The Concordance between Teachers’ and Parents’ Perceptions of School Transition Practices: A Solid Base for the Future

This study focuses on parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of practices aimed at easing the transition to formal schooling (e.g., familiarization with the school, discussions about the school entrants). A total of 230 preschool teachers, 131 elementary school teachers, and 2,662 mothers and fathers filled in a questionnaire containing items on how important they considered different preschool-school transition practices. The participants considered the various transition practices to be at least somewhat important. On average, familiarization with the school was considered to be most important, whereas teacher co-operation and joint writing of curricula were considered to be least important. …

Transition to formal schooling: Do transition practices matter for academic performance?

Abstract This study examined whether the transition practices implemented in preschool–elementary school pairs contribute to children's academic development during the first year of elementary school. Participants were 398 children who moved from 36 preschools to 22 elementary schools in two Finnish towns. Children were tested in respect to their reading, writing, and math skills in the preschool spring and in the grade 1 spring. The most common practices reported by preschool teachers were discussions about the school entrants and familiarizing preschool children with the school environment and the new teacher. Multilevel latent growth modeling showed that the more the preschool teachers a…

"Milloin sinä otat itseäsi niskasta kiinni?" : opettajien kokemuksia alisuoriutujista

Marita Kontoniemi on tutkinut opettajien kokemuksia koulujen alisuoriutujista. Heitä on arvioitu olevan jopa viidennes oppilaista, poikia valtaosa. Alisuoriutujat ovat heikon koulumenestyksensä vuoksi syrjäytymisvaarassa. Mitä tällaisen oppilaan opettaminen merkitsee opettajalle? Onko kyseessä arvojen yhteen törmääminen, valtataistelu vai persoonallisuuksien yhteen sopimattomuus? Onko ongelma didaktinen eriyttämis- ja motivointiasia? Vai onko alisuoriutuminen yhteiskunnallisten muutosten heijastuma, jolle opettaja tai koulu ei voi mitään? Kuinka opettaja sitten jaksaa elää arkipäivää ongelmien kanssa, jos niille ei ole mitään tehtävissä, kysyy Kontoniemi.- Opettajien työyhteisön ilmapiiriin…

Mutual Trust between Kindergarten Teachers and Mothers and its Associations with Family Characteristics in Estonia and Finland

Mutual trust between mothers and kindergarten teachers along with its relation to mother’s educational level and child’s gender was studied in two neighboring countries—Estonia and Finland. From Estonia 543 ratings of mothers and 232 ratings of teachers were collected, and, from Finland, 712 ratings of mothers and 712 ratings of teachers. Trust was assessed with shortened questionnaires based on the Trust scale. More Finnish than Estonian mothers reported a higher level of trust towards the teacher while no significant difference was found for teachers. The associations between the level of mothers’ and teachers’ trust and mother’s education were different in each country.

Tavoitteena hyvä elämä : ympäristökasvatusta kyläkoulussa