I work at the intersection of teaching and research, with a particular interest in critical teacher education and the often-overlooked dynamics of educational work. I also hold the title of Docent in Work Cultures in Education at Tampere University.
Research
My research focuses on the work cultures of groups and communities and on critical teacher education. I lead two research groups. Critical Integrative Teacher Education (CITE) is a long-standing teacher education development and research initiative that explores alternatives to routine educational practices and seeks to develop future teachers’ capacity to understand the changing challenges of professional life.
The research group The Margins of Teaching and Educational Practice focuses on phenomena that fall outside the scope of planning and control in everyday educational situations. These often emerge as unexpected events in the blind spots of teaching and educational work. Although such phenomena can be difficult to recognise, they have a significant impact on everyday school life and on the well-being of pupils and school staff.
I defended my doctoral dissertation in 2011. Entitled Barriers and Possibilities of Learning in a Group: The Development of Guilt into a Scapegoating Phenomenon in a Student Group, as Interpreted by the Group Facilitator, it examined the current state of teacher education and the role of group processes in learning. The dissertation is a Finnish-language monograph available at http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-4505-3.
During my postdoctoral research, I broadened my focus to encompass wider communal and societal questions shaping teaching, learning, and working situations, particularly from the perspective of work cultures in education. In recent years, my research has also focused on critical teacher education.
Teaching
My approach to teaching is grounded in the aim of creating an environment and a working culture in which all participants can engage in in-depth inquiry, develop a critical perspective, and learn to ask questions and challenge established assumptions. I lead Critical Integrative Teacher Education (CITE), a comprehensive teaching and research initiative in critical teacher education that I founded.
My particular areas of expertise in teaching are:
