The learning trajectory of emerging professionalism: A Finnish student teacher negotiating world-view education and early childhood education and care superdiversity

Abstract

This article examines the learning trajectory of the emerging professionalism of Finnish early childhood education and care student teachers, focusing in particular on their professionalism in early childhood education and care world-view education in the context of cultural and world-view superdiversity. Of specific interest here is what students postulate as meaningful in their professional learning processes and why, and what kinds of directions this value-learning process has taken. The data was generated over a year-long learning process in a group with seven early childhood education and care students and six in-service early childhood education and care teachers through survey responses, reflective learning diaries and retrospective in-depth interviews with the students. Using the Kuusisto and Gearon (2017a) value-learning-trajectory model as an analytical tool, the findings are presented through an in-depth case study depicting one student’s learning throughout the process and across the data sets. To conclude, the conceptual working model is developed further to depict the development of emergent early childhood education and care teacher professionalism with a particular focus on world-view education and early childhood education and care superdiversity.

Finnish teachers’ approaches to personal worldview expressions: A question of professional autonomy and ethics

“…This article examines reflections on the use and visibility of personal worldviews of teachers working in Finnish basic education. The previous studies on teachers' beliefs, attitudes and ideologies in relation to professionalism highlight the complexity of the issue when personal beliefs and values confront general educational aims (Häusler et al 2019;Kuusisto et al 2015;Lamminmäki-Vartia, Poulter, and Kuusisto 2020). Teacher's perceptions and opinions about worldviews can affect the pupil's opportunity to develop this worldview on a personal level (Van der Kooij, de Ruyter, and Miedema 2013).…”

Children’s and Youths’ Perspectives on Value Diversity in Education

“…Bronfenbrenner 1979;2005;Sameroff 2010) to learning and development along individual life trajectories (e.g. Kuusisto 2011;Kuusisto & Gearon 2017a;Lamminmäki-Vartia et al 2020). By values we refer to the individual or group level aims, goals and life guiding principles that are consistent across situations and contexts (Schwartz 1992;1997;2012;) -to put simply, what is regarded as important and valuable.…”

“…Besides the encountering of value tensions in the specific learning context, it is important to acknowledge the particular broader socio-historical and political context in which the learning context is embedded, as well as the temporality of both the learning-in-time as well as the continuously altering, also diversifying social and societal, and broader global situation. Value learning is situated in relation to societal diversity of values and worldviews, which is reflected, for instance, in the emerging teacher student professionalism in teacher education as a process of professional development through value learning (Lamminmäki-Vartia et al 2020;Kuusisto & Gearon 2019) and teachers' professional trajectories (e.g. Luodeslampi, Kuusisto & Kallioniemi 2019).…”

“…Later empirical analyses have further contributed to the proof of the concept for, and application of, the model of worldview diversity related to teacher professionalism (see Figure 1) (Lamminmäki-Vartia et al 2020). The figure illustrates how, drawing from student teachers' learning trajectory data (pre-survey, a 6-month process of collaborative learning in a group and as paired with a more experienced in-service teacher, and finally a retrospective interview), the emerging worldview diversity related professionalism develops gradually through the learning process (Lamminmäki-Vartia et al 2020).…”

“…Bronfenbrenner 1979;2005;Sameroff 2010) to learning and development along individual life trajectories (e.g. Kuusisto 2011;Kuusisto & Gearon 2017a;Lamminmäki-Vartia et al 2020). The empirical findings presented here are based on various mixed methods data sets gathered from children, youths, parents, and professionals, in which our main focus is on the age groups 9 to 10, 12 to 13, and 15 to 16 (N = 2781) in Estonia, Finland and Sweden, and in particular the Finnish sub-sample of 1,301 children.…”