Lapsi, lapsuus ja perhe varhaiskasvatusasiakirjoissa 1967-1999

The aim of this study is to describe and interpret discourses in Finnish national early childhood education and care (ECEC) documents concerning the child, childhood and family, including preschool education of six-year-old children. The study begins with preparation phase of the Act on Children s Day Care (1967) and concludes with the definition of ECEC policy (1999). The research data consists of committee memoranda and national ECEC curriculum guidelines. The total number of documents studied was 20, comprising some 1700 pages. The research data was examined with qualitative text analysis and employed a discursive approach. A semiotic square (Greimas rectangle) served as a tool for clarifying the discourses and constructions reflected in the research data. The theoretical framework of the study consists of the theories of childhood and family studies. The main concepts from childhood studies used in this study were childhood as a cultural construct and child-centred pedagogy in ECEC. The theoretical approaches from family studies used were the formation of modern and late-modern parenthood and family, as well as the concept of familism. Two main discursive lines were constructed from the ECEC documents. The notion of universalistic childhood suggests that early education and care aim to create the same good childhood for all children, regardless of their family background or living area. The second discursive line followed in the documents is the familistic discourse. This discourse contains emphasis on the priority of parental care. The construct of the competent child was found in the research data as early as in the mid-1970s. On the other hand, the construct of the weak family is distinguishable throughout almost the entire research period. This raises the question of whether Finnish ECEC system has been developed for the competent and self-sufficient child of a weak family which needs constant support and guidance of welfare experts. According to the study, it appears that within the Finnish ECEC system the relatively heavy emphasis on social work rather than on early education has been legitimised by the construct of the weak family. This study also shows that a more thorough analysis should be given to what we mean when we say that the main task of ECEC system is to support families in the upbringing of their children. The study was completed during the period when historical decisions concerning the administration in Finland were in the making (i.e. the potential transfer of ECEC services from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health to the Ministry of Education). Also, over the past decade, a major reformation of the Act on Children s Daycare has been on the agenda, but no concrete measures have been implemented. Based on the findings of this study, we can ask for what kind of child and family we are preparing the ECEc reforms of the new millennium. Key words: ECEC policy Finland, childhood, family, familism, discourse analysis, semiotic square

Kansanterveysongelman synty : Tuberkuloosi ja terveyden hallinta Suomessa ennen toista maailmansotaa

The study focuses on the emergence of tuberculosis as a public health problem and the development of the various methods to counteract it in Finland before the introduction of efficient methods of treatment in the 1940s and 50s. It covers a time period from year 1882 when the tuberculosis bacterium was identified to the 1930s when the early formation of tuberculosis work became established in Finland. During this time there occurred important changes in medicine, public health thinking and methods of personal health care that have been referred to as the bacteriological revolution. The study places tuberculosis prevention in this context and shows how the tuberculosis problem affected the government of health on all these three dimensions. The study is based on foucauldian analytics of government, which is supplemented with perspectives from contemporary science and technology studies. In addition, it utilises a broad array of work in medical history. The central research materials consist of medical journals, official programs and documents on tuberculosis policy, and health education texts. The general conclusions of the study are twofold. Firstly, the ensemble of tuberculosis work was formed from historically diverse and often conflicting elements. The identification of the pathogen was only the first step in the establishment of tuberculosis as a major public health problem. Important were also the attention of the science of hygiene and statistical reasoning that dominated public health thinking in the late 19th century. Furthermore, the adoption of the bacteriological tuberculosis doctrine in medicine, public health work and health education was profoundly influenced by previous understanding of the nature of the illness, of medical work, of the prevention of contagious diseases, and of personal health care. Also the two central institutions of tuberculosis work, sanatorium and dispensary, have heterogeneous origins and multifarious functions. Secondly, bacteriology represented in this study by tuberculosis remodelled medical knowledge and practices, the targets and methods of public health policy, and the doctrine of personal health care. Tuberculosis provided a strong argument for specific causes (if not cures) as well as laboratory methods in medicine. Tuberculosis prevention contributed substantially to the development whereby a comprehensive responsibility for the health of the population and public health work was added to the agenda of the state. Health advice on tuberculosis and other contagious diseases used dangerous bacteria to motivate personal health care and redefined it as protecting oneself from the attacks of external pathogens and strengthening oneself against their effects. Thus, tuberculosis work is one important root for the contemporary public concern for the health of the population and the imperative of personal health care.

