Opettajan uskomukset opetustyön lähtökohtana : näkökulmia pedagogiseen ajatteluun

The purpose of this research was to examine teacher’s pedagogical thinking based on beliefs. It aimed to investigate and identify beliefs from teachers’ speech when they were reflecting their own teaching. Placement of beliefs in levels of pedagogical thinking was also examined. The second starting point for a study was the Instrumental Enrichment -intervention, which aims to enhance learning potential and cognitive functioning of students. The goal of this research was to investigate how five main principles of the intervention come forward in teachers’ thinking. Specifying research question was: how similar teachers’ beliefs are to the main principles of intervention. The teacher-thinking paradigm provided the framework for this study. The essential concepts of this study are determined exactly in the theoretical framework. Model of pedagogical thinking was important in the examination of teachers’ thinking. Beliefs were approached through the referencing of varied different theories. Feuerstein theory of Structural cognitive modifiability and Mediated learning experience completed the theory of teacher thinking. The research material was gathered in two parts. In the first part two mathematics lessons of three class teachers were videotaped. In second part the teachers were interviewed by using a stimulated recall method. Interviews were recorded and analysed by qualitative content analysis. Teachers’ beliefs were divided in themes and contents of these themes were described. This part of analysis was inductive. Second part was deductive and it was based on theories of pedagogical thinking levels and Instrumental Enrichment -intervention. According to the research results, three subcategories of teachers’ beliefs were found: beliefs about learning, beliefs about teaching and beliefs about students. When the teachers discussed learning, they emphasized the importance of understanding. In teaching related beliefs student-centrality was highlighted. The teachers also brought out some demands for good education. They were: clarity, diversity and planning. Beliefs about students were divided into two groups. The teachers believed that there are learning differences between students and that students have improved over the years. Because most of the beliefs were close to practice and related to concrete classroom situation, they were situated in Action level of pedagogical thinking. Some teaching and learning related beliefs of individual teachers were situated in Object theory level. Metatheory level beliefs were not found. Occurrence of main principles of intervention differed between teachers. They were much more consistent and transparent in the beliefs of one teacher than of the other two teachers. Differences also occurred between principles. For example reciprocity came up in every teacher’s beliefs, but modifiability was only found in the beliefs of one teacher. Results of this research were consistent with other research made in the field. Teachers’ beliefs about teaching were individual. Even though shared themes were found, the teachers emphasized different aspects of their work. Occurrence of beliefs that were in accordance with the intervention were teacher-specific. Inconsistencies were also found within teachers and their individual beliefs.

Teachers' attitudes to and beliefs about web-based Collaborative Learning Environments in the context of an international implementation

"Fifty-six teachers, from four European countries, were interviewed to ascertain their attitudes to and beliefs about the Collaborative Learning Environments (CLEs) which were designed under the Innovative Technologies for Collaborative Learning Project. Their responses were analysed using categories based on a model from cultural-historical activity theory [Engestrom, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding.- An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit; Engestrom, Y., Engestrom, R., & Suntio, A. (2002). Can a school community learn to master its own future? An activity-theoretical study of expansive learning among middle school teachers. In G. Wells & G. Claxton (Eds.), Learning for life in the 21st century. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers]. The teachers were positive about CLEs and their possible role in initiating pedagogical innovation and enhancing personal professional development. This positive perception held across cultures and national boundaries. Teachers were aware of the fact that demanding planning was needed for successful implementations of CLEs. However, the specific strategies through which the teachers can guide students' inquiries in CLEs and the assessment of new competencies that may characterize student performance in the CLEs were poorly represented in the teachers' reflections on CLEs. The attitudes and beliefs of the teachers from separate countries had many similarities, but there were also some clear differences, which are discussed in the article. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved."

