The Attractiveness of Magazines as “Open” and “Closed” Texts: Values of Women's Magazines and Their Readers

This study examines the widespread notion that people turn to media to find reinforcement for their personal values. Based on a representative sample of subscribers to women's magazines, the article investigates relationships between readers’ own values and the values they ascribe to the magazine. For some titles, selective exposure to a periodical that presents values close to their readers is observed. For others, readers disagree on magazine values to an extent that indicates considerable room for interpretation of a magazine as an “open” text. Some women's magazines seem to allow their readers to project their own values onto the published contents rather than presenting a clear-cut, “objective” value pattern that could steer exposure.     

Evaluating the effects of direct support on the economic situation of artists

The paper deals with the relationship between direct public support for artists and the economic situation of artists. The empirical findings stem from a research project on the situation of artists in Finland. Some problems connected with obtaining relevant data on artists' economic situation are presented. The effects of direct financial support granted to individual artists on their income level and income discrepancies are illustrated with different patterns of impact. A brief presentation of the goals and measures of public policy towards artists in Finland is given, and the relationship with policy objectives and income effects of direct artists support is discussed. Two issues relevant for evaluating artist policy are raised: the need to account for the fundamental differences between art fields and artistic occupations, and the need to study the actual functions grant income has for the artists.     

University lecturers’ emotional responses to and coping with student feedback: a Finnish case study

Lecturers often find themselves unable to appropriately interpret or deal with student feedback, which may consequently be essential to how they feel about teaching and students. Research into lecturers’ emotional responses to student feedback is scarce, despite the growing use of student feedback as a means of evaluating teachers’ work. This narrative study explores seven lecturers’ responses to student feedback. The lecturers had prior to the study participated in pedagogical training aimed at developing a deep understanding of learning and teaching in higher education. Interviews with the lecturers were conducted and the data was analysed using a categorical approach to narrative analysis. Building on positive psychology, particularly broaden-and-build theory, we consider lecturers’ emotional responses as spirals, and thus had identified upward and downward emotional spirals regarding student feedback. Our findings suggest that pedagogical training may act as an intervention, as it appeared to be meaningful in providing guidance for coping with student feedback. We finally argue that lecturers need to find ways to cope with student feedback as this is essential for their teaching.     

State formation and the rise of elementary education at the periphery of Europe: the cases of Finland and Turkey 1860–1930

This article addresses the role of the state and state formation in the establishment of national education during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Through a comparative case analysis of two countries at the European periphery (Finland and Turkey), this article shows how national educational systems, in both instances, were driven by periods of intense state building. In the nineteenth century, military defeats sparked educational reforms, and in the early nineteenth century school laws were enacted due to the establishment of the republics of Finland and Turkey. Nevertheless, these examples also show the limits of a state formation perspective. Despite changes in educational policy, neither state reached high enrolment levels in the nineteenth century, and only in Finland schooling for all was realised in the 1930s. Thus, this work encourages further comparative analyses of the social, economic and political circumstances in which these states acted.     

The Role of Stress and Negative Emotions in an Occupational Crisis

The study examined how negative affects and exposure to various stressors are related to an occupational crisis. Two hundred and seventy-seven employees (53% women) from various occupations filled in the Occupational Crisis Scale, a stressor questionnaire, the Anger Expression Scale (measuring both suppressed and overt anger), Spielberger's Anxiety Inventory (measuring both state and trait anxiety) and Beck's Depression Inventory. The results showed that occupational crisis was a function of work overload, interpersonal problems and frustration at work, organizational changes, a threat of job loss, and/or family worries. In addition, occupational crises were typically experienced by women and were characterized more by trait anxiety, suppressed anger and depressive symptoms than by overtly expressed anger or state anxiety. Of the three female employee groups who were most vulnerable to the crisis, the group which had suffered from interpersonal problems and frustration at work displayed the most indices of the crisis.     

Building children’s sense of community in a day care centre through small groups in play

This study examines the process through which children build a sense of community in small groups in a day care centre. The study asks the following: how does children’s sense of community develop, and what are its key features? Data were collected by applying ethnographic methods in a group of three- to five-year-old children over eleven months. The results show that children’s sense of community developed through three stages. In the first stage, it evolved gradually through experiences in joint play. In the second stage, stable friendships were formed and strengthened in play. In the third and final stage, sense of community was fully established and children’s emotional bonding was strong, manifesting itself in affective and physical closeness, sharing and caring and togetherness.     

Dialogical approach applied in group counselling: Case study

This study utilizes structured group counselling and a dialogical approach to develop a group counselling intervention for students beginning a computer science education. The study assesses the outcomes of group counselling from the standpoint of the development of the students’ self-observation. The research indicates that group counselling can clarify students’ self-observation and create conditions for developing agency. The outcomes were examined individually by means of dialogical sequence analysis. At the conclusion of the group counselling sessions, three attitudes toward the study of computer science were found: committed, wavering and problematic.     

Mental models of attachment as a part of kindergarten student teachers' practical knowledge about caregiving

The present study investigated beginning kindergarten student teachers' mental models of attachment as a part of their practical knowledge about caregiving. Mental models of attachment (i.e. how students construct their own attachment-related childhood experiences and relationships from their current perspective) were assessed with an Adult Attachment Interview. The participants were 82 female first-year students in the University of Helsinki. Forty-four per cent of the students were classified as dismissive of attachment, 43% as secure/autonomous, and 13% as preoccupied. The study also investigated student teachers' motives for entering kindergarten teacher education, and the possible relationship between students' mental models of attachment and their motives for entering the field. Participants' attachment status was significantly associated with their career preference, and the expression and complexity of their motives. Students with a secure/autonomous mental model of attachment were the most certain students concerning career choice, and they were the most likely to express both child-centred and self-centred motives for entering the education.     

Does public support make a difference,and for whom?

The paper discusses the impact of gender on the income level and public support of artists in Finland. The empirical data is based on a research project carried out in the Arts Council of Finland. The data discussed in this paper indicated that the average income level of women artists is lower than their male colleagues. There was, however, no significant evidence of a gender bias in the distribution of public support for artists. The variation in the economic situation of artists seems to be notably stronger according to art form than according to gender.Based on a paper presented at the 9th international conference of the Association for Cultural Economics, held in Boston, May 8–11, 1996.