1000 resultados para tutkimus
Resumo:
This research has its background on Knowledge Practices Laboratory (KP-Lab) research project. One of the aims of KP-Lab is to create virtual and technological tools to support the interventionist who use the Change Laboratory method as a developmental tool. In this research I studied the interventionists' mirror material practices which are context and theory bound and for that reason they pose challenges on the development of new tools. I focused on the gathering and working on the mirror material. The purpose of this study was to find out what kind of user knowledge does the research on narratives of mirror material practices in Change Laboratory provide to the developers of virtual tools? I answered this question by three sub questions: 1. What kind of mirror material the interventionists gather and analyze in different phases of developmental cycle of Change Laboratory project? 2. What kind of knowledge the different mirror materials contain and how is the knowledge transformed when the mirror material is analyzed and worked on? 3. What kind of tools the interventionists use and create when gathering and working on the mirror material? What wishes do the interventionists have on tools? I interviewed five interventionists in four different projects. I created narratives from the document supported interviews. Then I analyzed the narratives in three steps: first I placed the mirror materials in the developmental cycle. Secondly, I analyzed the mirror materials by placing them in a table by the form of the knowledge. Thirdly, I examined the tools the interventionists had used and created and what wishes they had on virtual tools. This research showed that different user groups of Change Laboratory method have different needs. All interventionists transform knowledge from one form to another so they seem to need especially tools by which they can analyze and transform knowledge. It seems that standardized model of gathering and analysing mirror material is not meaningful because mirror material is constructed in accordance with the object developed. This research also shows that the mirror material has a social function. This finding should be also noted when developing virtual tools together with actual users.
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This study explored the possibilities the psychophysiological methodology offer to flow research. Facial electromyography has often been used to index valence, and electrodermal activity to index arousal, the two basic dimensions of emotion. It was hypothesized that these measures can also be used to examine enjoyment, a basic component of flow experiment. A digital game was used to induce flow, and physiological activity of 32 subjects was measured continuously. Flow State Scale was used to assess flow. Activity of corrugator supercilii muscle, an index of negative valence, was negatively correlated with flow reports, as hypothesized. Contrary to hypothesis, skin conductance level, an index of arousal, was unrelated to self-reported flow. The results for association between flow and zygomaticus major and orbicularis oculi muscle activities, indices of positive valence, were inconclusive, possibly due to experimental design where only tonic measures were available. Psychophysiological methods are recommended for future studies of flow. Specifically, the time series approach may be particularly viable in examining the temporal aspects of flow, an area currently unexplored. Furthermore, it is suggested that digital game research would benefit from psychophysiological study of game-related flow.
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Tutkielma on etnografisella tutkimusotteella toteutettu tapaustutkimus, jossa oli tutkimuskohteena yksi pääkaupunkiseudun peruskoulun neljäs luokka. Tutkimus suoritettiin kevätlukukaudella 1998. Luokalla oli 24 oppilasta, joista kaksi oli somalialaisia muslimityttöjä. Aineistonkeruumenetelmiä olivat osallistuva havainnointi, teemahaastattelut, keskustelut ja luokan oppilaiden kirjoittamat kirjoitelmat. Tutkimustehtävänä oli kuvata ja ymmärtää muslimityttöjen olemassaolon vaikutusta luokan arkipäivään luokan eri osapuolien kannalta. Kiinnostuksen kohteena oli, miten opettaja ja luokan muut oppilaat suhtautuivat muslimityttöihin ja millaisia olivat muslimityttöjen omat kokemukset luokan elämästä ja miten heidän uskontonsa, islam, näkyi koulupäivän aikana. Tutkimustuloksista: Islam näkyi koulupäivän aikana konkreettisimmin muslimityttöjen pukeutumisessa ja