Perceptions of physical education in early childhood teacher education courses

The engagement in movement skills in early childhood education care is a key component of promoting a healthy lifestyle. However, the literature shows that early childhood teachers' insufficient training and lack of policies to support physical education (PE) negatively impact children's education on movement activities in their early years (Sharma et al., 2014). The aim of this case study was to describe teacher educators’ (TE) perceptions from three different countries regarding the purpose of PE in early childhood teacher education (ECTE) program. One TE from each of Brazil, Finland, and the USA was invited were the participants of this study. Data were collected through interviews and PE course syllabi. Data extracted from the interviews were analyzed inductively via an individual case and cross-case (Patton, 2001). The results showed TEs' similarities in providing preservice teachers with a better understanding of the importance of movement skills and clarifying misconceptions inherited from their past experiences. Challenges found in some ECTE contexts involved: (a) allocation of time in the ECTE curriculum is not always consistent with other academic disciplines, (b) PE courses in ECTE do not always include practicum activities, and (c) PE in ECTE sometimes is not seen as an academic subject

Physical education in Finnish early childhood teacher education–curricula and pre-service teachers’ perceptions

Physical education (PE) course curricula in Finnish universities were reviewed and compared, and 274 preservice teachers' perceptions of their PE studies in Finnish early childhood teacher education (ECTE) programmes were investigated using quantitative and qualitative methods. The results of the inductive content analysis revealed both knowledge- and skill-based learning outcomes, with teaching skills receiving the most emphasis. One-way ANOVAs revealed that the preservice teachers were relatively satisfied with their PE studies. They reported being prepared for teaching PE and provided detailed information on the policies regulating early childhood education and care (ECEC). However, they perceived their training with children as insufficient and felt they would have benefited from further training in inclusive PE. Preservice teachers reported inculcating joy of movement as the most important aim of PE teaching in ECEC. These findings suggest that future PE course curricula should place greater emphasis on teaching joy of movement, provide more knowledge on inclusive PE, and include more practical training with children. It is recommended that PE studies in Finnish ECTE should continue to account for at least five ECTS

Liikuntakasvatuksen merkitys varhaiskasvatusta ohjaavissa opetussuunnitelmissa

In the research, it was examined how the legally binding curricula, The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care (OPH, 2022), and The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Pre-Primary Education (OPH, 2016), deal with the goals required by the Early Childhood Education Act (580/2018) and defined by physical education. The data analysis was based on curriculum theory and the content analysis and interpretation of the meaning connections with the keywords. It was mapped how often, in which context and with what meanings the terms associated with a child's physical well-being in previous studies (digital, physical activity, physical inactivity, sitting, body, coordination, movement, exercise, physical education, nature, media, motor skills, sedentary behaviour, passivity, outdoor play, sports) appeared in the curricula. The study also determined how the curricula corresponded to the goals of physical education, educating children to move, and educating children through movement. The keywords most regularly mentioned in the curricula were: movement (39 times), exercise (28 times), and media (21 times). According to the content analysis, the meaning connections of the keywords could be categorized into four categories: health and well-being, development, learning and cooperation. In addition, The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care also identified the meaningful connections between play and culture. Both curricula corresponded to the main goals of physical education. Research knowledge of the study can be used to develop curricula guiding early childhood education and care in supporting children's early formation of a physically active lifestyle.Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan, miten varhaiskasvatusta oikeudellisesti velvoittavissa Varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteissa (Opetushallitus [OPH], 2022) ja Esiopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteissa (OPH, 2016) käsitellään Varhaiskasvatuslain (580/2018) edellyttämiä ja liikuntakasvatuksen määrittelemiä tavoitteita. Aineiston analyysi perustui opetussuunnitelmateoriaan ja asiasanojen merkitysyhteyksien sisällönanalyysiin ja tulkintaan. Tutkimuksessa kartoitettiin, kuinka usein, missä kontekstissa ja minkälaisissa merkityksissä lapsen fyysiseen hyvinvointiin liitetyt termit (digitaalinen, fyysinen aktiivisuus, fyysinen inaktiivisuus, istuminen, keho, koordinaatio, liikkuminen, liikunta, liikuntakasvatus, luonto, media, motoriikka, paikallaanolo, passiivisuus, ulkoilu, urheilu) esiintyivät opetussuunnitelmissa. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa selvitettiin, kuinka opetussuunnitelmat vastasivat liikuntakasvatuksen tavoitteisiin, kasvattaa liikuntaan ja kasvattaa liikunnan avulla. Useimmin opetussuunnitelmissa mainittiin asiasanat: liikkuminen (39 krt), liikunta (28 krt), ja media (21 krt). Sisällönanalyysin mukaan asiasanojen merkitysyhteydet voitiin kategorisoida neljään luokkaan: terveys ja hyvinvointi, kehitys, oppiminen ja yhteistyö. Lisäksi Varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteissa tunnistettiin leikin ja kulttuurin merkitysyhteydet. Tutkimus osoittaa, että molemmat opetussuunnitelmat vastasivat liikuntakasvatuksen keskeisiin tavoitteisiin. Tutkimustietoa voidaan hyödyntää varhaiskasvatusta ohjaavien opetussuunnitelmien kehittämiseen lasten fyysisesti aktiivisen elämäntavan varhaisen muodostumisen tukemisessa ja ohjaamisessa

