"Haluan tuonne heti!" : Tulevaisuuskuvia ghanalaisten, isobritannialaisten,suomalaisten ja tansanialaisten lasten piirustuksissa

"I want there now!" Images of the future in the drawings of Ghanaian, British, Finnish and Tanzanian children The aim of the Thesis is to examine what kind of images children aged between 8 and 12 years in Ghana, Great Britain, Finland and Tanzania hold of their future. The study is a qualitative analysis based on data that consists of 214 drawings, digitally photographed and analysed using AtlasTI computer program. The data was coded and divided into " families " whose frequencies were compared in order to maintain results. The assignment was given to the children in the language used in the school and it was similar in each country. The children were introduced to the idea with a set of stimulating questions and after that they were asked to draw and colour with a pen a picture of 1) him/herself as an adult, 2) his/her future home and 3) the people and the animals they think they will be living with. The children were also asked to write down the country and the place they believe to live in their future. They were also encouraged to write down e.g. their dream profession, what they would like to have as hobbies in their adulthood and other important things in their lives. The analysis focuses on the content of the drawings instead of artistic or psychological interpretations. The differences between the drawings from different countries as well as the differences in a single country were significant. The current trends and the experiences children had lived through were present in the drawings. There were no differences in the colour of the skin and the most popular professions were doctor, police and football player. The football was very strongly present in all of the data; almost fourth of the children had either drawn or mentioned football as their future profession or hobby. Different flora was present in 84% of Tanzanian and 70% of Ghanaian drawings compared to the 23% of British and 17% of Finnish drawings. Of all the family forms a dream of the traditional nuclear family could be found among 29% of the drawings. Compared to that a total of 30% wanted either a child of their own without a spouse (15%) or a spouse without a child (15%). Also grandparents, childhood friends, other adults, animals or even space aliens were present and sharing a home with the children in the drawings. Of all children 15% wanted to live totally alone in the future. This was most typical (38%) among the Finnish boys. The cat and the dog were the most popular animals to appear in the drawings. Moving abroad proved to be purely a western phenomenon, dreamed by 57% of the British and 18% of the Finnish children. As results, a negative self-image, violence, lack of expressions of positive feelings and solitude among the Finnish boys in the data were very concerning. Keywords: Images of the future, future studies, future-education, picture analysis

Saako terveysuskoja synninpäästön? : Naispappien käsityksiä laihdutus- ja terveyskulttuurista nykyisessä mediayhteiskunnassa

Background and aims. Fatness and dieting have been the object of interest between many fields for a long time. Home economics as a discipline enables a comprehensive inspection of fatness and dieting reviewing different disciplines. In addition to the aspect where the pursuit of dieting and health is seen from the perspective of medical and health science it is also been reviewd as a social and cultural phenomena. This study contemplates the influence of history, religion, medicalization and media on dieting and health culture. The objective is to find out if the modern dieting and health culture has gathered influences from centuries ago and absorbed religious features. The stress deriving from appereance has been discussed in the public and there are many solutions conserning weight issues. The purpose of this study is to find out what personal experiences and thoughts female pastors have conserning these questions. The media – which is one of the most influential systems nowadays – has undeniably a great effect on the consumer. The goal is furthermore to estimate the effect of the media on the changing of dieting and health culture. The three main research questions are: 1. What kind of conseptions do female pastors have of dieting and health culture and of its religious features? 2. What kind of personal experiences and conseptions do female pastors have of dieting and strivines of health? 3. How do female pastors regard the image the media has supplied of dieting and health culture? Material and methods. The qualitative data was gathered in year 2009 using the halfstructured theme interview -method. The data consists of interviews conducted with specialists of spiritual matters, i.e. ten female pastors who are between 35 and 60 years old and live in the metropolitan area. The analytical procedure used is called a theory based context analysis. Results and conclusions. Results of this study show that the idealization of slimness and healthiness is a matter discussed in the public on a daily basis. The problem faced was that the media provided contradictory information regarding fatness and dieting and the standard of slimness in commercials focused on females. The pursuit of dieting and healthiness was believed to include also religious elements. In the Middle Ages and the era after that the fatness, overeating and the pleasure one gets from eating was still seen as a condemnable matter in our culture. One could say this was like a sin. The respondents believed that healthiness, healthy living, optimal eating and good looks were a matter more or less equal than a religion. This was a derivative from the fact that treasuring health has become a life stearing value for many people. In the priest’s profession dieting and the pursuit of health was seen in the light of problems arising from weight issues. In ones profession for example the unhealthy eating in festive situations was seen as a matter that leads to unnecessary weight. Another aspect was the job circumstances that limited the degree of movement. The belief was that the female pastors would in a decreasing fashion confront stress deriving from appearence in their job. Keywords: dieting, fatness, healthiness, slimness, female pastors, religion, medicalization, media