ruokailussa. He saivat myös islaminuskon opetusta, harjoittelivat paastoamista paastokuukauden aikana ja heillä oli lupa olla pois koulusta muslimien juhlapyhinä. Luokan muut oppilaat tiesivät, että muslimitytöillä oli eri uskonto kuin heillä, mutta he eivät uskoneet sen vaikuttavan muslimityttöjen koulupäivään kovinkaan paljon. Muslimitytöt olivat solmineet ystävyyssuhteita luokan suomalaisiin tyttöihin ja he viihtyivät hyvin heidän kanssaan. Muslimityttöjä oli kuitenkin kiusattu enemmän kuin luokan muita oppilaita, mutta kiusaaminen oli vähentynyt ajan kuluessa. Muutamilla luokan pojilla oli halveksiva tai vihamielinen suhtautuminen muslimityttöihin. Muslimityttöjen koulunkäyntiin liittyi joitakin vaikeuksia, kuten oppimisvaikeudet muutamissa aineissa ja vaikeudet sopeutua tiettyihin koulun sääntöihin. Luokanopettaja koki yhteistyön muslimityttöjen vanhempien kanssa vaikeaksi. Näistä ongelmista huolimatta muslimitytöillä oli myönteinen suhtautuminen koulunkäyntiin. Tässä tapauksessa muslimitytöt olivat saavuttaneet integraatio-vaiheen Berryn akkulturaatio teorian mukaan. Sopeutuminen peruskoululuokkaan oli onnistunut heiltä hyvin lähinnä luokanopettajan toiminnan johdosta. He puhuivat hyvin suomen kieltä ja olivat asuneet Suomessa jo usean vuoden ajan, mikä myös helpotti sopeutumista. Muslimi, islam, kulttuuri, peruskoulu, maahanmuuttajaopetus, etnografinen tutkimus, tapaustutkimus Muslim, islam, culture, comprehensive school, teaching of migrants, ethnographical research, case study
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Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the development of high-quality university teaching among the teachers of the University of Helsinki. Furthermore, the relation of university pedagogical training to development of teaching was analyzed. This study introduces a new perspective to the research of quality of university teaching by considering quality from the teaching development perspective. The individual level examination was done from teacher's perspective. The development of high-quality university teaching was approached through three factors of teaching development defined by Biggs (2003). These factors are 1) the level of thinking about teaching on which the teaching development is based on (can also be called the quality model), 2) the methods for and 3) the impediments to teaching development. The research of Trigwell and Prosser (1996), Lindblom-Ylänne, Nevgi and Postareff (2004) and Postareff, Lindblom-Ylänne and Nevgi (2007) and the ideas of Ramsden (1992) have been central sources to this study. Methods. This study was a survey study. The data was collected with an electronic questionnaire in the spring of 2007. The sample consisted of 655 person of which some had and some had not university pedagogical training. Total of 251 answered the study. The data was mainly analyzed with SPSS statistical programme. Item analysis, principal component analysis, nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests, correlation and crosstabulation were the methods used to analyze the data. Results and conclusions. According to the results it seems that the teachers of the University of Helsinki have good basis for developing high-quality university teaching. The 3rd level of thinking about teaching, which emphasizes student-centred features, could be identified on majority of the teachers. The use of teaching development methods was comprehensive. Most frequently used methods were related to the enhancement of content knowledge. In general the impediments to teaching development were not considered to be very significant. The most significant impediments were the factors related to lack of appreciation of teaching and factors related to lack of time meant for the planning and developing of teaching. Differences were found according to sex, teaching experience, degree, position and faculty. This study also showed that university pedagogical training seems to have a positive relation to the development of high-quality university teaching among the teachers of University of Helsinki. According to the results when the amount of teachers university pedagogical training increased, the 3rd level of thinking about teaching could be identified more often. Teachers also used more often teaching development methods related to cooperation and active participation and enhancement of pedagogical skills. Furthermore, they considered the factors related to lack of pedagogical skills and motivation to be lesser impediments to teaching development.
