The phenomenon of falling in love among people with intellectual disability has not received much attention in research. In this study, seven Finnish young adults (5 women and 2 men) with mild intellectual disability (ID) were asked about their experiences of falling in love. They were interviewed with a qualitative themed interview method. The…

This paper aims at investigating the changing constructions of childhood in two Finnish pre-school education curricula during the time of pre-school reform in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These constructions are part of the underlying curriculum containing postulates and values that influence the written curriculum documents. They determine the…

In modern society, men and women want to have a successful marriage and a career. However, people are faced with new demands at work and home, and therefore, finding a balance between work and family life is a real challenge. In this article, the data consist of stories written by Finns who have been married for more than 10 years (N = 342 married…

Every preschool age child in Finland has the right to child care. Well-educated staff consists of all-round experts who work in versatile contexts with various children in a multi-professional collaboration. This staff is one of the strengths of the Finnish child care system. The aim of this article is to clarify the expertise of those early…

Since 2001 in Finland, all six year olds have had the right to free pre-school education, and almost all pre-school-aged children take advantage of this opportunity. The purpose of this article is to dissect the development of Finnish pre-school education curricula within the societal context and within the changes in trends of curriculum planning…

During the Bologna process, from 2003 to 2006, degree programmes, including teacher education curricula, were developed in line with the two-tier system--the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and modularization. The purpose of the present study is to contribute to the development of teacher education profiling measures by…

In 2009 and 2010, a large group of Finnish children and adolescents got narcolepsy after the vaccination campaign to prevent swine flu pandemic. A sample of children and adolescents who had gotten narcolepsy after 2009 participated in this study. The purpose of this research was to analyse how narcolepsy that developed from the swine flu…

Well-educated staff consists of multidimensional experts, and this staff is one of the strengths of the Finnish day-care system. The aim of this article is to clarify the development of the expertise of those early childhood educators who have qualified as kindergarten teachers. The data consisted of the early educators' stories (n = 80) of their…

Parenthood is a phenomenon that is not easy to research. This study analyzed the emphases of parenting in the light of three comparison groups. The research was grounded on Bradley's (2007) theory of six fundamental parenting tasks. This was a case study focusing in one second-grade classroom. The teacher, 18 parents, and 19 pupils were recruited…