Preventive Dentistry and Dental Education in Iran

The present study investigated the preventive orientation of the dental education system in Iran as reflected in the responses of dental school educators and dental students to a questionnaire survey. Two questionnaires, one for dental school educators and one for senior dental students, were designed and piloted. Of the 15 state dental schools in Iran, 7 were selected using a multi-stage sampling approach, and all the dental school educators and senior dental students in these schools were asked to voluntarily fill in the anonymous questionnaires. Totally, 291 educators (80%) and 270 students (82%) participated in the study. In addition to background information, both questionnaires requested information on knowledge of caries prevention, attitudes towards preventive dentistry and oral health behaviour of the respondents. The students' questionnaire also covered items concerning prevention-oriented practice, study motives, and career preferences. Contrary to knowledge and attitudes of the students, those of the educators' were positively associated with some of their academic and personal background characteristics. Women were more likely to report favourable oral self-care habits than men. The other determinants of oral health behaviour were educators' familiarity with the oral public health field, and students' attitudes towards prevention. A higher score on preventive practice among the students was associated with better oral self-care habits and positive attitudes towards prevention. Characteristics of the profession and social status and security were the top-ranked that motivated students to study dentistry, and students mainly preferred to enter postgraduate courses and private practice after graduation. To increase the orientation of Iran's health care system towards prevention, and to cope with current concepts of prevention, corresponding changes should be made in the dental education system. The results of this study support the revision of the dental curriculum by placing more emphasis on prevention-related topics and by integrating prevention-related concepts into all disciplines. Additionally, practicing dentists and dental educators should be provided with opportunities to attend continuing education courses and to conduct seminars and congresses on various aspects of preventive dentistry at home as well as abroad.

Arresting occlusal enamel caries lesions with pit and fissure sealants

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of pit and fissure sealants and the effectiveness of the two sealant methods applied in every-day practice in public dental health care in Finland. Two sealant methods were evaluated according to their effectiveness in preventing dentin caries and sealant retention. Application time with these sealant methods was compared. The survival rate of sealed first and second molars was followed for nine and 13 year periods, respectively. Caries risk evaluation and observed increased caries risk were the basis for considering sealant application. A questionnaire, sent to all public dental health centers in Finland, monitored the attitudes of the dental profession towards sealant application and explored the current policies used as well as changes noted in the sealant application protocol. DMFT (Decayed, Missing or Filled Teeth) index values collected from the health centers were evaluated. The difference in caries rate between two methods investigated was highly significant. When compared to the glass ionomer sealant method (GIC), the effectiveness of the resin-based method (RB) in preventing dentin caries was 74% and the rate difference 3%. The relative risk for RB-sealed surfaces vs. GIC-sealed surfaces of having detectable dentin caries was 0.3 (95% CI 0.12, 0.57). The retention rate of sealants was higher with RB than GIC (P<0.001). Application of RB sealant material was less time-consuming than application of GIC sealant. Occlusal dentin caries lesions were found in 4% and proximal caries in less than 2% of sealed teeth. The majority of respondents reported application of sealants on a systematic basis along with caries-risk evaluation. Those health centers sealing over suspected or detected enamel caries had lower average DMFT index values (1.0) when compared to DMFT values (1.2) of health centers applying sealants by alternative criteria. It is concluded that the RB sealant method is more effective than the GIC sealant method in preventing dentin caries. Sealant maintenance may increase the costs of a sealant program. Occlusal caries management may be improved if the applied sealant policies are changed towards an interceptive approach i.e. applying the sealants over detected or suspected enamel caries lesions instead of sealing sound teeth in a preventive manner.