Representing the epistemic nature of teachers’ practical knowledge : The case of class teachers’ general pedagogy

The present study addressed the epistemology of teachers’ practical knowledge. Drawing from the literature, teachers’ practical knowledge is defined as all teachers’ cognitions (e.g., beliefs, values, motives, procedural knowing, and declarative knowledge) that guide their practice of teaching. The teachers’ reasoning that lies behind their practical knowledge is addressed to gain insight into its epistemic nature. I studied six class teachers’ practical knowledge; they teach in the metropolitan region of Helsinki. Relying on the assumptions of the phenomenographic inquiry, I collected and analyzed the data. I analyzed the data in two stages where the first stage involved an abductive procedure, and the second stage an inductive procedure for interpretation, and thus developed the system of categories. In the end, a quantitative analysis nested into the qualitative findings to study the patterns of the teachers’’ reasoning. The results indicated that teachers justified their practical knowledge based on morality and efficiency of action; efficiency of action was found to be presented in two different ways: authentic efficiency and naïve efficiency. The epistemic weight of morality was embedded in what I call “moral care”. The core intention of teachers in the moral care was the commitment that they felt about the “whole character” of students. From this perspective the “dignity” and the moral character of the students should not replaced for any other “instrumental price”. “Caring pedagogy” was the epistemic value of teachers’ reasoning in the authentic efficiency. The central idea in the caring pedagogy was teachers’ intentions to improve the “intellectual properties” of “all or most” of the students using “flexible” and “diverse” pedagogies. However, “regulating pedagogy” was the epistemic condition of practice in the cases corresponding to naïve efficiency. Teachers argued that an effective practical knowledge should regulate and manage the classroom activities, but the targets of the practical knowledge were mainly other “issues “or a certain percentage of the students. In these cases, the teachers’ arguments were mainly based on the notion of “what worked” regardless of reflecting on “what did not work”. Drawing from the theoretical background and the data, teachers’ practical knowledge calls for “praxial knowledge” when they used the epistemic conditions of “caring pedagogy” and “moral care”. It however calls for “practicable” epistemic status when teachers use the epistemic condition of regulating pedagogy. As such, praxial knowledge with the dimensions of caring pedagogy and moral care represents the “normative” perspective on teachers’ practical knowledge, and thus reflects a higher epistemic status in comparison to “practicable” knowledge, which represents a “descriptive” perception toward teachers’ practical knowledge and teaching.

Working with Identities Promoting Student Teachers Professional Development

The starting point of the study was that good teaching requires a teacher to be aware of the sources of his or her pedagogical decisions; that is, personal values, beliefs and understandings. From this perspective, a teacher s professional development refers to a process of extending one s self-knowledge. The aim of this study was to promote student teachers' professional development with the help of identity work. Identity work refers to reflecting on both personal and professional experiences. Identity work consists of student teachers self-reflection on their life experiences (self-identity) and video diary-based reflection on their classroom practice (professional identity). The research questions of the study were 1) how is identity work manifested by the participants? and 2) what is the potential of identity work in promoting student teachers professional development? The research data was collected from four student teachers in the academic year 2007-2008; the research group had 24 meetings during the research process. Student teachers take part in a multimode teacher education programme, where students work as ordinary teachers in schools during their university studies. The data collection was conducted by using two methods: participants narratives based on autobiographical writings and video diaries based on participants lessons. Narrative research data was analysed by employing qualitative methods and strategies as they were needed in the research. The research results revealed four different ways of working with identities, each of them revealing different aspects of and approaches to identity work. The results also showed that identity work has the potential to promote professional development. As the research progressed, there were visible changes in the participants reflection. However, despite encouraging results, some issues should be critically questioned. Although reflection sounds attractive and fruitful as a tool for promoting professional development, there are also difficulties and obstacles. On the basis of the results, a proposal for promoting student teachers professional development is offered. Keywords: Teacher identity, identity work, reflection, teacher professional development

Everyday beliefs about food and health

The series of studies addresses several everyday beliefs about food and health from the perspective of everyday thinking and paranormal beliefs. They are "you are what you eat" beliefs, attitudes towards genetically modified and organic foods, and belief in alternative medicine. The survey studies included from 239 to 3261 Finnish participants. It was found that food consumption can have far-stretching consequences for the impressions of the eater in a "you are what you eat" manner. The results also demonstrated that belief in alternative medicine was related to belief in the paranormal, as were to a lesser degree attitudes towards genetically modified and organic foods. The study also addressed paranormal beliefs and belief in alternative medicine from the perspective of category observance. Paranormal believers as well as believers in alternative medicine were much more liberal than skeptics in violating categorical boundaries and attributed, for example, intentionality (mental) to body growth (biological) and life (biological) to energy (physical). In addition, the study addressed the relation of these attitudes and beliefs with preferred thinking style. The results demonstrated that belief in alternative medicine was especially appealing to intuitive thinkers, while rational thinking was unrelated to it. The same pattern was demonstrated for negative attitudes towards genetically modified food and positive attitudes towards organic food. In addition, it was demonstrated, however, that such unscientific notions may exist not instead of but parallel with "better knowledge". In sum, the present thesis contributes to the understanding of superstitious elements in various everyday attitudes and beliefs, and investigates their relationship with general inclinations towards belief in the paranormal. It appears that some very common everyday beliefs and attitudes about food and health contain elements of a superstitious nature. Involving conceptual enmeshment they go beyond mere associations, and can coincide with scientifically valid views on the same topic.