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Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of evaluation of learning and feedback among teachers and students of mechanical engineering at the Helsinki University of Technology. The differences and similarities between the perceptions of these two groups were also studied. Course feedback was examined, and a target was set to rationalize the collation and exploitation of the feedback data. The theoretical background for the evaluation of learning was based primarily on the theories of Brown (1997), Karjalainen (2001) and Rowntree (1977, 1988). The Biggs (2003) model on aligned teaching was used as an example of quality university education. Feedback practices were examined through the theory of Ramsden (1992) and many recent research articles. Methods. The qualitative study was executed by examining the evaluation of learning and feedback prac-tices of the courses in mechanical engineering at the Helsinki University of Technology. The data was gathered by interviewing the teachers responsible of basic and postgraduate studies, as well as students taking their basic studies. Four group interviews were arranged for both teachers and students, each with three participants. The data from these themed interviews were analyzed by means of content analysis. Result and conclusions. This study showed that teachers and students have similar perceptions of evalua-tion of learning and feedback excluding a few significant differences. The most essential difference in evaluation of learning was that students perceived the evaluation of the examinations to be inaccurate. Teachers on the other hand thought that the existing practice for the exam evaluation is working fine. Stu-dents also felt that they are not giving enough information on the opportunities to get feedback. Teachers instead expected students to actively ask for feedback. Students perceived the need for exploiting the course feedback for course development purposes more than before. Teachers saw foremost the challenges and problems in the exploitation of the feedback. In the future, more effort must be put on the research of the evaluation of learning and feedback, as the quality assurance and continuous improvement of the teaching calls for new data.
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Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin teemahaastatteluiden avulla Suomen Matemaatikko- ja Fyysikkoliiton (SMFL) jäsenten käsityksiä työstä ja heidän työssä tarvitsemista kvalifikaatioista. Kvalifikaatiolla tai pätevyydellä tarkoitettiin työssä tarvittavia tietoja ja taitoja. Työllä tarkoitettiin asiantuntijoiden työtehtäviä, jonka lisäksi työtä tarkasteltiin toimintajärjestelmän käsitteen avulla huomioiden työvälineet, työn kohde sekä työhön liittyvä yhteistyö ja työnjako. Lisäksi kartoitettiin käsityksiä työssä tapahtuvista muutoksista sekä niistä seuraavista kvalifikaatiovaatimuksista. Tutkimuksen näkökulmana oli kontekstuaalisuus, mikä ilmeni tutkimuksessa mm. siten, että kvalifikaatioita ja kvalifikaatiovaatimuksia tarkasteltiin suhteessa laajempaan yhteyteen. Tutkimuksessa pyrittiin vastaamaan seuraaviin tutkimusongelmiin: 1. Mikä on jäsenten käsitys nykyisestä työstään? 1.1. Mitkä ovat jäsenten päätehtävät työssään? 1.2. Millaisia kvalifikaatioita työtehtävissä tarvitaan? 2. Millainen käsitys jäsenillä on työn muutoksesta? 2.1. Millaisia muutoksia työssä tapahtuu tulevaisuudessa? 2.2. Miten muutokset heijastuvat jäsenten kvalifikaatiovaatimuksiin? Tutkimuksessa haastateltiin 12 SMFL:n jäsentä. Tutkimusmenetelmänä oli sisällönerittely. Haastateltujen käsitykset työtehtävistään jaoteltiin kuuteen ryhmään. Työtehtävissä korostuivat mm. ennakointi, tutkimus- ja kehitystyö, atk-suunnittelu sekä esimies- ja koulutustehtävät. Haastateltujen työssä tarvitsemat kvalifikaatiot liittyivät tekniikkaan ja työvälineisiin sekä asiakkaiden ja työtovereiden kanssa toimimiseen. Lisäksi he tarvitsivat työssään ongelmanratkaisutaitoja, loogista ajattelukykyä ja tietojen soveltamistaitoa. Jäsenten käsityksissä työstä ja kvalifikaatioista heijastui asiantuntijuuden arvostaminen sekä halu toimia haastavissa ja vaihtelevissa tehtävissä. Työssä tapahtuvia muutoksia on paljon, joista selkeimmät liittyivät tekniseen muutokseen. Kaikki muutokset eivät kuitenkaan vaikuta työhön tai siinä tarvittaviin tietoihin ja taitoihin. Kvalifikaatiovaatimuksiin liittyen korostettiin erityisesti osaamisten monipuolistamista ja laajentamista ja toisaalta tietojen erikoistamista. Tiedot ja taidot vanhenevat nopeasti, minkä vuoksi jatkuva ja elinikäinen opiskelu on tärkeää. Avainsanat: Työ, työelämä, kvalifikaatiot, kvalifikaatiovaatimukset, pätevyys, osaamiset, asiantuntijuus, muutokset Keywords: Work, work life, qualifications, qualification requirements, competence, skills, expertise, changes
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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.
