Minna Uitto
Biographic Data
| ID | 146488 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Minna Uitto |
| GIVEN NAMES | Minna |
| FAMILY NAME | Uitto |
| SIGNATURE | UITTO M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oulu |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9180-4415 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 40 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
“I hope that it comes across to the children that I am there as a human being”: Teachers’ embodiment in the digital era
Although teachers’ work is embodied, embodiment has not been widely discussed with reference to teachers’ work or teacher education. The digital era has changed teachers’ work in many ways, including their embodiment, as digital technologies are part of everyday life in schools. Hence, teachers’ embodiment in the digital era requires critical reflection. This study contributes to this reflection in three ways. First, we explore teachers’ embodime…
Becoming a safe adult for pupils: Emotions as part of first-year student teachers’ narrative identities told with photographs
This article focuses on first-year student teachers’ emotions as part of their narrative identities. Alongside narrative research, arts-based methods were employed. The research material consists of 36 Finnish student teachers’ autobiographical writings based on their self-chosen photographs. Narrative analysis methods were used. The key aspect in student teachers’ narrative identities was their hope of becoming safe adults as teachers for their …
Expectations, disillusionment and wishes: Pre-service teachers’ collective sense-making of teacher education given the current nature of the teaching profession
Teacher turnover and shortages remain pressing global concerns, influenced in part by the characteristics of teacher education and teachers’ satisfaction with its quality. While discussions about pre-service teachers’ perspectives on teacher education are scattered across a multitude of studies in teacher education research, relatively little has explicitly focused on how pre-service teachers make sense of the preparatory role of teacher educatio…
Teachers’ experiences of being unsettled within their relationships with parents: Shifting professional knowledge landscapes
In this study, we focus on exploring teachers' stories of their relationships with parents in times of digital communication. Employing the concept of teachers' professional knowledge landscape, we inquire into Finnish teachers' experiences with WILMA, a digital system used for teacher-parent communication in Finland. We discuss how teachers' experiences shaped by WILMA may disrupt their stories to live by, their identities, in relation with pare…
Using Artefacts in Narrative Pedagogies: A case from beginning teachers’ peer group meetings
Artefacts can evoke stories. This article explores the use of artefacts in narrative pedagogies in the context of teachers’ professional development during the induction phase. The research question is: What kind of stories about beginning teachers’ work does the use of artefacts in narrative pedagogies evoke? The article is based on two peer group meetings in which nine Finnish teachers working in day care centres and primary schools participate…
Research on teacher educators’ teacher identities: Critical interpretative synthesis and future directions
Research has suggested that teacher educators’ profession and the process of identity formation are poorly understood. Moreover, attempts to clarify the terminology are rare. While research has addressed teacher educators’ professional identities holistically, discussion on teacher educators’ teacher identities is very rare, even though these specific sub-identities are at the core of their work. In this study we apply meta-ethnography to provide…
Teachers' work today: Exploring Finnish teachers’ narratives
This study employs narrative as a theoretical perspective and methodological approach, looking at the current nature of teachers' work from the viewpoint of 25 Finnish basic education teachers. Several categories such as multiple teacher roles and fragmentation of teachers' work, teamwork and multi-professional cooperation, pupils' diverse backgrounds, changed learning skills and behaviour, opportunities and challenges of digitalization, schools'…
Moral imagination in student teachers’ written stories on an ethical dilemma
This article explores how student teachers use moral imagination when writing about an ethical dilemma. Moral imagination refers to the ability to consider a situation from a distance and to understand different perspectives through imagination. An ethical dilemma was presented in the form of a framing story, which the participating Austrian and Finnish student teachers continued writing as they chose. Through positioning and narrative analyses, …
Coping with emotionally challenging expectations: Japanese beginning teachers and their relationships with students’ parents’
This article examines emotionally challenging expectations in the relationships beginning teachers have with students’ parents. The data consist of narrative interviews with 17 Japanese beginning teachers. Due to strong cultural and social norms prescribing appropriate social interactions, Japanese teachers have little leeway in negotiating parents’ expectations. We found that beginning teachers described facing three emotionally challenging expe…
Parent–teacher relationships in school micropolitics: Beginning teachers’ stories
The article discusses parent–teacher relationships in school micropolitics based on beginning teachers’ stories. We employ a narrative approach and investigate how micropolitical conditions and strategies are portrayed in beginning teachers’ stories of parent–teacher relationships. The research material consists of narrative interviews with seven Finnish primary school teachers in the first and second years of their careers. The findings indicate…
Touch in children's everyday peer relations in preschools
