Lapsi, lapsuus ja perhe varhaiskasvatusasiakirjoissa 1967-1999

The aim of this study is to describe and interpret discourses in Finnish national early childhood education and care (ECEC) documents concerning the child, childhood and family, including preschool education of six-year-old children. The study begins with preparation phase of the Act on Children s Day Care (1967) and concludes with the definition of ECEC policy (1999). The research data consists of committee memoranda and national ECEC curriculum guidelines. The total number of documents studied was 20, comprising some 1700 pages. The research data was examined with qualitative text analysis and employed a discursive approach. A semiotic square (Greimas rectangle) served as a tool for clarifying the discourses and constructions reflected in the research data. The theoretical framework of the study consists of the theories of childhood and family studies. The main concepts from childhood studies used in this study were childhood as a cultural construct and child-centred pedagogy in ECEC. The theoretical approaches from family studies used were the formation of modern and late-modern parenthood and family, as well as the concept of familism. Two main discursive lines were constructed from the ECEC documents. The notion of universalistic childhood suggests that early education and care aim to create the same good childhood for all children, regardless of their family background or living area. The second discursive line followed in the documents is the familistic discourse. This discourse contains emphasis on the priority of parental care. The construct of the competent child was found in the research data as early as in the mid-1970s. On the other hand, the construct of the weak family is distinguishable throughout almost the entire research period. This raises the question of whether Finnish ECEC system has been developed for the competent and self-sufficient child of a weak family which needs constant support and guidance of welfare experts. According to the study, it appears that within the Finnish ECEC system the relatively heavy emphasis on social work rather than on early education has been legitimised by the construct of the weak family. This study also shows that a more thorough analysis should be given to what we mean when we say that the main task of ECEC system is to support families in the upbringing of their children. The study was completed during the period when historical decisions concerning the administration in Finland were in the making (i.e. the potential transfer of ECEC services from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health to the Ministry of Education). Also, over the past decade, a major reformation of the Act on Children s Daycare has been on the agenda, but no concrete measures have been implemented. Based on the findings of this study, we can ask for what kind of child and family we are preparing the ECEc reforms of the new millennium. Key words: ECEC policy Finland, childhood, family, familism, discourse analysis, semiotic square

Lapsi ulkomailta – vanhempien rooli adoptiolapsen identiteetin kehityksessä

The importance of open discussion with the adopted child and his parents about adoption and ethnicity is often emphasized in adoption literature (Kirk 1964; Grotevant 1999; Carli & Dalen 1999). The child should have the possibility of constructing a harmonious view of himself, which consists of his history before adoption, ethnicity and the social environment’s conception of him. The purpose of this study was to examine the Finnish adoptive parents’ supportive role in relation to their child’s adoptive and ethnic identity and the social environment’s disposition to the child as witnessed by the parents. The first research problem was to find out how the parents support their child’s adoptive identity formation. The second problem was to find out if the parents want to support the child’s ethnic identity. The third problem was regarding the environment’s disposition to the child and family. The hypothesis was that Finnish adoptive parents are well aware of the problems of adoption and they have been well selected, so they have the aspirations and skills to help their child with his identity formation. The focus of this study was on Finnish parents who had adopted internationally, from whom 58 answers were obtained. The data was collected with an Internet based questionnaire. The questions were mostly qualitative. The analysis was directed by the theory, so that the analysis units were obtained from the main questions of international adoption and identity formation. The results expressed that the adoptive parents want to support their child’s adoption identity. They accept their child’s questions regarding his history, and that they did not want to conceal any details about their child’s life, even if they felt that it was a sensitive issue for them. The main problem was that there was no information available on the child’s history. Contact with the biological parents was almost impossible because there was hardly any information on them. Instead the parents were in contact with the children’s home because they felt that it had an important role as the child’s former home. The parents felt that the child’s birth culture was of importance and they mainly offered aspects of it informally daily. Parents who stressed their child’s Finnish identity were concerned that their child would not form a feeling of being Finnish. However, the majority wished that their child would have a multicultural identity. The parents felt that the environment regarded the child positively and the possibility of upcoming problems was tackled by discussing them beforehand with the child and environment.

