Varhaiskasvatushenkilöstön käsityksiä lasten tunteiden säätelytaitojen kehittymisestä – Käytäntöön integroitu koulutus ammatillisen kehittymisen tukena

Authors

• Marika Koivuniemi University of Oulu, Finland
• Susanna Kinnunen University of Oulu, Finland
• Kristiina Mänty University of Oulu, Finland
• Hanna Järvenoja University of Oulu, Finland
• Piia Näykki University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Keywords:

 emotion regulation, tunteiden säätely, co-regulation, kanssasäätely, early childhood educators, varhaiskasvatushenkilöstö, perceptions of early childhood educators, varhaiskasvatushenkilöstön käsitykset

Abstract

Children need adults’ support in learning to regulate their emotions. In order for early childhood educators to provide children versatile and sensitive support for emotion regulation, they, in turn, need to be aware of their role as co-regulators of children’s emotions. Especially, awareness and perceptions of early childhood educators about emotion regulation play an important role in shaping the pedagogical activities of day care centers and in providing emotion regulation support for children. This study examines the perceptions the early childhood educators have about co-regulation of children’s emotions and how work-integrated educational training is influencing these perceptions. The study was carried out in 11 Finnish daycare centers and a total of 36 early childhood education professionals participated in the study. The results show that early childhood educators see the importance of supporting children’s emotion regulation skills but at the same time the descriptions of how co-regulation of children’s emotions is implemented remain on a general level and no precise rationale or practical actions are spontaneously mentioned. The results indicate that work-integrated educational training increased the participants’ awareness, especially in terms of perceptions related to presence of adults and interaction between children and adults. In the future, a detailed investigation of how the effects of educational interventions make a difference to the activities of the day care center is needed.