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Personal goals offer an important aspect of personality and motivation. Personal goals are conscious and subjectively motivated objectives by which a person directs his or her life over time. Personal goals are related to adolescents' subjective well-being. The aim of the present research was to find out, what kinds of groups of adolescents can be formed by the content of personal goals and how these groups differ in goal appraisals, meaningful life events and subjective well-being. The second aim of the study was to detect gender differences and differences between vocational and high school students in goal appraisals, meaningful life events and subjective well-being. Adolescents in upper secondary education (N=1144) were grouped together by the content of their personal goals using a person oriented approach and a cluster analysis. Clusters found in the analysis were named by the centre goal as (1) a property group, (2) a vocation group, (3) a future education and personal relationships group and (4) a selffocused group. Adolescents in the property group put a little effort into their career goal, they were not exhausted in school work and their subjective well-being was average. Adolescents in the vocation group felt progress in their career goal and put effort into it. They had goals related to life-style. They did not feel exhausted and their subjective well-being was average. The future education and personal relationships group put effort into their career goal and considered progressing in it. Personal relationships were important in their lives. They were exhausted in their school work but they did not feel cynicism. Their own health was one of their goals and they felt satisfaction in their life. Adolescents in the self-focused group did not put effort into their career goal nor considered progressing in it. They were exhausted and especially cynical in their school work. They suffered from almost clinically significant depression. They had low life-satisfaction and low self-esteem. The following gender and educational differences were found. Compared with boys, girls felt their career goal was more important and stressful, and girls also put more effort into it. Girls were more exhausted, depressed and they had lower selfesteem than boys. High school students felt more stress with their career goal than vocational school students. High school students were more exhausted, but still they felt more satisfaction with their lives. In practice, to cover adolescents' personal goals is a possibility to find distressed individuals who might be in need for extra support.
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Structuring of the Curriculum Design: Content and Pedagogy Constructing the Whole The object of this qualitative study is to structure curriculum design by drawing from the characteristics of subject content and pedagogy. The aim is to first outline the forms of content and pedagogy within the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education. By analysing these forms I then aim to construct a general view of the curriculum’s structure and its developmental potential as it relates to both current and future pedagogical and intellectual interests. The written curriculum is examined as part of the educational guidance system, which means that it is an administrative and juridical document that governs teacher action and has a pedagogical and intellectual character. Didactical schools, curriculum ideologies and curriculum-determinants are all discussed as means of approaching the curriculum model. Curriculum content itself is defined by the different forms and conceptions of knowledge. The representation of curriculum content can be defined to be either specific or integrated. Curriculum pedagogy is in turn defined on the basis of the prevailing conception of learning and teaching. The pedagogy within the curriculum can be open or closed depending on the extent of pedagogical freedom allowed. An examination of the pedagogical dimension also covers the subject of the interfaces between formal education and informal learning, which must be taken into consideration when developing school pedagogy and therefore also in the curriculum. The data of the study consists of two curriculum documents: The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education issued in 1994 and the present National core curriculum for basic education issued in 2004. The primary method used in the study is theory-based content analysis. On the one hand the aim of the analysis is to determine if the structure, i.e., model, of the curricula is built from unconnected, self-contained elements, or whether the separate parts make a coherent whole. On the other hand, the aim is also to examine the pedagogical features the two curricula contain. The basis of the study is not the systematic comparison of the curriculum documents, yet an analysis of two very distinct documents must also be based on an examination of their inherent differences. The results of the study show that the content in the analysed documents is not integrated. The boundaries between divisions are clearly defined and the curricula are subject-oriented and based on theoretical propositional knowledge. The pedagogy is mainly closed and based on strong guidance of content, structured student evaluation and measurable learning experiences. However, curriculum documents do have representations of