Unmentioned Challenges of FinnishTeacher Education: Decontextualisation, Scientification and the Rhetoric of the Research-Based Agenda

Finnish teacher education has emphasised that academic standards and a research-based agenda are followed in the everyday activities of training teachers. Finnish teacher education has been recognised as a prime example of how to carry out teacher training. In our chapter, we reach beyond the myths and hype about Finnish teacher education with three interconnected concepts: decontextualisation, scientification and rhetoric. With these concepts, we expose unwanted side effects that have followed from pursuing academic standards. We also illustrate the swift transformation of Finnish teacher education.Peer reviewe

Mitä on merkityksellinen kasvatustieteellinen tieto ja miten sitä voisi rakentaa opettajankoulutuksessa?

Tarkastelemme artikkelissamme, mitä on merkityksellinen kasvatustieteellinen tieto ja miten sitä voisi rakentaa opettajankoulutuksessa. Tutkimuksemme metodi on käsitteellinen analyysi. Tarkastelemme Basil Bernsteinin (2000) esittämiä tiedon muotoja ja diskursseja koskevia teoreettisia näkökulmia, joiden avulla analysoimme kasvatustieteellisen tiedon rakentuneisuutta ja sosiaalista järjestäytymistä. Paikallistamme suomalaisen opettajankoulutuksen integroivaan traditioon, jolle olennaista on pyrkiä yhdistämään kasvatuksen teoreettinen ja käytännöllinen tarkastelu. Analysoimme niitä seikkoja, jotka edistävät tai estävät merkityksellisen tiedon (powerful knowledge) syntymistä suomalaisen opettajankoulutuksen kontekstissa. Päädymme esittämään, että opettajankoulutuksessa tuleville opettajille rakennettaisiin sellaista merkityksellistä tietoa (powerful knowledge), joka ei pelkästään auta ymmärtämään kasvatuksen monimuotoisuutta, mutta jonka avulla paljastuu myös kasvatuksellisten intressien ja ilmiöiden mahdollinen ristiriitaisuus, ideologisuus ja kontekstuaalisuus. Argumentoimme, että pelkkä kokemuspohjainen kasvatusta koskeva arkitieto ei riitä merkityksellisen kasvatustieteellisen tiedon edellytykseksi. Myös kasvatustieteellisen tiedon rakentumisen ehtoja ja erilaisia lähestymistapoja on syytä esitellä opettajankoulutuksessa

Vaikeita ja kiistanalaisia aiheita pohtimassa

Non peer reviewe

“Those who agree to play on our terms will be taken in” : a qualitative study on the perceptions of public authorities and NGO representatives regarding self-organizing fourth-sector activity

Interest is growing in the role of spontaneous volunteers and emergent citizens groups in safety and security functions. This study connects those actors to the broad concept of the self-organizing fourth sector and analyzes the opinions of more than 200 Finnish representatives of public- and the third-sector organizations gathered through interviews and small group discussion on the tensions related to fourth-sector activity. The study reveals a strong desire to control the fourth sector, a desire that dominates any associated desire to enable it. The tension between enabling and controlling can be tamed by moving the fourth-sector actors under the control of the third sector. However, the role of the fourth sector is then reduced to being merely an extra pair of hands, and its self-organizing and emergent nature is subsumed. The debate over the paradox of spontaneous volunteering needs to be resolved before the fourth sector becomes a normal and acknowledged part of the security and safety functions.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

CNS Medications as Predictors of Precipitous Cognitive Decline in the Cognitively Disabled Aged: A Longitudinal Population-Based Study

Background/Aims: Psychotropics and antiepileptics (AE) are medications commonly used among the aged with cognitive decline or dementia, although they may precipitate further cognitive decline. Our aim was to analyze the relationships between the use of (i) psychotropics (i.e. benzodiazepines or related drugs, BZD, antipsychotics, AP, or antidepressants, AD), opioids (Op), anticholinergics (ACh) or AEs or the concomitant use of two of these drugs, and (ii) the risk of precipitous cognitive decline in an older (≧65 years) cognitively disabled population. Methods: A longitudinal population-based study of general aged community-dwelling patients was executed in two phases (1990–1991 and 1998–1999) in Lieto, Finland. Fifty-two individuals cognitively disabled (MMSE score 0–23) at the 1990–1991 baseline form this study’s sample. Cognitive abilities were assessed in each phase with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and medication utilization data were collected in both phases. The mean follow-up time was 7.6 years. Multivariate models were used to analyze the change in MMSE total score between medication users and non-users. Results: BZD or any psychotropic use was associated with greater cognitive decline in elders aged ≧75 years compared to non-users (change in MMSE sum score: –8.6 ± 7.0 vs. –3.3 ± 5.6 and –5.9 ± 7.0 vs. –2.7 ± 6.4, respectively). A greater decline was also associated specifically with the concomitant use of BZD and AP (–16 vs. –1.4 ± 7.8); as were BZD and any drug with CNS effects (–9.6 ± 9.9 vs. –1.3 ± 7.2) compared to non-users. The concomitant use of BZD and AD (–10.7 ± 4.7 vs. –3.2 ± 5.6) or ACh (–15.0 ± 8.5 vs. –3.3 ± 5.6) or any drug with CNS effects (–13.3 ± 6.5 vs. –3.3 ± 5.6) was associated with cognitive decline in patients ≧75 years compared to non-users of any drug with CNS effects. Conclusion: The use of a BZD or any psychotropic medication may be an independent risk factor for cognitive decline in the cognitively disabled aged, and patients co-prescribed psychotropic medications had greater cognitive decline. Studies with larger sample sizes and studies on possible pathophysiologic mechanisms are needed