Parallella, dynamiska representationer i gymnasiefysiken : implementering av ett interaktivt datorverktyg i didaktiska situationer och uppfattning av effektivt lärande

The computer is a useful tool in the teaching of upper secondary school physics, and should not have a subordinate role in students' learning process. However, computers and computer-based tools are often not available when they could serve their purpose best in the ongoing teaching. Another problem is the fact that commercially available tools are not usable in the way the teacher wants. The aim of this thesis was to try out a novel teaching scenario in a complicated subject in physics, electrodynamics. The didactic engineering of the thesis consisted of developing a computer-based simulation and training material, implementing the tool in physics teaching and investigating its effectiveness in the learning process. The design-based research method, didactic engineering (Artigue, 1994), which is based on the theoryof didactical situations (Brousseau, 1997), was used as a frame of reference for the design of this type of teaching product. In designing the simulation tool a general spreadsheet program was used. The design was based on parallel, dynamic representations of the physics behind the function of an AC series circuit in both graphical and numerical form. The tool, which was furnished with possibilities to control the representations in an interactive way, was hypothesized to activate the students and promote the effectiveness of their learning. An effect variable was constructed in order to measure the students' and teachers' conceptions of learning effectiveness. The empirical study was twofold. Twelve physics students, who attended a course in electrodynamics in an upper secondary school, participated in a class experiment with the computer-based tool implemented in three modes of didactical situations: practice, concept introduction and assessment. The main goal of the didactical situations was to have students solve problems and study the function of AC series circuits, taking responsibility for theirown learning process. In the teacher study eighteen Swedish speaking physics teachers evaluated the didactic potential of the computer-based tool and the accompanying paper-based material without using them in their physics teaching. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using questionnaires, observations and interviews. The result of the studies showed that both the group of students and the teachers had generally positive conceptions of learning effectiveness. The students' conceptions were more positive in the practice situation than in the concept introduction situation, a setting that was more explorative. However, it turned out that the students' conceptions were also positive in the more complex assessment situation. This had not been hypothesized. A deeper analysis of data from observations and interviews showed that one of the students in each pair was more active than the other, taking more initiative and more responsibilityfor the student-student and student-computer interaction. These active studentshad strong, positive conceptions of learning effectiveness in each of the threedidactical situations. The group of less active students had a weak but positive conception in the first iv two situations, but a negative conception in the assessment situation, thus corroborating the hypothesis ad hoc. The teacher study revealed that computers were seldom used in physics teaching and that computer programs were in short supply. The use of a computer was considered time-consuming. As long as physics teaching with computer-based tools has to take place in special computer rooms, the use of such tools will remain limited. The affordance is enhanced when the physical dimensions as well as the performance of the computer are optimised. As a consequence, the computer then becomes a real learning tool for each pair of students, smoothly integrated into the ongoing teaching in the same space where teaching normally takes place. With more interactive support from the teacher, the computer-based parallel, dynamic representations will be efficient in promoting the learning process of the students with focus on qualitative reasoning - an often neglected part of the learning process of the students in upper secondary school physics.

Ja vet int va de heter på svenska : interaktion mellan tvåspråkiga elever och deras lärare i en enspråkig klassrumsdiskurs

