Antti Juvonen

Does Arts Education Develop School Readiness? Teachers’ and Artists’ Points of View on an Art Education Project

More than 98 percent of children in Finland attend preschool, where different kinds of projects are carried out in order to strengthen the childrens abilities. This article focuses on the effects of one arts education project from a school readiness point of view. The main question was, How did the Helsinki arts education project affect the childrens learning skills and attitudes? The target groups were children aged three to nine years who participated in the arts project in day care centers and schools. A multidimensional evaluation method was used for the analyses. The research data consisted of interviews of the program artists and educators (n = 23), follow-up reports (n = 9), and other materials. The results show that the program motivated children and aroused their interest in thinking, problem-solving, practicing, and learning. It offered children opportunities to experience success, which increased their self-confidence and skills. The project also strengthened their abilities in listening, goal-oriented work, evaluating others’ work, and receiving feedback, which are all abilities required for school entrance. The subject matter of their school courses was also integrated into their achievements.

Students’ motivation to study music: The Finnish context

This article reports the Finnish component of an international mapping exercise concentrating on students’ motivation to study music as compared to other school subjects. The study was based on expectancy-value theoretical framework, and the data was collected using a questionnaire. The questions focused on students’ competence beliefs, values and perceptions of task difficulty. A sample of 1654 students (grades 5—12) was taken from the Finnish elementary (lower and higher levels) and upper secondary schools. The questionnaire was sent to all Finnish schools, with the principals acting as gatekeepers. The data was generated at schools from all over Finland, and it may be considered representative. The results show that Finnish children like music education, although they do not consider it among the most valuable school subjects. Those students who learned music also outside school seemed to be more interested in all schools subjects than were other students.

Castles made of sand – a psychodynamic interpretation of Jimi Hendrix's life and music

Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970), the greatest innovator of electric guitar, made primitive, extremely powerful music, which was a turning point for psychedelic rock music. The authors investigated Hendrixs biography and music for hidden meanings, and analysed ballads about a mystic female figure. Hendrix compares the idealized mother figure to the Virgin Mary, capable of almost anything. Presumably the most meaningful factor of Hendrixs song writing was the mother–child relationship. Hendrixs early life was traumatized by poverty and his parents’ severe marital problems. His mother suffered from pneumonia and alcoholism. Her traumatic death influenced Jimis song writing throughout his life. He often composed his music under the influence of psychedelic drugs. The method is existential-phenomenological because it interprets the traumatic life events behind Hendrixs music. According to psychoanalysis, music expresses psychic events which require processing. In this approach music has an autobiographic meaning. It is similar to composer biographies where music is seen as documents through which we can understand life and significant experiences. In the music therapy approach used, a therapist learns to understand the patient through his/her expressions and identifying with them. Hendrixs musical sounds and symbols talk directly to the subconscious. It is obvious that Hendrixs extraordinary creativity seems to compensate for the severe traumas of his early life.

OPEART: Music Theatre Productions Within Teacher Education: Enhancing Communal Engaged Learning

The Finnish school produces good results; however, reports by teachers and students suggest a lack of enjoyment in schools with an atmosphere described as unapproachable. This atmosphere has resulted in school enjoyment problems in Finnish schools. To implement changes in schools, it is necessary to address changes in teacher education. We describe an innovative teacher education program that provides opportunities for enhancing communal engaged learning. The program includes music theatre as a basic element and focuses on expression, cooperative learning and experiential learning. The program is called OpeArt, which started in Savonlinna, Finland, in 2014. In this program, students encounter elements supporting their growth as teachers in and through theatre/drama and expressive processes and elements. The program contributes to the development of personality, creativity, courage, self-expression, collaboration and project execution. The basic elements of the OpeArt program are phenomenon based, with project-, cooperative- and inquiry-based learning. Students are encouraged to expand outside their comfort zones and explore their limits and possibilities by experiencing new personal and artistic horizons.

Closing down schools and joining them together as experienced by teachers, pupils and students

Many Finnish country schools were closed down since 1960s when the industrialization drew people in cities to work. Today, also big schools are closed down, building bigger units in hope of economic savings. (Autti & Hyry-Beihammer 2009; Korpinen 2010). Driving down schools have also become more common all over the world. (f. i. Kretchmar 2011; Jones 2005). The practice schools of the Finnish Universities have also ended up in closing and moving. The New legislation concerning universities (2010) made the funding worse, and the universities save by closing their filial units separate from the mother universities. In 2012 both Oulu and Tampere Universities closed their filial units moving the action to main campuses. In 2016 the University of Eastern Finland decided to move the Savonlinna campus to Joensuu in 2018. Our research explores the consequences of the decision. We focus on experiences of teachers, students and other personnel about the decision. The decision took months to make and that?s why the respondents were asked to write about their feelings before and after the decision making by an electronic questionnaire.We got altogether 108 answers (76 teacher students, 28 lecturers and professors, 4 other personnel). The length of the answers was between a few lines to long essays. The data was analyzed using content analyzes. (Attride-Stirling 2001). The analyzing is still going on but the preliminary results show strong emotions. During the decision making, a strong hope and belief about the campus remaining in Savonlinna was evident. After the decision the emotions went from grief to despair and rage.The personnel felt overtaken in the decision making processes. Moving to the main campus felt oppressive. The students felt being betrayed because they had especially wanted to study in Savonlinna. Those whose studies were in the end can finish them in Savonlinna, but the new students have to start their studies twice; first in Savonlinna and later in Joensuu.Because the decision cannot be changed, it is resisted in other ways. The personnel try to do only the most necessary and students aim in speeding their studies to avoid moving. The research was seen therapeutic as it offered a possibility to reflect what had been experienced. It was kind of saying goodbye to a difficult matter.

Finnish primary and secondary school students’ interest in music and mathematics relating to enjoyment of the subject and perception of the importance and usefulness of the subject

Based on an expectancy-value theoretical framework and data (n = 1654) collected in 29 Finnish municipalities using a structured questionnaire, this study examines primary (grades 5–6), lower secondary (grades 7–9) and upper secondary (grades 10–12) students’ motivation in music and mathematics. It explores in detail the students’ interest in music and mathematics inside and outside school, primarily from the point of view of enjoyment of the subject and the perceptions about the importance and usefulness of the subject. However, it also investigates the respondents’ view of the difficulty of the subject, the popularity of the subject, self-competence in the subject, and gender. The main results are: 1) In general, music is a more interesting subject than mathematics, but it is more interesting outside school than in school. Mathematics is more interesting in school and girls are more interested in music, whereas boys are more interested in mathematics, 2) Interest in music and mathematics inside and outside school can be explained by the enjoyment related to studying the subjects and the view of the importance and usefulness of the subjects, and 3) An intrinsic motivation in mathematics strengthens a positive relationship with music.