Essay topics and literature

What is a essay?

An es­say is a short pie­ce of wri­ting on a to­pic re­la­ted to the cour­se, whe­re you have se­lec­ted the app­ro­ach and for which you have got­ten the te­ac­her’s app­ro­val. An es­say is not a the­sis and it does not have to cre­a­te new know­led­ge on the to­pic but show ex­per­ti­se ac­qui­red from sour­ce li­te­ra­tu­re. Ho­we­ver, an es­say dif­fers from a sum­ma­ry as the pur­po­se is to pro­du­ce an in­de­pen­dent text on the se­lec­ted to­pic ba­sed on a num­ber of sour­ces. Your pers­pec­ti­ve and opi­ni­ons are va­lu­ab­le but re­mem­ber to al­ways jus­ti­fy them ca­re­ful­ly. The most im­por­tant cha­rac­te­ris­tic of an es­say – the in­di­vi­du­al voi­ce – does not mean free stre­am of cons­ci­ous­ness as it is a scien­ti­fic text, but a well-re­a­so­ned ana­ly­sis ba­sed on sour­ce ma­te­ri­als and li­te­ra­tu­re and the ref­lec­ti­ons ri­sing from them.

A good gui­de­li­ne is that you can com­ment on the li­te­ra­tu­re and have a dis­cus­si­on with it, a kind of a di­a­lo­gue. An es­say shows ex­per­ti­se on the to­pic and an un­ders­tan­ding and com­mand of the sour­ce ma­te­ri­als.

In eva­lu­a­ti­on of the es­say, at­ten­ti­on is paid to how well the to­pic is nar­ro­wed down, com­mand of the cour­se con­tents, ne­at­ness of the layout, gram­mar, and the out­li­ne and struc­tu­re of the es­say. For the eva­lu­a­ti­on of the con­tents, it is also con­si­de­red how well the ar­gu­ments and in­terp­re­ta­ti­ons have been jus­ti­fied. Ple­a­se, read es­say inst­ruc­ti­ons ca­re­ful­ly be­fo­re you start wri­ting and also check the for­mat of the es­say be­fo­re re­tur­ning the es­say for eva­lu­a­ti­on. Eva­lu­a­ti­on sca­le is Pass/Fail.

First essay: What is family?

In this first es­say you will exp­lo­re dif­fe­rent the­o­ries and con­cepts con­cer­ning fa­mi­ly and the de­fi­ni­ti­ons of the fa­mi­ly. Ba­sed on the li­te­ra­tu­re you draw up the es­say in which you exa­mi­ne what is a fa­mi­ly, it is de­fi­ned in dif­fe­rent the­o­ries and how the dif­fe­rent con­cepts dif­fer from each ot­her for examp­le in are­as of dif­fe­rent scien­ces. You should also exa­mi­ne how your own views and as­sump­ti­ons are si­mi­lar dif­fe­rent in re­la­ti­on to the re­se­arch know­led­ge. The length of the es­say is 7 pa­ges (the co­ver, the tab­les of con­tent and re­fe­ren­ces not inc­lu­des in this num­ber). You should wri­te this es­say ac­cor­ding to gi­ven es­say inst­ruc­ti­ons.

Li­te­ra­tu­re for es­say:

1. Kat­he­ri­ne R. Al­len, K. A. & Hen­der­son, A. C. 2017. Fa­mi­ly The­o­ries: Foun­da­ti­ons and App­li­ca­ti­ons. (choo­se 3–4 app­li­cab­le in your is­sue)

2. Sih­vo­nen, E. 2020. From fa­mi­ly po­li­cy to pa­ren­ting sup­port: Pa­ren­ting-re­la­ted an­xie­ty in Fin­nish fa­mi­ly sup­port pro­jects.

3. Castrén, A-M. 2014. In­si­ders and out­si­ders in step­fa­mi­lies: Adults’ and child­ren’s views on fa­mi­ly boun­da­ries.