This is a study about language and learning aspects in the interaction between pupils and teachers in classrooms, where the majority of the pupils are bilingual. The aim of the dissertation is to develop the understanding of interactional learning possibilities and constraints in relation to a bilingual context. Language related learning is used as an overall conception which covers learning related to classroom discourse, language and subject. The empirical study has been made in a Swedish speaking school in a strongly Finnish dominated environment in the south of Finland. In the material, mainly consisting of video recorded lessons in forms one to three, the interaction between the pupils and the teachers is analysed. Building on a social constructionist perspective, where learning is regarded as a social phenomenon, situated and visible in changing participation, sequences where pupils or teachers make the language relevant are emphasised. The sequences are analysed in line with the conversation analytic (CA) approach. A fundamental result is an understanding of a monolingual classroom discourse, jointly constructed by teachers and pupils and visible in the pupils' interactionally problematized code-switching. This means that the pupils are not victims of a top-driven language policy; they are active co-constructors of the monolingual discourse. Through different repair initiations the pupils are doing interactional work in positioning themselves correctly in the monolingual discourse, which they simultaneously maintain. This work has a price in relation to time, knowledge and exactness. The pupils' problematized code-switching is often directly and shortly repaired by the teachers. This kind of repair promotes the pupils' participation and is not, as opposed to the results of research in everyday talk, dispreferred in pupil-teacher talk. When the pupils use the possibility to, in a comparatively easy way, participate and thus express their knowledge through codeswitching, and simultaneously talk a monolingual discourse into being, the teacher can, through direct repair, show an understanding in regard to the content, facilitate language learning and simultaneously confirm the pupils as competent speakers and bilingual individuals. Furthermore, significant results show that the monolingual norm has a function of a contrasting background which gives the pupils and the teachers a possibility to use language alternation as a functional and meaningful activity. The pupils use codeswitching as a way of protesting or expressing non-participation in the classroom talk. By making the pupils' bilingualism relevant, the teachers express understanding and empathy and encourage the pupils' participation in the classroom talk. Bilingualism is a nonpreferred, but functioning, resource in the interaction between pupils and teachers.

Social capital and health : variations, associations and challenges

Although social capital and health have been extensively studied during the last decade, there are still open issues in current empirical research. These concern for instance the measurement of the concept in different contexts, as well as the association between different types of social capital and different dimensions of health. The present thesis addressed these questions. The general aim was to promote the understanding of social capital and health by investigating the oldest old and the two major language groups in Finland, Swedish- and Finnish-speakers. Another aim was to contribute to the discussion on methodological issues in social capital and health research. The present thesis investigated two empirical data sets, Umeå 85+ and Health 2000. The Umeå 85+ study was a cross-sectional study of 163 individuals aged 85, 90, and 95 or older, living in the municipality of Umeå, Sweden, in the year of 2000. The Health 2000 survey was a national study of 8,028 persons aged 30 or above carried out in Finland in 2000-2001. Different indicators of structural (e.g. social contacts) and cognitive (e.g. trust) social capital, as well as health indicators were used as variables in the analyses. The Umeå 85+ data set was analyzed with factor analysis, as well as univariate and multivariate analysis of variance. The Health 2000 data was analyzed with logistic regression techniques. The results showed that the Swedish-speakers in the Finnish data set Health 2000 had consistently higher prevalence of social capital compared to the Finnish-speakers even after controlling for central sociodemographic variables. The results further showed that even if the language group differences in health were small, the Swedishspeakers experienced in general better self-reported health compared with the Finnish-speakers. Common sociodemographic variables could not explain these observed differences in health. The results imply that social capital is often, but not always, associated with health. This was clearly seen in the Umeå 85+ data set where only one health indicator (depressive symptoms) was associated with structural social capital among the oldest old. The results based on the analysis of the Health 2000 survey demonstrated that the cognitive component of social capital was associated with self-rated health and psychological health rather than with participation in social activities and social contacts. In addition, social capital statistically reduced the health advantage especially for Swedish-speaking men, indicating that high prevalence of social capital may promote health. Finally, the present thesis also discussed the issue of methodological challenges faced with when analyzing social capital and health. It was suggested that certain components of social capital such as bonding and bridging social capital may be more relevant than structural and cognitive components when investigating social capital among the two language groups in Finland. The results concerning the oldest old indicated that the structural aspects of social capital probably reflect current living conditions, whereas cognitive social capital reflects attitudes and traits often acquired decades earlier. This is interpreted as an indication of the fact that structural and cognitive social capital are closely related yet empirically two distinctive concepts. Taken together, some components of social capital may be more relevant to study than others depending on which population group and age group is under study. The results also implied that the choice of cut-off point of dichotomization of selfrated health has an impact on the estimated effects of the explanatory variables. When the whole age interval, 35-64 years, was analyzed with logistic regression techniques the choice of cut-off point did not matter for the estimated effects of marital status and educational level. The results changed, however, when the age interval was divided into three shorter intervals. If self-rated health is explored using wide age intervals that do not account for age-dependent covariates there is a risk of drawing misleading conclusions. In conclusion, the results presented in the thesis suggest that the uneven distribution of social capital observed between the two language groups in Finland are of importance when trying to further understand health inequalities that exist between Swedish- and Finnish-speakers in Finland. Although social capital seemed to be relevant to the understanding of health among the oldest old, the meaning of social capital is probably different compared to a less vulnerable age group. This should be noticed in future empirical research. In the present thesis, it was shown that the relationship between social capital and health is complex and multidimensional. Different aspects of social capital seem to be important for different aspects of health. This reduces the possibility to generalize the results and to recommend general policy implementations in this area. An increased methodological awareness regarding social capital as well as health are called for in order to further understand the cfomplex association between them. However, based on the present data and findings social capital is associated with health. To understand individual health one must also consider social aspects of the individuals’ environment such as social capital.

Immateriellt kulturarv som begrepp och process : folkloristiska perspektiv på kulturarv i Finlands svenskbygder med folkmusik som exempel

Cultural heritage has become something of an in-word in recent times. Intangible cultural heritage, however, is a category that has received relatively little attention. This folkloristic study focuses on intangible cultural heritage as concept and as process. Folkloristics as a scholarly branch emphasizes non-material culture. Consequently, there is a big potential in bringing existing knowledge of folklore together with current scholarly theories concerning cultural heritage in order to expand the understanding of intangible cultural heritage. In this thesis cultural heritage is regarded as a symbolic construct, which is spoken of and discussed in specific ways. The study of intangible cultural heritage (Swe. kulturarv) as concept focuses on this area. For a cultural component to be experienced as intangible cultural heritage it is, however, not enough to discuss it in those terms. Instead, cultural heritage status needs to be acted out during lengthy processes. This is demonstrated by the study of intangible cultural heritage as process. As a consequence performativity appears crucial to an understanding of cultural heritage – when a sufficient number of people speak and act as if a cultural component has a special status, it will also be perceived as cultural heritage. In this dissertation intangible cultural heritage is studied through cultural analysis, more specifically through discourse analysis. The usage of the concept intangible cultural heritage within cultural organizations, in scholarly use and in the Swedish-speaking press in Finland is examined. Traditional music in the Swedish-speaking districts of Finland is used as a case study of intangible cultural heritage as process. The examination concerns how traditional music, an intangible cultural component, has been discussed, transformed, standardized and objectified in a cultural heritage process. Cultural heritage is generally used as a token of value so that certain cultural components, both intangible and tangible, which are discussed in terms of cultural heritage are perceived to be valuable and should therefore be safeguarded. Intangible cultural heritage depends on performance, that is practitioners use their bodies to act out their traditional knowledge through song, handicraft, storytelling and so on. Intangible cultural components can be transmitted to other individuals in a performance situation, and they can also be documented. In Finland documentation and subsequent filing in archives have been associated with safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. If the aim of safeguarding is to uphold traditional practices, which is the case for among others UNESCO’s programs aimed at intangible cultural heritage, other efforts are called for: forms of safeguarding that support performance and transmission.

Sivistyksestä sivilisaatioon. Kulttuurikäsitys J. V. Snellmanin historiallisessa ajattelussa

From Bildung to Civilisation. Conception of Culture in J. V. Snellman’s Historical Thinking The research explores Johan Vilhelm Snellman’s (1806–1881) conception of culture in the context of his historical thinking. Snellman was a Finnish, Swedish-speaking journalist, teacher and thinker, who held a central position in the Finnish national discourse during the nineteenth century. He has been considered as one of the leading theorists of a Finnish nation, writing widely about the themes such as the advancement of the national education, Finnish language and culture. Snellman is already a widely studied person in Finnish intellectual history, often characterised as a follower of G. W. F. Hegel’s philosophical system. My own research introduces a new kind of approach on Snellman’s texts, emphasising the conceptual level of his thought. With this approach, my aim is to broaden the Finnish research tradition on conceptual history. I consider my study as a cultural history of concepts, belonging also to the field of intellectual history. My focus is on one hand on the close reading of Snellman’s texts and on the other hand on contextualising his texts to the European intellectual tradition of the time. A key concept of Snellman’s theoretical thinking is his concept of bildning, which can be considered as a Swedish counterpart of the German concept of Bildung. The Swedish word incorporated all the main elements of the German concept. It could mean education or the so-called high culture, but most fundamentally it was about the self-formation of the individual. This is also the context in which Snellman’s concept of bildning has often been interpreted. In the study, I use the concept of bildning as a starting point of my research but I broaden my focus on the cognate concepts such as culture (kultur), spirit (anda) and civilisation. The purpose of my study is thus to illustrate how Snellman used and modified these concepts and from these observations to draw a conclusion about the nature of his conception of culture. Snellman was an early Finnish philosopher of history but also interested in the practice of the writing of history. He did not write any historical presentations himself but followed the publications in the field of history and introduced European historical writing to the Finnish, Swedish-speaking reading audience in his newspapers. The primary source material consists of different types of Snellman’s texts, including philosophical writings, lecture material, newspaper articles and private letters. I’m reading Snellman’s texts in the context of other texts produced both by his Finnish predecessors and contemporaries and by Swedish, German and French writers. Snellman’s principal philosophical works, Versuch einer spekulativen Entwicklung der Idee der Persönlichkeit (1841) and Läran om staten (1842), were both written abroad. Both of the works were contributions to contemporary debates on the international level, especially in Germany and Sweden. During the 1840s and 1850s Snellman had two newspapers of his own, Saima and Litteraturblad, which were directed towards the Swedish-speaking educated class. Both of the newspapers were very popular and their circulations were among the largest of their day in Finland. The topics of his articles and reviews covered literature, poetry, philosophy and education as well as issues concerning the economic, industrial and technical development in Finland. In his newspapers Snellman not only brought forth his own ideas but also spread the knowledge of European events and ideas to his readers. He followed very carefully the cultural and political situation in Western Europe. He also followed European magazines and newspapers and was well acquainted with German, French and also English literature – and of course Swedish literature to with which he had the closest ties. In his newspapers Snellman wrote countless number of literary reviews and critics, introducing his readers to European literature. The study consists of three main chapters in which I explore my research question in three different, yet overlapping contexts. In the first of these chapters, I analyse Snellman’n theoretical thinking and his concepts of bildning, kultur, anda and civilisation in the context of earlier cultural discourse in Finland as well as the tradition of German idealistic philosophy and neo-humanism. With the Finnish cultural discourse I refer to the early cultural discussion in Finland, which emerged after the year 1809, when Finland became an autonomous entity of its own as a Grand Duchy of Russia. Scholars of the Academy of Turku opened a discussion on the themes such as the state of national consciousness, the need for national education and the development of the Finnish language as a national language of Finland. Many of these academics were also Snellman’s teachers in the early years of his academic career and Snellman clearly formulated his own ideas in the footsteps of these Finnish predecessors. In his theoretical thinking Snellman was a collectivist; according to him an individual should always be understood in connection with the society, its values and manners, as well as to the traditions of a culture where an individual belongs to. In his philosophy of the human spirit Snellman was in many ways a Hegelian but his notion of education or ‘bildning’ includes also elements that connect him with the wider tradition of German intellectual history, namely the neo-humanist tradition and, at least to some extent, to the terminology of J. G. Herder or J. G. Fichte, for example. In this chapter, I also explore Snellman’s theory of history. In his historical thinking Snellman was an idealist, believing in the historical development of the human spirit (Geist in German language). One can characterise his theory of history by stating that it is a mixture of a Hegelian triumph of the spirit and Herderian emphasis on humanity (Humanität) and the relative nature of ‘Bildung’. For Snellman, the process of ‘bildning’ or ‘Bildung’ is being realised in historical development through the actions of human beings. Snellman believed in the historical development of the human civilization. Still Snellman himself considered that he had abandoned Hegel’s idea about the process of world history. Snellman – rightly or wrongly – criticised Hegel of emphasising the universal end of history (the realisation of the freedom of spirit) at the expense of the historical plurality and the freedom of each historical era. Snellman accused Hegel of neglecting the value and independency of different historical cultures and periods by imposing the abstract norm, the fulfilment of the freedom of spirit, as the ultimate goal of history. The historicist in Snellman believed in the individuality of each historical period; each historical era or culture had values, traditions and modes of thought of its own. This historicist in Snellman could not accept the talk about one measure or the end of history. On the other hand Snellman was also a universalist. He believed that mankind had a common task and that task was the development of ‘Bildung’, freedom or humanity. The second main chapter consists of two parts. In the first part, I explore the Finnish nationalistic discourse from the cultural point of view by analysing the notions such as a nation, national spirit or national language and showing how Snellman formulated his own ideas in a dialogic situation, participating in the Finnish discourse but also reacting to international discussions on the themes of the nation and nationality. For Snellman nationality was to a great extent the collective knowledge and customs or practices of the nation. Snellman stated that nationality is to be considered as a form of ‘bildning’. This could be seen not simply as affection for the fatherland but also for the mental identity of the nation, its ways of thinking, its practices, national language, customs and laws, the history of the nation. The simplest definition of nationality that Snellman gives is that nationality is the social life of the people. In the second part of the chapter I exam Snellman’s historical thinking and his understanding about historical development, interaction between different nations and cultures in the course of history, as well as the question of historical change; how do cultures or civilisations develop and who are the creators of culture? Snellman did not believe in one dominating culture but understood the course of history as a dialogue between different cultures. On the other hand, his views are very Eurocentric – here he follows the ideas of Hegel or for example the French historian François Guizot – for Snellman Europe represented the virtue of pluralism; in Europe one could see the diversity of cultures which, on the other hand, were fundamentally based on a common Christian tradition. In the third main chapter, my focus is on the writing of history, more precisely on Snellman’s ideas on the nature of history as a science and on the proper way of writing historical presentations. Snellman wrote critics on the works of history and introduced his readers to the writing of history especially in France, Sweden and German-speaking area – in some extend also in Britain. Snellman’s collectivistic view becomes evident also in his reviews on historical writing. For Snellman history was not about the actions of the states and their heads, nor about the records of ruling families and battles fought. He repeatedly stressed that history is a discipline that seeks to provide a total view of a phenomenon. A historian should not only collect information on historical events, since this information touches only the surface of a certain epoch or civilisation; he has to understand an epoch as totality. This required an understanding about the major contours in history, connections between civilisations and an awareness of significant turning points in historical development. In addition, it required a holistic understanding about a certain culture or historical era, including also the so-called inner life of a specific nation, a common people and their ways of life. Snellman wrote explicitly about ‘cultural history’ in his texts, referring to this kind of broad understanding of a society. In historical writing Snellman found this kind of broader view from the works of the French historians such as François Guizot and Jules Michelet. In all of these chapters, I elaborate the conceptual dimension of Snellman’s historical thinking. In my study I argue that Snellman not only adopted the German concepts of Bildung or Kultur in his own thinking but also developed the Swedish concepts in a way that include personal and innovative aspects. Snellman’s concept of bildning is not only a translation from ‘Bildung’ but he uses the Swedish concept in a versatile way that includes both the moral aspect of human development and social dimension of a human life. Along with ‘bildning’ Snellman used also the terms ‘kultur’ and ‘civilisation’ when referring to the totality of a certain nation or historical era, including both the so-called high culture (arts, science, religion) and the modes of thought as well as ways of life of the people as a whole. Unlike many of his Finnish contemporaries, Snellman did not use civilisation as a negative concept, lacking the moral essence of German term ‘Bildung’ or ‘Kultur’. Instead, for Snellman civilisation was a neutral term and here he comes close to the French tradition of using the term. In the study I argue that Snellman’s conception of culture in fact includes a synthesis of the German tradition of ‘Bildung’ and the French tradition of ‘civilisation’.

Effects of Socioeconomic Status and Sociodemographic Features on Cardiovascular Disease. Mortality and Morbidity in Finland

Despite declining trends in morbidity and mortality, cardiovascular diseases have a considerable impact on Finnish public health. A goal in Finnish health policy is to reduce inequalities in health and mortality among population groups. The aim of this study was to assess inequalities in cardiovascular diseases according to socioeconomic status (SES), language groups and other sociodemographic characteristics. The main data source was generated from events in 35-99 year-old men and women registered in the population-based FINMONICA and FINAMI myocardial infarction registers during the years ranging from 1988-2002. Information on population group characteristics was obtained from Statistics Finland. Additional data were derived from the FINMONICA and FINSTROKE stroke registers and the FINRISK Study. SES, measured by income level, was a major determinant of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) mortality. Among middle-aged men, the 28-day mortality rate of the lowest group of six income groups was 5.2 times and incidence 2.7 times as high when compared to the highest income group. Among women, the differences were even larger. Among the unmarried, the incidence of ACS was approximately 1.6 times as high and their prognosis was significantly worse than among married persons - both in men and women and independent of age. Higher age-standardized attack rates of ACS and stroke were found among Finnish-speaking compared to Swedish-speaking men in Turku and these differences could not be completely explained by SES. In these language groups, modest differences were found in traditional risk factor levels possibly explaining part of the found morbidity and mortality inequality. In conclusion, there are considerable differences in the morbidity and mortality of ACS and stroke between socioeconomic and sociodemographic groups, in Finland. Focusing measures to reduce the excess morbidity and mortality, in groups at high risk, could decrease the economic burden of cardiovascular diseases and thus be an important public health goal in Finland.

Extremfall, stjärnelever och verktygsskramlare : en diskursanalytisk studie av lärares tal om studerande som behöver särskilt stöd

The groups within Finnish vocational upper secondary education and training (VET) are often heterogeneous with respect to the student's need for support in their studies. According to the national core curricula, Special Education Needs (SEN) students should in the first place, get their education in the same group as everyone else. This dissertation aims to clarify and create an understanding about how the ideals and intention of equality in education is constructed in communication among teachers in VET in the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland. Through this understanding it should be possible to highlight a potential which could ultimately contribute to a positive development of a more inclusive education within VET. The epistemological platform of the study is to be found within the post structuralist philosophy of language that is considered as subsumed in a social constructionist thinking. The data has been collected through focus group discussions in groups of 3–6 participants (teachers) in seven schools in Finnish-Swedish VET. The analyses are based on a discursive psychological analysis combined with an analysis based on Michel Foucault's concepts with an emphasis on the subject, government and power. Four discourser where identified in the analysis of teachers' constructions of the educational assignment in relation to SEN students. The most dominant was discussing the educational assignment as a pragmatic project i.e. as a matter of transmission of knowledge. The discourse included both interpretative repertoires where the heterogeneous group was constructed as self-evident and possible to manage as well as a constructed as an impossible project. The educational assignment was also constructed as a holistic project, as part of a democratic project, and as a labor market project. Each discourse contains both including as well as excluding features in relation to SEN students. The development of an inclusive practice can and should therefore include elements from all of them. Three discourses were identified in the analysis concerning teachers' versions of SEN students: students with difficulties and problems; students who do not use or do not have ability and students who are irresponsible and lack the will to study. Within the various discourses and interpretative repertoires were both constructs when teachers described a concern and kindness in relation to the individual SEN student and constructions where teachers mainly expressed fears that other students in the group would be negatively affected by students in need of special support. Results from the third research question conclude the results from the two others, the analysis is done out of a government perspective. In the material use of different government techniques are identified: disciplinary power through direct reprimands; pastoral power by a desire of insight in order to promote the opportunities for consultation and the use of bio-power that primarily focuses on what is best for the population and whose tool racism results in a legitimation of the exclusion of SEN students. The conclusion is that teachers in VET need to pay attention to inclusive and exclusive elements identified in various discourses.