Adoption processes for EDM, EDI and BIM technologies in the construction industry

Three strategically important uses of IT in the construction industry are the storage and management of project documents on webservers (EDM), the electronic handling of orders and invoices between companies (EDI) and the use of 3-D models including non-geometrical attributes for integrated design and construction (BIM). In a broad longitudinal survey study of IT use in the Swedish Construction Industry the extent of use of these techniques was measured in 1998, 2000 and 2007. The results showed that EDM and EDI are currently already well-established techniques whereas BIM, although it promises the biggest potential benefits to the industry, only seems to be at the beginning of adoption. In a follow-up to the quantitative studies, the factors affecting the decisions to implement EDM, EDI and BIM as well as the actual adoption processes, were studied using semi-structured interviews with practitioners. The theoretical basis for the interview studies was informed by theoretical frameworks from IT-adoption theory, where in particular the UTAUT model has provided the main basis for the analyses presented here. The results showed that the decisions to take the above technologies into use are made on three differ- ent levels: the individual level, the organizational level in the form of a company, and the organiza- tional level in the form of a project. The different patterns in adoption can to some part be explained by where the decisions are mainly taken. EDM is driven from the organisation/project level, EDI mainly from the organisation/company level, and BIM is driven by individuals pioneering the technique.

Ihmisoikeuskasvatus lukiossa — outoa ja itsestään selvää

Human Rights Education in a Finnish Upper Secondary School: Alien Yet Obvious This study focused on conceptions of human rights and human rights education (HRE) among students and teachers. I examined how human rights and HRE are understood by the students and teachers in one general upper secondary school located in southern Finland. I also examined teacher and student discourses about foreigners and immigrants. In the theoretical part of the study I dealt with the history of human rights, the different emphases in HRE and how HRE is handled within the curriculum of upper secondary schools in Finland. In the empirical part of the study I examined HRE in one particular general upper secondary school located in southern Finland where I carried out 28 student interviews and 18 teacher interviews. The study is based on qualitative theme interviews, which I analysed using qualitative content analysis. The aims of HRE as specified in UN documents on education seem not to have been achieved in the Finnish context. The students' knowledge of human rights seemed weak and very limited. Few teachers were familiar with the concept of human rights education. The concept of human rights was also unclear to many of the students. Freedom of speech was the most well-known and the most often-cited human right mentioned in the interviews. Students were not well acquainted with the different human rights instruments or the organisations dealing with human rights. In a way, human rights were both familiar and strange to the students. Materials related to HRE were used very little in the school or not at all. Yet human rights seemed to be very well implemented in the institution. The upper secondary school studied here does not seem to have substantial problems with equality among either the teachers or the students. In the interviews human rights problems were often considered someone else's problem in some other country. The teachers and students connected HRE especially with religious education, history and social studies. Human dignity is mostly dealt with in religious education, while matters concerning the history of human rights are mostly dealt with in history classes. Teachers appear to be human rights educators in the sense that they try to follow human rights principles in their daily work and respect the human dignity of everyone. The special role of a human rights educator was usually assigned to someone else — a teacher or an expert outside the school. HRE was not an intentional or conscious part of teachers´ educational work and was not seen either as belonging to the curriculum or as an obligation prescribed by international documents. There is a need to strengthen the presence of HRE in teacher education. HRE plays an important role in creating a culture of human rights. It is important to implement HRE so that the international aims for HRE will be fulfilled.