1.° Vita sancti Antonii : authore Athanasio, et interprete Evagrio. — 2.° Vita sancti Basilii : authore Amphilochio, Iconiensi Episcopo. — 3.° Vitae Patrum, quae sancto Hieronymo vulgò tribuuntur. — 4.° Vita sancti Pacomii : authore Dionysio Exiguo. — 5.° Vita sancti Pauli, primi Eremitae : authore sancto Hieronymo. — 6.° Vita sancti Malchi : authore eodem. — 7.° Vita sancti Hilarionis, eodem authore. — 8.° Vita sancti Fursei, Abbatis Latiniaci. — 9.° Vita sanctae Mariae Aegyptiae. — 10.° Sancti Joannis Chrysostomi liber de reparatione lapsi. — 11.° Ejusdem libri duo de compunctione cordis. — 12.° Sancti Ephraemi admonitiones ; libris quinque. — 13.° Sancti Basilii admonitio ad Monachos, milites Christi. — 14.° Sancti Hieronymi admonitio ad Monachos. — 15.° Sancti Isidori, Episcopi Hispalensis, sententiarum libri tres : finis desideratur.

Sancti Martialis Lemovicensis

Ms. Praed. 79 - De reparatione lapsi

Vorbesitzer: Dominikanerkloster Frankfurt am Main

Declamationes ex corde peccatoris lapsi ad poenitentiam... [Texto impreso]

Sign. : []4, 2*4, 3*, A-X4, Y2

LAPSI NIMELTÄ TUISKU. Molemmille sukupuolille annetut ensimmäiset etunimet

Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan molemmille sukupuolille annettuja ensimmäisiä etunimiä. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, kuinka paljon Suomessa on molemmille sukupuolille annettuja nimiä ja kuinka moni näistä esiintyy ensimmäisenä etunimenä. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan myös, minkälaisia kummallekin sukupuolelle annetut nimet ovat äänne- ja tavurakenteeltaan sekä semantiikaltaan. Lisäksi selvitetään, onko Suomessa sukupuolineutraaleiksi hahmottuvia nimiä ja minkälaisia ne ovat. Aineisto on kerätty Väestörekisterikeskuksen ylläpitämän väestötietojärjestelmän suomalaisten nimiaineistosta syyskuussa 2015, ja se koostuu niistä ensimmäisistä etunimistä, joita esiintyy vähintään kymmenen kertaa kummallakin sukupuolella. Aineistoon kuuluu yhteensä 101 etunimeä. Aineistoa analysoidaan sekä kvantitatiivisin että kvalitatiivisin menetelmin, ja näkökulma on pääosin synkroninen. Nimiä luokitellaan sekä rakenteen että semantiikan perusteella ja nimet jaotellaan sen mukaan, minkälaisia merkityksiä niistä hahmottuu kielenpuhujille. Semanttisesti läpinäkyviä nimiä ryhmitellään erilaisiin merkityskenttiin. Semanttisesti läpinäkymättömiä nimiä tarkastellaan niiden alkuperän ja yleistymisen ajankohdan mukaan. Kummallekin sukupuolelle annettujen etunimien äänne- ja tavurakennetta tutkitaan erikseen nimipäiväkalentereihin kuuluvista ja kuulumattomista nimistä sekä koko aineistosta. Molemmille sukupuolille likimain yhtä usein annetut etunimet ovat tyypillisesti lyhyempiä ja sisältävät useammin vieraslähtöisiä grafeemeja kuin aineiston nimet keskimäärin. Lähes yksinomaan toiselle sukupuolelle annetut nimet taas muistuttavat äänne- ja tavurakenteeltaan naisten ja miesten kalenterinimiä, joista on tehty aiempaa tutkimusta. Kummallekin sukupuolelle annetut ensimmäiset etunimet ovat tyypillisesti semanttisesti läpinäkymättömiä, vaikka semanttisesti läpinäkyviä nimiä on aineistossa suhteellisen paljon. Eri aikoina eri merkityskenttiin kuuluvien nimien suosio on vaihdellut. 1900-luvun alkupuolella suosituimpia olivat lapselle toivottuihin ominaisuuksiin viittaavat nimet kuten Kaino ja Vieno; nykyään suosiotaan ovat kasvattaneet luontoon viittaavat nimet kuten Tuisku. Nimipäiväkalenteriin kuuluvat nimet ovat muuta aineistoa yleisemmässä käytössä ja todennäköisemmin lähes yksinomaan toisen sukupuolen käytössä. Aineiston analyysi osoittaa myös nimien vakiintuneen jommankumman sukupuolen käyttöön sitä todennäköisemmin, mitä vanhempia nämä nimet ovat. Nimet eivät kuitenkaan välttämättä vakiinnu ainoastaan toisen sukupuolen käyttöön, jos nimen muoto ja semantiikka, muoto ja konventio tai semantiikka ja konventio ovat keskenään ristiriidassa.