Paranormal, superstitious, magical, and religious beliefs

A lack of conceptual clarity and multivariate studies has impeded research on paranormal, superstitious, and magical beliefs. In this series of studies a new conceptual framework of these beliefs was presented. A general belief in the paranormal was shown to lead to specific paranormal, superstitious, and magical beliefs. The beliefs were defined equally as category mistakes where the core attributes of psychological, physical, and biological phenomena are confused with each other. This definition was supported by an empirical examination: Paranormal believers confused more core knowledge than skeptics. A multivariate study revealed that the best predictors of paranormal beliefs were intuitive thinking and a humanistic world view, while low analytical thinking was a less important predictor. Another study showed that women s greater belief in the paranormal compared to men was partially explained by women s higher intuitive and lower analytical thinking. Additionally, it was shown that university students were originally more skeptical than vocational school students, but university studies did not increase skepticism. The finding that paranormal beliefs mainly arise from an intuitive system, instead of a malfunctioning analytical system, explains why the beliefs do not vanish with the increase of education, scientific knowledge, and rational thinking. Religious and paranormal beliefs share important qualities and generally, they were positively related. The most religious people, however, abandoned paranormal beliefs. Religious people and paranormal believers differed from the skeptics similarly by being more intuitive, having experienced more mystical phenomena, and having peers and parents with more positive attitudes toward the supernatural. Religious people had, however, higher conservation and benevolence values than paranormal believers. The new conceptual framework presented in this series of studies integrates research on paranormal, superstitious, magical, and religious beliefs. Hopefully it will enable researchers to develop more elaborated hypotheses and theoretical statements about paranormal beliefs in the future.

Teaching in Higher Education : From Content-focused to Learning-focused Approaches to Teaching

The aim of this dissertation was to explore teaching in higher education from the teachers’ perspective. Two of the four studies analysed the effect of pedagogical training on approaches to teaching and on self-efficacy beliefs of teachers on teaching. Of these two studies, Study I analysed the effect of pedagogical training by applying a cross-sectional setting. The results showed that short training made teachers less student-centred and decreased their self-efficacy beliefs, as reported by the teachers themselves. However, more constant training enhanced the adoption of a student-centred approach to teaching and increased the self-efficacy beliefs of teachers as well. The teacher-focused approach to teaching was more resistant to change. Study II, on the other hand, applied a longitudinal setting. The results implied that among teachers who had not acquired more pedagogical training after Study II there were no changes in the student-focused approach scale between the measurements. However, teachers who had participated in further pedagogical training scored significantly higher on the scale measuring the student-focused approach to teaching. There were positive changes in the self-efficacy beliefs of teachers among teachers who had not participated in further training as well as among those who had. However, the analysis revealed that those teachers had the least teaching experience. Again, the teacher-focused approach was more resistant to change. Study III analysed approaches to teaching qualitatively by using a large and multidisciplinary sample in order to capture the variation in descriptions of teaching. Two broad categories of description were found: the learning-focused and the content-focused approach to teaching. The results implied that the purpose of teaching separates the two categories. In addition, the study aimed to identify different aspects of teaching in the higher-education context. Ten aspects of teaching were identified. While Study III explored teaching on a general level, Study IV analysed teaching on an individual level. The aim was to explore consonance and dissonance in the kinds of combinations of approaches to teaching university teachers adopt. The results showed that some teachers were clearly and systematically either learning- or content-focused. On the other hand, profiles of some teachers consisted of combinations of learning- and content-focused approaches or conceptions making their profiles dissonant. Three types of dissonance were identified. The four studies indicated that pedagogical training organised for university teachers is needed in order to enhance the development of their teaching. The results implied that the shift from content-focused or dissonant profiles towards consonant learning-focused profiles is a slow process and that teachers’ conceptions of teaching have to be addressed first in order to promote learning-focused teaching.