Median muotoilema : Muotoilun mediajulkisuus suomalaisessa talouslehdistössä

Designed by the Media The Media publicity of Design in the Finnish Economic Press The meaning of design has increased in consumer societies. Design is the subject of debate and the number of media discussions has also increased steadily. Especially the role of industrial design has been emphasised. In this study I examine the media publicity of design in the Finnish economic press from the late 1980s to the beginning of the 2000s. The research question is connected to media representations: How is design represented in the Finnish economic press? In other words, what are the central topics of design in the economic press, and to what issues are the media debates connected? The usually repeated phrase that design discussions take place only on the cultural pages of the daily press or in cultural contexts is being changed. Design is also linked to the consumer culture and consumers everyday practices. The research material has been collected from the Finnish economic press. The qualitative sample consists of articles from Kauppalehti, Taloussanomat and from several economic papers published by the Talentum Corporation. The approach of the research is explorative, descriptive and hermeneutic. This means that the economic press articles are used to explore how design is represented in the media. In addition, the characteristics of design represented in the media are described in detail. The research is based on the interpretive tradition of studying textual materials. Background assumptions are thus grounded in hermeneutics. Erving Goffman s frame analysis is applied in analysing the economic press materials. The frames interpreted from the articles depict the media publicity of design in the Finnish economic press. The research opens up a multidimensional picture of design in the economic press. The analysis resulted in five frames that describe design from various points of view. In the personal frame designers are described in private settings and through their personal experiences. The second frame relates to design work. In the frame of mastery of the profession, the designers work is interpreted widely. Design is considered from the aspects of controlling personal know-how, co-operation and the overall process of design. The third frame is connected to the actual substance of the economic press. In the frame of economy and market, design is linked to international competitiveness, companies competitive advantage and benefit creation for the consumers. The fourth frame is connected to the actors promoting design on a societal level. In the communal frame, the economic press describes design policy, design research and education and other actors that actively develop design in the societal networks. The last frame is linked to the traditions of design and above all to the examination of the cultural transition. In the frame of culture the traditions of design are emphasised. Design is also connected to the industrial culture and furthermore to the themes of the consumer culture. It can be argued that the frames construct media publicity of design from various points of view. The frames describe situations, action and the actors of design. The interpreted media frames make it possible to understand the relation of interpreted design actions and the culture. Thus, media has a crucial role in representing and recreating meanings related to design. The publicity of design is characterised by the five focal themes: personification, professionalisation, commercialisation, communalisation and transition of cultural focus from the traditions of design to the industrial culture and the consumer culture. Based on my interpretation these themes are guided by the mediatisation of design. The design phenomenon is defined more often on the basis of the media representations in the public discourses. The design culture outlined in this research connects socially constructed and structurally organised action. Socially constructed action in design is connected to the experiences, social recreation and collective development of design. Structurally, design is described as professional know-how, as a process and as an economic profit generating action in the society. The events described by the media affect the way in which people experience the world, the meanings they connect to the events around themselves and their life in the world. By affecting experiences, the media indirectly affects human actions. People have become habituated to read media representations on a daily basis, but they are not used to reading and interpreting the various meanings that are incorporated in the media texts.

Kertomuksia kirkon työntekijäksi kasvamisesta : Kirkon nuorisotyötä opiskelevien spiritualiteetin ja ammatillisen identiteetin muotoutuminen

The aim of the study was to analyse Church Youth Work Leader students different processes of developing their spirituality and professional identity. The study was carried out in connection with the church-orientated education at the Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (Diak). The method of the study was narrative analysis. The data consisted of stories written (N=46) and told (N=10) by students, that were collected over three years in two units of Diak. The data was analysed in two ways: first with categorical-content analysis, and then with holistic-content analysis and holistic-form reading in order to establish the comprehensive views of complete narratives. The theoretical starting-point was to regard spirituality widely, including religion and faith. In the first data analysis, this theory was focused so that spirituality was namely Christian spirituality including personal faith and worship, membership in the Christian community and persons values and ideas about the meaning of life. The results of the investigation were presented in five model narratives. The story of a social care worker represents the process of a student orientating to social work. In this story spirituality manifested as a part of social and personal identity but not as a part of professional identity. The vocation for helping people led the student to social care work. In the story of a counselor, students good connection to their home parish took a central role. They had good experiences working as young Christian volunteers, and during their studies this volunteer role became professional role. Spirituality was strongly joined to professional identity. The story of an educator represents a vocation for spiritual work and youth work in the church. In this story students also had good connections to their home parishes. Spirituality manifested as a part of personal, social and professional identity. In the story of a spiritual worker or preacher, each person s spiritual vocation was remarkable. Spirituality was extremely individual and it defined the personal, social and professional identity. Spiritual devotion caused a change in students orientation from the church to social services. The story of a searcher tells about a student who is still looking for her or his own profession. The focus of the story was on personal growth and considering one s values and the meaning of life. Spirituality was manifested in personal identity. The results indicate that the practical placements in the second academic year have an important effect on students professional orientation and professional identity. The connection to the local parish has also significant meaning for students spiritual formation and development into church professions.