Ruumiillinen esine, materiaalinen suku : Tutkimus Pyhä Anna itse kolmantena -aiheisista keskiajan puuveistoksista Suomessa

Embobied Object, Material Family. Late-Medieval Wood Sculptures Depicting Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child in Finland Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, was one of the most popular saints in Western Europe in the late Middle Ages. She was often depicted with two other figures, the Virgin and the Christ Child (Anna Selbdritt). The dissertation examines the polychrome wood sculptures showing this motif, with a special focus on those remaining in Finland. It investigates the meanings these sculptures had to their observers in the fifteenth-century Finland. The study sheds light to important material heritage which is little known and offers new insights into the cult and imagery of the holy grandmother. Methodologically the study is based on iconology and post-formalist art history, and it appropriates concepts such as spatiality, sanctity, corporeality, and gender. Taking a comparative approach it knits together larger tendencies and local people and incidents. By conflating methodological domains it renews the ways how fragmentary wood sculptures, lacking documentary written sources, can be contextually interpreted and comprehended. The sculptures are analyzed from three angles. Firstly, the study explores the sculptures by focusing on their materiality and facture, which is to consider them as records of their own making. The analysis provides new information concerning the quantity, location, and current condition of the sculptures and it also elucidates problems regarding attribution, dating, display, and craftsmanship. The book presents the results of the empirical study of 45 Saint Anne groups; these works are individually described in the large Appendix. Secondly, the works are contextualized to the specific historical conditions in which they were observed. The study discusses closely the circumstances in the Turku Cathedral around the shrine of Saint Anne, the popular belief, and the piety of individual persons. The sculptures, deemed as the embodiments of the holy characters, interacted with the devotees. Thirdly, the works are examined within the wider theological and ideological currents of the era centered on the body and Incarnation. Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child motif demonstrated the Carnal Trinity, the motherly side of the Holy Trinity. The dissertation argues that Saint Anne was interpreted as the female counterpart or, in a mythical sense, wife of God. Furthermore, the Child s implicit, simultaneous presence as a suffering or dead man imbues the sculptures with a sense of the Passion, thus associating them with the pietà and the Mater dolorosa motifs. The naked Christ Child underlines him as the offering and, eventually, the Eucharistic wafer. The study suggests that the sculptures mediate continuity and the bloodline between the generations by the intertwined and repeated gestures, clothing and positions of the portrayed figures. Regardless of the ostensible homeliness of the sculptures, so readily reiterated by earlier scholars, these sculptures represented creation and birth through the carnal yet holy mothers.