Teacher Education, School Effectiveness and Improvement : A Study of Academic and Professional Qualification on Teachers' Job Effectiveness in Nigerian Secondary Schools

This academic work begins with a compact presentation of the general background to the study, which also includes an autobiography for the interest in this research. The presentation provides readers who know little of the topic of this research and of the structure of the educational system as well as of the value given to education in Nigeria. It further concentrates on the dynamic interplay of the effect of academic and professional qualification and teachers' job effectiveness in secondary schools in Nigeria in particular, and in Africa in general. The aim of this study is to produce a systematic analysis and rich theoretical and empirical description of teachers' teaching competencies. The theoretical part comprises a comprehensive literature review that focuses on research conducted in the areas of academic and professional qualification and teachers' job effectiveness, teaching competencies, and the role of teacher education with particular emphasis on school effectiveness and improvement. This research benefits greatly from the functionalist conception of education, which is built upon two emphases: the application of the scientific method to the objective social world, and the use of an analogy between the individual 'organism' and 'society'. To this end, it offers us an opportunity to define terms systematically and to view problems as always being interrelated with other components of society. The empirical part involves describing and interpreting what educational objectives can be achieved with the help of teachers' teaching competencies in close connection to educational planning, teacher training and development, and achieving them without waste. The data used in this study were collected between 2002 and 2003 from teachers, principals, supervisors of education from the Ministry of Education and Post Primary Schools Board in the Rivers State of Nigeria (N=300). The data were collected from interviews, documents, observation, and questionnaires and were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods to strengthen the validity of the findings. The data collected were analyzed to answer the specific research questions and hypotheses posited in this study. The data analysis involved the use of multiple statistical procedures: Percentages Mean Point Value, T-test of Significance, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Cross Tabulation. The results obtained from the data analysis show that teachers require professional knowledge and professional teaching skills, as well as a broad base of general knowledge (e.g., morality, service, cultural capital, institutional survey). Above all, in order to carry out instructional processes effectively, teachers should be both academically and professionally trained. This study revealed that teachers are not however expected to have an extraordinary memory, but rather looked upon as persons capable of thinking in the right direction. This study may provide a solution to the problem of teacher education and school effectiveness in Nigeria. For this reason, I offer this treatise to anyone seriously committed in improving schools in developing countries in general and in Nigeria in particular to improve the lives of all its citizens. In particular, I write this to encourage educational planners, education policy makers, curriculum developers, principals, teachers, and students of education interested in empirical information and methods to conceptualize the issue this study has raised and to provide them with useful suggestions to help them improve secondary schooling in Nigeria. Though, multiple audiences exist for any text. For this reason, I trust that the academic community will find this piece of work a useful addition to the existing literature on school effectiveness and school improvement. Through integrating concepts from a number of disciplines, I aim to describe as holistic a representation as space could allow of the components of school effectiveness and quality improvement. A new perspective on teachers' professional competencies, which not only take into consideration the unique characteristics of the variables used in this study, but also recommend their environmental and cultural derivation. In addition, researchers should focus their attention on the ways in which both professional and non-professional teachers construct and apply their methodological competencies, such as their grouping procedures and behaviors to the schooling of students. Keywords: Professional Training, Academic Training, Professionally Qualified, Academically Qualified, Professional Qualification, Academic Qualification, Job Effectiveness, Job Efficiency, Educational Planning, Teacher Training and Development, Nigeria.

