Monialaisuutta, tiimityötä ja projektioppimista : koulun ja yliopiston yhteistyötä parhaimmillaan

Miten luodaan onnistunut yliopiston ja koulun yhteistyöprojekti? Heinolan kirkonkylän koulu ja Jyväskylän yliopiston opettajankoulutuslaitos luottivat tähän reseptiin: Lähdetään liikkeelle koulun tarpeista. Pohjustetaan huolellisella suunnittelulla ja teoriaan perehtymisellä. Sekoitetaan yhteen yksi innostunut koulu opettajineen ja oppilaineen, kourallinen opettajankouluttajia ja tusina opettajaopiskelijoita. Lisätään mukaan rohkeaa otetta, monialainen oppimiskokonaisuus, reflektointia ja rutkasti tiimityötä. Lopputuloksesta nautitaan yhdessä ja siitä ammennetaan tuleviin vuosiin! nonPeerReviewed

Exploring teachers’ stories of writing : a narrative perspective

This study takes a narrative perspective to examine teachers as writers and autobiographical creative writing as a way for promoting teachers’ professional development. In a creative writing group for Finnish primary and secondary school teachers, the teachers expressed themselves and explored their lives and identities through autobiographical creative writing. The aim of this study was to examine the stories the teachers tell about their relationship to writing and the goals they set for their professional and personal development in the writing group. Through thematic analysis, seven descriptive themes were found in teachers’ narratives of writing. Furthermore, based on the narrative ana…

Towards a learning community: understanding teachers’ mental models to support their professional development and learning

Amidst societal, demographic and educational changes, teachers are expected to engage in professional development and learning (PDL) throughout their careers. This study explores school teachers’ mental models about their work in the framework of Senge’s learning organisation, aiming to support their PDL during curriculum reform and organisational changes. The study’s data comprise 41 semi-structured interviews with each teacher in one school community. These interviews were analysed using qualitative, data-driven yet theory-informed content analysis. In the first analysis phase, fragments of mental models concerning teachers’ work and their school community were explored. These fragments i…

Professional Development and Impact of the Early Change Project : Reflections from the Finnish Example

This chapter focuses on the reflections and feedback from the implementation of the Early Change project in Finland. More specifically, it discusses the particular way in which the project was implemented in Finland, presents some experiences of the early childhood teachers who used the observational rating scales and the way that it influenced their practices. Further, it discusses the impact the use of observational rating scales had on two levels—on the professional development of the early childhood teachers and on the educational policies implemented in the educational districts that were partners in the Early Change project. peerReviewed

Narratives of professional development in a teachers’ creative writing group

This paper explores teachers’ experiences of professional development in a creative writing group. The data was collected in a teachers’ creative writing group and consist of semi-structured interviews and creative writing assignments. Reflexive thematic analysis and narrative analysis were applied to compose a nonfiction piece that describes the teachers’ experiences of a ‘year of creative writing’. Within the nonfiction piece, four themes were presented as findings of the study: social aspects, personal and emotional aspects, writer identity aspects, and pedagogical aspects. The results suggest that utilising creative writing methods in qualitative research can raise otherwise hidden voic…

Tarinoita opettajana ja tutkijana kasvamisesta

Tutkin vuosi sitten valmistuneessa väitöskirjassani opettajien kokemuksia ja kertomuksia luovan kirjoittamisen yhteisöihin osallistumisesta. Erityisesti olin kiinnostunut siitä, miten luova kirjoittaminen oli yhteydessä opettajien ammatilliseen kehittymiseen. Tutkimuksen rikas kirjoitelma- ja haastatteluaineisto mahdollisti syvän perehtymisen opettajien tarinoihin. Väitöskirjasta teki erityisen se, että hyödynsin rohkeasti luovan kirjoittamisen menetelmiä. nonPeerReviewed

Teachers as writing students: narratives of professional development in a leisure-time creative writing community

