Growth and recruitment after mountain forest selective cutting in irregular spruce forest : a case study in northern Norway

Abstract

Recruitment models for Norway spruce, Scots pine, birch and other broadleaves in young growth forests in Norway

Abstract

Small scale waste management. Composting project in selected schools in Mwanza, Tanzania

No 2/2008, sivu 8.

Pragmatic competence of Finnish learners of English: Meaning in interaction in secondary and upper secondary schools

Tutkin pro gradu -tutkielmassani englannin kielen oppijoiden pragmaattista kompetenssia. Tarkoitukseni oli selvittää, miten suomalaiset yläkoululaiset ja lukiolaiset osaavat käyttää englannin kieltä erilaisissa kommunikaatiotilanteissa. Tutkielmani voidaan sijoittaa välikielen pragmatiikan tutkimukseen. Halusin selvittää, millä tasolla suomalaisten oppijoiden pragmaattinen kompetenssi on ja kehittyykö se yläkoulun ja lukion välillä. Lisäksi tutkin, vaikuttavatko oppimisympäristö ja oppimismahdollisuudet oppijoiden kykyyn käyttää englannin kieltä. Toisin sanoen vertasin englantipainotteisilla luokilla olevia oppilaita formaalin opetuksen oppijoihin sekä tutkin, vaikuttavatko englanninkieliset vapaa-ajan aktiviteetit ja oppijoiden mahdolliset oleskelut englanninkielisissä maissa heidän pragmaattiseen kompetenssiinsa. Tutkimukseni kohderyhmä koostui yläkoulun kahdeksasluokkalaisista ja lukion toisen vuosikurssin opiskelijoista. Testasin neljä eri ryhmää, joissa oli sekä formaalissa opetuksessa olevia oppijoita (yksi ryhmä kahdeksasluokkalaisia ja yksi ryhmä toisen vuosikurssin opiskelijoita) että kielipainotteisten luokkien oppijoita (yksi ryhmä kahdeksasluokkalaisia ja yksi ryhmä toisen vuosikurssin opiskelijoita). Arvioin kohderyhmäni pragmaattista kompetenssia monivalintatestillä, jossa testattiin oppijoiden kykyä käyttää ja ymmärtää implikaatioita, tilannekohtaisia rutiineja sekä puheakteja. Taustakysymysten avulla selvitin, kuinka usein oppijat käyttivät englantia vapaa-aikanaan ja olivatko he vierailleet englanninkielisissä maissa. Tutkimustulokseni osoittavat, että suomalaisten yläkoululaisten ja lukiolaisten pragmaattinen kompetenssi oli korkea. Pragmaattinen kompetenssi kehittyi kahdeksasluokkalaisten ja lukion toisen vuosikurssin välillä. Kehitys oli suurempaa formaalissa opetuksessa kuin kielipainotteisilla luokilla. Englantipainotteisilla luokilla olevat oppilaat suoriutuivat testistä paremmin kuin formaalin opetuksen oppilaat. Tosin erot olivat tilastollisesti merkitseviä vain yläkoulussa. Tutkimuksessani siis päättelin, että vieraskielinen opetus vaikutti enemmän nuorempiin oppijoihin. Eri oppimismahdollisuudet osoittautuivat haastaviksi analysoida. Tulokset osoittivat, että vain englanninkielisessä maassa oleskelulla oli vaikutusta oppijoiden pragmaattiseen kompetenssiin. Kysyttäessä vapaa-ajan aktiviteettien merkitystä oppijat kuitenkin kertoivat, että ne auttoivat heitä testiin vastaamisessa enemmän kuin englanninopetuksessa käydyt asiat. Kouluissa tulisikin jatkossa painottaa yhä enemmän vuorovaikutteista kieltenopetusta.

Immigration Strategy for Northern Ostrobothnia 2015

A strategy process was completed in the ESF project “Promotion of Work-related Immigration”, which was implemented at Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for North Ostrobothnia, and an immigration strategy was drawn up for Northern Ostrobothnia on the basis of the process. Information was collected about the situation in Northern Ostrobothnia from the point of view of immigration and the future availability of labour. The intention was to use the information as background material for the strategy. Employers’ need for support in recruiting foreign labour was investigated with a broad inquiry, to which 1000 respondents replied. The strategy process was carried out together with an outside consultant (Net Effect Oy) by arranging three workshops and a seminar where the workshop results were summarised. A large number of companies, authorities, municipalities, associations, project actors and immigrants engaged in immigration issues participated in the workshops. The draft strategy is based on their experiences about immigration and on statistical data, background inquiries and surveys. To ensure the accuracy of the draft strategy, comments were requested from several parties and received from 64 organisations. The core of the immigration strategy consists of an initial analysis, values, a vision and priorities. The strategy is composed of three priorities. The key aim of the priority Internationalisation and Supporting Diversity is to support diversity in schools, workplaces and people’s everyday lives e.g. through attitude development and by promoting internationalisation in companies and education institutions. The aim of the priority Supporting Entrepreneurship and Recruiting Foreign Labour is to promote entrepreneurship among immigrants and the recruitment of foreign labour and to develop the forecasting of educational needs. The priority Developing Integration Services, Regional Cooperation and Networks, in turn, seeks to develop the service structure and policies of immigrant integration and to increase cooperation and exchange of information between regional actors engaged in integration issues. The aim is to use the strategy as a guideline document for immigration issues in Northern Ostrobothnia. The strategy is used to coordinate the existing organisations and operations dealing with immigration issues. In addition, it contains a future-oriented focus and underlines the management of new immigration projects and operations. The main party responsible for the implementation of the strategy is the Immigration Committee. In addition, responsible parties have been assigned to each measure. The implementation of the immigration strategy will be monitored annually on the basis of indicators.

