Values of well-being and togetherness in the early childhood education of younger children

This chapter illustrates the younger children’s expressions of the values of well-being and togetherness in day-care groups and the educators’ role in communicating these values. The values of well-being and togetherness were closely interconnected. The children expressed these values by bodily gestures, laughter and enthusiasm in their activities and by mutual interest, physical closeness, and playing together. The educators communicated the values by a caring attitude and emotional warmth. They were present to the children and assured that the atmosphere was supportive and joyful. The educators encouraged the children to engage in shared endeavors and, above all, played with them. Final D…

A Descriptive Case Analysis of Instructional Teaching Practices in Finnish Preschool Classrooms

This study examined the diversity of teaching practices to illuminate the qualitative variety of instructional teaching practices among preschool teachers. Further, teachers' self-rated educational goals were explored to complement the multifaceted nature of preschool teachers' instructional teaching practices. The study was carried out as a case study. The cases were used to describe the qualitative variety of Finnish preschool teachers' instructional practices in authentic classroom situations among groups of 6-year-old children. The authors' previous study revealed four distinct latent profiles of teaching practices in preschool classrooms based on 49 observed preschool teachers, using t…

The role and practice of interpersonal relationships in European early education settings: sites for enhancing social inclusion, personal growth and learning?1

This study sought to identify and compare the characteristics of the social pedagogic context of cognitive activities in a sample of early education settings in six European countries (England, Fin...

Younger children in ECEC: focus on the national steering documents in the Nordic countries

The aim of this study was to review the national steering documents on early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, with the focus on children up to the age of three, posing the question: What do these documents tell us about ECEC for younger children in the Nordic early childhood settings? Methodologically, a qualitative document analysis was applied. The documents provide a picture of young children whose age, individual needs and a number of other factors, such as cultural background, should be taken into account in ECEC. These children learn holistically, in close interaction with their environment. Their safety and well-being are seen as pa…

Important themes in research on and education of young children in day care centres: Finnish viewpoints

The aim of this article is to outline important themes, according to Finnish early childhood education researchers, that need to be addressed in researching and educating children under three years of age in Finland. To achieve this aim, the article divides into two parts. First, we present and discuss the results of a small-scale survey, conducted in Finland, on the views of key informants in the early childhood education units of Finnish universities. Second, the views presented in the survey are used as a starting point to introduce two ongoing qualitative case studies on the everyday life of toddlers in Finnish day care centres. In line with the survey findings, these case studies empha…

From Togetherness to Equal Partnership in Role Play

In the day care centre, already at the transition stage to role play children show different kinds of participation. They observe each other's play, share goal orientation and directly tutor each other. The play process is materially supported and often initiated by educators. However, children also need to acquire the power to act autonomously in role play. The different kinds of participation in young children's play, as well as the appearance and development of basic features of joint role play were examined in three games of a two‐year‐old girl, Katju, in her day care group. The games are examples of ten play sessions she was involved in. These data were collected by means of reactive p…

Teachers' contribution to the social life in Finnish preschool classrooms during structured learning sessions

This study aimed to clarify and deepen the knowledge on and understanding of the role that teachers’ practices during teacher-led learning sessions play in creating and enhancing social life in Finnish preschool classrooms. Observational data pertaining to 20 preschool teachers were analysed according to the principles of thematic analysis. Four identified themes reflected teachers’ contribution to social life in preschool classrooms in relation to their practices under different group compositions: (1) managing children’s peer-relations; (2) promoting the coherence of the group; (3) supporting individual child as a part of group; and (4) discussing friendship and respectfulness. As a concl…

Negotiating Ethics-in-Action in a Long-term Research Relationship with a Young Child