integrated content: the themes covered early on in the core curriculum guidelines of 1994 permeate systematically the different divisions of the curriculum. The core curriculum guidelines of 2004 in turn reveal skills which create connections between subjects. The guidelines’ utilise out-of-school environments and accommodate learner experiences, and focus on flexible studying and emphasize individual learner needs. These characteristics reveal an open form of pedagogy. In light of these results, it is possible to reach an understanding of the content and pedagogical development possibilities of the curriculum. The essential viewpoints are then the setting of thematically-oriented aims as a basis for content development, the curriculum’s pedagogical structuring on the basis of the learning process and the enhancement of connections between curricular content and pedagogy in a purposeful way. Keywords: curriculum, curriculum theory, curriculum design, core curriculum guidelines, teaching content, pedagogy
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This dissertation examined the research-based teacher education at the University of Helsinki from different theoretical and practical perspectives. Five studies focused on these perspectives separately as well as overlappingly. Study I focused on the reflection process of graduating teacher students. The data consisted of essays the students wrote as their last assignment before graduating, where their assignment was to examine their development as researchers during their MA thesis research process. The results indicated that the teacher students had analysed their own development thoroughly during the process and that they had reflected on theoretical as well as practical educational matters. The results also pointed out that, in the students’ opinion, personally conducted research is a significant learning process. -- Study II investigated teacher students’ workplace learning and the integration of theory and practice in teacher education. The students’ interviews focused on their learning of teacher’s work prior to education. The interviewees’ responses concerning their ‘surviving’ in teaching prior to teacher education were categorized into three categories: learning through experiences, school as a teacher learning environment, and case-specific learning. The survey part of the study focused on integration of theory and practice within the education process. The results showed that the students who worked while they studied took advantage of the studies and applied them to work. They set more demanding teaching goals and reflected on their work more theoretically. -- Study III examined practical aspects of the teacher students’ MA thesis research as well as the integration of theory and practice in teacher education. The participants were surveyed using a web-based survey which dealt with the participants’ teacher education experiences. According to the results, most of the students had chosen a practical topic for their MA thesis, one arising from their work environment, and most had chosen a research topic that would develop their own teaching. The results showed that the integration of theory and practice had taken place in much of the course work, but most obviously in the practicum periods, and also in the courses concerning the school subjects. The majority felt that the education had in some way been successful with regards to integration. -- Study IV explored the idea of considering teacher students’ MA thesis research as professional development. Twenty-three teachers were interviewed on the subject of their experiences of conducting research about their own work as teachers. The results of the interviews showed that the reasons for choosing the MA thesis research topic were multiple: practical, theoretical, personal, professional reasons, as well as outside effect. The objectives of the MA thesis research, besides graduating, were actual projects, developing the ability to work as teachers, conducting significant research, and sharing knowledge of the topic. The results indicated that an MA thesis can function as a tool for professional development, for example in finding ways for adjusting teaching, increasing interaction skills, gaining knowledge or improving reflection on theory and/or practice, strengthening self-confidence as a teacher, increasing researching skills or academic writing skills, as well as becoming critical and being able to read scientific and academic literature. -- Study V analysed teachers’ views of the impact of practitioner research. According to the results, the interviewees considered the benefits of practitioner research to be many, affecting teachers, pupils, parents, the working community, and the wider society. Most of the teachers indicated that they intended to continue to conduct research in the future. The results also showed that teachers often reflected personally and collectively, and viewed this as important. -- These five studies point out that MA thesis research is and can be a useful tool for increasing reflection doing with personal and professional development, as well as integrating theory and practice. The studies suggest that more advantage could be taken of the MA thesis research project. More integration of working and studying could and should be made possible for teacher students. This could be done in various ways within teacher education, but the MA thesis should be seen as a pedagogical possibility.
