This study sought to gain a deeper understanding of the spatiality and spatial justice of guidance counselling in basic education. The spatial framework was applied to analyse the recognition of diversity and adolescents' positioning in guidance counselling (lessons, excursions and information events). This study used a phenomenological research…

School burnout, defined as prolonged feelings of exhaustion, cynical attitude and inadequacy feelings towards schoolwork, can lead to mental problems during adolescence. To find effective ways to prevent burnout, this study examined the synergistic role of two positive personal resources, a stress-is-enhancing mindset and academic buoyancy in…

Background: Transitioning into adolescence while simultaneously facing greater academic demands as the level of education increases often entails both academic challenges and general declines in students' school-related well-being. Still, however, relatively little is known about the causal relationship between students' academic well-being (i.e.,…

This study examined the metacognitive knowledge of Finnish comprehensive school students and explored whether grade-based differences in metacognitive knowledge exist among 6th, 7th and 9th graders. Integrating qualitative (declarative, procedural, conditional) and contextual (person, task, strategy) frameworks, the research aims for a…

This longitudinal study of 1,066 Finnish students examined bidirectional reciprocal relationships between changes in perceived supportive school climate and changes in self-reported truancy from the last year of primary school (Grade 6) to the last year of lower secondary school (Grade 9). The results of the random intercept cross-lagged panel…

This article reports findings from a study among 9th-graders who participated in a strengths-based intervention in two West-Finnish comprehensive schools. The intervention pursued to develop the students' psychological capital (PsyCap), awareness of their strengths, and experiences of student guidance. The following research question was set for…

This study aims at investigating Finnish lower secondary grade students' (N = 469) emotional school well-being, social inclusion, and academic self-concept with regard to grade level, linguistic background, and needs for support. For collecting the data, a Finnish translation of the Perceptions of Inclusion Questionnaire for students was used. The…

This study outlines the assessment culture of mathematics in Finnish basic education (grades 6 and 9) based on a nationally-sampled dataset (N = 673). The study draws on the theoretical framework of assessment cultures as defined through cultures of learning, compliance and fear. We approach the assessment culture of mathematics through the…

In the field of education concerning cultural diversity it has been recognized as vital to address justice in social structures. Although justifications for religious education in non-confessional contexts are heavily based on religious diversity, their advocates have paid little attention to justice and power relations. In this article, I analyse…

This study investigates the hopes of a group of Finnish of ninth-graders and how hopeful they are. This study also explores how to teach in a way that promotes hope. The theoretical framework of this study combines two different theories of hope, C. R. Snyder's psychological hope theory and Paulo Freire's philosophy of hope. This study holds that…

Although one of key ideas behind the introduction of STEM (or STEAM) as a unifying concept, is to emphasize the interdisciplinary character of many real world problems, there is a non-trivial educational challenge in exceeding existing subject boundaries and implementing multidisciplinary activities into the classroom. The present case study…

The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of religious education and ethics instruction in the development of worldviews in public education using empirical data. The research question of the article is: How is the contribution of RE and Ethics in the development of worldviews perceived among 9th grade students? The study is based on…

As a variety of commercial educational applications are currently being taken into daily use to provide technology-enhanced feedback, research is needed to observe whether pedagogical evidence of the impact of feedback on learning and well-being is being utilized. To this end, this study explores the connections between technology-enhanced…

This study focuses on a comparison of personal meanings that students from Finland (FIN) and Germany (GER) assign to (learning) mathematics. Participants are 256 Finnish and 276 German ninth graders. The survey consists of 18 scales that are based on the theory of personal meaning. The original German version was translated into Finnish. Using…

In this study, Finnish ninth graders' and their school guidance counselors' views concerning ninth graders' perceptions of gender-appropriateness of occupations were examined. Special interest was placed on evaluating if ninth graders bring out any gender stereotypical perceptions regarding science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM)…