Conference Presentations by Jonna Kangas (nee. Leinonen)
Book Reviews by Jonna Kangas (nee. Leinonen)
Even if Early Childhood Education has been a subject of scientific research for few decades (in F... more Even if Early Childhood Education has been a subject of scientific research for few decades (in Finland only from year 1995 when early childhood teacher education was adopted to University Level) there exists still a wide doubt of the scientific quality of studies in Early Childhood Education field. The influence of psychological perspective has been strong in the field of early childhood and psychologist have been fond of scientific (quantitative) measurement states N. Yelland , the editor of the series. Early childhood education research has been adopted views and research traditions also from other disciplines (such as sociology, cultural studies and educational philosophy). The complex nature of childhood (and our lives) and the diversity of being a human in postmodern era is reflected in a new tradition of Early Childhood Education studies together with the voice of participant and many-sided description of everyday life in classrooms. These three aspects, according to Yelland, are the reason why qualitative research with wide range of theoretical perspectives and different methodological orientation are needed in the field of Early Childhood Education Research.
Papers by Jonna Kangas (nee. Leinonen)
Springer International Publishing eBooks, 2022
Helsingin yliopisto, opettajankoulutuslaitos, 2020
Prehodi v različnih socialnih in izobraževalnih okoljih
Kasvatus & Aika
Varhaiskasvatusta on viime vuosina kehitetty voimakkaasti ja sen laatu on noussut tarkastelun kes... more Varhaiskasvatusta on viime vuosina kehitetty voimakkaasti ja sen laatu on noussut tarkastelun keskiöön. Laatuun on pyritty vaikuttamaan laajoilla uudistuksilla varhaiskasvatuksen lainsäädännössä. Uudistukset kohdistuvat erityisesti varhaiskasvatuksen sisältöihin sekä henkilöstörakenteen muutokseen. Haasteina varhaiskasvatuksessa on opettajapula ja työn kuormittavuus. Opettajien kokeman työn kuormittavuuden taustalla on alan heikko arvostus sekä palkkaukseen, työhyvinvointiin ja -olosuhteisiin liittyvät ongelmat. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, millaisia haasteita opettajat kohtaavat varhaiskasvatustyössä ja millaisia kehittämisehdotuksia opettajat työlleen esittävät. Tutkimus toteutettiin kyselytutkimuksena ja kohdennettiin ammatinvaihtopäätöksen tehneille ja sitä harkitseville opettajille. Kyselyyn vastasi 469 varhaiskasvatuksen opettajan tehtävissä työskentelevää tai työskennellyttä opettajaa. Aineisto analysoitiin monimenetelmällisesti. Faktorianalyysillä aineistosta tiivistettiin kes...
The Morning Watch: Educational and Social Analysis, Apr 9, 2021
The education system and teacher training programs in Finland have been under reform for the past... more The education system and teacher training programs in Finland have been under reform for the past decade. All policy documents in the field of early childhood education have been renewed and this has influenced both teaching training practices and teachers’ work as well. Teachers are challenged to implement pedagogical methods to support children in becoming active agents of their learning. Further, teachers should be active agents in their own professional development. Finnish teachers’ competences and quality of the teaching are defined in recent policy documents that introduce the future competences of teachers, including expertise agency and innovative approach. The aim of this research is to understand and critically evaluate the teacher’s agency and agentic approach of these recent policy documents through thematic content analysis. In total, three policy documents were analyzed. As our theoretical framework we describe the agentic and life-long-learning approach in the educat...
Multiliteracies and Early Years Innovation, 2019
In this chapter we explore how Finnish early years teachers use and make sense of the materials d... more In this chapter we explore how Finnish early years teachers use and make sense of the materials developed by the MOI program for promoting young children's multiliteracies. In specific, the chapter focuses on the teachers' use of Whisper of the Spirit which consist of open source, open ended, and non-prescriptive activity cards. All of the four teachers were chosen for this study because of their interest in development of multiliteracies pedagogy. In our chapter, we ask how do these teachers promote children's multiliteracy learning through versatile play, digital production and multimodal practices through the MOI-material and how is the use of the MOI-material adapted by teachers in local contexts. In this respect, we hence look into the teachers' agency in designing and conducting multiliteracy pedagogy, which we consider to be connected to autonomy, one of the four key elements of the Finnish teacher profession, and through that in transformative agency which emerged in the teachers' narrations. The chapter is structured around four teachers' semi-structured interviews and shows how the teachers made sense of the MOI-material in their efforts to promote young children's multiliteracies, and how they applied the materials in their teaching in local contexts. Opportunities and challenges will be identified and discussed.