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Education for a Technological Society. Public School Curriculum Construction, 1945-1952. The subject of my research is the significance of technology in the construction process of the public school curriculum during the years 1945-1952. During the period the war reparation and rebuilding placed demands and actions to rationalise and dramatise industry and agriculture. Thereby the ambitions of building a technological country and the reformation of curriculum took place simultaneously. Fordistian terms of reference, of which the principles were mass production, rationalisation and standardisation, a hierarchical division of labour and partition of assignments, provided a model for the developing curriculum. In the research the curriculum is examined as an artefact, which shapes socio-technically under the influence of social and technical factors. In the perspective of socio-technical construction the artefact is represented by the viewpoints of members of relevant social groups. The groups give meaning to the curriculum artefact, which determines the components of the curriculum. The weakness of the curriculum was its ineffectiveness, which was due to three critical problems. Firstly, the curriculum was to be based on scientific work, which meant the development of schools through experiments and scientific research. Secondly, the civilised conseption in the curriculum was to be composed of theoretical knowledge, as well as practical skills. Practical education was useful for both the individual and society. Thirdly, the curriculum was to be reformed in a way that the individuality of the pupil would be taken into account. It was useful for the society that talents and natural abilities of every pupil were observed and used to direct the pupil to the proper place in the social division of labour, according to the "right man in a right place" principle. The solutions to critical problems formed the instructions of the public school curriculum, which described the nature and content of education. Technology and its development were on essential part of the whole school curriculum process. The quality words connected to the development of technology - progress, rationality and effectiveness - were also suitable qualifiers and reasons for the reform of the curriculum. On the other hand, technology set a point of comparison and demand for the development of all phases of education. The view of technology was not clearly deterministic - it was also possible to shape technological society with the help of education. The public school curriculum process indicates how originally the principles of technological systems were shaped to the language of education and accepted in educational content.
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This study aims to examine the operations and significance of the Klemetti Institute (Klemetti-Opisto) as a developer of Finnish music culture from 1953 to 1968 during the term of office of the Institute s founder and first director, Arvo Vainio. The Klemetti Institute was originally established as a choir institute, but soon expanded to offer a wide range of music courses. In addition to providing courses for choir leaders and singers, the Institute began its orchestral activities as early as the mid-1950s. Other courses included ear training seminars as well as courses for young people s music instructors and in playing the kantele (a Finnish string instrument) and solo singing. More than 20 types of courses were offered over the 16-year period. The Klemetti Institute s courses were incorporated into the folk high school courses offered by the Orivesi Institute (Oriveden Opisto) and were organised during the summer months of June and July. In addition to funding based on the Folk High School Act, financial assistance was obtained from various foundations and funds, such as the Wihuri Foundation. This study is linked to the context of historical research. I examine the Klemetti Institute s operations chronologically, classifying instruction into different course types, and analyse concert activities primarily in the section on the Institute s student union. The source material includes the Klemetti Institute archives, which consist of Arvo Vainio s correspondence, student applications, register books and cards, journals and student lists, course albums and nearly all issues of the Klemettiläinen bulletin. In addition, I have used focused interviews and essays to obtain extensive data from students and teachers. I concentrate on primary school teachers, who accounted for the majority of course participants. A total of more than 2,300 people participated in the courses, nearly half of whom took courses during at least two summers. Primary school teachers accounted for 50% to 70% of the participants in most courses and constituted an even larger share of participants in some courses, such as the music instructor course. The Klemetti Institute contributed to the expansion throughout Finland of a new ideal for choral tone. This involved delicate singing which strives for tonal purity and expressiveness. Chamber choirs had been virtually unheard of in Finland, but