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.

Aliupseerikurssin johtajavalintojen yhteys Reserviupseerikurssin tulenjohtolinjalla menestymiseen

Puolustusvoimissa on käytössä johtajavalintamenettely, jolla valitaan aselajista riippumatta yhtenäisiin perustein aliupseerikurssi 1:ltä Reserviupseerikurssille komennettavat varusmiehet. Valintamenettely ei siis painota aselajikohtaisia vaatimuksia, jotka voivat aselajien välillä vaihdella paljonkin. Valinnat toteutetaan niitä varten laaditulla valintalomakkeella, joka sisältää kymmenen pisteytettävää kohtaa; peruskoe 1, peruskoe 2b, varusmiehen kuntoindeksi, sotilaan perustutkinto, sopivuus sodan ajan johtajaksi henkilökunnan arvioimana sekä varusmies johtajien arvioimana, vertaisarviointi, johtajatehtävärata, oppimis- ja suoriutumismotivaatio ja oma halukkuus johtajakoulutukseen. Tutkimukseen valikoitui näistä kohdista peruskokeet, sopivuus sodan ajan johtajaksi henkilökunnan arvioimana, johtajatehtävärata, oma halukkuus johtajakoulutukseen sekä lisäksi lomakkeen muodostamat kokonaispisteet. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen osuus rakentuu neljästä luvusta. Luku 2 tarkastelee menestymiseen vaikuttavia tekijöitä, joita ovat oppiminen ja oppimiskäsitys, maailmankuva, arvot ja asenne sekä motivaatio. Luvussa 3 esitellään tulenjohtajan tehtävät ja suoritusvaatimukset, luvussa 4 tarkastellaan aliupseerikurssin johtajavalintoja ja luku 5 käsittelee Reserviupseerikurssia. Työ on luonteeltaan kuvaileva ja vertaileva kvantitatiivinen poikittaistutkimus. Tutkimuksella on tarkoitus vastata kahteen samanarvoiseen kysymykseen, ”Millainen on aliupseerikurssin tulenjohtajavalinnoissa menestymisen yhteys reserviupseerikurssin tulenjohtolinjan loppupisteisiin” sekä ”Millainen on aliupseerikurssin tulenjohtajavalinnoissa menestymisen yhteys reserviupseerikurssin tulenjohtolinjan eri oppiaineiden lopullisiin arvosanoihin”. Yhteyksien selvittämiseksi käytettiin tilastollisia menetelmiä. Aineiston analyysiin käytettiin korrelaatiota ja varianssianalyysia, jota tuettiin Scheffen post hoc –testillä. Aineiston tarkastelu ja analyysit suoritettiin SPSS for Windows 11.5 –ohjelmalla. Tutkimuksen empiirinen aineisto koostui Reserviupseerikurssin 229 tulenjohtolinjan suorittaneista (N=91). Tutkimuksessa selvisi, että aliupseerikurssin johtajavalinnoilla oli vaihtelevasti yhteyttä Reserviupseerikurssin tulenjohtolinjalla menestymiseen. Tutkimuksessa löytyi sekä positiivista että negatiivista yhteyttä, mutta yhteys oli heikkoa. Tuloksissa tilastollisesti merkitsevä yhteys valintalomakkeen kohdista Reserviupseerikurssilla menestymiseen oli vain peruskoe 1:llä. Auk 1:n loppupisteillä oli tilastollisesti merkitsevää yhteyttä liikunnan arvosanaan.

The role of emotional state, sexual arousal, and alcohol intoxication as situational factors associated with adults’ online sexual contact with children and adolescents

In the present study we explored whether and how the situational factors; emotional states, sexual arousal, and alcohol intoxication influenced the propensity in adults to engage in online sexual contact with children (13 or younger) and adolescents (14 – 17 year olds). The results were compared to a group of adults that had engaged in online sexual contact with adults only (18 or older). We also looked at the variation over time within these situational factors during the online sexual contact with a child, an adolescent, or an adult. The present study was an online self-report survey to the adult populations in Finland, Sweden, and Germany, with a final sample (N = 776) of women and men who were active on the Internet. The participants were asked to report whether, how, and with whom they had engaged in online sexual contact. The results showed that more men than women reported online sexual contact with persons of all age groups, and that the situational factors; emotional states and sexual arousal influenced the propensity in both women and men to engage in online sexual contact with children and adolescents. However, the effects of alcohol intoxication were small and significant only for men. These results indicate that higher levels of emotional state and sexual arousal might increase the propensity to go against social norms and contact children and adolescents online for sexual purposes, but it can also imply that that those who look for online sexual contact online with children and adolescents, are more emotionally and/or sexually aroused than the group that only seek adult company or that these are post-hoc explanations for such sexual activities.

Adaptability, Transformation and Complex Changes in Namibia and Tanzania: Resilience and Innovation System Development in Local Communities

This thesis is a research about the recent complex spatial changes in Namibia and Tanzania and local communities’ capacity to cope with, adapt to and transform the unpredictability engaged to these processes. I scrutinise the concept of resilience and its potential application to explaining the development of local communities in Southern Africa when facing various social, economic and environmental changes. My research is based on three distinct but overlapping research questions: what are the main spatial changes and their impact on the study areas in Namibia and Tanzania? What are the adaptation, transformation and resilience processes of the studied local communities in Namibia and Tanzania? How are innovation systems developed, and what is their impact on the resilience of the studied local communities in Namibia and Tanzania? I use four ethnographic case studies concerning environmental change, global tourism and innovation system development in Namibia and Tanzania, as well as mixed-methodological approaches, to study these issues. The results of my empirical investigation demonstrate that the spatial changes in the localities within Namibia and Tanzania are unique, loose assemblages, a result of the complex, multisided, relational and evolutional development of human and non-human elements that do not necessarily have linear causalities. Several changes co-exist and are interconnected though uncertain and unstructured and, together with the multiple stressors related to poverty, have made communities more vulnerable to different changes. The communities’ adaptation and transformation measures have been mostly reactive, based on contingency and post hoc learning. Despite various anticipation techniques, coping measures, adaptive learning and self-organisation processes occurring in the localities, the local communities are constrained by their uneven power relationships within the larger assemblages. Thus, communities’ own opportunities to increase their resilience are limited without changing the relations in these multiform entities. Therefore, larger cooperation models are needed, like an innovation system, based on the interactions of different actors to foster cooperation, which require collaboration among and input from a diverse set of stakeholders to combine different sources of knowledge, innovation and learning. Accordingly, both Namibia and Tanzania are developing an innovation system as their key policy to foster transformation towards knowledge-based societies. Finally, the development of an innovation system needs novel bottom-up approaches to increase the resilience of local communities and embed it into local communities. Therefore, innovation policies in Namibia have emphasised the role of indigenous knowledge, and Tanzania has established the Living Lab network.