TunTuVa - Emotion regulation support in early childhood education

TunTuVa

TunTuVa aims to increase early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals’ skills in supporting children’s emotion regulation skills. A research-based training program conducted in the project is based on the key elements of supporting children’s emotion regulation (be aware, identify, support, monitor) in everyday ECEC situations.

Funders

Project information

Project duration

-

Funded by

Other Finnish

Project funder

Finnish National Agency for Education

Project coordinator

University of Oulu

Unit and faculty

Learning and Learning Processes
Faculty of Education and Psychology

Contact information

Contact person

Other persons

Researchers

Project description

TunTuVa project aims to increase early childhood education professionals’ skills in supporting children’s emotion regulation skills and understanding of how children’s emotion regulation skills develop and how to support children’s emotion regulation in everyday learning situations. To provide appropriate support, a research-based training program was developed in the project together with several day care centers. This collaborative training program increases the knowledge of emotion regulation and connects the theoretical understanding with ECEC practices by providing examples as well as guided observation and group discussion exercises. The program helps ECEC professionals to 1) increase their understanding of children’s emotion regulation skills, 2) recognize the key-moments in everyday activities where children can rehearse emotion regulation, 3) acquire more versatile ways to support children in learning emotion regulation skills and 4) monitor children’s abilities to regulate emotions in everyday activities.

During the project, a 32-week long training program for ECEC professionals in Northern Finland was implemented. The training program was supported by online learning environment and several tutor visits between the training phases. The tasks were integrated into ECEC professionals’ everyday work routines. The effects of the training program are studied by intervention and control group research design.

The leader of the project is Hanna Järvenoja. Other members of the TunTuVa-team are Susanna Kinnunen, Kristiina Mänty, Maria Lehtimäki and Outi Rinta-Homi. (firstname.lastname@oulu.fi)

Project results

The materials of the training program (in Finnish) are available on: https://tuntuvahanke.wordpress.com

For more information in English: https://tuntuvahanke.wordpress.com/in-english/

Publications:

Mänty, K., Kinnunen, S., Rinta-Homi, O. & Koivuniemi, M. (2022). Enhancing Early Childhood Educators' Skills in Co-regulating Children's Emotions: A Collaborative Learning Program. Frontiers in Education, 7:865161. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.865161

Koivuniemi, M., Kinnunen, S., Mänty, K., Järvenoja, H., & Näykki, P. (2020). Arjen sosioemotionaaliset haasteet oppimistilanteina: 4T-toimintamalli lapsen kehittyvien tunteiden säätelytaitojen tukemiseksi (Oulun yliopiston oppimateriaalia). Oulun yliopisto. http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/isbn978-952-62-2648-4

Koivuniemi, M., Kinnunen, S., Mänty, K., Järvenoja, H., & Näykki, P. (2021). Varhaiskasvatushenkilöstön käsityksiä lasten tunteiden säätelytaitojen kehittymisestä – Käytäntöön integroitu koulutus ammatillisen kehittymisen tukena. Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, 10(2), 264-292. https://jecer.org/fi/varhaiskasvatushenkiloston-kasityksia-lasten-tunteiden-saatelytaitojen-kehittymisesta-kaytantoon-integroitu-koulutus-ammatillisen-kehittymisen-tukena/

Tervo, R. (2021). Varhaiskasvatusyksikön henkilöstön kokemuksia Tunnesäätelyn Tuki Varhaiskasvatuksessa – hankkeessa luodusta 4T-toimintamallista ammattiosaamisen kehittäjänä. Thesis. https://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/501668

Jutila, K. (2021). Varhaiskasvatushenkilöstön tunteiden säätelytaidot ja niiden merkitys lasten tunteisiin suhtautumisessa ja tunteiden säätelyn tukemisessa. Master's thesis. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202110089106