The article explores how touch appears in children's everyday peer relations in preschools. The narrative research material consists of video recordings produced in four Finnish preschools. Touch in children's relations appeared as an invitation, an attempt to control and a conventional pattern. The findings show that narrative environments of the preschools produce, enable and limit touch in the children's everyday peer relations. In terms of to…
Emotions involved in encountering classroom diversity: Beginning teachers’ stories
This article addresses emotions involved in encountering classroom diversity as appearing in beginning teachers’ stories. Previous research has pointed out that teachers’ emotions related to growing classroom diversity are seldom addressed, although increasing classroom diversity has been distinguished as a significant emotional challenge for teachers. In this article, teachers’ work is viewed as relational and moral work, in which emotions are i…
Storied emotional distances in the relationships between beginning teachers and school principals
Recent research has acknowledged the importance of the relationships of school principals with beginning teachers. However, little is known about how emotions inform these relationships from the beginning teacher's side. Applying the concept of emotional geographies, this paper explores the kinds of storied emotional distances that appear in the relationships between beginning teachers and their principals. Based on interviews with beginning Japa…
Virtual special issue on teachers and emotions in Teaching and teacher education (Tate) in 1985–2014
Behind every profession is a person’: Students’ written memories of their own teacher–student relationships
Gender and emotions in relationships: A group of teachers recalling their own teachers
This narrative inquiry analyses the memories of a group of female teachers telling about their own teachers. We ask how gender and emotions are intertwined to teacher–student relationships. Gender was present in the stories where the teachers described being a schoolgirl in relationship with a teacher and told about their teachers as women and men. The collective process of recalling evoked the emotions experienced as students, but these emotions…
Virtual special issue on teachers and emotions in Teaching and teacher education (Tate) in 1985–2014
Teachers' work today: Exploring Finnish teachers’ narratives
This study employs narrative as a theoretical perspective and methodological approach, looking at the current nature of teachers' work from the viewpoint of 25 Finnish basic education teachers. Several categories such as multiple teacher roles and fragmentation of teachers' work, teamwork and multi-professional cooperation, pupils' diverse backgrounds, changed learning skills and behaviour, opportunities and challenges of digitalization, schools'…
Touch in children's everyday peer relations in preschools
The article explores how touch appears in children's everyday peer relations in preschools. The narrative research material consists of video recordings produced in four Finnish preschools. Touch in children's relations appeared as an invitation, an attempt to control and a conventional pattern. The findings show that narrative environments of the preschools produce, enable and limit touch in the children's everyday peer relations. In terms of to…
Gender and emotions in relationships: A group of teachers recalling their own teachers
This narrative inquiry analyses the memories of a group of female teachers telling about their own teachers. We ask how gender and emotions are intertwined to teacher–student relationships. Gender was present in the stories where the teachers described being a schoolgirl in relationship with a teacher and told about their teachers as women and men. The collective process of recalling evoked the emotions experienced as students, but these emotions…
Behind every profession is a person’: Students’ written memories of their own teacher–student relationships
Gender and emotions in relationships: A group of teachers recalling their own teachers
This narrative inquiry analyses the memories of a group of female teachers telling about their own teachers. We ask how gender and emotions are intertwined to teacher–student relationships. Gender was present in the stories where the teachers described being a schoolgirl in relationship with a teacher and told about their teachers as women and men. The collective process of recalling evoked the emotions experienced as students, but these emotions…
Behind every profession is a person’: Students’ written memories of their own teacher–student relationships
Virtual special issue on teachers and emotions in Teaching and teacher education (Tate) in 1985–2014
Storied emotional distances in the relationships between beginning teachers and school principals
Recent research has acknowledged the importance of the relationships of school principals with beginning teachers. However, little is known about how emotions inform these relationships from the beginning teacher's side. Applying the concept of emotional geographies, this paper explores the kinds of storied emotional distances that appear in the relationships between beginning teachers and their principals. Based on interviews with beginning Japa…
Emotions involved in encountering classroom diversity: Beginning teachers’ stories
This article addresses emotions involved in encountering classroom diversity as appearing in beginning teachers’ stories. Previous research has pointed out that teachers’ emotions related to growing classroom diversity are seldom addressed, although increasing classroom diversity has been distinguished as a significant emotional challenge for teachers. In this article, teachers’ work is viewed as relational and moral work, in which emotions are i…
Coping with emotionally challenging expectations: Japanese beginning teachers and their relationships with students’ parents’
