Arvostelusta näyttöön. Koulutuksen arvioinnin kehityspiirteitä Suomessa

Summary: From assessment to evaluation. Development of educational evaluation in Finland

Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision. Development and Validation of the CLES Evaluation Scale

The purpose of the study is: (1) to describe how nursing students' experienced their clinical learning environment and the supervision given by staff nurses working in hospital settings; and (2) to develop and test an evaluation scale of Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision (CLES). The study has been carried out in different phases. The pilot study (n=163) explored the association between the characteristics of a ward and its evaluation as a learning environment by students. The second version of research instrument (which was developed by the results of this pilot study) were tested by an expert panel (n=9 nurse teachers) and test-retest group formed by student nurses (n=38). After this evaluative phase, the CLES was formed as the basic research instrument for this study and it was tested with the Finnish main sample (n=416). In this phase, a concurrent validity instrument (Dunn & Burnett 1995) was used to confirm the validation process of CLES. The international comparative study was made by comparing the Finnish main sample with a British sample (n=142). The international comparative study was necessary for two reasons. In the instrument developing process, there is a need to test the new instrument in some other nursing culture. Other reason for comparative international study is the reflecting the impact of open employment markets in the European Union (EU) on the need to evaluate and to integrate EU health care educational systems. The results showed that the individualised supervision system is the most used supervision model and the supervisory relationship with personal mentor is the most meaningful single element of supervision evaluated by nursing students. The ward atmosphere and the management style of ward manager are the most important environmental factors of the clinical ward. The study integrates two theoretical elements - learning environment and supervision - in developing a preliminary theoretical model. The comparative international study showed that, Finnish students were more satisfied and evaluated their clinical placements and supervision with higher scores than students in the United Kingdom (UK). The difference between groups was statistical highly significant (p= 0.000). In the UK, clinical placements were longer but students met their nurse teachers less frequently than students in Finland. Arrangements for supervision were similar. This research process has produced the evaluation scale (CLES), which can be used in research and quality assessments of clinical learning environment and supervision in Finland and in the UK. CLES consists of 27 items and it is sub-divided into five sub-dimensions. Cronbach's alpha coefficient varied from high 0.94 to marginal 0.73. CLES is a compact evaluation scale and user-friendliness makes it suitable for continuing evaluation.

Evaluation of Teacher Education Programs by Students and Graduates

The purpose of this research was to do a repeated cross-sectional research on class teachers who study in the 4th year and also graduated at the Faculty of Education, University of Turku between the years of 2000 through 2004. Specifically, seven research questions were addressed to target the main purpose of the study: How do class teacher education masters’ degree senior students and graduates rate “importance; effectiveness; and quality” of training they have received at the Faculty of Education? Are there significant differences between overall ratings of importance; effectiveness and quality of training by year of graduation, sex, and age (for graduates) and sex and age (for senior students)? Is there significant relationship between respondents’ overall ratings of importance; effectiveness and their overall ratings of the quality of training and preparation they have received? Are there significant differences between graduates and senior students about importance, effectiveness, and quality of teacher education programs? And what do teachers’ [Graduates] believe about how increasing work experience has changed their opinions of their preservice training? Moreover the following concepts related to the instructional activities were studied: critical thinking skills, communication skills, attention to ethics, curriculum and instruction (planning), role of teacher and teaching knowledge, assessment skills, attention to continuous professional development, subject matters knowledge, knowledge of learning environment, and using educational technology. Researcher also tried to find influence of some moderator variables e.g. year of graduation, sex, and age on the dependent and independent variables. This study consisted of two questionnaires (a structured likert-scale and an open ended questionnaire). The population in study 1 was all senior students and 2000-2004 class teacher education masters’ degree from the departments of Teacher Education Faculty of Education at University of Turku. Of the 1020 students and graduates the researcher was able to find current addresses of 675 of the subjects and of the 675 graduates contacted, 439 or 66.2 percent responded to the survey. The population in study 2 was all class teachers who graduated from Turku University and now work in the few basic schools (59 Schools) in South- West Finland. 257 teachers answered to the open ended web-based questions. SPSS was used to produce standard deviations; Analysis of Variance; Pearson Product Moment Correlation (r); T-test; ANOVA, Bonferroni post-hoc test; and Polynomial Contrast tests meant to analyze linear trend. An alpha level of .05 was used to determine statistical significance. The results of the study showed that: A majority of the respondents (graduates and students) rated the overall importance, effectiveness and quality of the teacher education programs as important, effective and good. Generally speaking there were only a few significant differences between the cohorts and groups related to the background variables (gender, age). The different cohorts were rating the quality of the programs very similarly but some differences between the cohorts were found in the importance and effectiveness ratings. Graduates of 2001 and 2002 rated the importance of the program significantly higher than 2000 graduates. The effectiveness of the programs was rated significantly higher by 2001 and 2003 graduates than other groups. In spite of these individual differences between cohorts there were no linear trends among the year cohorts in any measure. In respondents’ ratings of the effectiveness of teacher education programs there was significant difference between males and females; females rated it higher than males. There were no significant differences between males’ and females’ ratings of the importance and quality of programs. In the ratings there was only one difference between age groups. Older graduates (35 years or older) rated the importance of the teacher training significantly higher that 25-35 years old graduates. In graduates’ ratings there were positive but relatively low correlations between all variables related to importance, effectiveness and quality of Teacher Education Programs. Generally speaking students’ ratings about importance, effectiveness and quality of teacher education program were very positive. There was only one significant difference related to the background variables. Females rated higher the effectiveness of the program. The comparison of students’ and graduates’ perception about importance, effectiveness, and quality of teacher education programs showed that there were no significant differences between graduates and students in the overall ratings. However there were differences in some individual variables. Students rated higher in importance of “Continuous Professional Development”, effectiveness of “Critical Thinking Skills” and “Using Educational Technology” and quality of “Advice received from the advisor”. Graduates rated higher in importance of “Knowledge of Learning Environment” and effectiveness of “Continuous Professional Development”. According to the qualitative data of study 2 some graduates expressed that their perceptions have not changed about the importance, effectiveness, and quality of training that they received during their study time. They pointed out that teacher education programs have provided them the basic theoretical/formal knowledge and some training of practical routines. However, a majority of the teachers seems to have somewhat critical opinions about the teacher education. These teachers were not satisfied with teacher education programs because they argued that the programs failed to meet their practical demands in different everyday situations of the classroom e.g. in coping with students’ learning difficulties, multiprofessional communication with parents and other professional groups (psychologists and social workers), and classroom management problems. Participants also emphasized more practice oriented knowledge of subject matter, evaluation methods and teachers’ rights and responsibilities. Therefore, they (54.1% of participants) suggested that teacher education departments should provide more practice-based courses and programs as well as closer collaboration between regular schools and teacher education departments in order to fill gap between theory and practice.