Variation in the Understanding of Lutheranism and Its Implications for Religious Education : Meaning Discernment of Students and Teachers in Finnish Upper Secondary Schools

The study investigated variation in the ways in which a group of students and teachers of Evangelical Lutheran religious education in Finnish upper secondary schools understand Lutheranism and searched for educational implications for learning in religious education. The aim of understanding the qualitative variation in understanding Lutheranism was explored through the relationship between the following questions, which correspond to the results reported in the following original refereed publications: 1) How do Finnish students understand Lutheranism? 2) How do Finnish teachers of religious education constitute the meaning of Lutheranism? 3) How could phenomenography and the Variation Theory of Learning contribute to learning about and from religion in the context of Finnish Lutheran Religious Education as compared to religious education in the UK? Two empirical studies (Hella, 2007; Hella, 2008) were undertaken from a phenomenographic research perspective (e.g., Marton, 1981) and the Variation Theory of Learning (e.g., Marton & Tsui et al. 2004) that developed from it. Data was collected from 63 upper secondary students and 40 teachers of religious education through written tasks with open questions and complementary interviews with 11 students and 20 teachers for clarification of meanings. The two studies focused on the content and structure of meaning discernment in students and teachers expressed understandings of Lutheranism. Differences in understandings are due to differences in the meanings that are discerned and focused on. The key differences between the ways students understand varied from understanding Lutheranism as a religion to personal faith with its core in mercy. The logical relationships between the categories that describe variation in understanding express a hierarchy of ascending complexity, according to which more developed understandings are inclusive of less developed ones. The ways the teachers understand relate to student s understandings in a sequential manner. Phenomenography and Variation Theory were discussed in the context of religious education in Finland and the UK in relation to the theoretical notion of learning about and from religion (Hella & Wright, 2008). The thesis suggests that variation theory enables religious educators to recognise the unity of learning about and from religion, as learning is always learning about something and involves simultaneous engagement with the object of learning and development as a person. The study also suggests that phenomenography and variation theory offer a means by which it is possible for academics, policy makers, curriculum designers, teachers and students to learn to discern different ways of understanding the contested nature of religions. Keywords: Lutheranism, understanding, variation, teaching, learning, phenomenography, religious education

Men´s health behaviour, health beliefs and need for health counselling : A study amongst 40-year-old males from one Helsinki City region

Tavoitteena oli tutkia 40-vuotiaiden miesten terveyskäyttäytymistä, terveysuskomuksia ja miesten saamaa terveysneuvontaa Helsingissä. 273 miestä vastasi kyselyyn ja osallistui terveystutkimuksiin. Terveydentilan perusteella miehet arvioitiin matalan (n=145) ja korkean (n=128) riskin ryhmiin. Khin neliö-testillä tutkittiin elämäntapa- ja riskitekijöitä koetun terveyden (hyvä, keskinkertainen/huono) luokissa ja verrattiin matalan ja korkean riskin ryhmiä em. tekijöiden osalta. Askeltavalla logistisella regressiomallilla analysoitiin tulosmuuttujia taustatekijöiden, terveyskäyttäytymisen, terveysuskomusten ja kliinisten riskitekijöiden avulla sekä arvioitiin oireiden ja vaivojen suhdetta koettuun terveydentilaan. Korkeassa riskissä olevien terveyttä seurattiin vuosina 2001–2004 analysoimalla mini-intervention vaikutusta terveysriskeihin ja elintapoihin varianssianalyysin avulla (ANOVA) (n=46). Matalasta vastausprosentista johtuen (39.6%), ei-vastanneiden aineistoa kerättiin käyttämällä syvähaastattelua (n=28) sekä puhelinkyselyä (n=40). Lopullinen aineisto koostui 341 miehestä. Tulokset osoittivat, että miehillä oli sydän- ja verisuonitautiriskejä. Kaksi kolmesta osallistuneista oli ylipainoisia tai lihavia, yli kolmanneksella vyötärönympärys oli ≥100 cm, ja yli 40%:llä oli diastolinen verenpaine ≥90 mmHg. Yli puolet tupakoi päivittäin ja 40% käytti alkoholia runsaasti. Ristiriitaisuutta ilmensi se, että huolimatta riskitekijöistä noin puolet miehistä koki terveydentilansa hyväksi. Sairauden tai vamman puute, hyvä suun terveydentila ja normaali vyötärönympärys olivat yhteydessä hyväksi koettuun terveydentilaan. Suora yhteys voitiin havaita omaisten tarjoaman neuvonnan ja vähäisen alkoholin käytön välillä. Masennus ja unettomuus olivat voimakkaasti yhteydessä loppuun palamiseen. Miehillä oli erilaisia fyysisiä ja psyykkisiä oireita, jotka korreloivat voimakkaasti masennuksen kanssa. Pieni määrä miehistä koki saaneensa terveysneuvontaa hoitohenkilökunnalta verrattuna perheenjäseniltä saatuun ohjaukseen. Korkeariskisten miesten (n=46) arvot parantuivat merkitsevästi lyhyellä aikavälillä. Kolesteroliarvoja lukuunottamatta ne palautuivat kolmen vuoden kuluttua alkumittausarvoja kohti. Laadullinen tutkimus osoitti, että “ei-vastanneet“ eivät osallistuneet projektiin, sillä he olivat oireettomia tai kiireisiä. Heillä todettiin samoja terveysriskejä kuin projektiin osallistuneilla. Syvähaastattelussa miehet toivat esille kokemuksiaan huolista, vihan tunteista, peloista ja yksinäisyydestä. Hoidonantajien on tärkeää ymmärtää ristiriidat miesten subjektiivisen ja objektiivisen terveydentilan välillä, mikä auttaa havaitsemaan esteitä terveyskäyttäytymiselle. Yhä enemmän tarvitaan yhteistyötä yksityisen ja julkisen terveydenhuollon välillä varmistamaan terveystottumusten jatkuminen miesten keskuudessa.

