TUNTEVA – Guiding and learning of emotions in everyday activities of flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care

TUNTEVA study (2024–2027) takes a cultural-historical approach to exploring the dynamic, interactional processes of emotion guiding and learning in everyday activities in flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care (ECEC). This guiding and learning is often unplanned and shaped by the values, norms, and expectations of ECEC communities, such as their ideas about the appropriate ways to express, for example, grief, anger, and joy.

The study analyses observational data collected in flexibly scheduled ECEC. The main focus is placed on very young, 0–2-year-old children who have just started ECEC and are beginning to learn how to perform emotions according to the expectations of their new community. 
 

Publications

Salonen, E., Pursi, A., & Lipponen, L. (2025). Educators’ responses to children’s grieving: Exploring emotional configurations in flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 33(3), 390–402. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2024.2401435

Salonen, E. (2024). Tunteita oppimassa – katse yksilöstä kulttuuriseen yhteisöön (Learning about emotions: Shifting the perspective from the individual to the cultural community). Tutkittua varhaiskasvatuksesta -blogi, 2022. https://tutkittuavarhaiskasvatuksesta.com/2024/08/23/tunteita-oppimassa-katse-yksilosta-kulttuuriseen-yhteisoon/

Salonen, E., & Sirola, A. (2024). Emootiot ja tunteet – käsitteet, tutkiminen ja sen haasteet (Emotions and feelings – Concepts, research, and its challenges). Jyväskylän yliopiston uutiset ja tiedotteet, 2024. https://www.jyu.fi/fi/uutinen/emootiot-ja-tunteet-kasitteet-tutkiminen-ja-sen-haasteet

Salonen, E., Pursi, A., & Lipponen, L. (2024). Varhaiskasvatuksen aloitus vuorohoidossa: Pienen lapsen suru ja sen kohtaaminen vaihtelevassa sosiaalisessa ympäristössä (The start of flexibly scheduled early childhood education and care: A young child’s grief and how it is encountered in a changing social environment). Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, 13(2), 30–54. https://doi.org/10.58955/jecer.137388