Proactive and Preventive Student Welfare Activities in Finnish Preschool and Elementary School: Handling of Transition to Formal Schooling and a National Anti-Bullying Program as Examples

Prerequisites and effects of proactive and preventive psycho-social student welfare activities in Finnish preschool and elementary school were of interest in the present thesis. So far, Finnish student welfare work has mainly focused on interventions and individuals, and the voluminous possibilities to enhance well-being of all students as a part of everyday school work have not been fully exploited. Consequently, in this thesis three goals were set: (1) To present concrete examples of proactive and preventive psycho-social student welfare activities in Finnish basic education; (2) To investigate measurable positive effects of proactive and preventive activities; and (3) To investigate implementation of proactive and preventive activities in ecological contexts. Two prominent phenomena in preschool and elementary school years—transition to formal schooling and school bullying—were chosen as examples of critical situations that are appropriate targets for proactive and preventive psycho-social student welfare activities. Until lately, the procedures concerning both school transitions and school bullying have been rather problem-focused and reactive in nature. Theoretically, we lean on the bioecological model of development by Bronfenbrenner and Morris with concentric micro-, meso-, exo- and macrosystems. Data were drawn from two large-scale research projects, the longitudinal First Steps Study: Interactive Learning in the Child–Parent– Teacher Triangle, and the Evaluation Study of the National Antibullying Program KiVa. In Study I, we found that the academic skills of children from preschool–elementary school pairs that implemented several supportive activities during the preschool year developed more quickly from preschool to Grade 1 compared with the skills of children from pairs that used fewer practices. In Study II, we focused on possible effects of proactive and preventive actions on teachers and found that participation in the KiVa antibullying program influenced teachers‘ self-evaluated competence to tackle bullying. In Studies III and IV, we investigated factors that affect implementation rate of these proactive and preventive actions. In Study III, we found that principal‘s commitment and support for antibullying work has a clear-cut positive effect on implementation adherence of student lessons of the KiVa antibullying program. The more teachers experience support for and commitment to anti-bullying work from their principal, the more they report having covered KiVa student lessons and topics. In Study IV, we wanted to find out why some schools implement several useful and inexpensive transition practices, whereas other schools use only a few of them. We were interested in broadening the scope and looking at local-level (exosystem) qualities, and, in fact, the local-level activities and guidelines, along with teacherreported importance of the transition practices, were the only factors significantly associated with the implementation rate of transition practices between elementary schools and partner preschools. Teacher- and school-level factors available in this study turned out to be mostly not significant. To summarize, the results confirm that school-based promotion and prevention activities may have beneficial effects not only on students but also on teachers. Second, various top-down processes, such as engagement at the level of elementary school principals or local administration may enhance implementation of these beneficial activities. The main message is that when aiming to support the lives of children the primary focus should be on adults. In future, promotion of psychosocial well-being and the intrinsic value of inter- and intrapersonal skills need to be strengthened in the Finnish educational systems. Future research efforts in student welfare and school psychology, as well as focused training for psychologists in educational contexts, should be encouraged in the departments of psychology and education in Finnish universities. Moreover, a specific research centre for school health and well-being should be established.