Ammatti, ihminen ja maailmankuva murroksessa : Tutkimus yliopistokirjastoista ja kirjastonhoitajista tietoyhteiskuntakaudella 1970-2005

PROFESSION, PERSON AND WORLDVIEW AT A TURNING POINT A Study of University Libraries and Library Staff in the Information Age 1970 - 2005 The incongruity between commonly held ideas of libraries and librarians and the changes that have occurred in libraries since 2000 provided the impulse for this work. The object is to find out if the changes of the last few decades have penetrated to a deeper level, that is, if they have caused changes in the values and world views of library staff and management. The study focuses on Finnish university libraries and the people who work in them. The theoretical framework is provided by the concepts of world view (values, the concept of time, man and self, the experience of the supernatural and the holy, community and leadership). The viewpoint, framework and methods of the study place it in the area of Comparative Religion by applying the world view framework. The time frame is the information age, which has deeply affected Finnish society and scholarly communication from 1970 to 2005. The source material of the study comprises 30 life stories; somewhat more than half of the stories come from the University of Helsinki, and the rest from the other eight universities. Written sources include library journals, planning documents and historical accounts of libraries. The experiences and research diaries of the research worker are also used as source material. The world view questions are discussed on different levels: 1) recognition of the differences and similarities in the values of the library sphere and the university sphere, 2) examination of the world view elements, community and leadership based on the life stories, and 3) the three phases of the effects of information technology on the university libraries and those who work in them. In comparing the values of the library sphere and the university sphere, the appreciation of creative work and culture as well as the founding principles of science and research are jointly held values. The main difference between the values in the university and library spheres concerns competition and service. Competition is part of the university as an institution of research work. The core value of the library sphere is service, which creates the essential ethos of library work. The ethical principles of the library sphere also include the values of democracy and equality as well as the value of intellectual freedom. There is also a difference between an essential value in the university sphere, the value of autonomy and academic freedom on the one hand, and the global value of the library sphere - organizing operations in a practical and efficient way on the other hand. Implementing this value can also create tension between the research community and the library. Based on the life stories, similarities can be found in the values of the library staff members. The value of service seems to be of primary importance for all who are committed to library work and who find it interesting and rewarding. The service role of the library staff can be extended from information services provider to include the roles of teacher, listener and even therapist, all needed in a competitive research community. The values of democracy and equality also emerge fairly strongly. The information age development has progressed in three phases in the libraries from the 1960s onward. In the third phase beginning in the mid 1990s, the increased usage of electronic resources has set fundamental changes in motion. The changes have affected basic values and the concept of time as well as the hierarchies and valuations within the library community. In addition to and as a replacement for the library possessing a local identity and operational model, a networked, global library is emerging. The changes have brought tension both to the library communities and to the relationship between the university community and the library. Future orientation can be said to be the key concept for change; it affects where the ideals and models for operations are taken from. Future orientation manifests itself as changes in metaphors, changes in the model of a good librarian and as communal valuations. Tension between the libraries and research communities can arise if the research community pictures the library primarily as a traditional library building with a local identity, whereas the 21st century library staff and directors are affected by future orientation and membership in a networked library sphere, working proactively to develop their libraries.

Work-related well-being of Finnish anesthesiologists

Anesthesiologists, according to some studies, are highly stressed, die at a significantly earlier age than their colleagues and the general population,and are among the leaders in physicians' suicide records. Data are,however, sparse and contradictory. The aim of this study was to discover details of the work-related well-being of Finnish anesthesiologists. In 2004, a cross-sectional postal survey including all 550 working Finnish anesthesiologists produced a total of 328 responses (60%); 53% were men. The anesthesiologists had the greatest on-call workload among Finnish physicians. Their average in-hospital on-call period lasted 24 hours (range 14 to 38). Over two-thirds felt stressed. The most important causes of stress were work and combining work with family. Their main worries at work were: excessive workload and time constraints, especially being on call, organizational problems, and fear of harming patients. On-call workload correlated with burnout. Being frequently on call was correlated with severe stress symptoms--symptoms associated with sick leaves. Women were more affected by stress than men. High job control and organizational justice seemed to mitigate hospital-on-call stress symptoms. The respondents enjoyed fairly high job and life satisfaction. Job control and organizational justice were the most important correlates of these wellness indicators. Work-related factors were more important in males, whereas family life played a larger role in the well-being of female anesthesiologists. Women had less job control, fewer permanent job contracts, and a higher domestic workload. Of the respondents, 31% were willing to consider changing to another physician's specialty and 43% to a profession other than medicine. The most important correlates for these job turnover attitudes were conflicts at the workplace, low job control, organizational injustice, stress, and job dissatisfaction. One in four had at some time considered suicide. Respondents with poor health, low social support, and family problems were at the highest risk for suicidality. The highest risks at work were conflicts with co-workers and superiors, on-call-related stress symptoms, and low organizational justice. If a respondent had several risk factors, the risk for suicidality doubled with each additional factor. On-call work-burden, job control, fairness of decision-making procedures,and workplace relationships should be the focus in attempts to increase the work-related well-being of anesthesiologists.

