Advancing Involvement with the Early Childhood Education Leadership

Osallisuus on ilmiö, joka kiinnostaa entistä enemmän tutkijoita myös johtamisen kontekstissa. Varhaiskasvatuksessa osallisuutta on tutkittu pitkälti lapsen näkökulmasta, mutta nykyinen puute alan osaavasta henkilöstöstä sekä työntekijöiden sitoutumisen haaste tuovat varhaiskasvatuksen johtajat peruskysymyksen äärelle: miten työyhteisön osallisuutta voidaan edistää johtamalla? Tämän tutkielman teoreettinen tausta perustuu Nivalan (1999) johtamisen kontekstuaaliselle mallille, joka liittää varhaiskasvatusalan johtamistyön erottamattomasti sen substanssiin. Osallisuuden ilmiö ankkuroituu Terveyden ja Hyvinvoinnin laitoksen viitekehykseen, joka liittää sen yksilön sisäiseen motivaatioon, vaikuttamisen mahdollisuuksiin sekä hyvän tekemiseen. Lopulliseksi tutkimustehtäväksi muotoutui johtajien kokemusten kartoittaminen osallisuuden johtamisesta. Osallisuutta edistävän johtamisen rakentumista selvitettiin ammatillisen osaamisen, johtamisen jakamisen ja johtamisen haasteiden kautta. Opinnäytetyö oli laadullinen ja perustui fenomenologiselle metodologialle, jossa keskeistä on kokemuksen tutkiminen. Tutkimusaineistona käytettiin Eduleaders hankkeen haastatteluaineistoa, joka toteutettiin teemoitettuna täsmäryhmähaastatteluna hankkeen koulutuksen puitteissa. Analyysimenetelmänä hyödynnettiin teoriaohjaavan sisällönanalyysin menetelmiä. Tutkimustulokset toivat esille osallisuuden johtamisen keskeisiksi tekijöiksi johtajan substanssin hallinnan ja yleisen johtamisosaamisen sekä henkilöstön itseohjautuvuuden ja ammatillisen kompetenssin. Osallisuutta edistävä johtaminen perustui toimiville jaetun johtamisen rakenteille, johtajan ja opettajan väliselle saumattomalle yhteistyölle sekä opettajien tiimijohtamisen ja pedagogisen johtamisen osaamiselle. Myös johtajien yhteinen johtaminen nousi merkittäväksi tulevaisuuden osallisuutta edistäväksi rakenteeksi. Osallisuuden haasteiksi nousivat ammatillinen osaaminen, työn resurssit sekä käynnissä oleva toimintakulttuurin muutos, joka haastaa moniammattillisen työyhteisön osallisuuden johtamista. Johtajat toivovat tulevaisuudessa lisää yhteisön kokeilevaa työotetta, itseohjautuvuutta ja innovatiivisuutta suhteessa perustehtävään.Involvement is a phenomenon that interests the researchers at the moment also in the context of a leadership. Involvement research in the early childhood education is focused on the involvement structures and possibilities of small children. At the moment shortage of the competent teachers and practical nurses and their commitment to the long-term work relationship however brings us back to the basic questions of leadership; how to lead involvement? The theoretical frame of this study is based on contextual model of leadership (Nivala 1999) which sees the early childhood leadership and the early childhood substance inseparable. I also use the theoretical frame of involvement created by Finnish National Institute of Health and Welfare that define involvement as closely related to the intrinsic motivation, possibility to have an affect to your surrounding environment and benevolence. My research task was to find out how early childhood education leaders experience leading involvement. What experiences they had about competence, distributed leadership and challenges that related to the industry? The study was qualitative and was based on phenomenological methodology which reach for the subjective experiences of the individuals. As a data I used the themed focus group interview material that was collected in the Eduleaders project training. Method of analysis was the theory-guided content analysis. In the results competence became a key factor in leading involvement. Leadership competence meant both common leadership skills and the ability to lead early childhood substance. Important were also the professional skills of the working community, teachers and practical nurses and their ability to work autonomously. Leading involvement was also based on functional distributed leadership that called for workable structures as well as the teacher´s competence in leading their teams and distributed pedagogical leadership. Early childhood leaders also saw joint leadership between leader- leader and teacher-teacher as a functional leadership structure in the future that may increase the experiences of deeper involvement. The challenges of leading involvement were the resources related to work as well as the current change in the operational culture, which challenged the definition of job descriptions and the involvement of a multi-professional work community. In the future the leaders hope for more innovative working style, experimentation and autonomy in relation to the mission of the early childhood education

Perspectives on leadership in early childhood education and care centers through community of practice

