Kaarina Maatta

What is success at work and why is it important? How do top workers describe their success? How can work, community, leadership, family, or home and school promote success? Success at work is often associated with career-oriented individuals who sacrifice other areas of life to achieve highly in the workplace, but success can also be defined in other ways. It can consist of feelings of knowledge, competence and accomplishment, stemming from an inner drive to work well and create an expression of mastery. This book focuses on employees who have been rewarded for their skills and expertise. Based on the authors’ in-depth research into the phenomenon of success at work, this book provides a positive human-strength based approach to success and offers a fresh viewpoint to the modern, demanding and hectic work life. Drawing from the theory of positive psychology and outlining new theoretical ideas including work motivation, career orientation, work characteristics, and positive states of work, success is described as a combination of multiple elements which include other areas of life. The book is illustrated throughout with case studies from employees, and it will ignite thoughts about what success at work is and can be, and how to recognize factors which enhance or hinder success in varying contexts. Considering a variety of data, this book will appeal to researchers and academics from the fields of work and organisational psychology, positive psychology, career counselling and coaching.

What is success at work and why is it important? How do top workers describe their success? How can work, community, leadership, family, or home and school promote success? Success at work is often associated with career-oriented individuals who sacrifice other areas of life to achieve highly in the workplace, but success can also be defined in other ways. It can consist of feelings of knowledge, competence and accomplishment, stemming from an inner drive to work well and create an expression of mastery. This book focuses on employees who have been rewarded for their skills and expertise. Based on the authors’ in-depth research into the phenomenon of success at work, this book provides a positive human-strength based approach to success and offers a fresh viewpoint to the modern, demanding and hectic work life. Drawing from the theory of positive psychology and outlining new theoretical ideas including work motivation, career orientation, work characteristics, and positive states of work, success is described as a combination of multiple elements which include other areas of life. The book is illustrated throughout with case studies from employees, and it will ignite thoughts about what success at work is and can be, and how to recognize factors which enhance or hinder success in varying contexts. Considering a variety of data, this book will appeal to researchers and academics from the fields of work and organisational psychology, positive psychology, career counselling and coaching.

This book is a pioneering work. It discusses special characteristics of the education of Sámi people, an indigenous people living in Northern Europe. The book provides a comprehensive study of indigenous school research and special features of Sámi education including problems and opportunities that teachers and pupils confront daily. The purpose of this book is to support the realization of indigenous peoples’ education based on their own cultural premises. New, reformative pedagogical models and culturally sensitive teaching arrangements that could enhance Sámi education are the focus of the book. It is aimed at everyone who is interested in indigenous peoples’ educational conditions and is based on the authors’ research cooperation in the field of Sámi education.

Indigenous languages are endangered and questions of revitalization are topical in today's climate. This book deals with adult education and the topic of adults reclaiming their ancestral language. The themes addressed here cover indigeneity, and identification with, and membership in, indigenous groups on an individual level. The volume contemplates the preconditions of belonging to an indigenous people and the definitions of indigeneity. It also contains discussions of indigenous research, and provides new perspectives on methods suitable for recording indigenous people's voices and experiences. The text uses the Sámi people in Finland as the example, focusing on political identity and indigenous Sámi status.

Universities around the world are under increasing pressure to maintain high levels of graduation and to make study processes as efficient as possible, with teachers and students struggling to meet the expectations placed upon them as a result. The Psychology of Study Success in Universities asks whether it is possible to meet these demands at the same time as protecting the well-being of students. Drawing on an extensive and detailed analysis of study success in universities in Finland, the authors of this thought-provoking work argue that universities should be more concerned with students’ satisfaction and place greater weight on students’ perceptions of the elements that enhance or hinder their success. The book provides a multi-dimensional picture of the student-related and teaching-related factors that promote study success. Giving voice to graduate students, including those enrolled on a PhD, the authors look at the resources that students have at their disposal in order to establish what inspires and motivates the students, what slows them down, and what kinds of experiences students have of successful studies. Määttä and Uusiautti present a wealth of high-quality research showing that good teaching and successful study processes can be secured by immediate and caring interaction, flexible and student-centred teaching and supervision, and interdisciplinary collaboration between teachers. The Psychology of Study Success in Universities is essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of education and psychology, as well as for those interested in positive psychology, student well-being and pedagogical studies.

Universities around the world are under increasing pressure to maintain high levels of graduation and to make study processes as efficient as possible, with teachers and students struggling to meet the expectations placed upon them as a result. The Psychology of Study Success in Universities asks whether it is possible to meet these demands at the same time as protecting the well-being of students. Drawing on an extensive and detailed analysis of study success in universities in Finland, the authors of this thought-provoking work argue that universities should be more concerned with students’ satisfaction and place greater weight on students’ perceptions of the elements that enhance or hinder their success. The book provides a multi-dimensional picture of the student-related and teaching-related factors that promote study success. Giving voice to graduate students, including those enrolled on a PhD, the authors look at the resources that students have at their disposal in order to establish what inspires and motivates the students, what slows them down, and what kinds of experiences students have of successful studies. Määttä and Uusiautti present a wealth of high-quality research showing that good teaching and successful study processes can be secured by immediate and caring interaction, flexible and student-centred teaching and supervision, and interdisciplinary collaboration between teachers. The Psychology of Study Success in Universities is essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of education and psychology, as well as for those interested in positive psychology, student well-being and pedagogical studies.

The purpose of this book is to provide a special viewpoint on the development of the Finnish school system and teacher education. Understanding the success of today requires information about the past. The book covers the history, ideological background, and development of Finnish teacher education from the 19th century to today. The historical review uses a northern Finnish teacher training college of Tornio as the example. This book provides interesting information about the ideological foundation of the first teacher training colleges, description of how the ideology was applied in the practice of teacher training, and how students were selected for teacher training. The development of teacher training faced certain hardships too. What happened in Finnish society since the establishment of teacher training colleges in the second half of the 19th century affected Finnish teacher training significantly. The book brings out the special circumstances in Finland at the beginning of the 20th century focusing on the war years of 1939-1945.