Työhön liittyvät arvot ja kyvykkyystulkinnat nuorten yrittäjyystarinoissa

Yrittäjyyden edistäminen on nykyisen koulutuspoliittisen puheen ja toimenpidelinjausten keskiössä. Yrittäjyyskasvatuksessa yrittäjäminuutta ja siihen liittyvää kyvykkyysideaalia tarjotaan samastumisen malliksi kaikille kansalaisille. Artikkelissa analysoidaan nuorten Yritys Hyvä! -kirjoituskilpailun voittaja-aineita narratiivisen sosiaalipsykologian viitekehyksessä ja tarkastellaan, millaisia minuuteen ja työhön liittyviä merkityksiä ja ideaaleja nuorten yrittäjyystarinat sekä itse kilpailu rakentavat. Aineistoa analysoidaan suhteessa koulun tehtäviin kansalliseen kuuluvuuteen kasvattajana ja yksilöllisten kyvykkyyserojen osoittajana, sekä suhteessa kulttuuriseen yrittäjyysdiskurssiin. Kilpailua pohditaan koulun arvoihin sosiaalistavana työkasvatuksena. Lisäksi kysytään, miten uusliberalistisessa hengessä esitetty ajatus yrittäjäminästä tulee esille kilpailussa, ja miten yrittäjyyden merkitykset toistuvat ja muuttuvat ajassa. Palkituissa tarinoissa yrittäjyys kytkettiin tavallisimmin maltillisuuteen ja vaatimattomuuteen perustuvaan työnteon ideaaliin ja se liitettiin perinteisiin kansalaishyveisiin. Kirjoituskilpailu ylläpiti yhteisöllistä kuuluvuutta ihanteena palkitsemalla tarinoita, joissa ideologiset, suomalaisuuteen, yhteisvastuuseen ja kotiseutuun kytkeytyvät merkitykset toistuivat

Opettajien tulkinnat yrittäjyyskasvatuksen tavoitteista diskursiivisena kamppailuna

In the 2000s there have been major policy efforts for strengthening entrepreneurship education in Finnish education. The article explores the micro-level, discursive reception of entrepreneurship education in schools by analyzing how a group of comprehensive school teachers construct the aims of entrepreneurship education in their interviews. The analysis shows that the teachers negotiate the aims of entrepreneurship education through and in relation to the historically produced discourses of schooling. Within the school context, entrepreneurship education appears as an ideologically dilemmatic phenomenon because new discourses and ideals are made intelligible by considering them within the well-established, value-based discourses of schooling. When the teachers argue for and against the aims of entrepreneurship education they produce normative statements concerning equality, competition, and the abilities of individuals. Thus, they make sense of the aims of entrepreneurship education by reflecting the same contentious issues and questions that have historically been in the core of the school debate.2000-luvulla suomalainen koulutusjärjestelmä on kohdannut voimistuneen vaatimuksen edistää yrittäjyyttä osana muuta kasvatusta ja opetusta. Artikkelissa tarkastellaan yrittäjyyskasvatuksen vastaanottoa koulussa analysoimalla peruskoulun yläkoulun opettajien tulkintoja yrittäjyyskasvatuksen tavoitteista diskursiivisen kamppailun ja uusliberalistisen hallinnan näkökulmista. Analyysin kautta osoitetaan, että opettajat neuvottelevat yrittäjyyskasvatuksen tavoitteista koulukeskustelun historiallisesti muotoutuneessa diskursiivisessa kentässä

Moraalisen uran ja institutionaalisen minän rakentuminen yliopisto-opintojen alkuvaiheessa

Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin ryhmänäkökulmasta toisen vuoden opiskelijoiden kiinnittymistä yliopistoon ja sen yhteisöihin osana toimintatapaa, jolla instituutio kytkee jäsenensä arvoihinsa, normeihinsa ja toimintaansa. Tarkastelussa sovellettiin Erving Goffmanin moraalisen uran, vaiheiden ja asemien sekä institutionaalisen minän käsitteitä. Haastatteluaineiston pohjalta pääteltiin, että uusi opiskelija kohtaa yliopistossa erilaisten asemien seuraannon. Hänen on neuvoteltava moraalista uraansa suhteessa kohtaamiinsa asemiin ja niihin liittyviin hyveisiin. Näissä neuvotteluissa hänelle muodostuu sisäistetty institutionaalinen minuus. Analyysien perusteella hahmoteltiin prototyyppisen moraalisen uran malli. Tuloksia tarkasteltiin muun muassa opintojen alkuvaiheen ohjauksen kehittämisen kannalta, ja pohdittiin moraalisen uran mallin suhdetta nykyisiin ohjauksen ihanteisiin. Lisäksi pohdittiin havainnoissa esille noussutta ”sosiaalisuuden vaatimuksen” merkitystä

