Purposeful and Ethical Early Childhood Teacher: The Underlying Values Guiding Finnish Early Childhood Education

Purpose: The new Finnish National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care (2018) strongly highlights pedagogical knowledge and practice, demanding teachers to develop their pedagogical thinking, evaluation, judgment, and operating culture. Since ethics is viewed as vital characteristics of the teaching profession, our objective is to make these complex ethical issues more visible to be subject to democratic discussion and change.Design/Approach/Methods: The framework comprises a broad theory base of codes of ethics and professional codes of ethics of teaching. The research materials were national curricula of early childhood education and care (ECEC)- and preprimary education. The eight-step qualitative analysis process was applied to identify and shed light on the codes of ethics laying the foundations for purposeful and ethical early childhood education (ECE) teacher.Findings: The results indicate that through both theoretical lenses, the Finnish ECEC curricula comprise several ethical codes. For the future purposeful ECE teachers as ethical professionals, the results raise questions for further discussion. Particularly, issues related to the ethics of care, intellectual freedom, inquiry stance, and professional competence, and diversity may further enhance our ECEC curricula.Originality/Value: During recent decades, the ethics concerning ECEC have gained increasing global attention. Particularly, there is a large international consensus considering ECEC as a prominent policy equalizing opportunities.</p

Now it’s Your Turn. Preschool Children’s Social and Emotional Interaction in Small Groups

There is concern over social and emotional skill development in early childhood settings. The aim of this systematic observational study was to examine children’s prosocial and problem behaviors in small group settings. Especially, we studied how gender and closeness of friendships influence on children’s group level behavior. Altogether, nine video recordings were coded to observe peer interactions among children during tablet game sessions, where all 15 participants, aged 5 and 6 years, were allocated into four-member groups. The recordings were coded with a modified version of the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scale. Social network analysis was employed to analyze the density and centrality of the interactions. Our results showed a wide variety of frequencies in different behaviors. In all, prosocial behavior was four times more typical than problem behavior, and there were more initiating than responding behaviors. Unlike prosocial behaviors, which were often verbal, most problem behaviors were nonverbal. The children interacted more actively with their best friends, and boys contributed more to both prosocial and problem behaviors than girls. A practical and concise peer interaction observation tool (PIOT) was developed for this study that can be used to follow children’s social and emotional skills in peer interactions

Pre-service early childhood teachers’ perceptions of their playfulness and inquisitiveness

Recognizing one’s own playfulness is important for early childhood education (ECE) teachers, who are responsible for organizing and implementing child-initiated pedagogy in ECE centers. Playfulness research has focused on children’s play and playfulness in workplaces, but playfulness as a part of ECE teachers’ pedagogical and adaptive expertise is rarely studied. Using multiple playfulness and innovativeness instruments, first- and third-year pre-service ECE teachers’ (n = 208) self-reported playfulness and inquisitiveness was examined. Correlation coefficients and Student t-tests were performed to examine the connections between playfulness, the facets of playfulness, and inquisitiveness, also between the first- and third-year pre-service ECE teachers. The results of the study show that playfulness, the facets of playfulness and inquisitiveness are connected. The results also show that although there were no statistically significant differences among the first- and third-year pre-service ECE teachers’ playfulness and inquisitiveness, they had different orientations towards playfulness. Additional research is needed to explore how in-service teachers and pre-service teachers can learn playfulness and inquisitiveness as a part of their pedagogical expertise. The results are implementable for designing, developing and evaluating ECE teacher education