Second essay: Parents, parenting and child rearing

For the se­cond es­say, you should col­lect e.g., du­ring a month, news and ar­tic­les from pa­pers and ma­ga­zi­nes, which con­si­der fa­mi­ly and pa­ren­ting is­su­es and child re­a­ring. Then you should exp­lo­re from the data you col­lec­ted, how be­liefs, at­ti­tu­des and views, pre­sen­ted in the data, pro­por­ti­o­na­te to scien­ti­fic know­led­ge. You can uti­li­ze your stu­dies of scien­ti­fic re­se­arch met­hods, if you have per­for­med them. You will do a small stu­dy in this task, which is ba­sed on li­te­ra­tu­re desc­ri­bed un­der. Ple­a­se, choo­se 4 ar­tic­les and use that li­te­ra­tu­re in your es­say (10 pa­ges, (the co­ver and the tab­les of con­tent and bib­li­og­rap­hy not inc­lu­ded in this num­ber). Wri­te your es­say ac­cor­ding to gi­ven es­say inst­ruc­ti­ons.

Li­te­ra­tu­re (choo­se 4 ar­tic­les):

1. Sork­ki­la, M., & Au­no­la, K. 2020. Risk fac­tors for pa­ren­tal burn­out among Fin­nish pa­rents: The role of so­ci­al­ly presc­ri­bed per­fec­ti­o­nism. Jour­nal of Child and Fa­mi­ly Stu­dies, 29 (3), 648–659.

2. Nie­mi, P., Nur­mi, J.-E., Lyy­ra, A.-L., Lerk­ka­nen, M.-K., Le­po­la, J., Pos­ki­par­ta, E., & Poik­keus, A.-M. 2011. Task avoi­dan­ce, num­ber skills and pa­ren­tal le­ar­ning dif­fi­cul­ties as pre­dic­tors of poor res­pon­se to inst­ruc­ti­on. Jour­nal of Le­ar­ning Di­sa­bi­li­ties, 44, 459–471.

3. Lan­ki­nen, V., Läh­teen­mäki, M., Kal­jo­nen, A. & Kor­pi­lah­ti, P. 2020. Fat­her–child ac­ti­vi­ties and pa­ter­nal at­ti­tu­des in ear­ly child lan­gu­a­ge de­ve­lop­ment: the STEPS stu­dy.

4. Nei­to­la, M. 2018. Pa­rents as te­ac­hers and gui­des of their child­ren’s so­ci­al skills. Jour­nal of Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­ti­on Re­se­arch 7(2), 392–414.

5. Läh­teen­mäki, M., Ha­ky­e­mez-Paul, S. & Pih­la­ja, P. 2019. For­mal and in­for­mal sour­ces of pa­ter­nal sup­port in ear­ly pa­rent­hood. Ear­ly Child De­ve­lop­ment and Care.

6. Ma­li­nen, K., Rön­kä, A., Sevón, E., & Scho­e­bi, D. 2017. The dif­fi­cul­ty of being a pro­fes­si­o­nal, a pa­rent, and a spou­se on the same day: Dai­ly spil­lo­ver of workp­la­ce in­te­rac­ti­ons on pa­ren­ting, and the role of spou­sal sup­port. Jour­nal of Pre­ven­ti­on and In­ter­ven­ti­on in the Com­mu­ni­ty, 45 (3), 156–167.

7. Ris­ti­kari. T., Meri­kuk­ka, M. & Hako­vir­ta, M. 2018. The sig­ni­fi­can­ce of ti­ming and du­ra­ti­on of so­ci­al as­sis­tan­ce re­ceipt du­ring child­hood on ear­ly adult out­co­mes. Lon­gi­tu­di­nal and Life Cour­se Stu­dies 9(3), 312–326.

8. Beck­mey­er, J. J. et al. 2020. Fa­mi­ly ma­na­ge­ment prac­ti­ces and po­si­ti­ve youth de­ve­lop­ment in step­fa­mi­lies and sing­le‐mot­her fa­mi­lies. Fa­mi­ly Re­la­ti­ons, 69(1), 92–108.

9. Rön­kä, A., Ma­li­nen, K., Met­sä­pel­to, R.-L., Laak­so, M.-L., Sevón, E., & Ver­ho­ef-van Dorp, M. 2017. Pa­ren­tal wor­king time pat­terns and child­ren’s so­ci­o­e­mo­ti­o­nal well-being: Com­pa­ring wor­king pa­rents in Fin­land, the Uni­ted King­dom, and the Net­her­lands. Child­ren and Youth Ser­vi­ces Re­view, 76, 133–141.