Det planlagda och det som visar sig : klasslärarstuderandes syn på undervisning i teknisk slöjd

Sloyd as an activity concretizes man’s ability to, with the help of mind and body, reshape materials into objects and change her conditions for survival. The sloyd actor outside school works when the spirit moves her, while the pupil in school is expected to sloyd regardless of motivation. Subject teachers become experts on sloyd in educational settings, while the qualification requirements may set the class teachers’ voluntariness within parenthesis. All class teachers qualify to teach all core subjects of the national curriculum in Finland from preschool to grade six. The aim of the current thesis is to deepen the knowledge on how the science of sloyd education can support class teacher students’ future teaching in sloyd. In the empirical part of the study, Swedish-speaking Finnish class teacher students’ views on technical sloyd as one of their future subjects for teaching are examined. The class teacher’s qualifying skills in teaching technical sloyd are expected to take shape during only a few ECTS study points. The teacher students’ experience of the subject from the pupil’s perspective is supposed to move into a budding teacher subject. In a research-based teacher education, self-reflection and reflection as a dialogue are extended aided by research results. Intuitive thinking interplays with rational thinking during this time. The teacher student’s approach to make use of the autonomous free space in teaching is, in the current thesis, as considerations where the individual weighs the pros and cons in relation to various phenomena in sloyd and the school overall. The basis for an individual autonomy is shaped and is expected to interplay on the common arena of autonomy. In the exercise of their profession, the class teacher teaching sloyd is expected to oscillate between the sloyd educational practice and theory. The first step in this movement within the teacher education is the coverage of a selection of theories during the studies. The empirical part of the study is carried out at two separate occasions with directed open-ended interviews with fifteen class teacher students in the beginning and end of their first year of study. The data was analysed with a hermeneutic approach and a qualitatively oriented approach to content analysis. The results are mirrored against theory within the science of sloyd education. The results show that class teacher students have a versatile view of educational sloyd. The overall results overthrow parts of the researcher’s pre-understanding. The viewpoint of the students seems to broaden from a merely manual activity to seeing sloyd as an educational activity. In order for the results to gain significance in the teacher education of the future, a line of reasoning is conducted in order to recommend an extended dialogue and thirteen possible themes for enriching discussions are put forth as a result of the present study. The extended dialogue focuses on that teacher education should make conscious ventures to create opportunities for the students to take part in effective discussions on the subject of sloyd, complementing the existing dialogue between the teacher educator and the students. This thesis lends support to reflections on the following aspects of educational sloyd in these dialogues: the reasons for why the sloyd subject exists, the ambitions of the subject, the content and organization of the subject for students as well as for the teacher educators.

Elevers läs- och skrivförmåga över tid : en longitudinell kohortstudie av läsförståelse och stavning i årskurs 1-6 i en finlandssvensk skola

