Juli-Anna Aerila
PhD, Senior Lecturer
I am working as a senior lecturer of the didactics of mother tongue and literature in the university of Turku at Rauma campus. I am a teacher of mother tongue and literature by training and have been working in the field of teacher education since 2005. As an educator, I am interested in child-centered and holistic approaches to literature, reading and stories in general. Stories are a natural way for children to express themselves, learn things and deal with different emotions and situations. We live in the world of stories.
After my dissertation year 2010, alongside literature education, reading for pleasure and readership, my research interests have been oriented towards creative learning in early years education. Enhancing and investigating education through arts is important as through the arts children are able to learn in their own way and make their own experiences visible. Additionally, I am interested in children’s humor and the multilingual approaches in Finnish early childhood education and care. All my research themes are intertwined with the promotion of children’s experiences of participation, seeing the world in the children’s position and developing a more holistic as well as child-centered pedagogy.
Contact: julaer@utu.fi
UTU research portal: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Person/767887?lang=en_GB
Tarja-Riitta Hurme
PhD, University Lecturer
I am an early childhood teacher and a classroom teacher by training. I work at the Faculty of Education at the Teacher Training Institute of the University of Turku in the Early Childhood Education Teacher Training Department. My dissertation focused on the processes of collaborative learning and its regulation in digital learning environments. Thinking together and guiding learning to learn is central to the development of skills for learners of all ages. Since completing my PhD, I have held a variety of positions in research, teacher training and teacher education development.
I am still interested in issues of learning to learn and collaborative learning. Alongside these, new research themes have emerged, such as playfulness, guiding children’s play, professional identity and its development, and mentoring. You can reach me at the email address below and you can access the research through the UTU Research portal.
Contact: tarja-riitta.hurme@utu.fi
UTU Research Portal: https://www.utu.fi/en/people/tarja-riitta-hurme
Tea Karppinen
University Teacher
I am a physical and health education teacher, currently working as a university teacher in Physical Education for early childhood education teacher students. After graduating, I began my career at the University of Turku in the field of primary teacher education. Following this, I explored the world of school education through vocational teaching, before returning to university and delving into the realm of physical education in early childhood education, where I found my place.
My main interests lie in physical education in early childhood education and in finding ways to lower the threshold for future early childhood education teachers to see physical activity as a versatile opportunity in everyday early childhood education, and to dare to think beyond old familiar ways. One of my favorite questions to ponder with students is, “Is it allowed to run in the corridors of day care center?” Is the ban actually a safety measure, a learned habit, or a way for adults to reduce noise and other disturbances? From a research perspective, I am interested in the role of parents and the impact of parental well-being on increasing and enabling children’s physical activity.
Contact: tea.karppinen@utu.fi
UTU Research Portal: https://www.utu.fi/en/people/tea-karppinen
Anitta Melasalmi
PhD, University Lecturer
I am an early childhood education teacher and early childhood special education teacher by training. I work in University of Turku, at the Faculty of Education, Department of Teacher Education, in the Early Childhood Teacher Education. Before my doctoral thesis I worked for a long time in the field of early childhood education. I got inspired to explore and investigate the professional shared practice of early childhood education teachers after my Master’s degree and I am still here, exploring and wondering.
The field of interest has broadened over the years, but the wonder and curiosity about the complex phenomena of everyday professional life lives on. Currently, I am interested in the following research themes: professional identity and its development, agency and playfulness, mentoring, and interdisciplinary cooperation. Below you can find my contact details and link to my research.
Contact: anitta.melasalmi@utu.fi
UTU Research Portal: https://www.utu.fi/en/people/anitta-melasalmi
Marita Neitola
PhD, University Lecturer
I am a university lecturer in special needs teacher education. My background is in early childhood education, classroom teaching and special education. Before my second life at university, I worked as a teacher and special needs teacher in early childhood education and pre-primary education at local authority level.
My research interests include children’s social-emotional learning, caregivers and professionals as facilitators and supporters of this learning. I am also interested in listening to and taking into account children’s views and in the tools for eliciting views in early childhood education and care. Special pedagogy and special education are the third themes of my research.
Contact: marnei@utu.fi
UTU Research Portal: https://www.utu.fi/en/people/marita-neitola
Meri Pihanperä
Doctoral Researcher, Project Researcher
I arrived on our campus for the first time in 2013 when I started my studies in Early Childhood (EC) Teacher Education. A few years later, I continued with Master’s Degree Programme in Education (Early Education). I have worked as an EC teacher for few years before I started working at the University of Turku. Currently, I am working as a project researcher at the Rauma campus of the Department of Teacher Education. I am conducting doctoral research, as well as teaching pre-service teachers and working in various expert groups.
In my doctoral research project, I study the development of the Early Childhood and Teacher Education Centre (ECTEC) Rauman Pikkunorssi that started operating at the Rauma campus in 2021. I am also interested to study the development of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and EC Teacher Education from historical and social perspectives. You can reach me via email (see the email address below) and you can access the research through the UTU Research portal.
Contact: meri.pihanpera@utu.fi
UTU Research Portal: https://www.utu.fi/en/people/meri-pihanpera
Virpi Yliverronen
PhD, University Lecturer
I graduated as a textile crafts teacher from the University of Helsinki and worked for a long time as a lecturer in the upper grades of basic education. In this work, I started to think about the development of children’s and youth’s crafting and the factors that influence it, starting from early childhood. This is how I found my research theme, which I have maintained in my work at the teacher education, both in craft and technology teacher education and early childhood teacher education, in cooperation with Pikkunorssi, and in my dissertation.
I have expanded my research perspective from young children’s crafts to technology education, collaboration as well as problem-solving. Sometimes I participate in research writing related to the craft activities of adult students, and the recent direction has been optional crafts for upper grades of basic education.
Contact: virpi.yliverronen@utu.fi
UTU Research Portal: https://www.utu.fi/en/people/virpi-yliverronen