When classroom observations are increasingly used for accountability and evaluation purposes, a deeper understanding of the psychometric properties of such measurement tools is needed. The present study took a unique approach to examine the psychometric properties of a commonly used classroom observation measure by testing the reliability of…

This study investigated associations between quality of the teacher-student relationship (closeness and conflict) and teachers' (N = 48) visual focus of attention in Grade 1 classrooms in fall and spring, and it explored to what extent students' (N = 650) gender and task-avoidant behaviour moderated the associations. Results showed first that…

Although sensuous and embodied engagement is an integral part of child--environment relationalities, the intersections of aesthetics, children and environments remain scarcely addressed. As a response, this study develops a concept of 'aesthetic flux' to delve into the sensuous dynamics of matter and bodies in the context of a storying workshop in…

Because of its regularity, it is relatively easy to learn to read and spell in Finnish. However, a specific hurdle in spelling acquisition seems to be the doubling of consonant letters. In this study on consonant letter doubling spelling in Finnish children (91 Grade 1 and 191 Grade 2 children), we asked two questions. First, are items with double…

This study examines primary-school children's beliefs about their school performance at the end of their first school year in Finland and feedback that they have received, and furthermore possible gender differences between these beliefs. Children from Grade 1 (N = 544), approximately 7 years old, were interviewed. The data were assessed using…

The aim of this research was to examine if a set of three science and technology workshops would promote first-grade pupils' science-related competence beliefs. The first workshop dealt with electric circuits and related handicraft tasks. The second workshop involved programming with Lego Mindstorms robots. The third workshop was related to…

Background: The adult reading history questionnaire (ARHQ) is frequently used in research on adult dyslexia and family risk for dyslexia. However, this measure is lengthy (23 items), reducing its applicability in studies with extensive assessment batteries. Methods: We identified the best-performing ARHQ items in a sample of 396 Finnish adults…

The aim of the study was to analyse literacy instruction activities and their associations with the reading performance of first graders in Estonia and Finland, two countries that share similar orthographies and educational systems but differ in the onset of formal reading instruction. The contents of 33 Literacy lessons in first grade spring were…

This study investigated teachers' focus of attention and stress in first-grade classrooms. Teachers' (n = 53) focus of attention was recorded in fall and spring with a mobile eye-tracking device, and the teachers reported stress via questionnaires. Correlation analysis was used to examine association between teacher stress (exhaustion, cynicism,…

Self-efficacious children are expected to be more task-focused in challenging achievement situations and consequently have better chances of overcoming learning difficulties than children who have lower self-efficacy. The present study investigates this presumption with Finnish-speaking first graders struggling with reading acquisition (N = 285).…

The present study investigated bidirectional associations between teachers' sense of inadequacy and self-efficacy and factors related to them across one academic year. Teachers (N = 52) rated their sense of inadequacy and self-efficacy in fall and spring, and reported the number of students in need of support in spring. The results of cross-lagged…

A national-level dataset (n = 7770) at grade 1 of primary school is re-analyzed to study preconditions in proficiency in mathematical concepts, operations and mathematical abstractions and thinking. The focus is on those pupils whose preconditions are so low that they are below the first measurable level of proficiency in the common framework with…

In this paper we present statistical analyses of three textbooks used by Swedish teachers to support year one children's learning of mathematics. One, Eldorado, is authored by Swedish teachers, another, Favorit, is a Swedish adaptation of a popular Finnish series and the third, Singma, is a Swedish adaptation of a Singapore series. Data were coded…

The aim of the study was to examine which predictor variables are related to literacy skills among monolingual Swedish (n = 269) and bilingual Finnish-Swedish (n = 229) children at the first grade in the Swedish-speaking schools in Finland. The participants were assessed in phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid automatized naming (RAN),…

In this longitudinal study, we examined what kind of profiles of reading fluency and spelling skills could be identified among pupils (N = 467) and how stable these profiles were during the first three years of school. We also investigated how monolingual (Swedish) and simultaneously bilingual (Finnish-Swedish) pupils and gender were distributed…