This article investigates early childhood education and care (ECEC) leadership through the concept of community of practice (COP). The focus is on ECEC leaders’ perceptions regarding their leadership during the educational changes taking place in the context of Finnish ECEC. The purpose is to increase understanding of how leaders see themselves in relation to the ECEC multiprofessional working community and practices of distributed leadership. The data are five focus group interviews of ECEC leaders analyzed with directed content analysis within the theoretical frame of domain, practice, and community forming the core of COP in Lave and Wenger. The results show how all three COP components comprise several dimensions in ECEC leaders’ perceptions of their leadership. For example, the component of the leadership domain consists of ECEC values, ECEC legislation, and ECEC curriculum. The results indicate that a formal leadership role is essential in leading the community and its vision. Moreover, building flexible leadership structures and supporting multiprofessional cooperation in the community augment leadership as a community’s joint enterprisePeer reviewe

Early Childhood Education and Care -future perspectives : Leading involvement in Early Chilhdood Education and Care

Significance of operational culture is a current topic in ECEC where involvement plays a central role. This article examines operational culture through ECEC leadership and working community. Nowadays professional leadership is not a question of a person rather than a shared mission of a community. From leader point of view this requires ability to understand leadership and responsibilities from a larger perspective, capability to lead community involvement and resources that allow quality pedagogic in ECEC center. In this mission everybody's needed; different individuals in the large community and vice versa. Cornerstones of involvement are volition to participate and carry pedagogical responsibility together

Expression of Hyaluronan Synthases (HAS1–3) and Hyaluronidases (HYAL1–2) in Serous Ovarian Carcinomas: Inverse Correlation between HYAL1 and Hyaluronan Content

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hyaluronan, a tumor promoting extracellular matrix polysaccharide, is elevated in malignant epithelial ovarian tumors, and associates with an unfavorable prognosis. To explore possible contributors to the accumulation of hyaluronan, we examined the expression of hyaluronan synthases (<it>HAS1</it>, <it>HAS2 </it>and <it>HAS3</it>) and hyaluronidases (<it>HYAL1 </it>and <it>HYAL2</it>), correlated with hyaluronidase enzyme activity hyaluronan content and HAS1–3 immunoreactivity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Normal ovaries (n = 5) and 34 serous epithelial ovarian tumors, divided into 4 groups: malignant grades 1+2 (n = 10); malignant grade 3 (n = 10); borderline (n = 4) and benign epithelial tumors (n = 10), were analyzed for mRNA by real-time RT-PCR and compared to hyaluronidase activity, hyaluronan staining, and HAS1–3 immunoreactivity in tissue sections of the same specimens.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The levels of <it>HAS2 </it>and <it>HAS3 </it>mRNA (<it>HAS1 </it>was low or absent), were not consistently increased in the carcinomas, and were not significantly correlated with HAS protein or hyaluronan accumulation in individual samples. Instead, the median of <it>HYAL1 </it>mRNA level was 69% lower in grade 3 serous ovarian cancers compared to normal ovaries (P = 0.01). The expression of <it>HYAL1</it>, but not <it>HYAL2</it>, significantly correlated with the enzymatic activity of tissue hyaluronidases (r = 0.5; P = 0.006). An inverse correlation was noted between <it>HYAL1 </it>mRNA and the intensity of hyaluronan staining of the corresponding tissue sections (r = -0.4; P = 0.025).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results indicate that in serous epithelial ovarian malignancies <it>HAS </it>expression is not consistently elevated but <it>HYAL1 </it>expression is significantly reduced and correlates with the accumulation of hyaluronan. (233 words)</p

Kohti kehittyvää johtajuutta : Varhaiskasvatuksen sekä esi- ja perusopetuksen johtajuushankkeen (VEPO 2035) loppuraportti

Varhaiskasvatuksen sekä esi- ja perusopetuksen johtajuuden kehittämishanke (VEPO 2035) toteutettiin Helsingin yliopistossa opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön tilaamana. Tavoitteena oli laatia vuoteen 2035 ulottuva johtajuuden kehittämissuunnitelma sekä rakentaa suunnitelman mukainen koulutuskokonaisuus, jota opettajankoulutusta tuottavat yliopistot voivat hyödyntää kasvatus- ja opetusalan johtajuuskoulutusten kehittämisessä. Lisäksi tarkoituksena oli esittää mahdollisia lainsäädännön muutoksia koskien rehtoreiden ja päiväkodinjohtajien kelpoisuuksia sekä ehdotusten mukainen rahoitusmalli, jonka avulla yliopistojen on mahdollista tarjota kelpoisuusvaatimuksissa mainittua koulutusta. Varhaiskasvatuksen sekä esi- ja perusopetuksen johtajuuden kehittämissuunnitelma pohjautui katsauksiin kotimaisesta ja kansainvälisestä tutkimuskirjallisuudesta, opettajankoulutusta tuottavien yliopistojen olemassa olevista johtajuuskoulutuksista sekä johtajuuskoulutusten kehittämishankkeista. Suunnitelmassa korostui jatkuvuus johtajuustasojen, eri koulutusasteiden ja alueellisen tasa-arvon näkökulmasta. Johtajuuden kehittämisen keskeisimmäksi keinoksi osoittautui johtajuuskoulutusten rakentaminen tutkimusperustaisena yliopistotason koulutuksena valtakunnallisesti yhtenäiseen suuntaan. Koulutuskokonaisuudessa perusopetuksen rehtoreiden ja päiväkodin johtajien kelpoisuus rakentuu yliopistotasoisen kasvatus- ja opetusalan johtajuuden perusopintokokonaisuuden ympärille

