Constructing relational space in early childhood education

This paper examines early childhood education (ECE) by applying and developing relational-spatial perspectives on everyday life in educational institutions for young children. The aim is to investigate the dynamic process of construction of space and to illustrate with selected empirical episodes how this process occurs in ECE. Drawing on authors such as Soja and Bourdieu, the starting point for the analysis is that space is socially produced in everyday interactions in a process that intertwines the physical environment and concrete objects, personal interpretations of physical and cultural space, and cultural and collective views about space in ECE. We illustrate this process with ethnographic data from two day care centers. The analysis shows how children and educators engage in the process of constructing space from diverse positions and how the institutional context is embedded within this process.     

Storytelling, Relevance and the Bilingual Child

Stories are used considerably in early years education to develop various aspects of both language and conceptual learning. What follows is an analysis of how one storytelling experience in a Y1 classroom for pupils aged 5–6 provided a whole range of opportunities for developing relevant and meaningful learning, particularly for bilingual learners. The power of the story-telling experience lies in the fact that the story itself becomes the focus, rather than its use as a tool to develop reading skills or new concepts.     

University students’ understanding of the concepts empirical,theoretical, qualitative and quantitative research

University research education in many disciplines is frequently confronted by problems with students’ weak level of understanding of research concepts. A mind map technique was used to investigate how students understand central methodological concepts of empirical, theoretical, qualitative and quantitative. The main hypothesis was that some students have a confused conception of empirical. The mind maps revealed that in the beginning of the course, 75% of the students hold a problematic conception of research, and after the half year course, still half of the participated students had problems with expressing a scientifically sound conception of research. In addition to general undevelopedness of the maps, a severe confused conception of drawing a link from empirical to qualitative or quantitative, but not to both, was found. This finding indicates that some students have problems with understanding the very basic and central concept of empirical.     

Relations Between Teachers' Professional and Religious Orientations and Their Behavior During Morally Critical Incidents

The focus of this study is on how teachers' professional and religious orientations relate to their reaction intentions when confronted with morally critical incidents. The context of the study is the increasing importance of the moral task of teachers which is complex in current secularized and individualized Western society. The main assumption is that both professional and religious orientations constitute a possible source for understanding differences in teachers' behavior during such incidents. The results suggest that both orientations indeed play a role. This result is notable with regard to the religious orientations because of the absence of this variable in current research.     

Developing policy instruments for education in the EU: the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning

The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) for lifelong learning has been characterized as a policy instrument with a number of contested ideas, raising questions about the process through which such instruments are developed at European level. The introduction of the EQF is in this article examined through variations of neo-institutional theory: historical contingency perspective, rational perspective, normative perspective and a process of chance. The EQF is examined as a case, using documents and expert interviews as empirical sources. The article highlights the complex interplay between various historical processes that enabled the introduction of the EQF and how problems and solutions can drive the process forward in a dialectic manner. Furthermore, while the impact of the EQF on national level remains to be seen at this point, the analysis uncovers increased space for introducing new instruments on EU level.     

Flow analysis and aerodynamic characteristics of a badminton shuttlecock with spin at high Reynolds numbers

A badminton shuttlecock flies in a high-drag, and thus, the sport has been a subject of research from the point of view of aerodynamics. A badminton shuttlecock generates significant aerodynamic drag and has a complex flight trajectory. It also has the smallest ballistic coefficient and exhibits the largest in-flight deceleration of any airborne sporting projectile. The ballistic coefficient of a projectile is a measure of its ability to overcome air resistance in flight and is inversely proportional to deceleration. The primary objectives of this study were to measure the aerodynamic properties of feather shuttlecocks under a range of the wind speed (10–60 m/s) and pitch angle (0°–25°). In particular, measurements of aerodynamic forces were performed at high Reynolds numbers (more than Re = 210,000), and the effect of shuttlecock deformation on aerodynamic properties was also investigated, because it is presumed that the flight dynamics is affected by the deformation of the shuttlecock skirt. A shuttlecock skirt is composed of an array of diverging stems, the ends of which are at the convergent end of the skirt, joined together in an end ring. The shuttlecock rotates about its major axis in actual flight, and thus, the experiments were performed on shuttlecocks with and without rotation (spin). Furthermore, the effect of the flow passing through the gaps between the slots (stiffeners) located at the leg portion of the shuttlecock skirt on aerodynamic characteristics is demonstrated by means of a shuttlecock model without gaps, which was completely covered with cellophane tape. The free rotation rate of a shuttlecock increased with an increase in the Reynolds number, and the drag coefficient gradually decreased above Re = 86,000 for a non-rotating shuttlecock. The reduction of drag can be explained by the deformation of the skirt observed in wind tunnel experiments at high speed. In this study, for a rotating shuttlecock, a reduction of drag was not observed over a whole range of Reynolds numbers, because deformation of the skirt for a rotating shuttlecock becomes smaller than that for a non-rotating shuttlecock. However, there was no significant difference in drag coefficient between rotating and non-rotating shuttlecocks, in contrast to the difference in drag coefficient between shuttlecocks with and without gaps. The drag coefficient for a shuttlecock without gaps was significantly smaller than that for a standard shuttlecock (with gaps). For a standard shuttlecock, the air flowed through the gaps into the shuttlecock skirt, and this flow was related to high aerodynamic drag.     

