Aims. The aim of the study is to find out what kind of expectancies and values 7 th graders hold in phenomenon-based learning, mathematics, physics and Finnish language. Subjective task values, which are intrinsic value, utility value and attainment value, have been studied a extensively, but phenomenon-based learning is a new perspective in this research field, as it only became established in Finnish schools with the latest curriculum. Subjective expectancies, values, self-efficacy and costs influence adolescents’ performance and school related choices. The study uses expectation value theory applying person-oriented approach. This research answers three research questions: 1) What kind of motivational profiles can be identified in phenomenon-based learning, mathematics, science and Finnish language among middle school students based on expectancies and values? 2) How is the gender distributed in the identified profile groups? 3) Do the identified profile groups differ in terms of school performance? Methods. The data used in the study was collected with an electronic questionnaire, which was answered by 1013 7th grade students from Helsinki. The first research question was studied using latent profile analysis. The second research question was examined by cross-tabulation and the third was examined by one-way analysis of variance. Results and conclusions. Using the profile analysis, five different profile groups were identified from the respondents: phenomenon-oriented (23%), motivated and well-being (24%), weakly motivated (15%), motivated but loaded (16%) and science-oriented (26%). Phenomenon-oriented students were more interested in phenomenon-based learning than in other subjects, although they also considered traditional subjects important. Motivated and well-being were interested and felt competent in all subjects; they were not burdened by studies. Weakly motivated did not value any of the subjects and the study was perceived as burdensome and challenging. Motivated but loaded students hold high attainment value across subject domains but they also showed high cost value. Science-oriented students hold high interest value in mathematics and physics but low interest in phenomenon-based learning. The results were in line with the previous study, but phenomenon-oriented were identified as a new group. Girls were more evenly distributed in all profile groups, while the percentage of boys was clearly lower in phenomenon-oriented group compared to girls. School performance were lower in weakly motivated students compared to other groups.

Temperament is known to be connected with students' school achievement, both academic achievement and school adjustment. In the Finnish school system, school adjustment can be measured by behavior grade. Equal rating is important for students' future education choices. Rating has also influence on students' self-image. In this study, the aim was to examine the connection between self-rated temperament traits and GPA (grade point average) and behavior grade. Also, the possible mediator effect of behavior grade between the connection of temperament traits and behavior grade was examined. The participants of this study were Finnish adolescents (n=4255, average age 15,1). Students evaluated their temperament traits with TABC-R and DOTS-R questionnaires. School achievement was evaluated with student's latest GPA and behavior grade. The connection between grades and temperament traits were examined with correlational analysis and regression analysis. Mediator effect between temperament and GPA was examined with Bootstrapping analysis. The connection was slightly different between GPA and behavior grade. The strongest connection with behavior grade had traits associated with school adjustment, such as impulsivity and negative emotionality. The strongest connection with GPA had traits associated with task orientation, such as persistence and distractibility. Behavior grade mediated the effect between temperament traits and GPA, especially for impulsivity, distractibility, negative emotionality and mood. These results confirm that teachers' ratings are connected with students' temperament, also when evaluating students behavior. Temperament is connected with grades both directly and medially. In future when developing student evaluation criteria, it is important that teachers are aware of the possible influence of temperament traits. The necessity of rating students' behavior with a grade should be discussed. The criteria of evaluating students' behavior at school should be clear, so that assessing temperament traits would be avoided.