Medicalising Prohibition : Harm reduction in Finnish and International Drug Policy

The increase in drug use and related harms in the late 1990s in Finland has come to be referred to as the second drug wave. In addition to using criminal justice as a basis of drug policy, new kinds of drug regulation were introduced. Some of the new regulation strategies were referred to as "harm reduction". The most widely known practices of harm reduction include needle and syringe exchange programmes for intravenous drug users and medicinal substitution and maintenance treatment programmes for opiate users. The purpose of the study is to examine the change of drug policy in Finland and particularly the political struggle surrounding harm reduction in the context of this change. The aim is, first, to analyse the content of harm reduction policy and the dynamics of its emergence and, second, to assess to what extent harm reduction undermines or threatens traditional drug policy. The concept of harm reduction is typically associated with a drug policy strategy that employs the public health approach and where the principal focus of regulation is on drug-related health harms and risks. On the other hand, harm reduction policy has also been given other interpretations, relating, in particular, to human rights and social equality. In Finland, harm reduction can also be seen to have its roots in criminal policy. The general conclusion of the study is that rather than posing a threat to a prohibitionist drug policy, harm reduction has come to form part of it. The implementation of harm reduction by setting up health counselling centres for drug users with the main focus on needle exchange and by extending substitution treatment has implied the creation of specialised services based on medical expertise and an increasing involvement of the medical profession in addressing drug problems. At the same time the criminal justice control of drug use has been intensified. Accordingly, harm reduction has not entailed a shift to a more liberal drug policy nor has it undermined the traditional policy with its emphasis on total drug prohibition. Instead, harm reduction in combination with a prohibitionist penal policy constitutes a new dual-track drug policy paradigm. The study draws on the constructionist tradition of research on social problems and movements, where the analysis centres on claims made about social problems, claim-makers, ways of making claims and related social mobilisation. The research material mainly consists of administrative documents and interviews with key stakeholders. The doctoral study consists of five original articles and a summary article. The first article gives an overview of the strained process of change of drug policy and policy trends around the turn of the millennium. The second article focuses on the concept of harm reduction and the international organisations and groupings involved in defining it. The third article describes the process that in 1996 97 led to the creation of the first Finnish national drug policy strategy by reconciling mutually contradictory views of addressing the drug problem, at the same as the way was paved for harm reduction measures. The fourth article seeks to explain the relatively rapid diffusion of needle exchange programmes after 1996. The fifth article assesses substitution treatment as a harm reduction measure from the viewpoint of the associations of opioid users and their family members.

Elämän tiede : Tutkimus lääketieteellisestä teknologiasta, vanhemmuudesta ja perimän hallinnasta

Doctoral dissertation work in sociology examines how human heredity became a scientific, political and a personal issue in the 20th century Finland. The study focuses on the institutionalisation of rationales and technologies concerning heredity, in the context of Finnish medicine and health care. The analysis concentrates specifically on the introduction and development of prenatal screening within maternity care. The data comprises of medical articles, policy documents and committee reports, as well as popular guidebooks and health magazines. The study commences with an analysis on the early 20th century discussions on racial hygiene. It ends with an analysis on the choices given to pregnant mothers and families at present. Freedom to choose, considered by geneticists and many others as a guarantee of the ethicality of medical applications, is presented in this study as a historically, politically and scientifically constructed issue. New medical testing methods have generated new possibilities of governing life itself. However, they have also created new ethical problems. Leaning on recent historical data, the study illustrates how medical risk rationales on heredity have been asserted by the medical profession into Finnish health care. It also depicts medical professions ambivalence between maintaining the patients autonomy and utilizing for example prenatal testing according to health policy interests. Personalized risk is discussed as a result of the empirical analysis. It is indicated that increasing risk awareness amongst the public, as well as offering choices, have had unintended consequences. According to doctors, present day parents often want to control risks more than what is considered justified or acceptable. People s hopes to anticipate the health and normality of their future children have exceeded the limits offered by medicine. Individualization of the government of heredity is closely linked to a process that is termed as depolitization. The concept refers to disembedding of medical genetics from its social contexts. Prenatal screening is regarded to be based on individual choice facilitated by neutral medical knowledge. However, prenatal screening within maternity care also has its basis in health policy aims and economical calculations. Methodological basis of the study lies in Michel Foucault s writings on the history of thought, as well as in science and technology studies.