The authors explored five in-service teachers’ experiences of professional development (PD) in Studies in Writing (30 ECTS programme at a Finnish open university) they participated in during their leisure time. Data consist of the teachers’ creative writings and semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed to holistically determine how the participants associated the creative writing community with their PD. The following themes were created: (1) Me as a writer, (2) Teaching and pedagogy, and (3) Writing and emotions. To illustrate these findings, three creative narratives were composed based on data excerpts. These ethnodramatic dialogues gave voice to the teachers’…

Luova kirjoittaminen voi tukea ammatillista kehittymistä

Opettajan pedagogisen toiminnan yhteys ryhmän motivaatioilmastoon kuudensien luokkien liikuntatunneilla

Martin, A. ja Tervasmäki, N-M. 2012. Opettajan pedagogisen toiminnan yhteys ryhmän motivaatioilmastoon kuudensien luokkien liikuntatunneilla. Jyväskylän yliopisto. Opettajankoulutuslaitos. Kasvatustieteen Pro gradu –tutkielma. 68 sivua, 5 liitettä. Tutkimuksen kohteena oli kuudensien luokkien liikuntatuntien motivaatioilmaston kuvaileminen sekä ryhmän motivaatioilmaston ja opettajan pedagogisen toiminnan yhteyden tutkiminen. Lisäksi selvitimme opettajan toiminnan sekä ryhmän motivaatioilmaston yhteyksiä oppilaiden viihtymiseen, fyysiseen pätevyyteen ja arvioon tulevaisuuden liikunta-aktiivisuudesta. Tutkimuksen teoreettisen viitekehyksen mukaisesti työn pääkäsitteinä ovat motivaatioilmastoo…

Running a hybrid: mingling in-service and pre-service teachers in peer-mentoring groups

his study examines a hybrid form of the Finnish Peer-Group Mentoring (PGM) merging student teachers and in-service teachers of different career stages in group meetings facilitated by an educated mentor. Experiences of the in-service participants were studied by interviewing them, and the data were analysed through thematic analysis. Four main themes were identified: 1) Enjoying group activities, 2) Personal professional development, 3) Attaching to the professional community and 4) Developing the teacher profession. The study shows that the hybrid model of peer-group mentoring enables opportunities for teacher learning that benefit both schools and teacher education institutions. peerRevie…

Luova kirjoittaminen opettajan ammatillisen kehittymisen välineenä

Mathematics Learning through Arts and Collaborative Problem-Solving : The Princess and the Diamond-Problem

In this paper, we examine a mathematics education course which focused on collaborative mathematical problem solving in art topics. The students of the course were Finnish primary school pre-service teachers. During the course students investigated tessellations, reflected on their experiences and designed workshops for pupils. The course meetings were video recorded. Students’ work contained elements of mathematical problem solving and gave them experiences of working collaboratively. The topic of tessellation was found suitable for this purpose. peerReviewed

Pedagogisk expertis i rörelse

Publikationen baserar sig på forskningsprojektet Rörlighet bland pedagogisk expertis (PAL-projektet) som finansierades av Europeiska socialfonden. Projektet genomfördes under åren 2010–2013 i samarbete mellan Pedagogiska forskningsinstitutet, utbildningsstyrelsen och yrkeslärarhögskolan vid yrkeshögskolan i Jyväskylä. Publikationen granskar de centrala observationerna i PAL-projektet och ger en allmän översikt av rörligheten och förändringarna bland lärarna i det finländska utbildningssystemet. Materialet till projektet samlades in med en webbenkät (n = 4500) samt intervjuer med före detta lärare (n = 15). I Finland anses läraryrket vara ett tilltalande yrkesval av många olika skäl. Läraren…

Mobility and transition of pedagogical expertise in Finland

Mobility and transition of pedagogical expertise in Finland is a publication based on the project “Mobility among pedagogical experts”, which was funded by the European Social Fund. The project was carried out in 2010–2013 in collaboration with the Finnish Institute for Educational Research, Finnish National Board of Education and the Vocational Teacher Education College, Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences. The publication gives an overall view of the teacher mobility and transition in the Finnish education system and discusses the key findings from the report on Mobility among pedagogical experts. Data for the above-mentioned project was collected by an online questionnaire (n = 4500…