Re-shaping the Resourcing: Recruitment in Social Media

Social media is very current topic in today’s society and organisations. In the times of economic challenges, companies are looking for efficient ways to resource workforce. In addition, there is competition of competent workforce in employment markets. Employer image plays important role in recruitment as people seek to organisations they find interesting and have a reputation as a good employer. This study concerns the discussion on utilising social media in recruitment and employer image in a corporate enterprise. I will find solutions how to utilize social media in recruitment, in which channels and methods that can be done and what these actions require from a company doing social recruitment. I bring up the discussion and challenges that relate to starting to take social media into use in an organization overall and in recruitment. The qualitative material has been gathered with interviews of eighteen persons and the material available about the topic in the enterprise intranet. According to the study, social media is seen both as an opportunity to reach large amount of people quickly and cost-efficiently, but then again it brings news aspects for controlling the employer image and communication towards the audience. Taking social media into use as part of recruiters and managers daily work requires both finding the right channels and attention to the internal communication culture and resourcing. Social recruitment requires a strategy and a proper plan to be able to work in a company. There are several social media channels that enable to reach people, but they don’t do the social recruitment alone.

Schools as Oral Health Promoters – Evaluation of National Sweet Selling Recommendation and Oral Health Education Material

The aims were to find out 1) if schools’ oral health practices were associated with pupils’ oral health behaviour and whether 2) the national sweet-selling recommendation and 3) distributing oral health material (OHEM) affected schools as oral health promoters. Three independently collected datasets from Finnish upper comprehensive schools (N=988) were used: longitudinal oral health practices data (n=258) with three-year follow up (2007 n=480, 2008 n=508, 2009 n=593) from principals’ online questionnaires, oral health behaviour data from pupils participating in the national School Health Promotion Study (n=970 schools) and oral health education data from health education teachers’ online questionnaires (2008 n=563, 2009 n=477 teachers). Oral health practices data and oral health behaviour data were combined (n=414) to answer aim 1. For aims 2 and 3, oral health practices data and oral health education data were used independently. School sweet selling and an open campus policy were associated with pupils’ use of sweet products and tobacco products during school time. The National Recommendation was quite an effective way to reduce the number of sweet-selling schools, but there were large regional differences and a lack of a clear oral health policy in the schools. OHEM did not increase the proportion of teachers teaching oral health, but teachers started to cover oral health topics more frequently. Women started to use OHEM more often than men did. Schools’ oral health policy should include prohibiting the selling of sweet products in school by legislative actions, enabling healthy alternatives instead, and setting a closed campus policy to protect pupils from school-time sweet consuming and smoking.

Changing teachers´ practices in regular schools enrolling children with visual impairment

The number of persons with visual impairment in Tanzania is estimated to over 1.6 million. About half a million of these persons are children aged 7-13. Only about 1% of these children are enrolled in schools. The special schools and units are too few and in most cases they are far away from the children’s homes. More and more regular schools are enrolling children with visual impairment, but the schools lack financial resources, tactile teaching materials and trained special education teachers. Children with visual impairment enrolled in regular schools seldom get enough support and often fail in examinations. The general aim of this study was to contribute to increased knowledge and understanding about how teachers can change their teaching practices and thus facilitate the learning of children with visual impairment included in regular classrooms as they participate in an action research project. The project was conducted in a primary school in a poor rural region with a high frequency of blindness and visual impairment. The school was poorly resourced and the average number of pupils per class was 90. The teachers who participated in the collaborative action research project were the 14 teachers who taught blind or visually impaired pupils in grades 4 and 6, in total 6 pupils. The action research project was conducted during a period of 6 months and was carried out in five cycles. The teachers were actively involved in all the project activities; identifying challenges, planning solutions, producing teaching materials, reflecting on outcomes, collaborating and evaluating. Empirical data was collected with questionnaires, interviews, observations and focus group discussions. The findings of the study show that the teachers managed to change their teaching practices through systematic reflection, analysis and collaboration. The teachers produced a variety of tactile teaching materials, which facilitated the learning of the pupils with visual impairment. The pupils learned better and felt more included in the regular classes. The teachers gained new knowledge and skills. They grew professionally and started to collaborate with each other. The study contributes to new knowledge of how collaborative action research can be conducted in the area of special education in a Tanzanian school context. The study has also relevance to the planning of school-based professional development programs and teacher education programs in Tanzania and in other low-income countries. The results also point at strategies which can promote inclusion of children with disabilities in regular schools.