), which was carried out by the University of Helsinki. The qualitative study was made by using the material of a VKK-Metro development project, which was carried out also in the metropolitan area (2009). The analysis and the conclusions were made by using Reunamo´s theoretical model of agentive perception and Bronfenbrenner´s ecological systems theory. The angle is childcentered, constructivistic and sosioconstructivistic education. In this study a remarkable confrontation was found between the visions and the practices of the early childhood educators. The documentation was not a powerful educational tool for them and the pedagogy was not built up in a sosioconstructive way. After all it was noticeable that when the teachers got more recources and pedagogical support to the documentation of the children, they found more child-centered angel in their practices as early educators. It seemed that the teachers usally work under quite a pressure and should get more resouces to become able to develop the pedagogy. This study is useful for those who are interested in the child-centered way of working and the documentation as a pedagogical tool. It is also a good basis for further studies and for the attempts to regenerate early childhood education.

Moral Education in the Japanese Primary School Curricular Revision at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century: Aiming at a Rich and Beautiful Kokoro

This study examines values education in Japanese schools at the beginning of the millennium. The topic was approached by asking the following three questions concerning the curricular background, the morality conveyed through textbooks and the characterization of moral education from a comparative viewpoint: 1) What role did moral education play in the curriculum revision which was initiated in 1998 and implemented in 2002? 2) What kinds of moral responsibilities and moral autonomy do the moral texts develop? 3) What does Japanese moral education look like in terms of the comparative framework? The research was based on curriculum research. Its primary empirical data consisted of the national curriculum guidelines for primary school, which were taken into use in 2002, and moral texts, Kokoro no nôto, published by the Ministry of Education in the same context. Since moral education was approached in the education reform context, the secondary research material involved some key documents of the revision process from the mid-1990s to 2003. The research material was collected during three fieldwork periods in Japan (in 2002, 2003 and 2005). The text-analysis was conducted as a theory-dependent qualitative content analysis. Japanese moral education was analyzed as a product of its own cultural tradition and societal answer to the current educational challenges. In order to understand better its character, secular moral education was reflected upon from a comparative viewpoint. The theory chosen for the comparative framework, the value realistic theory of education, represented the European rational education tradition as well as the Christian tradition of values education. Moral education, which was the most important school subject at the beginning of modern school, was eliminated from the curriculum for political reasons in a school reform after the Second World War, but has gradually regained a stronger position since then. It was reinforced particularly at the turn of millennium, when a curriculum revision attempted to respond to educational and learning problems by emphasizing qualitative and value aspects. Although the number of moral lessons and their status as a non-official-subject remained unchanged, the Ministry of Education made efforts to improve moral education by new curricular emphases, new teaching material and additional in-service training possibilities for teachers. The content of the moral texts was summarized in terms of moral responsibility in four moral areas (intrapersonal, interpersonal, natural-supranatural and societal) as follows: 1) continuous self-development, 2) caring for others, 3) awe of life and forces beyond human power, and 4) societal contribution. There was a social-societal and emotional emphasis in what was taught. Moral autonomy, which was studied from the perspectives of rational, affective and individuality development, stressed independence in action through self-discipline and responsibility more than rational self-direction. Japanese moral education can be characterized as the education of kokoro (heart) and the development of character, which arises from virtue ethics. It aims to overcome egoistic individualism by reciprocal and interdependent moral responsibility based on responsible interconnectedness.