Assessment for learning: Why assessment does not always support student teachers’ learning

Numerous studies have dealt with the importance of assessment for learning (AfL) in higher education, arguing that AfL helps to promote students’ learning and supports them in becoming self-directed learners. The majority of the recent literature focuses mainly on the role of individual aspects of AfL. Less attention has been paid to the interrelation of different aspects of AfL. The current study argues that AfL combines authentic assessment tasks given to students, feedback from teacher educators, peer assessment and self-assessment. The aim of the current study is to understand student teachers’ experiences of AfL practices in higher education, focusing on the reasons why student teachers do not always find the practices supportive. The study conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 student teachers and analysed them using an inductive content analysis method. The findings indicate that student teachers have had some experiences with individual aspects of AfL. A critical finding is that, when teacher educators continually dominate in the assessment process, summative assessment remains the principal way of assessing student teachers, thus hindering the supportive role of other AfL practices. The current study also finds that learning in higher education is still quite grade-centred, which affects student teachers’ learning.     

The interplay between teachers’ approaches to teaching,students’ approaches to learning and learning outcomes: a qualitative multi-case study

The interaction between approaches to teaching and students’ learning has been the focus of research for more than 20 years. Previous studies concerning approaches to teaching in higher education have identified two broad categories: content- and learning-focused approaches. Some studies indicate that teachers do not always adopt a consonant teaching- or learning-focused approach, but might employ elements of both, which results in a dissonant approach. Research on how dissonant approaches to teaching and students’ quality of learning are related is scant. This study explored relationships between how teachers’ approaches to teaching and undergraduate students’ self-reported approaches to learning and learning outcomes. The data for this study consisted of 33 semi-structured interviews with students from three courses. Interviews were analysed with qualitative content analysis. The results demonstrated that, when the teacher used a consonant learning-focused approach to teaching, students’ learning outcomes and approaches to learning were of a slightly higher quality than when the teacher employed a dissonant approach to teaching. However, a dissonant approach to teaching did not always result in a lower quality of approaches to learning and learning outcomes.     

Pedagogical work,stress regulation and work-related well-being among early childhood professionals in integrated special day-care groups

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between early childhood professionals’ (ECPs) stress regulation (using salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase [AA] measurements), work engagement and the quality of their pedagogical work in integrated special day-care groups. Participants were 89 ECPs from 21 integrated special day-care groups located in Helsinki, Finland. The special educational needs of children (who were between 3 and 6 years of age) in these groups varied from language disorders and self-regulation difficulties to severe disabilities. Data was collected by using work engagement surveys, salivary cortisol and AA measurements and observational assessments of pedagogical work. This study is novel, in that it combines approaches from different disciplines to investigate work-related well-being among ECPs. Our findings demonstrate the close relationship between ECPs’ stress regulation and the quality of pedagogical work in teams. Whilst ECPs’ high work engagement was associated with better-quality pedagogical work, we did not find any associations between different biomarkers and work engagement. Our study highlights the importance of teamwork, not only as fundamental to high-quality early childhood special education, but also in supporting the well-being of ECE professionals. The findings can be applied in future studies and can be used to inform intervention aiming to enhance working conditions in day-care centres.