Metacognition in group problem solving—a quest for socially shared metacognition

Abstract The aim of this study was to explore metacognition, specifically socially shared metacognition within computer-supported collaborative problem solving. Another aim of this study was to find methodological solutions for uncovering how metacognition becomes visible and shared in group problem solving in a text-based and asynchronous learning environment. During this dissertation study, two empirical experiments were performed. Participants in the first experiment were secondary school students (N=16) who worked with the Knowledge Forum (KF) learning environment. In the second experiment, triads of pre-service teachers’ (N=18) problem solving was supported by the Workmates (WM) learning environment. The data of this study consist of discussion forum data, self-report questionnaires, and individual’s feeling of difficulty graphs. In the data analysis, quantitative and qualitative research methods, along with individual and group level analyses, were combined to provide a deeper understanding of the phenomena being studied. A qualitative content analysis of the computer notes at the cognitive, metacognitive and social level were first analysed at the individual level, which made visible individual thinking and characterized the nature of the online discussions. In the interpretation phase, the categorizations were interpreted as group level processes in order to examine the contextual development of collaborative problem solving. To accomplish this, a process-oriented graph of group problem solving was developed. Further, to understand how socially shared metacognition in group problem solving can be related to individual metacognition, especially metacognitive experiences, group members’ individual feelings of difficulty were combined with the results of the discussion forum data. The results of this study show that the process of socially shared metacognition is a differentiator in the success of a group’s mathematical problem solving. Socially shared metacognition requires that group members participate in joint problem solving intentionally and reciprocally, acknowledge each other’s thinking and develop their ideas further. In other words, the process of socially shared metacognition has intention to steering the discussion rather than exchanging ideas about possible ways to solve the tasks. Further, the results of this study suggest that if the process of socially shared metacognition emerges, then the most of students will be able to reduce their feelings of difficulty. The results of this study suggest that socially shared metacognition is a complex and extra-ordinary group-level phenomenon. Socially shared metacognition could become more visible if participants focus on analysing the task and verifying the process as well as the outcome of the problem solving instead of exploring and implementing various unelaborated solution efforts. While socially shared metacognition fosters success in group problem solving, it also helps individual’s thinking grow as a part of the group.Tiivistelmä Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitetään metakognition, erityisesti sosiaalisesti jaetun metakognition, ilmenemistä tietokoneavusteisessa yhteisöllisessä matematiikan ongelmanratkaisussa. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on myös kehittää aineiston analysointimenetelmiä metakognition ja erityisesti sosiaalisesti jaetun metakognition tutkimiseksi. Tutkimus koostuu kahdesta empiirisestä osatutkimuksesta. Ensimmäisessä tutkimuksessa koehenkilöinä olivat erään perusasteen yläkoulun seitsemännen luokan suomalaiset oppilaat. Toisessa tutkimuksessa koehenkilöinä toimivat ensimmäisen vuosikurssin suomalaiset luokanopettajaopiskelijat. Molemmissa tutkimuksissa yhteisöllisen ongelmanratkaisuprosessin tukena käytettiin tekstipohjaiseen, eriaikaiseen vuorovaikutukseen perustuvia oppimisympäristöjä: Knowledge Forumia ja Työporukkaa (engl. WorkMates, WM). Tutkimusaineisto koostuu verkkokeskustelukommenteista, kyselylomakkeista sekä ongelmanratkaisutehtävän jälkeen piirretyistä graafeista, jotka ilmentävät tehtävän aikana koettua vaikeuden tunnetta. Ongelmanratkaisuprosessia kuvaavassa analyysissa yhdistetään sekä kvalitatiivisia että kvantitatiivisia menetelmiä sosiaalisesti jaetun metakognition tutkimiseksi. Verkkokeskusteluaineistoa analysoidaan yksilötasolla kvalitatiivisen sisällönanalyysin periaatteiden mukaisesti. Osallistujien tallentamat verkkokeskustelukommentit on luokiteltu kognitiivisiksi, metakognitiivisiksi tai sosiaalisiksi viesteiksi. Viestien sisällön tulkinta perustuu ainoastaan kirjoitettuun tekstiin eikä osallistujien ajatteluun viestien taustalla. Verkkokeskusteluaineistoa tulkitaan ryhmätasolla erilaisten visualisointimenetelmien, kuten sosiaalisen verkostoanalyysin ja ryhmän ongelmanratkaisua kuvaavan graafin, avulla. Sosiaalisesti jaetun metakognition yhteyttä yksilön metakognitioon, erityisesti tehtävään liittyvään vaikeuden tunteeseen, tutkitaan ryhmän ongelmanratkaisua kuvaavien graafien, verkkokeskustelukommenttien ja ongelmanratkaisutehtävän jälkeen piirrettyjen tehtävän aikana koettua vaikeutta kuvaavien graafien avulla. Sosiaalisesti jaettua metakognitiota ei ilmene yleisesti ryhmän ongelmanratkaisussa. Tähän vaikuttaa muun muassa se, ettei ryhmissä kiinnitetä huomiota tehtävänantoon ja saadun ratkaisun oikeellisuuteen, vaan pääpaino ongelmanratkaisussa on ratkaisumenetelmien etsimisessä ja esitettyjen ehdotusten toteuttamisessa. Tämän tutkimuksen tulokset kuitenkin osoittavat, että sosiaalisesti jaettu metakognitio on ilmiönä monitahoinen. Tulosten perusteella sosiaalisesti jaettu metakognitio on myös tärkeä tekijä ryhmän ongelmanratkaisussa. Onnistuneessa ongelmanratkaisussa ryhmän jäsenet sitoutuvat yhteiseen prosessiin ja toimivat vastavuoroisesti perustellen esittämänsä ajatukset sekä huomioiden ratkaisun kannalta tärkeät kysymykset ja ratkaisuehdotukset. Tällöin on mahdollista, että sosiaalisesti jaettu metakognitio vähentää useimpien ryhmän jäsenten kokemaa vaikeuden tunnetta. Sosiaalisesti jaetulla metakognitiolla näyttää olevan tärkeä tehtävä paitsi ryhmän myös yksilön ajattelussa