The effectiveness of the HIPPA intervention in the sociocultural environment of ECEC physical activity

Studies have shown that, on average, children’s physical activity (PA) levels in early childhood education and care (ECEC) environments are low, thus opening up the possibility of interventions. We examined the effect of the teacher-implemented one-year long ‘home-and-childcare-based intervention to promote physical activity’ (HIPPA) study on children’s PA in ECEC settings in Finland. Participating four-year-old children (N = 128) were cluster-randomised into two groups, intervention (seven childcare centres) and control (seven childcare centres), in autumn 2011. The children were observed directly during their ECEC times. Multilevel linear analysis was used to test the PA differences between the intervention conditions. Post-intervention results showed that the HIPPA intervention increased the children’s PA. To enhance the real-life effectiveness of the present multicomponent intervention, we examined methods based on the intervention’s success and found areas of development for future studies. Overall, promoting active play by ECEC personnel offers an effective way to enhance children’s PA. Furthermore, to ensure the sustainability of the intervention effects, specific changes in practice have been identified that should be transferred into the policies intended for ECEC settings

Cost-effectiveness of First-line Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Treatments When Full-dose Fludarabine Is Unsuitable

Purpose: The cost-effectiveness of first-line chronic lymphocytic leukemia treatments was assessed among patients unsuitable for full doses of fludarabine. Methods: The study's key outcome was the life-time incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) (euro/quality-adjusted life-year [QALY] gained) with an annual 3% discounting. A probabilistic Markov model with 3 health states (progression-free, progression, and death) was developed. Survival time was modeled based on age-matched clinical data by using appropriate survival distributions. Each health state was assigned an EuroQoL-5D-3L quality-of-life estimate and Finnish payer costs according to treatment received, and Binet stage of disease; severe adverse events and treatment inconvenience were also included. Six approaches considered the risk and value of key outcomes: cost-effectiveness efficiency frontiers; Bayesian treatment ranking (BTR) rated the lowest ICERs and best QALY gains; the cost-effectiveness acceptability frontier demonstrated optimal treatment; expected value of perfect information; and the cost-benefit assessment (CBA), a type of clinical value analysis, increased the clinical interpretation and appeal of modeled outcomes by including both relative and absolute (impact investment [benefit obtained with a fixed limited budget]) benefit assessments. Findings: The ICERs compared with chlorambucil varied from (sic)29,334 with obinutuzumab + chlorambucil to (sic)82,159 with ofatumumab + chlorambucil. Based on the BTR of ICERs versus chlorambucil, obinutuzumab + chlorambucil was the most cost-effective with 93% probability; rituximab + chlorambucil was the second most cost-effective (73%); and rituximab + bendamustine was the third most cost-effective (65%). The ICERs of obinutuzumab + chlorambucil were (sic)20,038, (sic)11,556, and (sic)15,586 compared with rituximab + chlorambucil, rituximab + bendamustine, and ofatumumab + chlorambucil. Obinutuzumab + chlorambucil was the most cost-effective treatment, with 54% and 99% probability at (sic)30,000 and (sic)50,000/ QALY gained, respectively. The corresponding expected values of perfect information were (sic)1438 and (sic)44 per patient. Based on the BTR of QALYs gained, obinutuzumab + chlorambucil was the most effective, with 100% probability; rituximab + chlorambucil was the second most effective (56%); and rituximab + bendamustine was the third most effective treatment (81%). Results were robust in