Tavoitteet. Tutkimuksen tavoite oli tutkia nuorten kouluminäpystyvyyden kehitystä yläasteen aikana ja selvittää, miten se on yhteydessä myönteiseen suhtautumiseen opettajaan ja kouluun, oppimisvaikeuksiin sekä koulumenestykseen. Kouluminäpystyvyys, eli uskomukset omista taidoista ja suoriutumisesta suhteessa kouluun, on aiemman tutkimuksen mukaan merkittävä tekijä koulussa siksi, että se tukee haasteisiin tarttumista lisäämällä motivaatiota, on positiivisesti yhteydessä koulumenestyksen kanssa ja voi olla merkittävä tekijä jatkokouluttautumisen kannalta. Aiemman tutkimuksen mukaan kouluminäpystyvyyden taso laskee loivasti yläasteen aikana. Menetelmät. Aineisto kerättiin osana Mind the Gap -hanketta vuosina 2014-2016. Osallistujat (7-lk N=1318, 9-lk N=884) asuivat eräässä suuressa pääkaupunkiseudun kaupungissa. Minäpystyvyyttä mitattiin suhteessa kuuteen eri oppiaineeseen. Myönteistä suhtautumista opettajaan ja kouluun sekä oppimisvaikeuksia mitattiin Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitoksen Kouluterveyskyselyn väittämillä. Kaikkia väittämiä arvioitiin Likert-asteikolla. Koulumenestystä mitattiin Opetushallituksen rekisteristä haetuilla arvosanoilla. Käytin parittaista t-testiä tutkiakseni, muuttuiko minäpystyvyyden taso yläasteen aikana. Analysoin regressioanalyysillä, selittivätkö opettajaan ja kouluun suhtautuminen sekä itseraportoidut oppimisvaikeudet kou-luminäpystyvyyden tasoa sekä sitä, miten minäpystyvyys oli yhteydessä arvosanoihin. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Minäpystyvyyden taso oli kohtalaisen korkea yläasteen alussa ja yleinen kouluminäpystyvyys pysyi tasaisena yläasteen aikana. Oppiainekohtainen minäpystyvyys oli 7-luokalla korkeinta taito- ja taideaineissa ja matalinta fysiikassa ja järjestys sen suhteen, kuinka voimakasta minäpystyvyyttä oppiaineissa koettiin, säilyi samana yläasteen aikana. Minäpystyvyyden taso vieraiden kielten ja matematiikan osalta pysyi samana, kun taas äidinkielessä tai suomessa toisena kielenä, fysiikassa sekä biologiassa minäpystyvyyden taso kasvoi ja taito- ja taideaineissa se puolestaan laski. Myönteinen suhtautuminen opettajaan ja kouluun oli yhteydessä yläasteen alussa ja lopussa korkeampaan kouluminäpystyvyyteen, kun taas itseraportoidut oppimisvaikeudet olivat yhteydessä matalampaan kouluminäpystyvyyteen. Kouluminäpystyvyyden ja koulumenestyksen välillä havaittiin positiivisia yhteyksiä, jopa silloin kun aiempi menestys otettiin huomioon ja tämä päti erityisesti matematiikan osalta. Pro gradu -työ on osittain ristiriidassa aiemman tutkimuksen kanssa siitä, että kouluminäpystyvyys laskisi, mutta tukee aiempia tutkimuksia muilta osin ja vahvistaa käsitystä siitä, että korkea minäpystyvyys on merkittävä koulumenestystä tukeva ilmiö.

Objectives This study aimed to examine the motivation of 8th and 9th graders' towards school and sport in a sports oriented class. It also developed a scale that is reliable when used among Finnish young athletes based on SAMSAQ-scale (Gaston-Gayles, 2005). Previous studies have shown that even Finnish young top athletes don't move enough to succeed at the international level. Started in 1990s, the sports oriented classes try to support young athletes to combine studies and sports because the age of 14–15 is crucial for the future plans. This study examined is the current system an optimal solution to support both studies and active sports. It also examined the structure of motivation, how motivated young students are in the different parts of motivation and how the different backgrounds are related to students' motivation. Methods The study was a quantitative one. Material was collected in November-December 2011 from the 8th and 9th graders in sports oriented classes. 221 young students from Helsinki answered to the questionnaire which included the Motivation scale and some background questions. The answers were analyzed by using PASW Statistics 18. Analysis methods used included correlations, Factor Analysis, t-tests and Analysis of Variance. Results and conclusions The scale used in this study didn't work the way presumed and some of the variables had to be removed. The fourth factor, which didn't exist in the original scale, was created. The motivation scale needs to be developed and researched more. Students in sports oriented classes were highly motivated towards sports, towards studies the motivation was little lower. Motivation towards athletic career and competition was clearly lower. Gender, the amount of training and competition were related to part of the students' motivation. Studying in sports oriented class seems to support especially athletes of team sports. Combining the practicing of one sport, other exercises and studies is a complex question. All of the sports oriented classes are doing important job finding an optimal solutions for that.

