Background: In recent years, early childhood education (ECE) has faced many reforms that have led to new requirements for pedagogy. Due to this evolution, there is, in turn, an increasing need to enhance the professional competence of ECE teachers through further training. Purpose: This article examines ECE teachers’ interpretations of the changes in their pedagogical thinking during a further training course for ECE teachers in Finland. The aim of this qualitative research was to investigate the professional development that can be related to the further training. The context of the study was an 18-month long ECE teachers’ further training course called ‘Pedagogy of Early Childhood Education during Changing Practices’. Sample: The study involved 32 ECE teachers participating in the further training course. The data consisted of the written responses of the further training participants in respect of their interpretation of pedagogy. Design and methods: The research was carried out using a participatory action approach. The written data were collected from the teacher participants. Thematic analysis was firstly conducted inductively from the data. In the second phase, content analysis was applied using abductive reasoning. The theory-based content analysis was conducted using pedagogical leadership aspects of the theory of human capital. Results: The features of professional development that were identified were explored through the lens of pedagogical leadership and grouped into four dimensions: increased knowledge, awareness of the quality of previously implemented pedagogy, developmental skills, and ability to make the case for ECE pedagogy. Conclusions: The research identified connections and relationships between the further training and professional development in pedagogical leadership. The significance of and demand for a participatory action research approach to further training for ECE teachers are discussed.

Finnish early childhood education (ECE) is defined in education policies and research as an activity with an emphasis on pedagogy as a holistic and Nordic model of education. Pedagogical competence can be viewed as a special expertise of teachers responsible for the implementation of pedagogy in ECE. However, it is unclear how a teacher’s pedagogical competence is defined, understood, and implemented in pedagogical practices and policies. Previous studies define pedagogical competence from different, often narrow, perspectives and various skills have been defined to be a part of teachers’ pedagogical expertise. In this study, we aim to take a closer look at how teachers’ pedagogical competence is defined in research literature in Finland. As our method, we use a narrative literature review of research papers published between 2010 and 2020. We were able to identify fourteen different definitions of pedagogical competencies that could be categorized into three main categories: (a) meta-competencies, (b) professional competencies, and (c) practical competencies. In summary, we argue that pedagogical competence is often narrowly understood. To implement high-quality ECE, teachers’ pedagogical competence should be considered broadly and wholly. Particularly, the shared values and reflection of ethical questions are essential for supporting children’s development and learning through holistic education.

THIS STUDY EXAMINES the experiences of early childhood teachers in their everyday pedagogical work. The data for this qualitative study consists of the diaries of early childhood teachers. Layder's (1993) research map has been used to structure the theoretical background and provide an analytical frame to categorise the data. The results show that early childhood teachers’ work is complex and demanding, but they did encounter successes in their work. Certain common themes were identified on the levels of Layder's research map. These themes, which were experienced both as successes and challenges, included laws and steering documents, values and attitudes, pedagogical principles and solutions, leadership, collaborative structures, interaction, professional self-conception and skills. The challenges in the teachers’ work were caused by differing professional values, a lack of discussion, and inoperative organisational structures and practices, among others.

Problems encountered in top-down school reforms have repeatedly highlighted the significance of teachers’ agency in educational change. At the same time, temporality has been identified as a key element in teachers’ agency, with teachers’ beliefs about the future and experiences of the past shaping their agentic orientations. However, research on teachers’ future orientations is typically limited to short-term trajectories, as opposed to long-term visions of education. To address this, we draw on a futures studies perspective to give more explicit attention to teachers’ long-term visions of their work. We argue that the method of future narratives, already well-established in the field of futures studies, is a fruitful methodological framework for studying these long-term visions. In this paper, we first show that the futures studies approach is theoretically compatible with the ecological model of teacher agency. We then outline the method of future narratives to point out the possibilities it offers. Finally, we illustrate our approach with an exploratory analysis of a small set of future narratives where teachers imagine a future workday. Our analysis reveals that the narratives offer a rich view of teachers’ longer-term visions of education, including instances of reflecting on the role of education in relation to broader societal developments. Our study suggests that this novel approach can provide tools for research on teacher agency as well as practical development of teacher education, addressing long-term educational issues and policies.

Teacher–child interaction is central in pedagogical activities in early childhood education and care (ECEC). In these activities, teachers’ visual gaze is a valuable tool for communication, but this has received little attention in ECEC research. Recent technological advancements in eye-tracking provide an approach to take a deeper look at how teachers focus their visual gaze during activities. Our study focused on three ECEC teachers’ visual gaze behavior during pedagogical activities in a group of children under three years of age (later toddlers) in Finland, to gain understanding of how teachers use their gaze to facilitate interactions and pedagogy. The data were collected using eye-tracking glasses in two types of activities: play and guided activity. From these eye-tracking recordings, we identified pedagogical episodes (e.g., guidance). To analyze teachers’ visual gaze behavior, we also coded the fixations to the different areas of interest (e.g., teaching materials). The findings showed that the teachers’ aim for interaction with children was associated with their visual gaze behavior on teacher- and child-initiated episodes. Moreover, the activity's structure and the teacher's position also played a role in how teachers focus their visual gaze. In this article, we also discuss the potential of eye-tracking technology in reflection of practices implemented in ECEC and we argue that the use of eye-tracking technology is an area that merits further exploration.

Huoli ammatinvaihtajien määrästä opetus- ja kasvatusalalla on yleistynyt Suomessa kuluneen vuosikymmenen aikana. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastelemme ammatista poistuneiden varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien (n = 164) kokemuksia ammatinvaihtoon johtaneista tekijöistä sekä ammatinvaihdon asemoitumista työuran eri vaiheisiin. Monimenetelmällisen tutkimuksen analyysitapoina olivat laadullinen sisällönanalyysi sekä tilastollinen vertailu. Paikansimme ammatinvaihtoon johtaneita tekijöitä neljälle tasolle: yhteiskunnalliselle, organisaation, relationaaliselle sekä yksilölliselle tasolle. Tuloksemme osoittavat ammatinvaihtopäätöksen muodostuvan useista eri tekijöistä, emmekä voineet paikantaa yksittäistä ammatinvaihtoon johtanutta syytä työuran tiettyyn vaiheeseen. Ammatinvaihtopäätös näyttäytyy prosessina, jossa ammatin pitovoima jatkuvien kuormitustekijöiden vuoksi vähitellen katoaa. Kokonaisuutena voidaan todeta, että varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien ammatinvaihto kytkeytyy laajemminkin työelämässä tunnistettuun intensifikaatioon ja prekarisaatioon. Ammatinvaihdon taustalta voidaan tunnistaa myös naistyöhön liittyviä piirteitä.