10. Sevón, E. 2015. Who’s Got the Po­wer?: Young Child­ren’s Po­wer and Agen­cy in the Child-Pa­rent Re­la­ti­ons­hip. In­ter­na­ti­o­nal Jour­nal of Child, Youth and Fa­mi­ly Stu­dies, 6 (4–1), 622–645.

11. Ha­ky­e­mez-Paul, S., Pih­la­ja, P. & Sil­ven­noi­nen, H. 2018. Fac­tors af­fec­ting ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tors’ views and prac­ti­ces of pa­ren­tal in­vol­ve­ment. Jour­nal of Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­ti­on Re­se­arch.

12. Or ot­her scien­ti­fic ar­tic­les you can find (not ol­der than 10 ye­ars).

Third essay: Cooperation with a family

In the last es­say of the cour­se, you stu­dy coo­pe­ra­ti­on with a fa­mi­ly and ho­mes. As a te­ac­her you meet and in­te­ract with many and many kinds of fa­mi­lies and ho­mes. Coo­pe­ra­ti­on with pa­rents and gu­ar­di­ans is ne­ces­sa­ry to sup­port child­ren’s le­ar­ning and pa­ren­tal child re­a­ring. Coo­pe­ra­ti­on is also sta­tu­to­ry for pro­fes­si­o­nals.

First­ly, you should fa­mi­li­a­ri­ze with Fin­nish Na­ti­o­nal cur­ri­cu­lums (Ear­ly child­hood, edu­ca­ti­on and care; Ba­sic Edu­ca­ti­on)
Se­cond­ly, you draw up the es­say in which you exa­mi­ne the sig­ni­fi­can­ce of the coo­pe­ra­ti­on with the ho­mes and fa­mi­lies from the point of view of the child’s growth and le­ar­ning. You can go deep­ly into the chal­len­ges of the coo­pe­ra­ti­on and fin­ding so­lu­ti­ons to them, or con­cent­ra­te on po­si­ti­ve and func­ti­o­nal coo­pe­ra­ti­on.

You can also choo­se coo­pe­ra­ti­on in spe­ci­al edu­ca­ti­on for your is­sue and exa­mi­ne what kind of is­su­es and pre­mi­ses are es­sen­ti­al in that. You may also cre­a­te and de­ve­lop the mo­del of the coo­pe­ra­ti­on – such as you see it. You can de­fi­ne your sub­ject your­self and pro­vi­de it with a he­a­ding and then wri­te an es­say of 10 pa­ges (ba­sed on the li­te­ra­tu­re un­der, the co­ver and the tab­les of con­tent and bib­li­og­rap­hy not inc­lu­ded in this num­ber, ac­cor­ding to gi­ven es­say inst­ruc­ti­ons). Choo­se 4 ar­tic­les from the list, and you can also use ot­her ar­tic­les you have found.

Li­te­ra­tu­re (choo­se 4 ar­tic­les):

1. Cur­ri­cu­lums and laws con­cer­ning edu­ca­ti­on and coo­pe­ra­ti­on in it

2. Ha­ky­e­mez-Paul, S., Pih­la­ja, P. & Sil­ven­noi­nen, H. 2018. Pa­ren­tal in­vol­ve­ment in Fin­nish day care – what do ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tors say? Eu­ro­pe­an Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­ti­on Re­se­arch Jour­nal, 26 (2).

3. Vla­sov, J. & Hu­ja­la, E. 2017. Pa­rent-te­ac­her co-ope­ra­ti­on in ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­ti­on – Di­rec­tors’ views to chan­ges in the USA, Rus­sia, and Fin­land. Eu­ro­pe­an Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­ti­on Re­se­arch Jour­nal (EE­CERJ), 25(5), 732–746.

4. Uusi­mäki, L., Yng­ves­son, T. E., Gar­vis, S. & Har­ju-Luuk­kai­nen, H. 2019. Pa­ren­tal In­vol­ve­ment in ECEC in Fin­land and in Swe­den. In S. Gar­vis et al. (eds.), Nor­dic Fa­mi­lies, Child­ren and Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­ti­on, Stu­dies in Child­hood and Youth.