AbstractThis article continues the discussions of relational ethics put forward in Human Arenas in “Arena of Ethics” (Hilppö et al., 2019). Our aim in this article is to explore and discuss relational ethics, as ethics-in-action, in a long-term research relationship with a child. Our question is: How is ethics-in-action negotiated during critical incidents in the construction of a research space that involves a long-term research relationship with a young child? This article is based on a research project that focused on children’s transitions in early childhood education and care (ECEC). These transitions include the transition from home care to ECEC as well as transitions from child group…

Roolileikkiin siirtyminen leikin kehitysvaiheena : piagetilainen näkökulma

The general purpose of this study was to develop the research methodology and theory of play. More precisely, the aim was to describe and analyse the stage of transition to role play as a developmental psychological and pedagogical phenomenon. The study is part of a larger research project and part of a developmental program focusing on enhancing the quality of education in day care centers. Four tasks were set for the study. The first task was to perform a· theoretical analysis of the development of play and the transition to role play on the basis of Piaget's theory of play. The second task was to define and revise this analysis according to the results of piagetian observation studies of…

Promoting children’s participation: the role of teachers in preschool and primary school learning sessions

The aim of this study is to provide insights into the social construction of participation in joint activities in Finnish preschool and primary school classrooms. The article deals with two issues: How do teachers promote participation in a preschool classroom as compared with a primary school classroom? What similarities and differences are found? It also considers the question of how the similarities contribute to the continuity from preschool to primary school in terms of participation. Based on observation data insights are provided into the interactions between teachers and children by using extracts from teacher‐led learning sessions. The teachers used a diversity of strategies to pro…

Care, Upbringing and Teaching in ‘Horizontal’ Transitions in Toddler Day-Care Groups

This chapter focuses on the fundamental notion of early childhood education as an integrated whole, composed of care, upbringing and teaching, in the context of Finnish early childhood education. These three concepts - care, upbringing and teaching - are addressed firstly, on the conceptual level, and then empirically by illustrative examples from day-care groups for one-to-three-year-old children. Our main question focuses on how care, upbringing and teaching are implemented in small-scale ‘horizontal’ transitions children experience between events or activities during the day as part of the experience of day-care, and how these events might be evaluated from a pedagogical perspective. Emp…

Observed Classroom Quality Profiles of Kindergarten Classrooms in Finland

Research Findings: The aim of the present study was to examine classroom quality profiles of kindergarten classrooms using a person-centered approach and to analyze these patterns in regard to teacher and classroom characteristics. Observations of the domains of Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support were conducted in 49 Finnish kindergarten classrooms utilizing the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (R. C. Pianta, K. M. LaParo, & B. K. Hamre, 2008 ). In addition, questionnaire data on classroom and teacher characteristics, as well as Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (D. Stipek & P. Byler, 2004 ) observational ratings, were used in the analyses. L…

Rules and agreements — And becoming a preschool community of learners

SUMMARY The study presented here discusses rules and agreements in a preschool group from the viewpoint of the development of a community of learners. What kinds of rules and agreements exist in the preschool group, how they are articulated and how they are adopted at the beginning of the preschool year were the questions addressed in this small-scale ethnographic study. Three types of rules, often called agreements in preschools, were found in the group: conventional, moral and prudential rules. Conventional rules were mentioned and referred to most frequently, by both teachers and children. The most typical way of articulating a rule was stating the rule or reminding others of it. Many ru…

Pedagogy in ECEC : Nordic Challenges and Solutions. Seminar Report, Helsinki Finland, 22 September 2016

Roolileikkiin siirtyminen leikin kehitysvaiheena : kulttuurihistoriallisen toiminnan teorian näkökulma

As a part of a larger research project, this study aims to develop the research methodology and the theory of play. More precisely, the aim was to describe and analyse the stage of transition to role play as a developmental psychological and pedagogical phenomenon. The study also serves teacher training and educational practice in day care centers. Four tasks were set for the study. The first task was to construct a theoretical model of the development of play and the transition to role play on the basis of Vygotsky's notions of play. The second task was to define and revise this model in accordance with the theoretical constructs of his followers and the results of previous activity-theore…