Nicotinamide riboside improves muscle mitochondrial biogenesis, satellite cell differentiation, and gut microbiota in a twin study

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) precursor nicotinamide riboside (NR) has emerged as a promising compound to improve obesity-associated mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolic syndrome in mice. However, most short-term clinical trials conducted so far have not reported positive outcomes. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether long-term NR supplementation boosts mitochondrial biogenesis and metabolic health in humans. Twenty body mass index (BMI)- discordant monozygotic twin pairs were supplemented with an escalating dose of NR (250 to 1000 mg/day) for 5 months. NR improved systemic NAD(+) metabolism, muscle mitochondrial number, myoblast differentiation, and gut microbiota composition in both cotwins. NR also showed a capacity to modulate epigenetic control of gene expression in muscle and adipose tissue in both cotwins. However, NR did not ameliorate adiposity or metabolic health. Overall, our results suggest that NR acts as a potent modifier of NAD(+) metabolism, muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and stem cell function, gut microbiota, and DNA methylation in humans irrespective of BMI.Peer reviewe

Common Inflammation-Related Candidate Gene Variants and Acute Kidney Injury in 2647 Critically Ill Finnish Patients

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a syndrome with high incidence among the critically ill. Because the clinical variables and currently used biomarkers have failed to predict the individual susceptibility to AKI, candidate gene variants for the trait have been studied. Studies about genetic predisposition to AKI have been mainly underpowered and of moderate quality. We report the association study of 27 genetic variants in a cohort of Finnish critically ill patients, focusing on the replication of associations detected with variants in genes related to inflammation, cell survival, or circulation. In this prospective, observational Finnish Acute Kidney Injury (FINNAKI) study, 2647 patients without chronic kidney disease were genotyped. We defined AKI according to Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria. We compared severe AKI (Stages 2 and 3, n = 625) to controls (Stage 0, n = 1582). For genotyping we used iPLEX(TM) Assay (Agena Bioscience). We performed the association analyses with PLINK software, using an additive genetic model in logistic regression. Despite the numerous, although contradictory, studies about association between polymorphisms rs1800629 in TNFA and rs1800896 in IL10 and AKI, we found no association (odds ratios 1.06 (95% CI 0.89-1.28, p = 0.51) and 0.92 (95% CI 0.80-1.05, p = 0.20), respectively). Adjusting for confounders did not change the results. To conclude, we could not confirm the associations reported in previous studies in a cohort of critically ill patients.Peer reviewe

Heme oxygenase-1 repeat polymorphism in septic acute kidney injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a syndrome that frequently affects the critically ill. Recently, an increased number of dinucleotide repeats in the HMOX1 gene were reported to associate with development of AKI in cardiac surgery. We aimed to test the replicability of this finding in a Finnish cohort of critically ill septic patients. This multicenter study was part of the national FINNAKI study. We genotyped 300 patients with severe AKI (KDIGO 2 or 3) and 353 controls without AKI (KDIGO 0) for the guanine-thymine (GTn) repeat in the promoter region of the HMOX1 gene. The allele calling was based on the number of repeats, the cut off being 27 repeats in the S-L (short to long) classification, and 27 and 34 repeats for the S-M-L2 (short to medium to very long) classification. The plasma concentrations of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) enzyme were measured on admission. The allele distribution in our patients was similar to that published previously, with peaks at 23 and 30 repeats. The S-allele increases AKI risk. An adjusted OR was 1.30 for each S-allele in an additive genetic model (95% CI 1.01-1.66; p = 0.041). Alleles with a repeat number greater than 34 were significantly associated with lower HO-1 concentration (p<0.001). In septic patients, we report an association between a short repeat in HMOX1 and AKI risk

“I am the pilot, but i need a committed crew” : Researching early childhood education and care leadership by using the actantial model of power

Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is changing globally. We investigated ECEC leadership and leaders’ interpretations of power and its realization between leaders and followers, a little researched topic in the field. Our theoretical framework consists of ECEC contextual knowledge and prior research attached with Michel Foucault’s and Mary Parker Follet’s perceptions of power as positive, relational and discursive microphenomenon. Our essay data (N = 46) was written by ECEC center leaders before participating in educational leaders in-service training. The method of analysis was Greimas’ actantial analysis (1979), which enabled us to build two actantial models of leaders’ perspectives and relation to power. Findings indicate that power is a leader-centered, unstructured and hiding concept needing conscious reframing and integration of positional and non-positional leader roles in the community.peerReviewe