This article examines emotionally challenging expectations in the relationships beginning teachers have with students’ parents. The data consist of narrative interviews with 17 Japanese beginning teachers. Due to strong cultural and social norms prescribing appropriate social interactions, Japanese teachers have little leeway in negotiating parents’ expectations. We found that beginning teachers described facing three emotionally challenging expe…
Parent–teacher relationships in school micropolitics: Beginning teachers’ stories
The article discusses parent–teacher relationships in school micropolitics based on beginning teachers’ stories. We employ a narrative approach and investigate how micropolitical conditions and strategies are portrayed in beginning teachers’ stories of parent–teacher relationships. The research material consists of narrative interviews with seven Finnish primary school teachers in the first and second years of their careers. The findings indicate…
Touch in children's everyday peer relations in preschools
The article explores how touch appears in children's everyday peer relations in preschools. The narrative research material consists of video recordings produced in four Finnish preschools. Touch in children's relations appeared as an invitation, an attempt to control and a conventional pattern. The findings show that narrative environments of the preschools produce, enable and limit touch in the children's everyday peer relations. In terms of to…
Moral imagination in student teachers’ written stories on an ethical dilemma
This article explores how student teachers use moral imagination when writing about an ethical dilemma. Moral imagination refers to the ability to consider a situation from a distance and to understand different perspectives through imagination. An ethical dilemma was presented in the form of a framing story, which the participating Austrian and Finnish student teachers continued writing as they chose. Through positioning and narrative analyses, …
Using Artefacts in Narrative Pedagogies: A case from beginning teachers’ peer group meetings
Artefacts can evoke stories. This article explores the use of artefacts in narrative pedagogies in the context of teachers’ professional development during the induction phase. The research question is: What kind of stories about beginning teachers’ work does the use of artefacts in narrative pedagogies evoke? The article is based on two peer group meetings in which nine Finnish teachers working in day care centres and primary schools participate…
Research on teacher educators’ teacher identities: Critical interpretative synthesis and future directions
Research has suggested that teacher educators’ profession and the process of identity formation are poorly understood. Moreover, attempts to clarify the terminology are rare. While research has addressed teacher educators’ professional identities holistically, discussion on teacher educators’ teacher identities is very rare, even though these specific sub-identities are at the core of their work. In this study we apply meta-ethnography to provide…
Teachers' work today: Exploring Finnish teachers’ narratives
This study employs narrative as a theoretical perspective and methodological approach, looking at the current nature of teachers' work from the viewpoint of 25 Finnish basic education teachers. Several categories such as multiple teacher roles and fragmentation of teachers' work, teamwork and multi-professional cooperation, pupils' diverse backgrounds, changed learning skills and behaviour, opportunities and challenges of digitalization, schools'…
Teachers’ experiences of being unsettled within their relationships with parents: Shifting professional knowledge landscapes
In this study, we focus on exploring teachers' stories of their relationships with parents in times of digital communication. Employing the concept of teachers' professional knowledge landscape, we inquire into Finnish teachers' experiences with WILMA, a digital system used for teacher-parent communication in Finland. We discuss how teachers' experiences shaped by WILMA may disrupt their stories to live by, their identities, in relation with pare…
“I hope that it comes across to the children that I am there as a human being”: Teachers’ embodiment in the digital era
Although teachers’ work is embodied, embodiment has not been widely discussed with reference to teachers’ work or teacher education. The digital era has changed teachers’ work in many ways, including their embodiment, as digital technologies are part of everyday life in schools. Hence, teachers’ embodiment in the digital era requires critical reflection. This study contributes to this reflection in three ways. First, we explore teachers’ embodime…
Becoming a safe adult for pupils: Emotions as part of first-year student teachers’ narrative identities told with photographs
This article focuses on first-year student teachers’ emotions as part of their narrative identities. Alongside narrative research, arts-based methods were employed. The research material consists of 36 Finnish student teachers’ autobiographical writings based on their self-chosen photographs. Narrative analysis methods were used. The key aspect in student teachers’ narrative identities was their hope of becoming safe adults as teachers for their …
Expectations, disillusionment and wishes: Pre-service teachers’ collective sense-making of teacher education given the current nature of the teaching profession
Teacher turnover and shortages remain pressing global concerns, influenced in part by the characteristics of teacher education and teachers’ satisfaction with its quality. While discussions about pre-service teachers’ perspectives on teacher education are scattered across a multitude of studies in teacher education research, relatively little has explicitly focused on how pre-service teachers make sense of the preparatory role of teacher educatio…
Pedagogy (15 works) · Psychology (15 works) · Mathematics education (11 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Teacher education (9 works) · Narrative (8 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (6 works) · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy (5 works)