Merja Koivula

Non‐standard work schedules (NSWS) have become typical, but their associations with childcare arrangements and children's well‐being are unknown. This study explores how risk factors are associated with the social–emotional well‐being of girls and boys using flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care. Furthermore, the study investigates whether well‐functioning cooperation between parents and educators buffers the negative effects of the risk factors. This study, which is a part of a larger survey carried out in three European countries, reports Finnish parents' (N = 146) perspectives. The results showed that high parental stress was associated with low child well‐being. Strong parent–educator cooperation positively impacted both boys' and girls' social–emotional well‐being. The risk factors of reconciling work and family life had negative associations with children's well‐being and the fulfilment of their basic needs. The results illustrate the comple...

This study explored teaching early mathematical skills to 3- to 7-year-old children in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and pre-primary education. Teachers in ECEC (N = 206) answered a web survey. The first aim was to determine whether teaching frequency or pedagogical awareness of teaching early mathematical skills varied according to the category of skills (numerical skills, spatial thinking skills and mathematical thinking and reasoning skills) and whether children’s age group moderated these differences. The second aim was to explore to what extent teacher-related characteristics and children’s age group explained variations in teaching frequency concerning early mathematical skills. Results from repeated MANOVAs demonstrated that the frequency and pedagogical awareness of teaching early mathematical skills depended on the skill category and that children’s age group moderated these differences. In 5- to 6-year-olds and 6- to 7-year-olds, numerical skills were taught mo...

Tässä tapaustutkimuksessa tarkastelemme,millainen käyttöteoria kaksikielistä pedagogiikkaa (suomi-ruotsi) varhaiskasvatuksessa toteuttavalla eksperttiopettajalla on eri kielten käytöstä monikielisten lasten kanssatoimiessa. Käyttöteorialla tarkoitetaan tässä pedagogista näkemystä, joka ohjaa opettajan toimintaa. Käyttöteoriaa eri kielten käytöstä lähestyttiin kahden tutkimuskysymyksen kautta, joissa tarkasteltiin kielikasvatuksen käyttöteorian keskeisiä osa-alueita ja niiden ilmenemistä eri kielissä. Aineistona oli yhden eksperttiopettajan kaksi haastattelua, jotka analysoitiin laadullisella temaattisella analyysillä. Tulokset osoittavat, että opettajan kielikasvatuksen käyttöteoriassa korostui yksi arvo (kielten yhtäläinen arvo) sekä useat tavoitteet ja periaatteet (esim. vastavuoroinen oppiminen, kieli-identiteetin tukeminen ja pedagoginen tahdikkuus), jotka olivat tiiviisti yhteydessä toisiinsa. Tulosten perusteella suomen ja ruotsin käytössä opettajan pyrkimyksenä oli kasvattaa monikielisten lasten kielellisiä resursseja. Lasten kotikielten käytöllä opettaja puolestaan tähtäsi ensisijaisesti lasten olemassa olevien kieliresurssien huomiointiin, hyödyntämiseen ja arvostukseen.In this case study we examine the practical theory of an expert teacher implementing bilingual pedagogy (Finnish-Swedish) in early childhood education with multilingual children. Practical theory refers to the pedagogical vision that guides a teacher’s actions and the focus of this study is the expert teacher’s practical theory regarding the use of different languages. The two research questionsaddress the key aspects of the teacher’s practical theory and how these aspects related to the different languages. The dataset from two interviews with the expert teacher were thematically analyzed. The findings show that the teacher's practical theory is constructed from a core value (equality of languages) and various aims and principles(e.g., mutual learning, supporting language-identities and pedagogical tact) that were closely intertwined. The findings suggest that in the expert teacher’s use of Finnish and Swedish the intent was to expand the children’s language resources whereas in the use of the children’s home language the purpose was to acknowledge and utilize their languages while creating language appreciation.peerReviewe

Collaborative learning and collaborative use of digital technologies are essential skills in the twenty-first century. The aim of this study was to explore the features and types of interaction that can be identified during children’s digital gameplay while playing in pairs. The following research questions were addressed: 1) What are the interactional play features that characterize the play sessions? 2) Which play types can be identified based on these interactional play features? 3) How do the interactional features and play types change during the eight-week play period? In this study, 16 children aged 5–6 years played the Emotion Detectives (ED) game in pairs at day care centres for 15–30 minutes per week. During the eight-week period, the children’s gameplay was video-recorded, and three play sessions from each pair were explored using content analysis. The results of this study deepen our understanding of the features of children’s playing in pairs and extend our knowledge of...