International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 2019
Early childhood education (ECE) is the first step of a lifelong learning pathway. In Finland, the... more Early childhood education (ECE) is the first step of a lifelong learning pathway. In Finland, the institutions of ECE have went through many chances in recent years and the ongoing development of policies and practices of young children's educational system have been the focus of many projects and much research. In this paper researchers describe and analyse how dynamic development in regional development projects is implemented in teacher training programs, ECE field work and research in boundary spaces. The researchers describe the Finnish ECE system, its policies and practices to form a basis for the development project. Through that the basic principles of development are illustrated. The essential voices of participants of the project are introduced to form a picture of shared development goals, through opportunities and challenges, in multi-voiced community of education. Finally, the development work of ECE in the light of international knowledge of ECE is discussed. The findings of this research suggest that development in a multi-voiced community with different participators and organizations of the ECE can be successful and that the partnership approach can be development to create an active learning society of students, practical teachers and researchers.
Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 2016
THE AIM OF THIS RESEARCH is to provide a better understanding of children's competence, vulne... more THE AIM OF THIS RESEARCH is to provide a better understanding of children's competence, vulnerability and power issues, and to promote better decision making and protection of children by educators. This means the pedagogy in early childhood education needs to be based on understanding the nature of children's participation and participatory learning. Further on it requires understanding about how the educators working in day care could aim the pedagogical process to supporting children's participation via developing practices. Research is based on a large survey conducted in the Finnish early childhood education (ECE) field and analysed through abductive content analysis. The results show that in the pedagogical process three kinds of participation supporting means could be identified: facilitating environment and atmosphere; facilitating professional skills for learning and supporting children's perspective; and facilitating ongoing participatory practices. Finally...
Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 2015
In this article, we describe the professional development towards distributed leadership among di... more In this article, we describe the professional development towards distributed leadership among different organizational levels in Finnish day care centres within the Helsinki metropolitan area. The aim of the study was to monitor the progress of professional development between educational administration and practitioners. The data was based on descriptions of reflective practices used in the development projects of each research day care centre. Participants were asked to describe developing practices and reflect on their own contributions to the process as both individuals and together as working teams during the two years of the development project. The researchers collected these reflections, analysed them to produce results and then delivered this evidence to participants for utilization in reflection and further processing of working practices with the support of the mentor. Directors and mentors viewed distributed leadership as a good way to encourage development practices an...
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Conference Presentations by Jonna Kangas (nee. Leinonen)
Book Reviews by Jonna Kangas (nee. Leinonen)
Papers by Jonna Kangas (nee. Leinonen)
This research is focusing on the educators’ perspectives and the conceptions of children’s participation in everyday pedagogic practices and is based on a survey conducted in early childhood education in Metropolitan area of Helsinki in 2010. The survey was realized in the VKK-Metro development and research project funded by the Ministry of Social and Health affairs. The participants represented 1114 working teams from 350 kindergartens. The working teams included 3721 educators taking care of 19 907 children.
The analytical framework of research is based on an abductive approach conducted with mixed methods. The findings indicate that children’s voice was considered important by educators. Also opportunities to make independent initiatives and choices were considered as a right and an item of learning and of developing of skills of participation. However children’s chances to participate in decision making process and pedagogical processes were weak because of challenges of children’s participation experienced by educators. These challenges were connected to both institutional issues, such as routines and adult-child ratios, and professional skills and beliefs about children’s competence.
According to findings of this research children’s participation is understood to include such aspects as having opportunities to have an influence in their learning and the culture of kindergartens, becoming respected and listened to by educators and having chances to practice responsibility and self-regulation. The role of educators as facilitators of children’s
participation is found essential and the research builds knowledge of children’s participation through framework of participatory pedagogy in early education context. Through this
framework the challenges of children’s participation could be reflected and a culture of developing participation built in co-operation between educators, children and political and social environment of early childhood education.