Just say no? The influence of personal goals, beliefs, psychosocial adjustment, and parental relationships in drug use by adolescents

The study in its entirety focused on factors related to adolescents decisions concerning drug use. The term drug use is taken here to include the use of tobacco products, alcohol, narcotics, and other addictive substances. First, the reasons given for drug use (attributions) were investigated. Secondly, the influence of personal goals, the beliefs involved in decision making, psychosocial adjustment including body image and involvement with peers, and parental relationships on drug use were studied. Two cohorts participated in the study. In 1984, a questionnaire on reasons for drug use was administered to a sample of adolescents aged 14-16 (N=396). A further questionnaire was administered to another sample of adolescents aged 14-16 (N=488) in 1999. The results for both cohorts were analyzed in Articles I and II. In Articles III and IV further analysis was carried out on the second cohort (N=488). The research report presented here provides a synthesis of all four articles, together with material from a further analysis. In a comparison of the two cohorts it was found that the attributions for drug use had changed considerably over the intervening fifteen-year period. In relation to alcohol and narcotics use an increase was found in reasons involving inner subjective experiences, with mention of the good feeling and fun resulting from alcohol and narcotics use. In addition, the goals of alcohol consumption were increasingly perceived as drinking to get drunk, and for its own sake. The attributions for the adolescents own smoking behavior were quite different from the attributions for smoking by others. The attributions were only weakly influenced by the participants gender or by their smoking habits, either in 1984 or 1999. In relation to participants own smoking, the later questionnaire elicited more mention of inner subjective experiences involving "good feeling. In relation to the perceived reasons for other people s smoking, it elicited more responses connected with the notion of "belonging. In the second sample, the results indicated that the levels of body satisfaction among adolescent girls are lower than those among adolescent boys. Overall, dissatisfaction with one's physical appearance seemed to relate to drug use. Girls were also found to engage in more discussions than boys; this applied to (i) discussion with peers (concerning both intimate and general matters), and (ii) discussion with parents (concerning general matters). However, more than a quarter of the boys (out of the entire population) reported only low intimacy with both parents and peers. If both drinking and smoking were considered, it seemed that girls in particular who reported drinking and smoking also reported high intimacy with parents and peers. Boys who reported drinking and smoking reported only medium intimacy with parents and peers. In addition, having an intimate relationship with one's peers was associated with a greater tendency to drink purely in order to get drunk. Overall, the results seemed to suggest that drug use is connected with a close relationship with peers and (surprisingly) with a close relationship with parents. Nevertheless, there were also indications that to some extent peer relationships can also protect adolescents from smoking and alcohol use. The results, which underline the complexity of adolescent drug use, are taken up in the Discussion section. It may be that body image and/or other identity factors play a more prominent role in all drug use than has previously been acknowledged. It does appear that in the course of planning support campaigns for adolescents at risk of drug use, we should focus more closely on individuals and their inner world. More research on this field is clearly needed, and therefore some ideas for future research are also presented.