Finland: Becoming and the Youngest Children at Home and in ECEC

This chapter will focus on the youngest children and the everyday contexts and practices of their lives in Finland. The chapter explores the concept of ‘becoming’ within childhood, particularly within early childhood education and care (ECEC) in our country. For the youngest children, their homes and nuclear families have been historically and culturally constructed as the first and most important social and emotional growth environments. For families, the discourses concerning the ‘best or right place’ for their young children to be cared for and learn in are fuelled by the extensive system of financial incentives for home care (e.g. maternity, paternity and home allowances). Only about 40…

Building children’s sense of community in a day care centre through small groups in play

This study examines the process through which children build a sense of community in small groups in a day care centre. The study asks the following: how does children’s sense of community develop, and what are its key features? Data were collected by applying ethnographic methods in a group of three- to five-year-old children over eleven months. The results show that children’s sense of community developed through three stages. In the first stage, it evolved gradually through experiences in joint play. In the second stage, stable friendships were formed and strengthened in play. In the third and final stage, sense of community was fully established and children’s emotional bonding was stro…

Togetherness — A Manifestation of Day Care Life

This article discusses togetherness in the day care centre. In what way and in which situations is togetherness expressed among children? “What is the impact of adults on the rise and development of togetherness?” Answers to these questions were sought by making use of observations carried out in a cooperative Nordic study of the quality of children's lives in Danish, Finnish and Swedish day care centres. The data were collected by observing five‐year‐old children during their daily activities in seven day care centres. Attention was paid to relations between the children and adults as well as to the objects — in the sense of contents and objectives of ongoing activities. What do individual…

The teacher's lap – a site of emotional well-being for the younger children in day-care groups

This study focuses on a particular relationship between teachers and one- to three-year-old children: the child in the teacher's lap. When, in what situations, does this happen? Who are the children in the teacher's lap? Why are they there? How do children express emotional well-being when in the teacher's lap? Relational, sociocultural and revised attachment approaches to emotional well-being supplied the theoretical framework of the study. Data were collected by ethnographic methods and analysed qualitatively. Two day-care groups in Finland participated. For most of the day, at least one child was in a teacher's lap. The teacher's lap signified, for example, not only consolation and confi…

Kasvattajan pedagoginen herkkyys ja pienten lasten emotionaalinen hyvinvointi päiväkotiryhmissä

Vuorovaikutuksen laatu on yksi tärkeimmistä varhaiskasvatuksen laadun ja lasten emotionaalisen hyvinvoinnin osoittimista, ja se on myös yksi tärkeimmistä lasten oppimiseen, kehitykseen ja hyvinvointiin vaikuttavista tekijöistä. Mikä on sensitiivisen vuorovaikutuksen ja kasvattajan pedagogisen herkkyyden merkitys oppimisen, kehityksen ja hyvinvoinnin tukemisessa? Millainen on pedagogisesti herkkä kasvattaja, ja miten hän toimii vuorovaikutuksessaan lasten kanssa? Miten pedagogista herkkyyttä voi harjoitella, ja miten sitä voi oppia? Näihin kysymyksiin pureudutaan tässä puheenvuorossa. nonPeerReviewed

Assessment Report on Teacher Training and Educational Sciences at University of Tartu and Tallinn University

Toddlers' Play in Early Childhood Education Settings

More and more toddlers participate in early childhood education outside home, sharing a significant part of their day with teachers and peers, often in play. Despite the knowledge that has accumulated on toddlers’ playing skills and on the psychology underlying the development of play, research on toddlers’ play from the educational and pedagogical viewpoints is limited. Whereas teachers of toddlers report high respect for play and the importance of play in toddlers’ lives, research shows that the position of play is generally weak. This chapter, drawing on existing research, reviews the development and characteristics of toddlers’ play, describes the ways in which they play, and discusses …