5. Heis­ka­nen, N. et. al. 2019. In­ter­tex­tu­al Voi­ces of Child­ren, Pa­rents, and Spe­ci­a­lists in In­di­vi­du­al Edu­ca­ti­on Plans. Scan­di­na­vi­an Jour­nal of Edu­ca­ti­o­nal Re­se­arch, 36–53.

6. Ala­suu­ta­ri, M. 2010. Stri­ving at part­ners­hip: pa­rent–prac­ti­ti­o­ner re­la­ti­ons­hips in Fin­nish ear­ly edu­ca­tors’ talk. Eu­ro­pe­an Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­ti­on Re­se­arch Jour­nal.

7. Orell, M. & Pih­la­ja, P. Coo­pe­ra­ti­on bet­ween home and school in the Fin­nish Core Cur­ri­cu­lum 2014. Nor­dic Stu­dies in Edu­ca­ti­on 2020; 2: 107–128.

8. Ki­kas, E., Poi­ko­nen, P.-L, Kon­to­nie­mi, M., Nii­lo, A., Lyy­ra, A.-L., & Lerk­ka­nen, M.-K. 2011. Mu­tal trust bet­ween kin­der­gar­ten te­ac­her and mot­her and its re­la­ti­ons with fa­mi­ly cha­rac­te­ris­tics in Es­to­nia and Fin­land. Scan­di­na­vi­an Jour­nal of Edu­ca­ti­o­nal Re­se­arch, 55 (1), 23–37.

9. Lerk­ka­nen, M-K., Ki­kas, E., Pa­ka­ri­nen, E., Poi­ko­nen, P-L & Nur­mi, J-E (in press). Mot­hers’ Trust To­ward Te­ac­hers in Re­la­ti­on to Te­ac­hing Prac­ti­ces. Ear­ly Child­hood Re­se­arch Qu­ar­ter­ly.

10. Räty, H., Ka­sa­nen, K., & Lai­ne, N. 2009. Pa­rents’ par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on in their child’s schoo­ling. Scan­di­na­vi­an Jour­nal of Edu­ca­ti­o­nal Re­se­arch, 53(3), 277–293.

11. Wid­ding, G. 2012. Prac­ti­ces in home-school coo­pe­ra­ti­on – a gen­de­red sto­ry? Te­ac­hing Edu­ca­ti­on 24(2), 209–221.

12. Thomp­son, I., Wil­lem­se, M., Mut­ton, T., Burn, K. & De Brüi­ne, E. 2018. Te­ac­her Edu­ca­ti­on and Fa­mi­ly-School Part­ners­hips in Dif­fe­rent Con­texts: A cross Count­ry Ana­ly­sis of Na­ti­o­nal Te­ac­her Edu­ca­ti­on Fra­me­works Ac­ross a Ran­ge of Eu­ro­pe­an Count­ries. Jour­nal of Edu­ca­ti­on for Te­ac­hing.

13. Alan­ko, A. 2018. Pre­pa­ring Pre-ser­vi­ce Te­ac­hers for Home-School Coo­pe­ra­ti­on – Exp­lo­ring Fin­nish Te­ac­her edu­ca­ti­on prog­ram­mes. Jour­nal of Edu­ca­ti­on for Te­ac­hing, 44(3), 321–332.

14. Ave­rill, R., Met­son, A. & Bai­ley, S. 2016. En­han­cing Pa­ren­tal In­vol­ve­ment in Stu­dent Le­ar­ning. Cur­ri­cu­lum Mat­ters, 12, 109–131.

15. Böök, M. L. & Pe­rä­lä-Lit­tu­nen, S. 2015. Res­pon­sa­bi­li­ty in Home-School Re­la­ti­ons: Fin­nish Pa­rents Views. Child­ren and So­cie­ty, 29(6), 615–625.

16. Eps­tein, J. L. 2013. Fo­re­word: Re­a­dy or not? Pre­pa­ring Fu­tu­re Edu­ca­tors for School, Fa­mi­ly and Com­mu­ni­ty Part­ners­hips. Te­ac­hing Edu­ca­ti­on, 24(2), 115–118.

17. Helgøy, I. & Hom­me, A. 2017. Inc­re­a­sing Pa­ren­tal Par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on at School Le­vel: A ’Ci­ti­zen to ser­ve’ or a ’cus­to­mer to steer’? Nor­dic Jour­nal of Stu­dies in Edu­ca­ti­o­nal Po­li­cy.