Fernando Pessoan ortonyymi ja heteronyymit modernistis-romanttisena myyttinä

Tutkimuksessani selvitän portugalilaisrunoilija Fernando Pessoan (1888-1935) heteronyymejä ja ortonyymiä modernistis-romanttisena myyttinä. Myytin piirteet paljastuivat Pessoan omia kirjoituksia ja runoja tutkimalla ja käyttämällä apuna Pessoa-tutkimusta. Tutkimusaineistonani ovat Pessoa-ortonyymin Mensagem-runoelma ja ”Autopsykografia”-runo, Álvaro de Campoksen vuonna 1917 Portugal Futurista –lehdessä julkaistu ”Ultimatum”-runomanifesti, Alberto Caeiron ”Guardador de Rebanhos”-runosikermä sekä Ricardo Reisin ”Oodit”-kokonaisuuteen kuuluvat runot: n:ro 59 ”Acima da verdade estão os deuses” (”Totuuden yläpuolella ovat jumalat”, 1914), n:ro 66 ”Olho os campos, Neera” (”Katson peltoja, Neera”, 1917), n:ro 181 ”Amo o que vejo” (”Rakastan sitä mitä näen”, 1934), n:ro 175 ”Estas só. Ninguem o sabe.” (”Olet yksin. Kukaan ei tiedä sitä”, 1933). Tutkimuksessani romanttisen runouden keskeisinä piirteinä pidetään uskoa taiteilijaneroon (geniukseen), mimeettiseen illuusioon (taide tavoittelee ulkoisen todellisuuden toisintamista mahdollisimman autenttisena) ja tekijän ja kokijan eli subjektin ja objektin erottamiseen toisistaan. Käsitänkin modernin runon tutkimuksessani hylänneen monia entisiä käsityksiä ja vastakkainasetteluja muun muassa tekijän ja ulkopuolisen maailman, mielen ja kielen välillä. Näitä moderneja ”rikkomuksia” identifioin ja määrittelen Pessoan heteronyymien runoudessa. Tutkimukseni apukäsitteitä ovat vilpittömyys ja autenttisuus, jotka kuvaavat runoilijan suhdetta itseensä ja muihin ja joita on pohtinut mm. Lionel Trilling teoksessaan Sincerity and authencity. Romanttisessa runoudessa suhde yhteisöön muodostui ensisijaisesti suhteessa omaan itseen, yhtenäiseen minuuteen nojaavan vilpittömyyden kautta, modernissa runoudessa hajanaisuutta ja yksilön suhdetta myös yhteisöön korostavan autenttisuuden avulla. Tutkimuksessani havaitsin, että Pessoa on jo tuotantonsa alusta lähtien kehittänyt tietoisesti modernistis-romanttista myyttiä – päätelmää tukivat niin Pessoan omat kirjoitukset kuin runoanalyysini. Pessoa ennusti ensimmäisen kerran romanttiseen nerotaiteilijaan vertautuvaa ”supra-Camõesia” ”A nova poesia Portuguesa Sociologicamente considerada” –esseessään vuonna 1912. Campoksen ”Ultimatum”-manifestissa puhuja uskoi muutaman useita kymmeniä persoonallisuuksia hallitsevan ”Synteesi-Ihmisen” tai ”supra-Camõesin” ilmestymiseen. ”Synteesi-Ihmisen” oli määrä palauttaa kukoistukseensa lamaantuneessa tilassa ollut Portugalin kirjallisuus uuteen kukoistukseensa. Eräänlaisen perustan koko myytille loi vuotta ennen Pessoan kuolemaa julkaistu Mensagem (suom. Viesti), jossa runoilija esittää saudosistisen ja sebastianistisen perustan. Teixeira de Pascoaesin kehittämä saudosismi näkyy Mensagemissa uskona Portugalin valtion perustajien ja laajentajien – löytöretkeilijöiden – edustamaan voittoisaan lusofoniseen mentaliteettiin, jonka Pessoa asettaa niin kansakunnan, runoilijan kuin ihmisen ihanteeksi. Toinen Mensagemissa esiintyvä myytin rakennusaine on sebastianismi eli usko kuningas Sebastianin (1554-1578) paluuseen. ”Synteesi-Ihminen”/”supra-Camões” oli reinkarnoitunut Sebastian, jonka piti palauttaa kansa ja kulttuuri kukoistukseensa lusofonisen valloittajamentaliteetin avulla. ”Autopsykografia”-runossaan Pessoa esittää puolestaan runoilijaa koskevan modernin poetiikan ongelmineen: esittävyyteen perustuva taide etäännyttää kokijan – taiteilijan – aina väistämättä ensimmäisestä, spontaanista ja luonnollisesta kokemuksesta ja tekee hänestä teeskentelijän ja simulakrumien (Baudrillard), toisen tason merkityksen tuottajan. ”Autopsykografian” moderni poetiikka koskee myös lukijaa, joka ei tavoita runoilijan välittämää merkitystä vaan kolmannen tason merkityksen. ”Autopsykografian” runous- ja ihmiskäsitys on moderni: runoilija on ammattimainen teeskentelijä, lähtökohtaisesti vilpillinen ja epäautenttinen. Pessoa ja Campos edustavat Pessoan objektiivisia heteronyymejä ja myytin modernia puolta. Pessoan subjektiiviset heteronyymit Reis ja Caeiro täydentävät objektiviisia, modernin ihmisen ahdistusta ja levottomuutta ilmaisseita Pessoaa ja Camposta ollen luonteeltaan romanttisia vilpittömyyden kannattajia. Caeiro arvosti näköaistia yli muiden aistien. Hänen tavoitteenaan oli katsoa aina kuin ensimmäistä kertaa, spontaanisti ja välittömästi kuin lapsi. Reis puolestaan korosti harmoniaa jumalten, ihmisten ja luonnon välillä ja uskoi kohtuullisiin aistinautintoihin. Molemmat muodostivat Pessoan myytin romanttisen puolen yhteisessä halussaan hylätä sosiaaliset roolit ja opetukset ja palata kohti yksilöllistä minää. Vilpittömyys ja autenttisuus ovat Caeiron ja Reisin ohjeita runoilijalle ja ihmiselle. Objektiiviset ja subjektiiviset heteronyymit yhdessä muodostavat modernistis-romanttisen myytin, joka kokonaisuudessaan on looginen: objektiiviset heteronyymit esittivät teeskentelyn, vilpillisyyden ja moderniuden ongelmat; subjektiiviset tarjosivat ratkaisua niihin, poisopettelua sosiaalisista rooleista ja rohkeutta mennä kohti omaa yksilöllistä minuutta.