the Klemetti Institute Chamber Choir popularised them. Chamber choirs are characterised by an extensive singing repertoire ranging from the Middle Ages to the present. As the name suggests, chamber choirs were originally rather small mixed choirs. Delicate singing meant the avoidance of extensive vibrato techniques and strong, heavy forte sounds, which had previously been typical of Finnish choirs. Those opposing and shunning this new manner of singing called it ghost singing . The Klemetti Institute s teachers included Finland s most prominent pedagogues and artists. As the focused essays, or reminiscences as I call them, show, their significance for the students was central. I examine extensively the Klemetti Institute s enthusiastic atmosphere, which during the early years was characterised by what some writers described as a hunger for music . In addition to distributing a new tonal ideal and choir repertoire, the Klemetti Institute also distributed new methods of music education, thus affecting the music teaching of Finnish primary schools, in particular. The Orff approach, which included various instruments, became well known, although some of Orff s ideas, such as improvisation and physical exercise, were initially unfamiliar. More important than the Orff approach was the in-depth teaching at the Klemetti Institute of the Hungarian ear training method known as the Kodály method. Many course participants were among those launching specialist music classes in schools, and the method became the foundation for music teaching in many such schools. The Klemetti Institute was also a pioneer in organising orchestra camps for young people. The Klemetti Institute promoted Finnish music culture and played an important role in the continuing music education of primary school teachers. Keywords: adult education, Grundtvigian philosophy, popular enlightenment, Klemetti Institute, Kodály method, choir singing, choir conducting, music history, music education, music culture, music camp, Orff approach, Orff-Schulwerk, Orivesi Institute, instrument teaching, free popular education, communality, solo singing, voice production
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The parenthood experience of a mother with a disabled child and the meaning of the social environment and parent-professional partnerships The importance of parental guidance when a family has a child with a disability or autism has been pointed out by several studies. The present research was based on the premise that by supporting the mother we can help the whole family to cope better and the professionals in day care or at school are able to support parents. The starting point was the subjective experience, which is also the central focus of the phenomenological method. The purpose of this study was firstly to describe the experience of the mother and the dialogue between mother and educational professionals. Secondly it was the task of this research to discover what kind of support and information the mother obtains from her social environment. At the background of this study there was the ecological theory of Bronfenbrenner, the ecocultural approach by Gallimore and the interactive examination of family that take into consideration the whole environment and personal situation. The research data was collected by interviewing the mothers, the day care personnel and the teachers at school. In this research there were a total of 32 interviews and 24 informants: 10 mothers who have a child with a disability and/or autism, 8 professionals in day care and 6 teachers at school. This study was longitudinal because the same mothers were interviewed twice, first in 1998 and then after five years in 2003. It was thus possible to get information on whether their life situation had changed and the nature of those changes. The data of this study was analysed by the method of phenomenological psychology that was applied for this study. The findings indicated that all mothers had experienced many complicated emotional feelings such as: anger, mourning, fear and sadness as well as love and bonding. It can be said that several human feelings existed at the same time. Mothers experienced that the support of the social environment, for example, relatives, families in the same situation and persons taking care of the child had significant meaning for their coping. However the life situation among the mothers varied. Mostly mothers received valuable support for their parenthood and they have adopted a strong emotion for manage ring. Mothers with an autistic child were more stressed than mothers with a mentally retarded child. A few mothers had numerous problems with taking care of their child and they did not get enough help. Same mothers were very exhausted too and the situation was quite the same after five years, when their child was teenager. All mothers said that after starting school the support for the family had significally diminished. Mothers said that dialogue with teacher got on without problems, but there were meetings seldom, so it wasn´t possible to get enough support for their parenthood. Keywords: parenthood, motherhood, disability, early special education, family-centred.