Being stable and getting along with others:perceived ability expectations and employability among Finnish university students

The aim of this study was to examine what sort of ability expectations university students have about the requirements of working life, and how the perception of these expectations relate to students’ perceptions of their own employability. The participants comprised a sample of students (N = 1819) from two Finnish universities, representing diverse fields of study. They were asked to describe themselves according to a set of abilities and to then indicate those abilities that would be particularly important for them in the labour market. It was found that being stable and getting along with others were the most commonly considered generic capabilities for coping in working life. Furthermore, those university students who identified entrepreneurial skills and extroversion as predominant ability requirements were prone to have relatively pessimistic perceptions of their employability possibilities. Accordingly, the results of the study suggest that students’ views of their expected abilities tend to shape their perceptions of their employment prospects, particularly with regard to entrepreneurial skills

University students' perceptions of their abilities relate to their entrepreneurial intent

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent Finnish university students endorse entrepreneurial intent and the ways in which they position themselves in relation to entrepreneurship according to their self-perceived abilities or "ability self". Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted by means of an e-survey, and the participants comprised the sample of students (n =1,819) from two Finnish universities, representing diverse fields of study. Findings It was found that a great majority of the students showed a relatively low intent to become an entrepreneur. The perception of abilities, such as innovativeness and ambitiousness-competitiveness, was positively related with entrepreneurial intent, whereas the perception of academic abilities and "conventional" employee skills indicated inverse associations. Social implications - The findings suggest that in terms of self-perceived abilities, entrepreneurship in an academic context is perceived as a rather restricted category to which only a few specific individuals have access. Accordingly, there is a certain tension between the tenets of entrepreneurship and corresponding abilities, and the ethos of universities and related high-valued abilities such as theoreticality and criticality. Originality/value Although employability and entrepreneur intent have been widely studied, little is known about students' identification with entrepreneurship according to their ability perceptions. The present study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on university students' "internal employability" that involves students' self-assurance and views of work-related relevance with regard to supposed abilities

Perceived employability and ability self among Finnish university students

Employability is an increasing concern for university students. Our survey set out to examine university students' perceptions of their employability and the ways in which these perceptions relate to positions that subsequently connect students to working life: students' self-representational position or "ability self", and students' life-historical positions such as chosen field of study, phase of degree and working life experience. The participants comprised a sample of students (N = 1819) from two Finnish universities, representing diverse fields of study. It was found that apart from the field of study, the perceived proximity to graduation and working life was associated with the perception of employability. Furthermore, a set of self-attributed capabilities was associated with students' perceptions of employability, particularly extroversion, ambitious competitiveness, mental strength and the desired characteristics of a good employee; however, the attribution of academic skills showed opposing effects. It was concluded that both self-representational and live-historical positions are part of the construction of students' optimism regarding their employability

Bone as a Possible Target of Chemical Toxicity of Natural Uranium in Drinking Water

Uranium accumulates in bone, affects bone metabolism in laboratory animals, and when ingested in drinking water increases urinary excretion of calcium and phosphate, important components in the bone structure. However, little is known about bone effects of ingested natural uranium in humans. We studied 146 men and 142 women 26–83 years of age who for an average of 13 years had used drinking water originating from wells drilled in bedrock, in areas with naturally high uranium content. Biochemical indicators of bone formation were serum osteocalcin and amino-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen, and a marker for bone resorption was serum type I collagen carboxy-terminal telopeptide (CTx). The primary measure of uranium exposure was uranium concentration in drinking water, with additional information on uranium intake and uranium concentration in urine. The data were analyzed separately for men and women with robust regression (which suppresses contributions of potential influential observations) models with adjustment for age, smoking, and estrogen use. The median uranium concentration in drinking water was 27 μg/L (interquartile range, 6–116 μg/L). The median of daily uranium intake was 36 μg (7–207 μg) and of cumulative intake 0.12 g (0.02–0.66 g). There was some suggestion that elevation of CTx (p = 0.05) as well as osteocalcin (p = 0.19) could be associated with increased uranium exposure (uranium in water and intakes) in men, but no similar relationship was found in women. Accordingly, bone may be a target of chemical toxicity of uranium in humans, and more detailed evaluation of bone effects of natural uranium is warranted