Betydelser i barnfamiljsbroschyrer : Systemisk-funktionell analys av den tänkta läsaren och institutionen

This thesis concerns Swedish and Finland-Swedish brochures to families with children, presenting family allowances from the social insurance institutions in the two countries. The aim of the study is to analyse what meanings are conveyed with reference to the conceivable reader and the institution in the brochures. The material consists of information brochures in Swedish from Kela, the social insurance institution of Finland, and Försäkringskassan, the Swedish social insurance agency, issued during 2003–2006. The general theoretical framework is systemic-functional linguistics (SFL) as presented by Halliday & Matthiessen (2004) and Holmberg & Karlsson (2006). The study consists of a quantitative study of the lexical choices of the social insurance brochures. Furthermore, a qualitative process and participant analysis is annotated with the UAM Corpus tool and the results are quantified. Speech functions and modal auxiliaries are analysed qualitatively. The analysis shows that material and relational processes are most common. The relational and verbal processes are used more in the Sweden-Swedish brochures, while the material processes are more common in the Finland-Swedish brochures. The participants in the brochures are the institution, mentioned by its name, and the conceivable reader, directly addressed with “you” (du). In addition, the referent “child” is often mentioned. The participants assigned for the reader are Actor, Receiver, Carrier and Speaker. In the Finland-Swedish texts, the reader is often an Actor, while the reader in the Sweden-Swedish texts is a Carrier. Thus, the conceivable reader is an active participant who takes care of his or her own matters using the internet, communicates actively to the institution and has legal rights and obligations. The institution is visible in the texts but does not have an active role as the name of the institution is mostly used in circumstances. The institution is not often a participant, but when it is, it is Actor, Receiver, Listener and Carrier, expecting the clients to address it. Speech functions are performed in different ways. For instance, questions structure the reading process and commands are realised by modal auxiliaries, not by imperatives. The most common modal auxiliary is kan (can, may), and another common auxiliary is ska (shall, must). Statements are surrounded by subordinate clauses and adverbs that describe situations and criteria. The results of the study suggest that the brochures in the two countries are similar, in particular when produced in similar ways, that is, when the Finland-Swedish texts are not translated. Existing differences reflect the differences in the institutions, the social insurance systems and the cultural contexts. KEYWORDS: Finland-Swedish, Swedish, comparative analysis, SFL, discourse analysis, administrative language, institutional discourse, institutional communication