Stor Anna, Liten Anna och tio andra personporträtt : Om innehållsliga och språkliga mönster i en mediegenres kvinnobeskrivningar

The aim of this licentiate thesis is to analyse how femininity is constructed in twelve portrait interviews of women in the dailies Dagens Nyheter (Stockholm) and Hufvudstadsbladet (Helsinki) in September 1996, and to explore the portrait interview as a media genre. The qualitative analysis has a feminist and constructionist perspective and is connected to critical text analysis. It was carried out on two levels: first, femininity is identified on the linguistic level by choice of words, and second on the level of content (topical motifs/themes). The portrait interview as a genre constitutes a third dimension in the analysis: The aim is not towards the identification of femininity, but rather towards the identification of the portrait interview a relatively unexplored media genre. References (Swedish: omtal) to the principal character (or protagonist) are traced mainly through reference chains which consist of names, pronouns and substantive phrases. The interviewees were referred to by their full names in Dagens Nyheter (with the exception of the oldest and youngest interviewees, both of whom were mainly referred to by their first names), while the style of reference varied more in Hufvudstadsbladet. The position of the principal character was also analysed through her relation in the text to minor characters from her working life and from her private life. These minor characters maintained their subordinate positions in all of the portraits except that of the youngest principal character, in which the subsidiary voices became at least as strong as the voice of the principal character. Three frequently-recurring topical motifs occurred in the portraits: The first involved explanations for the principal character s success divided into three categories, agent, affect and ambition, the second concerned using journeys or trips as symbols for turning points in life, and the third referred to the ambiguity in the contradiction between private (family/other private life) and public (work) life. This ambiguity is connected to the portrait interview as a text type (genre) which features conclusions at the end of portraits, which in turn is characteristic of reportage. However, the analysis showed that the conclusions of the portrait interviews often also included elements of ambiguity. This was evident in the contradictions be14 tween private and public life that arose in the portrait interviews that focused on these two spheres. The portraits that focused on the principal character s public life showed ambiguity on a more general level concerning questions about being a woman and having a profession, and they often ended with a description of some details of her private life. The women in the portraits were all constructed as being successful, in terms of having achieved direct success, reflective success or success in the form of life wisdom. The women of direct success were described as ambitious individuals with no sidetracks on their life paths, while those of reflective success were described as active heroines who had received help from different agents, who could use their affects as enriching ingredients in life, but who in the end had control over their own lives (life stories). The elderly women were constructed as having achieved life wisdom and their portraits were focused upon the past. The portrait interview as a genre is characterised by journalistic freedom (in relation to the more strict news genre), by a now room (Swedish nurum ) where the journalist meets the principal character (usually via spoken dialogue that she or he transforms into written text to be read by a mass-media audience) and by the relatively closed structure of the portrait. The portrait is relatively independent in relation to the news genre and in relation to the context of what has previously been written, what is being written at the time and what will be written in the future the principal character does not need to belong to the newspaper s usual gallery of actors. Furthermore, the principal character is constructed as being independent in relation to the subsidiary characters and other media actors. The conflict is within the principal character herself and within her life story, unlike the news genre in which equal actors are in conflict with each other. The portrait is also independent in relation to the news lifespan; the publishing timetable is not as strict as in the news genre, but is still dependent on the factors initiating the portrait. The enclosures consist of a raw analysis of two of twelve portrait interviews and of copies of all portraits.