When “doing” matters: The emergence of group–level regulation in planning for a music lesson

The processes of individual and group-level regulation are important mechanisms of all collaborative learning, and we argue that recognising group-level regulatory processes would aid music educators when they guide students in collaborative settings. In music education, there is extensive research on group music-making, whereas the interest towards regulatory processes at group level is just emerging. At the same time educational psychology research has focused on regulation of collaborative learning processes in other domains. This study aims to combine both perspectives by examining the characteristics of self-, co- and socially shared regulation in a collaborative task of planning and preparing a music lesson, relating work on domain-specific learning processes to literature from educational psychology. The regulatory processes of three groups consisting of one music educator and two pre-service teachers were examined through qualitative video analysis. Examples of participants' verbal interaction and musical activities during episodes depicting group-level regulation are presented. The examples guide the rationalisation that non-verbal musical interaction could validate socially shared regulation, and ways to distinguish co- from socially shared regulation in collaborative music-making are discussed

Together with my playmates: Preschoolers' peer relationships and interactions in small group settings

Researchers and professionals in the early childhood education context have expressed concern over children's social and emotional behaviours and peer relationships. The current study aimed to investigate how children's interactions in small groups are associated with their peer relationships. Another aim was to learn how children's peer interactions vary at the individual level. The study's participants were 16 five-to-six-year-old full-time kindergarteners. Social network analysis was conducted, based on sociometric nominations, to test the degree centrality of all 16 children's peer acceptance, preference and likability. Video-recorded interactions among all participants were analysed to calculate the children's frequency of prosocial and problem behaviours. Four children's interactions were analysed in more detail. Our results showed a positive correlation between children's peer preferences and their problem behaviours. Furthermore, we observed a positive correlation between children's mutual ties and their prosocial and problem behaviours. We found no linear developmental trend from individual-level interactions. Our results indicate that situational environments relate to children's peer relationships and interaction dynamics. Kindergarten teachers can use this study's results to consider various activities that would encourage children's active interactions with various peers from children's standpoints, rather than adults' perspective.</p