Goals. Violence is a significant problem in society, thus it is important to recognize its predisposing factors. Psychopathy has been identified as one of the factors that significantly increases the risk for violent behaviour. The core characteristics of psychopathy include manipulation, the absence of feelings of remorse and guiltiness, as well as the inability for empathy. Other factors that may increase the risk of violent behaviour have also been identified, but it is unclear whether these factors retain their effects regardless of the level of psychopathy. In order to prevent the violent behaviour in psychopathic adolescents it is important to identify the factors that increase the risk of violent behaviour and alter the association between psychopathy and violence. The factors regarding family, such as monitoring and the quality of relationship between the parent and the child, have been surveyed to some extent. Some of the results are promising. Neither the socioeconomic status nor performance in school has been surveyed before but it is possible that these factors decrease the risk of violent behaviour. The goal for this study is to examine whether monitoring, good parent-child relationship, good socioeconomic status and good school performance decrease the risk of violent behaviour regardless of the level of psychopathy. In addition, the study examines whether these factors alter the association between psychopathy and violence. Methods. The survey sample is a part of Juvenile Delinquency in Finland 2012 –dataset which is a nationally representative self-report survey. The sample consists of 4855 ninth grade students who completed the survey anonymously online during a school day. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the study questions. Results and conclusions. Monitoring, good parent-child relationship, and good school performance was discovered to reduce the risk of violent behaviour regardless the level of psychopathy. In addition, these factors as well as socioeconomic status altered the association between psychopathy and violence. According to the results the association between psychopathy and violence is weaker in the case of good socioeconomic status than in low socioeconomic status. This result is promising and can indicate that with financial wealth a psychopathic adolescent is less likely to utilize violence to achieve their goals. Furthermore, the results concerning monitoring, good parent-child relationship and good school performance give hope to the notion that these factors may reduce the risk of violence even in adolescents with psychopathic traits. However, more research is needed to make solid conclusions.

The subject for this Master’s thesis is to study how gender is produced in opinion pieces that deal with PISA results for boys and girls. The opinion pieces compared PISA results for boys and girls and from these comparisons various conclusions were drawn on differences between girls and boys in relation to schooling. In this thesis, gender is understood as socially, contextually and culturally constructive. The following research questions were set: 1) What kind of gender discourses are being produced in opinion pieces that deal with PISA results? 2) How do these discourses define gender? Social constructionism, discourse analysis and feminist theory’s critical perspective towards gender guided the analysis of the research material. The research materials used were the opinion pieces which dealt with girls’ and boys’ PISA results, school achievements and schooling, published in Aamulehti and Helsingin Sanomat between 2010-2017. From the research material nine (9) gender discourses were formed. The discourses were named as: worry discourse, boys’ impaired proficiency discourse, threatening future discourse, gender struggle in school discourse, need for gender identification opportunities discourse, the achievers and school favourites discourse, far from school discourse, permitted boyhood discourse, and gendered practises and frameworks discourse. Worry for the boys was central in discussions. Constructing and maintaining polarity and differentiation was a central way of producing gender. Gender was defined as dichotomic, hierarchic and framed by internal unity and, thus, by divergence between the girl and boy groups. In relation to schooling, boys were described as distant, uninterested and unappreciative. It was emphasised in the discussion that pedagogy should be changed to better fit boys’ needs. Girls, on the other hand, were described as successful and having a positive attitude towards their education. In addition to the gender perspective in regard to discussing school achievements and schooling of boys and girls, it would be beneficial to pay attention to other gender-related factors, such as immigrant background and social class, and their importance to school achievements and schooling.

The aim of the present study was to examine what kinds of achievement goal orientation profiles can be identified among sixth-graders and how students with different profiles differ with respect to their education-related personal goals and goal appraisals as well as their academic achievement. Usually researchers have adopted a variable-centred approach and investigated interactions between variables but this study adopted a person-centred approach, which enables the investigation of multiple goals simultaneously. The data used in this study were drawn from the Mind the Gap -research project (2013-2017), funded by the Academy of Finland. The participants were 761 sixth grade students from 32 schools. Utilizing K-means cluster analysis, groups of students with different motivational profiles were identified. The open-ended answers concerning students' education-related personal goals were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Group differences in goal appraisals and academic achievement were examined by means of analysis of variance (ANOVA). Four different achievement goal orientation profiles were found and they were labelled as: indifferent, mastery-oriented, success-oriented and avoidance-oriented. Indifferent students were aware of the importance of school but they were also characterized by avoidance tendencies. Mastery-oriented students predominantly emphasized learning and strove for self-improvement. Success-oriented students aimed for both relative (i.e., outperforming others) and absolute (i.e., getting good grades) success, but they also wanted to learn. Finally, avoidance-oriented students were the least motivated towards schoolwork. The mastery-oriented and success-oriented students had the highest academic achievement and they were most committed and used most time and effort to their educational goals. Indifferent and success-oriented students were more stressed about their educational goals than mastery-oriented students. These results support the idea that schools should recognize and pay attention to differently motivated students. For example, avoidance-oriented students need more aid and support in school engagement than others. Furthermore, success-oriented students need encouragement to study for themselves than others. Also, schools should be aware of that performance-oriented learning environment may increase the social comparison and competition behaviors which may impair motivation.