Ammatillisten opettajien tieto- ja viestintätekniikan opetuskäytön intentionaalisuutta selittävät tekijät

Intention-based models have been one of the main theoretical orientations in the research on the implementation of information and communication technology (ICT). According to these models, actual behavior can be predicted from the intention towards the behavior. If the level of intention to use technology is high, the probability of actual usage of ICT increases. The purpose of this study was to find out which factors explain vocational teachers intention to use ICT in their teaching. In addition, teachers of media and information sciences and teachers of welfare and health were compared. The study also explored how regularly ICT was applied by teachers and how strong their intention to apply the technology was. This Master s thesis is a quantitative study and the data was collected using an Email survey and Eform. The instruments were based on a decomposed theory of planned behavior. The research group consisted of 22 schools of media and information sciences and 20 schools of welfare and health. The data consisted of 231 vocational teachers: 57 teachers worked with media and information sciences and 174 with welfare and health. The data was analyzed using Mann-Whitney U-test, factor analysis and regression analysis. In addition, categorized results were compared with previous study. In this study, the intention to use ICT in teaching was explained by the teachers attitudes and skills and the attitudes of their work community. However, the environment in which ICT was used, i.e., the technical environment, economical resources and time, did not explain the intention. The results did not directly support any of the intention-based models, but they could be interpreted as congruent with the technology acceptance model. The majority of the teachers used ICT at least weekly. They had a strong intention to continue to do that in the future. The study also revealed that there were more teachers who had a critical attitude towards ICT among the teachers of welfare and health. According to the results of this study, it is not possible to state that ICT would not suit any one profession because in every group with teachers with a critical attitude towards ICT there were also teachers with a positive attitude.

Tyttöjen kesken : Monikulttuurisuus ja sukupuolten tasa-arvo nuorisotyössä.

Among Girls Youth Work, Multiculturalism and Gender Equality Finland s increasingly multicultural society concerns younger generations in a very particular manner. Starting already in pre-school kindergartens, children from different cultural backgrounds share their everyday existence. The focus of this study is Finland s increasingly multicultural society that has challenged youth work professionals in particular and made them rethink questions related to content, basic values and goals of youth work. These reconsiderations include the following essential questions: which of these pedagogic principles are defined as Finnish, and under what kinds of circumstances would the youth workers be ready to negotiate about them. These questions, which are related to multiculturalism, are then linked to the girls position, status and gender equality. The research examines how gender equality is articulated in relation to multiculturalism and vice versa, in what contexts youth work-related questions are negoatiated in, and how these negotiations then relate to gender issues. The present study combines theoretical concepts and debates from both post-colonial and youth research, and has benefited greatly from previous research which has examined the everyday lives of young people with multicultural backgrounds and conceptualised the different meanings of age, ethnicity, culture and gender. Neither multiculturalism nor gender equality is, however, taken as a given concept in this study; rather the research focuses on how youth workers understand and define these concepts and how they are used. The emphasis has been on monitoring the varying consequences of different understandings and definitions in terms of everyday work and practices. The goal of this study has been to find typical ways of conceptualising multiculturalism, gender equality and the role of girls in the context of youth work. The focus of the research is not just the youth workers different views but also the notions of the girls themselves. These are then further analysed by examining the ways the girls negotiate their agency. Examples of how the girls agency is defined and the different forms of agency that are offered to the girls within the context of leisure time activities and youth work have been sought. The kind of agency the girls then assume is also examined. The data in this research is comprised of interviews with young people with multicultural backgrounds (n=39), youth workers (n=42) and of ethnographic fieldwork (2003 2005). The fieldwork concentrated on following different types of youth work activities that were targeted at girls with migrant backgrounds. These were organized both by selected municipalities and NGOs. The research shows that various questions related to multicultural issues have enhanced the visibility of gender equality in the field of youth work. The identification of gender-based inequality is especially closely linked to the position of girls from migrant backgrounds. These girls are a source of particular worry and the aim of the many activity groups for migrant girls is to educate them so that they can become equal Finnish citizens . The youth work itself is seen as gender-neutral and equality based. Equality in this context is defined as a purely quantitative concept, and the solution to any possible inequalities is thus the exact same treatment for everyone . The girls themselves seem mainly confused by the role that is offered to them. They would need a voice and the possibility to have an impact on the planning of youth work activities. They want to have their views heard. The role of the victim assigned to them is very confining and makes it difficult to act. At the same time the research shows how gender-sensitive youth work is seen to mean youth work with girls. Gender-sensitive work with boys is not really done or is done very little, even if many of the interviewees are of the opinion that the true materialization of gender equality would require boys to be taken into account too. The principle of gender equality should be shared by the entire youth work profession. Keywords Youth work, equality, multiculturalism, gender sensitivity, agency, girls, young people, sexuality

