Finnish Straight-A Graduates’ Perceptions of the Smoothness of the Study Paths

Salmela, Mari; Uusiautti, Satu

doi:10.5296/jse.v3i4.4270

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Students who are willing to study and interested in learning, such as straight-A graduates are (see Salmela & Määttä, 2015;Salmela & Uusiautti, 2013;, evaluate often positively their learning environments (Pulkka & Niemivirta, 2013). These students as high-achievers are significantly above the average students' grades.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Both low-achievers and high-achievers at school need teachers who express trust, appreciation, and caring toward students by their action and enthusiasm. These features help students to tolerate and manage burdensome studies, to recognize strengths in themselves to balance the performance-related demands, and to appreciate themselves and their achievements as they are (Salmela & Määttä, 2015;Salmela & Uusiautti, 2013;; see also Peterson, Duncan, & Canady, 2009. ) There are also interventions, such as the Penn Resiliency Programme (PRP) (Seligman, Ernst, Gillham, Reivich, & Linkins, 2009) and "You Can Do It!"…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Finnish High-Achieving Students’ Perceptions of the Best Practices in Teaching

Salmela¹,

Uusiautti

Määttä

2015

IJE

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According to latest international student comparisons, Finnish students do relatively well at school. But how to maintain this level or even do better? This study focused on Finnish high-achieving students from the general upper secondary education. The purpose was to find out how these special students described their best teachers and teaching and, according to their narratives, what kind of teaching supported their strengths and study success the best. The study was based on the positive psychological theorization of good teaching in which teaching is understood as interaction that supports students' strengths. A narrative study approach was chosen and the sets of data included the Finnish straight-A graduates' (N=14) written and spoken narratives. The data were analyzed with narrative analyzing methods. The results introduced five core elements of teaching that support students' strengths and study success: (1) trust, (2) enthusiasm and zeal, (3) appreciation of achievements, (4) student-centeredness, and (5) dialogue. Based on the findings, opportunities to apply strength-based teaching are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finnish High-Achieving Students’ Perceptions of the Best Practices in Teaching

Salmela¹,

Uusiautti

Määttä

2015

IJE

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“…The viewpoint provided here is based on our numerous studies on the psychology of human strengths and positive development (e.g., Määttä, 2011;Salmela & Uusiautti, 2013;. It complements the analysis of university students' success in studies by viewing the completion of a doctoral degree as a manifestation of a top performance.…”

Section: The Special Nature Of the Phd Dissertation Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Along with lifespans, people become rewarded for excellent performances, for example, at school (e.g., straight-A graduates; see Salmela & Uusiautti, 2013) or at work (e.g., employee of the year nominees; see . When people work and study and act at their limits, they can reach top performance.…”

Section: Phd Students' Descriptions Of Their Research Process As a Tomentioning

confidence: 99%

The Psychology of Study Success in Universities

Määttä¹,

Uusiautti²

2017

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Universities around the world are under increasing pressure to maintain high levels of graduation and to make study processes as efficient as possible, with teachers and students struggling to meet the expectations placed upon them as a result. The Psychology of Study Success in Universities asks whether it is possible to meet these demands at the same time as protecting the well-being of students. Drawing on an extensive and detailed analysis of study success in universities in Finland, the authors of this thought-provoking work argue that universities should be more concerned with students' satisfaction and place greater weight on students' perceptions of the elements that enhance or hinder their success. The book provides a multidimensional picture of the student-and teachingrelated factors that promote study success. Giving voice to graduate students, including those enrolled a PhD program, the authors look at the resources that students have at their disposal to establish what inspires and motivates the students, what slows them down, and what kinds of experiences students have of successful studies. Määttä and Uusiautti present a wealth of high-quality research showing that good teaching and successful study processes can be secured by immediate and caring interaction, flexible and student-centred teaching and supervision, and interdisciplinary collaboration between teachers. The Psychology of Study Success in Universities is essential reading for academics, researchers, and postgraduate students in the fields of education and psychology, as well as for those interested in positive psychology, student well-being, and pedagogical studies.

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“…Those students who succeed the most are often people who have wide-ranging interests in various facets of life. They get easily excited about learning new things (see also Salmela & Uusiautti, 2013). The enthusiasm and joy of learning and their own interests can become a burden if their lives become occupied by all the tasks involved.…”

Section: Difficulties and Adversities Faced By The Straight-a Graduatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Even the Best Have Difficulties

Salmela

Määttä

2015

Gifted Child Quarterly

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To achieve top scores, students need not only talents and study skills but also they have to conquer various adversities successfully. This research focused on the study paths, the concept adopted from Hickman, Bartholomew, Mathwig, and Heinrich (2008), of Finnish straight-A graduates in general upper secondary education. In this article, we refer to these paths with the concepts of study processes or just studies. The purpose was to analyze what kinds of difficulties these graduates had faced and how they coped with them. Researchers gathered data from 14 Finnish straight-A graduates by mailing a request to write an essay and by interviewing them. The results showed how the graduates' core difficulties were related to their peer relationships because of the gifted students' standing out from the crowd, pressure set by their own ambition, and the burden of wide-ranging interests. The graduates seemed to employ resource-oriented solutions when coping with adversities and difficulties-in this study, the solutions were divided into three dimensions. Based on the results, it is relevant to ask whether schools could support gifted students better by allowing mistakes and failures and supporting students to confront adversities by providing models and tools for survival. It is important to emphasize that failures and adversities are not a sign of weakness.

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Finnish Straight-A Graduates’ Perceptions of the Smoothness of the Study Paths

Cited by 8 publications

References 60 publications

Finnish High-Achieving Students’ Perceptions of the Best Practices in Teaching

Finnish High-Achieving Students’ Perceptions of the Best Practices in Teaching

The Psychology of Study Success in Universities

Even the Best Have Difficulties

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