sensitivity analyses. For obinutuzumab + chlorambucil, the CBA demonstrated the best clinical value to cost-effectiveness relation and the longest time progression-free with a limited budget. Implications: The mean results were sensitive to large changes in time horizon, indirect comparison hazard ratios, survival distributions, and discounting; however, obinutuzumab + chlorambucil provided considerable effectiveness and best value for money among chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients unsuitable to receive full doses of fludarabine. In this case, CBA concurred with the key outcome of the study. However, the CBA cannot fully substitute the key outcome, and further cost-effectiveness studies with different cancer types are needed to assess the validity of a limited CBA. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier HS Journals, Inc.Peer reviewe

Finnish Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Perceived Competence in Early Childhood Physical Education

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers have a central role in supporting young children’s physical activity (PA) and overall development in the early years. However, the value of early childhood education teacher training (ECETT) programmes is not widely understood. This study aimed to investigate pre-service teachers’ perceptions of perceived competence when (1) supporting a child’s PA, (2) teaching PE, and (3) observing and assessing a child’s motor skills and PA. These self-evaluations were compared with a range of individual, educational, and behavioural characteristics. Final-year Bachelor degree pre-service teachers (n = 274; 54%) from seven universities in Finland participated in the self-report questionnaire. The results of the linear regression models showed that the relevant PE studies and previous experiences of pre-service teachers predicted higher perceived competence of supporting a child’s PA, teaching PE, and observing and assessing a child’s motor skills and PA. Thus, the study findings demonstrated how teacher training could positively influence perceptions and attitudes to increase a person’s perceived competence when implementing PE in the early years. Overall, results reinforce the importance of PE in ECETT, and the time devoted to this syllabus area should be maintained or increased

A comparative analysis of the requirements for the use of data in biobanks based in Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom

To understand the causes of disease and improve diagnosis and treatment regimes, biomedical researchers need access to large numbers of well-characterized data and samples. Over the past decade, biobanks have been established across Europe to collect and manage access to data and samples. The challenge that we face is how to develop the tools and collaborations to enable researchers to access samples and data from a network of biobanks, rather than applying to individual biobanks. One of the perceived stumbling blocks to achieving this is represented by the different legal requirements in each country. The aim of the BioSHaRE-European Union (EU) project is to address these challenges by developing tools and methods for researchers to access and use pooled data from different cohort and biobank studies. The purpose of this article is to identify and compare the key legal requirements regarding research use of data across biobanks based in Finland Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK. Our investigation starts with the analysis of the key differences for the use of data between these countries. As a result, we identified three key areas where legal requirements differ across the five BioSHaRE-EU jurisdictions, namely, in the definition of personal data, the requirements regarding pseudonymization and processing for medical research purposes. This article provides an overview of these differences and describes them in the light of the proposed EU regulation on data protection. © The Author(s) 2014

