Category Archives: Finland

The perspectives of the bullied children

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We asked 3-7-year-old children: – Think of a situation when another child comes to tease you, what do you do? 761 children answered to  the question and described their strategy in addressing bullying. Often children seeked help from the teacher or tried to negotiate with the bully. However, children had a lot of different strategies, for example, hitting the bully or starting to cry. Children’s interactivity increased as children grew older and the amount of withdrawn strategies decreased with age. Especially interesting was that we were able to trace the connection between children’s interview strategies and their observed activities. Because interview and observation were independent measures, the found connections describe something real.  The reference information is below:

Reunamo, J. T., Kalliomaa, M. Repo, L., Salminen, E., Lee, H-C & Wang, L-C. (In print). Children’s strategies in addressing bullying situations in day care and preschool. Early Child Development and Care.

Obs.training in Hong Kong

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The observation training in Hong Kong was conducted successfully. Doris Cheng and James Ko were the leading actors during the instrument validation. Often the simplest definitions were the hardest. What are eating situations? How to consider emotions in role play? Scaffolded play definition produced a lot of talks.We agreed on a broad definition somewhere between direct education and free play.We could not find one universal definition.  The other observed items will be helping us in defining the more refined aspects of guided or scaffolded play. Hong Kong is a surprisingly versatile and complex place. A good challenge for our refined tools!

Observation training

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The amended observation tools and observation training materials are now ready. The finishing touches of the training were completed during Taiwanese colleagues visit 16-28.8.2014. In the observation training we will use the same video material and same example coding in every country to make the observations as reliable across countries as possible. In Hong Kong the training will start on 4th September, in Singapore on 10th September and in Finland on 16th September. The purpose of the observation is to find out what really happens in early childhood education and which paths increase children’s balanced learning and well-being.

Project papers at Earli 14 conference

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At the EARLI Conference on SIG 5 Learning and Development in Early Childhood August 25-27, 2014 Jyväskylä, Finland three papers about Orientation project plans and results were presented:

 

Taiwanese colleagues have landed

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Our precious colleagues from Taiwan arrived in Helsinki today. Their input is essential in agreeing on the final versions of the 2015 data collection. We need to go through the observation definitions, interview questions, child evaluations and the learning environment evaluations. Furthermore, we also need to agree on the definitions of the observation training videos. A laborious but exciting work ahead! We will use the results in the Finnish, Hong Kong, Singaporean and Taiwanese training.

Funding for Orientation project

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The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture has decided to grant Orientation project. The sum is 180 000 euro and the funding is for 2014-2016. The funding is for enhancing the positive feedback loop of early childhood physical activity. The evaluation of the funded projects was carried on in cooperation with the Academy of Finland, which allowed an international comparison of scientific competence. The funding is a significant recognition of the work done in the  Orientation project and it enables a more flexible work in the future.  Thank you for the participants in the project, who have made this grant possible.

Nordic Orientation in ECEC?

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The third Nordic ECEC conference “Approaches in Nordic ECEC research: Current research and new perspectives”
was held in Oslo 11-12 November 2013.  Orientation project style of combining research and practical development was described in an invited presentation Day care based on developmental feedback for the staff. The article based on the presentation has just been published at the conference webcite. Futhermore, please check out the proposal for Nordic ECEC comparison in 2015!

 

Nordic comparison in 2015?

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At the 3rd ECEC Conference in Oslo 11 and 12 November we had a workshop on implementing Orientation project research tools on the Nordic level. We concentrated on questions:

  • How to get more resources for professional development?•
  • How to empower educators to develop their work?
  • What are the possibilities for a shared comparative research across Nordic
    countries?

The need for a research to find out what really happens in ECEC in Nordic countries was clear to all participants. We are seeking for funding possibilities from the Nordic Council. The Orientation project tools were introduced in a presentation. The slides can be retrieved here (children’s pictures omitted). Thank you for the interest and lets hope we can get good aspirations into concrete actions.

Orientation project tools applied in Turku

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ToLiVa- project (Physical activity culture in Early Childhood Education) has been granted 50000 euros for applying the tools of Orientation project to the mentoring of physical activity development. The project is directed by Turku University of Applied sciences and the partners include Turku Art Academy, the city of Turku, LiikU ry, Valo ry and others. The project will be applied in the eastern Turku day care centers, with childminders and municipal playgrounds.