University of Lapland

About: University of Lapland is a education organization based out in Rovaniemi, Finland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Arctic & Context (language use). The organization has 665 authors who have published 1870 publications receiving 39129 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Rovaniemi & Lapin yliopisto.

Collective Impact on Prevention: Let's Talk About Children Service Model and Decrease in Referrals to Child Protection Services

Abstract: Background: Families with parental mental health issues often have numerous problems needing multilevel measures to address them. The "Let's Talk about Children Service Model (LT-SM)" is a community-based service approach aiming at collectively impacting population needs regarding child protection services. Three municipalities in the Raahe District (RD) of Finland requested implementation of the LT Service Model. This paper describes the model and first results. Methods: The LT Service Model connects relevant stakeholders with families and their social networks aiming at the shared goal of supporting children's everyday life at home, kindergarten, school, and leisure environments. Parents, teachers, and other caretakers are supported by LT interventions. An infrastructure for collaboration, decision making, monitoring, training, and feedback is established, embracing health, social and educational services, and other stakeholders. Referrals to child protection services were compared with national data before (2009-2013) and after implementation of the LT Service Model (2013-2016). Analyses were conducted using the joinpoint regression method. Results: There was a significant decrease in the underage population referred to child protection services in RD (AAPC = -6.9; p = 0.013) between 2013 and 2016, in contrast with an increased rate nationwide (AAPC = 1.9; p = 0.020). Conclusion: In the LT Service Model, prevention starts in children's everyday life as the uniting, common goal for multiple stakeholders and an integrated service structure is developed to support this effort. The first results are promising, showing an appreciable decrease in referrals to child protection services, although further research with longer follow-up and across other municipalities is needed.

Merger Mania? The Finnish Higher Education Experience

Abstract: This chapter provides a description of the development of Finnish higher education in recent decades, with a particular focus on institutional mergers. Mergers between like organisations are generally promoted as one of the paths to improved efficiency and effectiveness, often as a part of government programs of structural reform. University mergers were incidental to a new governance reforming Universities Act which took effect from 2010, but some people have incorrectly assumed that mergers were related directly to that new legislation. Several polytechnics, the other half of Finland’s binary higher education, have similarly subjected themselves to mergers, also during a period of reforming legislation. Although it has not yet been mooted, future mergers might occur between universities and polytechnics. The third strand of merger activity has been between public research institutions and university departments, this time at the behest of the government.

Importance of basal boundary conditions in transient simulations: case study of a surging marine-terminating glacier on Austfonna, Svalbard

Abstract: We assess the importance of basal boundary conditions for transient simulations of Basin 3, Austfonna ice cap between January 1995 and December 2011 and for the surge starting in 2012 by carrying out simulations with the full-Stokes model Elmer/Ice and the vertically-integrated model BISICLES. Time-varying surface mass-balance data from the regional climate model HIRHAM5 are downscaled according to elevation. Basal friction coefficient is varied through time by interpolating between two data-constrained inversions of surface velocity fields, from 1995 and 2011. Evolution of the basal boundary condition appears to be much more important for mass discharge and the dynamic response of the fast flowing unit in Basin 3 than either model choice or the downscaling method for the surface mass balance. In addition, temporally linear extrapolation of the evolution of basal friction coefficient beyond the 2011 distribution could not reproduce the expansion of the acceleration observed in southern Basin 3 between January 2012 and June 2013. This implies that changes in basal friction patterns, and in turn basal processes that are not currently represented in either model, are among the most important factors for the 2012 acceleration.

What constitutes the pre-school curricula? Discourses of Core Curricula for Pre-School Education in Finland in 1972-2000

Abstract: The focus of this article is on Finnish pre-school curricula from the early pioneering years to the start of the new millennium (1972–2000). Pre-school has been part of the Finnish education system for nearly 40 years. It has been undergoing a challenging reconstruction process and changes influenced significantly by the increasing call for pre-school education. From 2001, all Finnish municipalities have the obligation to offer and arrange free pre-school education for all six-year-old children a year before compulsory schooling. In this article, pre-school curricula are analysed by examining five written curricula between 1972 and 2000 using qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis. How are the curricula written and how are they changed? The results show that often implicit concepts of the child and childhood determine the content of pre-school curricula. The answers have implications for the development of pre-school education, as well as curricula-related research.

The Changing Roles of Academic Leaders Decision-Making, Power, and Performance

Abstract: Major reforms in the Nordic countries have increased the formal autonomy of higher education institutions (HEIs) to make decisions over their own activities, both academic core tasks and managerial/administrative activities. The issue addressed in this chapter is how these changes have affected the role of the academic leader. Across the four countries, we see clear signs of change regarding academic leadership comprising a mix of institutional logics in the interviews: the professional, collegial traditional academic leadership, which is based on rotating systems, election among peers, and collegial decision-making, has been complemented with, and in some places replaced by, a managerial logic with top-down order-giving, performance measurement and appointed managers as a new academic profession. Another related general trend is the greater focus on individual managers. The analysis also shows that Denmark and Finland are the countries that lead the way when it comes to increasing the formal authority of managers. The introduction of appointed managers rather than elected ones has altered the way HEIs operate in these two countries. However, as this chapter has shed light on, management reform has not been implemented in the same depth and with the same pace across and within universities.