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The aim of this study was to describe school leadership on a practical level. By observing the daily behaviour of a principal minute by minute, the study tried to answer the following questions: how did the principals use their time, did they have time to develop their school after participating in the daily life of the school, and how did the previously studied challenges of modern leadership show in their practical work? Five principals in different areas of Helsinki were observed – two women and three men. The principals were chosen at random from three educational conferences. The main hypothesis of this research was that the work of the principal consists of solving daily problems and routines concerning the pupils, teachers and other interest groups and writing all kinds of bureaucratic reports. This means that the school and its principal do not have enough resources to give to a visionary development of teaching and learning – in other words pedagogical leading – even though every principal has the best knowledge about his or her own school’s status quo and the needs for development revealed by this status quo. The research material was gathered by applying the Peer-Assisted Leadership method. The researcher shadowed each principal for four days for three hours at a time. After each shadowing period, any unclear situations were clarified with a short interview. After all the shadowing periods, the principals participated in a semi-structured interview that covered the themes emerging from the shadowing material. In addition to this, the principals evaluated their own leading with a self-assessment questionnaire. The results gathered from the shadowing material showed that the actions of the principals were focused on bureaucratic work. The principals spent most of their time in the office (more than 50%). In the office they were sitting mainly by the computer. They also spent a significant mount of time in the office meeting teachers and occasional visitors. The time spent building networks was relatively short, although the principals considered it as an important domain of leadership according to their interviews. After the classification of the shadowing material, the activities of the principals were divided according to certain factors affecting them. The underlying factors were quality management, daily life management, strategic thinking and emotional intelligence. Through these factors the research showed that coping with the daily life of the school took about 40% of the principals’ time. Activities connected with emotional intelligence could be observed over 30% and activities which required strategic thinking were observed over 20% of the time. The activities which according to the criteria of the research consisted of quality management took only 8% of the principals’ time. This result was congruent with previous studies showing that the work of school leaders is focused on something other than developing the quality of teaching and learning. Keywords: distributed leadership, building community, network building, interaction, emotional intelligence, strategy, quality management
Resumo:
The purpose of this research was to examine class teachers' interactive pedagogical thinking and action, in other words their tacit pedagogical knowing. Tacit pedagogical knowing was defined as a process in interactive teaching situation, through which a teacher finds solutions to surprising and challenging situations, pedagogical moments, so that the lesson continues. Teachers are able to describe their tacit pedagogical knowing afterwards and also find some reasons for it as well. More specifically, the aim was to study, 1) how does a class teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing appear in teacher's actions, and 2) what kinds of contents include in class teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing. The research material was gathered from four class teachers by videotaping their lessons and by stimulated recall interviews. In addition to this, the researcher spent a relatively long time in the research participants' classrooms. She conducted initial interviews and orientating observations by means of participant observation in order to get to know the participants and their contexts better. A phenomenologically oriented approach, which proceeded by following abductive logic, was used in the analysis procedures of the videotaped and stimulated recall data. In addition to this, correlation examinations were used in the validation of stimulated recall data analyses. The appearance of the tacit pedagogical knowing was observed in the videotaped data. The contents of tacit pedagogical knowing were defined by the analyses of stimulated recall data. According to the research results, a class teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing appears in the maintenance of the pedagogical relation, the teacher's relation to content, and the didactical relation. The contents of class teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing were many sided. The maintenance of the pedagogical relation, the teacher's relation to content, and the didactical relation were elements of the contents as well. In addition to these, the maintenance of teacher's pedagogical authority, the maintenance of the student's role or pedagogical authority, and the awareness of the nature of the content of instruction are included in the contents of teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing. The phenomenon of tacit pedagogical knowing was observed to be clearly a process-like and relational phenomenon. Based on the research results, a model of teacher's tacit pedagogical knowing was developed. Using the model, it is possible to illustrate the factors that are at the core of teacher's professionality. This model could be used in the context of teacher education, supervision, or in-service training.