Onko varhaisen tuen päiväkoti mahdollinen? : Tutkimus varhaiskasvatuksen yhteisöllisestä kehittämisestä

Is the early childhood day care facility possible? The research considering communal development of the early education. In Finland mothers and fathers look after 400 000 pre-school children. Half of these attend day care facilities, in which 50 000 staff are employed. The aim of this research is to develop co-operation practices within the day care centre. This research refines and expands my own interest in and knowledge of day care management and content development. The basis of the research draws upon ethnographic material covering the period 1999–2005. The day care centre chosen as a central informant was the first suburban centre founded in 1963, and it provided a rich local and welfare state research perspective. It became clear that the day care facility’s co-operation practices formed the basis of bringing up children and at the same time produced a new multi-operational and multi-layered community for child participation. Adult day care centre workers bringing up the children as a professional work and solutions defining the conditions for the work are expressed in a child’s upbringing. This obviously has an impact in where as the development of communities. From the human and community scientific point of view, the group of youngest children will take up a future position as key players in communities as essential actors and reformers. The research was carried out as multiphase and multiscientific practical research and iterative data formation. The results verified that the co-operation between parents and day care staff produces important benefits for all the stakeholders. However, the day care staff has difficulties in implementing the benefits. During the research process, it became clear that conceptually day care staff saw the practices as ”very important, but not easily realised in practice”. As a result this demanded further research to address this issue and to extend this to the carefacility’s co-operation practises and their communal and social conditions. The research looks at the carefacility’s co-operation with key stakeholders. At the same time it undertakes an analytical and historical examination of carefacilitys’s with an experimental focus as two day care centres chosen as experimental objects. The results of the research showed that the benefits gained by children were determined by the day care centre’s socio-political structure and the parent’s resources. The research framework categorised early childhood education as generational and gender based structures. As part of the research, the strains endemic to these formations have been examined. The system for bringing up children was created as part of a so called welfare state project by implemented by the Day Care Act in year 1973. The law secured the subjective right for every pre-school child to have access to day care facilities. The law also introduced a labour and sosiopolitical phase and the refinement of the day care facility’s education-care concept. The latest phase that started during the early 1990´s was called the market-based social services strategy. As a result of this phase, state support was limited and the screening function of the law was relaxed. This new strategy resulted in a divisive and bureaucratic social welfare system, that individualised and segregated children and their parents, leaving some families outside the communal and welfare state benefit net. The modern day care centre is a hybrid of different aims. Children spend longer and more irregular time in day care. The families are multicultural and that requires more training for the staff. The work in day care has been enhanced, for example he level of education for the staff has been lowered and productivity has been improved. However, administrative work and different kinds of support and net work functions together with the continuous change have taken over from the work done face to face with children. Staff experiences more pressure as the management and the work load has increased. Consequently the long-term planning and daily implementation of the nuclear task of the day care facility is difficult to control. This will have an effect on both motivation and manageability of the work. Overall quality of the early childhood upbringing has been weakened. The possibilities for the near future were tested in the two day care centres chosen as an experi-ment objects. The analysis of these experiments showed that generative interaction work will benefit everyone: children, parents and employees. The main results of the research are new concepts of an early support day care centre, which can be empirically and theoretically possi-ble for development the near future. Key words: Day care facility’s co-operation practises, early childhood education as generational structure, child’s multi-operational and multi-layered community, multi-subjective operator, generative interaction work, communal composition.

Lasten vaikeiden ja stressaavien tilanteiden hallinta yläkouluun siirtymisen vaiheessa