Avoimesti sitoutuneena : Lähetystyö kristillisessä kasvatuksessa ja vapaaehtoistyössä

In this study the junction of Christian mission, Christian education and voluntary work are examined in the Christian student voluntary association Opiskelijain Lähetysliitto (OL), which is the Finnish successor to the Student Volunteer Movement. The main subjects are the structure and content of the mission education as one aspect of Lutheran education and the reasons for expressing the mission interest through voluntary work. The research questions are as follows: What kind of organization has the OL been? What has mission education been like in the OL? Why have the former chairpersons participated in the OL? How have purposiveness and intentionality arisen among the former chairpersons? The study is empirical despite having a historical and retrospective view, since the OL is explored during the period 1972 2000. The data consists of the OL s annual reports, membership applications (N=629) and interviews of all 25 former chairmen. Data is analysed by qualitative and quantitative content analysis in a partly inductive and partly deductive manner. The pedagogical framework arises from situational learning theory (Lave - Wenger 1991), which was complemented with the criteria for meaningful learning (Jonassen 1995), the octagon model of volunteer motivation (Yeung 2004) and the definitions of intentionality and purposiveness in the theory of teachers pedagogical thinking (Kansanen et al. 2000). The analysis of the archive data showed that the activities of the OL are reminiscent of those of the missions of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church congregations. The biggest difference was that all OL participants were young adults, the age group that is the greatest challenge to the Church. The OL is therefore an interesting context in which to explore mission education and mission interest. The key result of the study was the forming of a model of mission educa-tion. The model has three educational components: values, goals and methods. The gist of the model is formed by the goals. The main goal is the arousing and strengthening of mission interest which has emotional, cognitive and practical aspects. The subgoals create the horizontal vertical and inward outward dimensions of the model, which are the metalevels of mission education. The subgoals reveal that societal and religious education may embody a missionary dimension when they are understood as missionary training. Further, a distinction between mission education and missionary training was observed. The former emphasizes the main goal of the model and the latter underlines the subgoals. Based on the vertical dimension of the model the study suggests that the definition of religious competence needs to be complemented with missional competence. Reasons for participating in the OL were found to be diverse as noted in other studies on volunteering and motivating factors, and were typical to young people such as the importance of social relations. The study created new motivational themes that occurred in the middle of the continuity newness and the distance proximity dimensions, which were not found in Yeung s research. Mission interest as voluntary work appeared as oriented towards one s own spirituality or towards the social community. On the other hand, mission interest was manifested as intentional education in order to either improve the community or to promote the Christian mission. In the latter case the mission was seen as a purpose in life and as a future profession. Keywords: mission, Christian education, voluntary work, mission education, mission interest, stu-dent movement

The traditionalism-inclusionism controversy in special education : a conceptual analysis

The aim of this study has been to challenge or expand the present views on special education. In a series of six articles this thesis will directly or indirectly debate questions relating to inclusive and exclusive mechanisms in society. It is claimed that the tension between traditionalism and inclusionism within special education may harm the legitimation of special education as a profession of the welfare state. The articles address the relationship between these two approaches. The traditionalism-inclusionism controversy is partly rooted in different ways of understanding the role of special education with respect to democracy. It seems, however, that the traditionalism-inclusionism controversy tends to lead researchers to debate paradigmatic positions with each other than to develop alternative strategies for dealing with the delicate challenge of the differences within education. ---- There are three major areas of this discussion. The first part presents the theory of research programmes as a way of describing the content, the possibilities, and the problems of the different approaches. The main argument is that the concept of research programmes more clearly emphasizes the ethical responsibilities involved in research within the field of special education than does the paradigmatic approach. The second part considers the social aspects of the debate between traditionalism and inclusionism from different perspectives. A central claim made is that the work seen within special education must be understood as a reaction to the social and political world that the profession is part of, and that this also is part of a specific historical development. Even though it is possible to claim that the main aim for special education is to help people that are looked at as disabled or feel disabled, it is also necessary to understand that the profession is highly constrained by the grand narrative of the welfare state and the historical discourse that this profession is part of. The third part focuses on a central aspect of special education: the humanistic solutions towards people who are left behind by ordinary education. The humanistic obligation for special education is part of the general aim of the welfare state to provide an education for a democratic and an inclusive society. This humanistic aim and the goal to offer an education for democracy seem therefore, to dominate the understanding of how special education works.