Reports have shown that a growing number of students are leaving school without adequate reading and writing skills. At the same time, finnish children have improved in reading lit-eracy over the past decade. The school´s primary mission is to support student´s reading and writing development and follow it over time. Not only individual students´development has to be followd over time, as seen in this study, to be able to plan interventions. The purpose of this licentiate thesis is to study how the results in grades 1–6 exhibit in reading compre-hension and spelling over time in a school for the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. Even gender differences in reading comprehension and spelling are being examined, as well as students with low performance. The data collection has been done during a period of twelwe years, 1997–2009, where data from practically every two years has been used for this study. Results are reported for the years 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2009. The measuring instruments are standardized and normative tests in reading comprehension and spelling. The same instruments were used all of the years. The number of students was 1 037 and when possible, students partici-pated more than once. There was a minimal loss of data. The groups of students mostly came from urban districts, and a smaller number came from rural districts. Students with special needs were included in the group, but none of the students in special units participat-ed. The results show that the skills in reading comprehension and spelling haven´t changed appreciably over time. The trend shows slightly positive or unchanged direction except in spelling in grade 1 and reading comprehension in grade 5 where the trend is slightly nega-tive. The most obvious change can be noticed over time in reading comprehension in grade 2, where performance has improved significantly. Significant differences between boys´and girls´performances occur some years and in favor of the girls, but more often in spelling than in reading comprehension. In grade 4, there are no differences in results between boys and girls in any year, neither in reading comprehension nor in spelling, nor in grade 2 in reading comprehension. When the results shows gender differences, there are always differ-ences in both reading comprehension and spelling. Poor performances are also analyzed over time. Isolated reading comprehension difficulties were common for those who was performing poorly. In grade 2, as the only grade, most common was a double deficit in both reading comprehension and spelling, and in grade 4, most students who performed poorly had isolated difficulties in spelling. The amount of poor results varies over time, and no particular trend can be discerned. In grade 2, however, the poor results decreased over time, especially for the boys. Even in reading comprehension for grade 6 the amount of poor results, especially for the boys (10th percentile), has decreased over time, at least in the later years, while the poor results in-creased in spelling generally. In grade 4 the amount of poor results in spelling (10th perc.) seems to be reduced for the girls.

Företagsamhet i skola och utbildning : lärares tankar om förutsättningarna att nå målen i temaområdet Deltagande, demokrati och entreprenörskap

Developing students’ enterprise and proactive approaches to life have been goals of Finnish public education since its introduction. Still, education in Finland today is criticized for not reaching these goals and for overlooking the development of students’ enterprise. The role of enterprise education is ambivalent. On the one hand, enterprise education is advocated as the solution to many of the alleged problems in public education; on the other hand, the pedagogical ideas that enterprise education builds on appear to coincide with the contemporary understanding of “good education.” The thesis discusses what sets enterprise education apart from other types of education and teaching. Notably, the pedagogical foundations for enterprise education are not necessarily solid or sufficiently explored. Thus, the overall aim of the thesis is to explore the conditions for developing enterprise in education. Sloyd, as a school subject that promotes handicraft-based education, has long been attributed as having the potential to develop students’ character and person; similarly, it is also identified as being well suited for developing student enterprise. Enterprise education is not specific to sloyd, however. In fact, developing enterprise is a cross-curricular goal for basic education. In a subject-focused educational structure and culture, the development of an enterprising mindset in students is a common concern for all teachers. Thus, an understanding of the conditions for enterprise education must not be limited to one school subject; rather, the nature of the phenomenon requires a cross-curricular approach. Altogether, the conditions for enterprise education appear to be in need of further research. In addition to a subject-focused structure, other influencing factors that are mentioned in discussions on enterprise education include the need for a more enterprising working culture in school. Importantly, another key factor is the individual teacher’s pedagogical philosophy, which constitutes the frame of reference that informs how he or she understands and interprets his or her profession. Notably, the conditions for enterprise education are poor unless a teacher’s pedagogical philosophy emphasizes a focus on enterprise. The empirical research uses a hermeneutical approach and focuses on exploring teachers’ views on the conditions for reaching the national goals related to students’ enterprise. The interview study was conducted among class and subject teachers around Swedish-speaking Finland. The study shows that teachers view themselves as the most important factor for a focus on enterprise. Teachers have also identified a vast number of contextual factors that influence, support, or counteract a focus on enterprise. Structure, culture, resources, and curriculum, as well as numerous societal factors, all interact to affect the conditions for enterprise education. The prevailing culture of subject focus poses a challenge to enterprise education. At the same time, however, a focus on enterprise can be seen as a natural tendency in grades one to six. Indeed, teachers of all grade levels interpret the development of a proactive approach to life as one of education’s core values. Altogether, the thesis offers a deepened and nuanced understanding of the conditions for enterprise education. While the public education system in Finland seems to have some favourable basic conditions for enterprise education, multifaceted challenges must be faced if the national goals related to enterprise are to be reached.