This study examined year seven students´ proactive coping, self-efficacy and social support seeking. Proactive coping was defined as a behaviour where obstacles are seen as a challenge. In proactive coping, individuals set goals, build up resources and regulate their behaviour to achieve the goals. Self-efficacy can be seen as people’s beliefs about their capabilities. Social support seeking was divided into instrumental support seeking and emotional support seeking. According to the theoretical frame of this study self-efficacy and social support seeking were seen as resources to proactive coping (Greenglass 2002). The participants were 445 year seven students (Mo= 13 years) from seven secondary schools. The data was collected in March-May 2008. The survey consisted 37 Likert-scaled items from the Proactive Coping Inventory and from the General Self-Efficacy Scale. The survey consisted of four scales: Proactive Coping, Instrumental Support Seeking, Emotional Support Seeking and General Self-Efficacy. The participants' age, gender and studying in specialist streams were asked as background information. As a result, most of the participants (62 % girls, 38 % boys) reported fairly strong proactive coping: they can see obstacles as a challenge and they set goals and regulate their behaviour to achieve the goals. Most of the participants reported that they seek instrumental and emotional support when having troubles. Girls reported more social support seeking than did boys and the mean difference was statistically significant. Most of the participants had fairly high sense of self-efficacy. However, 4 % of the participants reported that they don’t believe in their capabilities. Some of these participants reported that they neither use proactive coping nor seek informational or emotional support when having troubles. Proactive coping correlated positively with self-efficacy and with social support seeking. In this study self-efficacy and social support seeking explained 47 % of proactive coping. It was discussed that children’s high sense of self-efficacy and social relationships can act as protective factors in transition to secondary school. When supporting children’s self-efficacy and social relationships one also assists children’s proactive coping. Proactive coping can be seen to support children’s personal growth.

Vammaisen lapsen äidin vanhemmuuden kokemus sekä lähiympäristön ja kasvatuskumppanuuden merkitys

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.

Erityistä tukea tarvitsevien lasten polut esiopetuksesta alkuopetukseen : tukitoimet ja suoriutuminen

The purpose of this follow-up study is to analyse stages of learning and teaching of children with special needs in pre-school and the first two grades of elementary school. The target group included 270 children with special needs. The three year follow-up period for each child began during the pre-school year, and continued until the spring of the second grade in elementary school. Various diagnoses were detected among children in the study group. The disorders were categorised in six classes: the developmentally delayed, children with language development disorder, children with emotional and behavioural disorders, children with attention deficit, children with other non-cognitive disorders and children with extensive developmental disorders. The study's starting point was the situation in pre-school: how the children were placed in pre-school, and what kinds of support they were offered? The purpose of the study was to describe how children with special needs move from different types of groups in pre-school to the different types of classes in the first two grades of elementary school. I also examined how well the children with special needs succeeded in the first two grades of elementary school. An additional purpose was to find out what connections there may be between the paths taken by children with special needs when they move from pre-school to elementary school, the types of support they get, and how they succeed academically in elementary school. The data were gathered mainly by means of questionnaires. In addition the children were studied by means of tests designed to estimate their academic skills at the end of the second grade. In analysing the data I used both quantitative and qualitative methods. Six paths were identified among the children in the study group, based on whether a child was in a group or a class given special teaching or in an ordinary group or class during pre-school and the first two grades of elementary school. In this study, about 53% of the children with special needs moved from pre-school to a regular class in elementary school, and about 47% of the children received special education in elementary school. Among the ordinary groups (n = 69) in pre-school the majority of children (73 %) moved to a regular class in elementary school. Among the children receiving special education (n = 201) in pre-school, 46% moved to a regular class in elementary school. That path turned out to be the one followed by the greatest number of children. Only rarely did children move from an ordinary group in pre-school to a special education class in elementary school. Examination of the results according to the children's transition paths also links together with the viewpoint of integration and segregation. This study indicates that in pre-school special education groups, a significantly greater number of methods supporting children's development were used than in the conventional education groups. The difference was at its greatest inconnection with the use of so-called special rehabilitation methods. A quite wide range of variation was observed in how the children succeeded in elementary school. Success in the tests designed to estimate the children's academic skills was poor for 31% of the children (n = 230) in the first grade study group. For 69 % of the children, however, success in the tests was at least satisfactory. In the second grade study group 34 % of the children (N = 216) got through all the three tests estimating academic skills acceptably. According to this study, a number of children with special needs require special support throughout pre-school and the first two grades of elementary school. The results show that if the children received special support during the pre-school year, a number were able to participate in regular education in elementary school. Keywords: a child with special needs, measures of support, transitions, achievements in school