There has recently been a rapid change in the practices of day care centres due to the availability of new digital technology. Especially tablet computers have become part of the daily practices and pedagogy of early childhood education (ECE). In this article, we highlight the tensions created by the use of tablet computers in early childhood education as the children and the ECE teachers strive to navigate the altered technological environment together as well as separately. These tensions seem to have an effect on the generational order within ECE institutions: in technological competence and identity, the children appear as the more capable and competent generation. This is a finding that highlights the interconnectedness of the use of digital technologies and the generational order.

Digital learning environments are increasingly used with young children and they are found to be accessible, motivating, low cost and effective intervention tools in supporting children‘s learning. In research literature and public debate an increasing concern exists about young children‘s socialemotional difficulties, and the interest towards the potential of computer-based games in supporting social-emotional learning has therefore increased.

This special issue of the JECER focuses on children’s social-emotional development and its support. From the associations between linguistic and social-emotional development to the role of early education teachers in supporting children, the issue covers a wide range of subtopics. The importance of children’s social-emotional learning (SEL) has been recognized already for a long time, but despite an extensive body of research, gaps, nonetheless, still exist in our knowledge. There are, for example, still a relatively limited number of intervention studies evaluating different SEL-programmes in early childhood education in different cultural contexts. We also need to know more about how high quality early childhood education, in particular the interaction between teachers and children, and interaction in the peer group contribute to children’s developing social-emotional competencies. The articles in the present issue bring forth interesting insights in and important contributions on...

This study investigated the use of a playful, narrative, vignette-based method, called Story Magician’s Play Time (SMPT), in supporting children’s social-emotional reasoning and in helping children practice their social skills. We set out to examine (a) in what ways children use SMPT sessions to explore social interaction situations and to practice social skills, and (b) what story content and narrative play behavior during the SMPT sessions reveal about the social-emotional competence of children, in terms of acquisition and performance skills. The data were collected during SMPT storytelling sessions where 5- to 6-year-old children narrated stories of familiar but challenging daily situations and enacted their story in play. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results suggest that the children had knowledge of socially responsible behaviors, but that they also had difficulties executing these behaviors in play. SMPT enabled the children to participate, experiment, ...

This study investigated the cross‐national adaptation and implementation of Papilio, a German social–emotional learning programme, in Finnish early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres. Papilio is a developmentally focused, scientifically based intervention programme focused on preventing behavioural problems and fostering social–emotional competence in children aged 3–7. The aim of this study was to investigate and evaluate the cross‐national adaptation and cross‐cultural adaptation and implementation of Papilio in the Finnish ECEC context. Results from qualitative interviews with one Finnish Papilio trainer, 11 early childhood education (ECE) teachers, two ECE special education teachers and two nursery nurses are supplemented with teachers' and nursery nurses' (N = 75) questionnaire data. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed that cultural adaptations were necessary on four levels: accommodation of materials, adaptation of the contents of the materials, structure a...

The discussion around children’s digital game culture has resulted in two contradictory images of children: the passive, antisocial children uncritically and mechanically consuming digital game content and the active, social children creatively using and interacting with digital game content. Our aim is to examine how these seemingly contradictory ideas of “active” and “passive” children could be considered. By means of empirical examples of children playing digital dress-up and makeover games, we will point out that for the successful use of these concepts, they need to be thoroughly contextualized. By discussing the context and referent of activity and passivity, it is possible to overcome the unnecessary polarization of the discourses on children’s digital game culture. If the purpose is to advance the multidisciplinary discussion on digital games and childhood, the naive or careless use of the concepts of activity and passivity should be avoided.

Research conducted on digital technology and early childhood has increased notably during the past three decades (Mertala, 2016; Stephen & Edwards, 2018), and there are no signs that this trend will change anytime soon (the publication of the present special issue is one empirical example). On the contrary, it seems likely that the published research will continue growing. One reason is related to the ever-diversifying palette of digital technologies: Before the advent of personal computers, research on children and digital technology focused mainly on radio (Gruenberg, 1935) and television (Schramm, Lyle, & Parker, 1961). In the 1990s, digital technology was equated mainly with desktop computers (Clements, 1997), whereas in the 2000s interactive whiteboards excited researchers and practitioners (Morgan, 2010). In the midand late 2010s, the focus shifted to mobile devices, namely, tablets (Falloon & Khoo, 2014; Stephen & Edwards, 2018). Now that we have entered the 2020s, the digita...