3-4 -vuotiaiden lasten fyysinen aktiivisuus päiväkodissa eri vuodenaikoina sekä varhaiskasvattajan kannustuksen yhteys lasten fyysiseen aktiivisuuteen

The aim of this study was to determine whether season has an influence on the physical activity intensity of 3-4-year-old pre-school children. A further aim was to investigate the influence of prompting from teachers on the intensity of childrens’ physical activity. Volunteer children born in 2007 comprised the research group. The research data were collected from 14 day care centers during January & February (N 94) and August & September (N 118) 2011 by using the OSRAC-P direct observational method. The level of intensity of the childrens’ physical activity was mainly sedentary (60 %). The occurrence of moderate to vigorous physical activity was 10 %. Season had a significant effect on physical activity: children were notably more active in August & September than in January & February. Teachers very rarely prompted children to increase their physical activity but when they did, the childrens’ activity level was notably higher than in situations where there was no prompting at all. In the prompting situation, physical activity was notably higher in August & September than in January & February. In the future, it would be important to consider how day-care-centers could better benefit from seasonal changes so as to encourage children to increase their physical activity through the year.Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää 3-4-vuotiaiden lasten fyysisen aktiivisuuden intensiteetin eroja päiväkodissa eri vuodenaikoina sekä varhaiskasvattajan kannustuksen yhteyttä lasten fyysiseen aktiivisuuteen. Tutkimusjoukko muodostui päiväkotien vuonna 2007 syntyneistä vapaaehtoisista lapsista. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin havainnoimalla OSRAC-P -havainnointimenetelmän avulla 14 päiväkodissa tammi-helmikuussa (N 94) sekä elo-syyskuussa (N 118) vuonna 2011. Lasten fyysinen aktiivisuus oli pääosan ajasta (noin 60 %) intensiteetiltään erittäin kevyttä. Intensiteetiltään vähintään keskiraskaan fyysisen aktiivisuuden esiintyvyys oli noin 10 %. Vuodenajalla oli erittäin merkitsevä yhteys lasten fyysisen aktiivisuuden intensiteettiin, sillä lapset olivat huomattavasti aktiivisempia elo-syyskuussa kuin tammi-helmikuussa. Varhaiskasvattajat kannustivat lapsia vain harvoin fyysiseen aktiivisuuteen, vaikka lasten aktiivisuus oli merkitsevästi suurempaa kannustettaessa. Varhaiskasvattajan kannustusta sisältäneissä tilanteissa lasten fyysinen aktiivisuus oli merkitsevästi suurempaa elo-syyskuussa kuin tammi-helmikuussa. Jatkossa tulisikin kiinnittää huomiota siihen, miten päiväkodeissa voitaisiin hyödyntää eri vuodenajat paremmin ja mahdollistaa lapsille fyysiseen aktiivisuuteen kannustavat olosuhteet ympäri vuode

Sex vägar till hållbarhet: utgångspunkter för främjande av en systematisk omställning till hållbarhet i Finland

Den globala rapporten om hållbar utveckling visar att vi gör framsteg i fråga om de globala målen för hållbar utveckling enligt Agenda 2030, men att det går alldeles för långsamt. Ojämlikheten ökar, klimatförändringarna förvärras, den biologiska mångfalden minskar och avfallsmängderna fortsätter att öka. Bakom dessa fenomen finns många faktorer som påverkar varandra. Men det går att vända riktningen, förutsatt att de ömsesidiga beroendeförhållandena identifieras och en övergripande förändring i en hållbar riktning åstadkoms.202

Six paths towards sustainability: a toolkit to promote a systemic transformation towards sustainable development in Finland

The Global Sustainable Development Report shows that we are heading towards the sustainable development goals of Agenda 2030, but much too slowly. Inequality is increasing, climate change is advancing, biodiversity is decreasing, and waste volumes are growing. These phenomena are affected by several interconnected factors. However, we can change course if we identify the interlinkages between the aforementioned problems and steer our societies comprehensively in a more sustainable direction.202