Johdanto: Ruoan laadullisilla valinnoilla ja ateriarytmillä on mahdollista edistää tai heikentää lasten ja nuorten oppimista. Esimerkiksi verensokerinvaihtelun on todettu vaikuttavan kognitioon ja käyttäytymiseen (Benton 2002, Bellisle 2004). Säännöllisen ateriarytmin on katsottu edistävän koulumenestystä (Hye-Young ym. 2003). Yhä useammalta suomalaisnuorilta aamupala jää väliin (Räsänen 2004). Vain 13 % syö kouluaterian kokonaisuudessaan: pääruokaa, salaattia, leipää ja maitoa (Urho ja Hasunen 2004). Virvoitusjuoma- ja makeisautomaatteja on nykyisin monissa yläkouluissa, varsinaista välipalatarjoilua vain harvoissa. Tavoite: Tässä pro gradu -työssä tutkittiin yläkoululaisten ruokailua ja ateriarytmiä kouluviikon aikana sekä näiden mahdollista yhteyttä koulumenestykseen. Selvityksen tavoite oli tuottaa taustatietoa ja hypoteeseja jatkotutkimusta varten. Aineisto ja menetelmä: Tämä työ oli kvantitatiivinen poikkileikkaustutkimus, joka suoritettiin internet-pohjaisella kyselylomakkeella helmikuussa 2006. Selvitykseen osallistui 881 yläkoululaista yhdeksästä koulusta seitsemältä paikkakunnalta ympäri Suomea. Tulokset: Reilu kolmas nuorista ilmoitti jättävänsä yleensä yhden tai kaksi päivän ateriaa väliin. Aamupala jää väliin joka kuudennelta. Joka kolmas syö koululounaan enintään kolme kertaa viikossa. Nuorten koululounas on yksipuolistunut: pääruoan, leivän ja maidon nauttiminen lounaalla on vähentynyt verrattuna aikaisempiin tutkimuksiin (Urho ja Hasunen 1999, 2004). Suurin osa nuorten välipaloista oli terveellistä perusruokaa, lähinnä leipää, maitoa, mehua ja leivänpäällisiä. Poikkeuksen tekivät koulupäivän aikana nautitut välipalat. Nuorten yleisimmät koulupäivän aikaiset välipalat olivat makeiset ja virvoitusjuomat. Välipalat hankittiin useimmiten koulun automaateista tai koulun ulkopuolella sijaitsevasta kaupasta, kioskista tai huoltoasemalta. Kouluissa, jossa oli välipalatarjontaa, nuoret ostivat harvemmin makeisia ja virvoitusjuomia. Nuoret itse pitivät välipalatarjoilua ja vesipisteitä automaatteja ja kioskia tarpeellisempana kouluympäristössä. Lähes kaikki nuoret (89 %) ilmoittivat kärsineensä oireista kuten vatsakivuista, päänsärystä, huonosta olosta, ärtyisyydestä ja jännityksestä viimeisen viikon aikana. Yleisimpiä oireita olivat väsymys ja ärtyneisyys. Joka viides ilmoitti olevansa yleensä suurimman osan koulupäivää väsynyt, suurin osa ainakin jossain vaiheessa päivää. Ateriarytmin säännöllisyys ja kouluruokailu sekä elintavat kuten nukkuminen ja koettu terveyden tila olivat tilastollisesti merkitsevästi yhteydessä kuvattuihin oireisiin sekä koulumenestykseen. Tytöillä myös liikunnan harrastaminen ja aamupalan syöminen olivat tilastollisesti merkitsevästi yhteydessä koulumenestykseen. Johtopäätökset: Nuoret tekevät yhä useammin itsenäisesti valintoja ruoan ja ateriarytminsä suhteen. Kun nuoret ruokailevat yksin, mallioppimisen edut ja ravitsemussuositukset saattavat jäädä saavuttamatta. Koululounaan sisällön yksipuolistuminen, koulupäivän aikaisen välipalan laatu ja ateriatyyppien päällekkäisyys saattavat olla seurausta tästä. Säännöllinen ateriarytmi ja kouluruokailu olivat merkitsevästi yhteydessä sekä koulumenestykseen että stressinkaltaisten oireiden määrään.