Sotiria Varis
Biographic Data
| ID | 6511316 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sotiria Varis |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sotiria |
| FAMILY NAME | Varis |
| SIGNATURE | VARIS S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Jyväskylä |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7796-2772 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Institutional agents’ concepts of support for the integration of international degree students into host communities in Finland
Institutional agents play a crucial role for international degree students in gaining social capital and boosting their likelihood of staying in Finland after graduation. This phenomenographic study explores how institutional agents understand support for the integration of international degree students into host communities. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 15 agents working in universities and municipalities. Four ways of understa…
Preservice teachers’ professional identity
This study is a systematic review of preservice teachers' professional identity (PI). It focuses on empirical research published in English between 2014 and 2024 concerning university-based initial teacher education in the European Higher Education Area. The review aims to provide an updated overview of the theoretical foundations informing research on preservice teachers' PI and to identify empirical insights into its development. The search emp…
Longitudinal associations between pre-service teachers’ emotional intelligence and cultural beliefs
Beliefs and emotions are intricately connected. This study first investigated changes in pre-service teachers’ emotional intelligence (EI) over three years of initial teacher education. It then examined the relationship between EI and cultural beliefs (i.e., multicultural and egalitarian beliefs), and the stability of these associations across time. The study used data collected from two cohorts in eight Finnish universities using an online surve…
Teacher education students’ emotional intelligence and teacher self-efficacy
Existing research has shown that emotional intelligence (EI) and teacher self-efficacy (TSE) play an important role in the work of in-service teachers. However, there is limited research on these variables and their associations among pre-service teachers. Also, the cultural context is expected to influence EI and TSE. Therefore, this study examined the associations between EI and TSE in two cultures, Finland and Greece. A comprehensive evaluatio…
Student selection into initial teacher education in Finland
This study examines the association between applicants’ success in the 2021 university entrance exam for initial teacher education in Finland, known as the VAKAVA exam, and their logical reasoning abilities to provide evidence of criterion-related validity. The data consists of applicants’ scores on the VAKAVA exam, which reflect their cognitive processing skills, and the abbreviated International Cognitive Ability Resource test (ICAR16; N = 403)…
Relationship building in culturally diverse European classrooms – a scoping review
Changing demographics in Europe highlight the need of teachers prepared for culturally diverse educational contexts (CDEC) and relationship building (RB). This scoping review explores how the topic of RB in CDEC has been addressed within European-centred research. We conducted a search involving three databases, a grey-literature search, and a reference search, identifying 32 articles that met our requirements. Our findings indicate among others …
Emotional intelligence in Greek teacher education
Emotional intelligence (EI) is widely known to be crucial for professional development in education, and it is a curricular component of Greek teacher education. Still, there is little information available on student teachers’ EI. The aim of this study was to explore whether student teachers’ trait EI can be developed through a two-week, EI-focused intervention. The study followed a quasi-experimental design with a mixed method approach, using t…
Finnish pre-service teachers’ identity development after a year of initial teacher education
Amidst the broad range of teacher competencies, professional beliefs and professional identity are two important domains of personal orientations that inform teacher quality. This study examines how pre-service teachers have negotiated their professional identity after their first year in initial primary teacher education. The study uses qualitative data from an online survey voluntarily answered by seventy-two Finnish pre-service teachers in Spr…
Sources of stress and scholarly identity
Although stressors and coping strategies have been examined in managing stress associated with doctoral education, stress continues to have a permeating and pernicious effect on doctoral students’ experience of their training and, by extension, their future participation in the academic community. International doctoral students have to not only effectively cope with tensions during their training and their socialization in their discipline but a…
Teacher agency within the Finnish CLIL context
Recent discussion indicates that the initial enthusiasm of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teachers can be undermined by the demands of foreign-language mediated education. However, there is a lack of research on the resources and tensions that respectively support or limit the professional agency of CLIL teachers. By means of semi-structured interviews with fourteen participants, this study seeks to better understand how teacher …
Teachers’ pedagogical and relational identity negotiation in the Finnish CLIL context
Teachers’ pedagogical and relational identity negotiation in the Finnish CLIL context
Teacher agency within the Finnish CLIL context
Recent discussion indicates that the initial enthusiasm of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teachers can be undermined by the demands of foreign-language mediated education. However, there is a lack of research on the resources and tensions that respectively support or limit the professional agency of CLIL teachers. By means of semi-structured interviews with fourteen participants, this study seeks to better understand how teacher …
Sources of stress and scholarly identity
Although stressors and coping strategies have been examined in managing stress associated with doctoral education, stress continues to have a permeating and pernicious effect on doctoral students’ experience of their training and, by extension, their future participation in the academic community. International doctoral students have to not only effectively cope with tensions during their training and their socialization in their discipline but a…
Emotional intelligence in Greek teacher education
Emotional intelligence (EI) is widely known to be crucial for professional development in education, and it is a curricular component of Greek teacher education. Still, there is little information available on student teachers’ EI. The aim of this study was to explore whether student teachers’ trait EI can be developed through a two-week, EI-focused intervention. The study followed a quasi-experimental design with a mixed method approach, using t…
Finnish pre-service teachers’ identity development after a year of initial teacher education
Amidst the broad range of teacher competencies, professional beliefs and professional identity are two important domains of personal orientations that inform teacher quality. This study examines how pre-service teachers have negotiated their professional identity after their first year in initial primary teacher education. The study uses qualitative data from an online survey voluntarily answered by seventy-two Finnish pre-service teachers in Spr…
Teacher education students’ emotional intelligence and teacher self-efficacy
Existing research has shown that emotional intelligence (EI) and teacher self-efficacy (TSE) play an important role in the work of in-service teachers. However, there is limited research on these variables and their associations among pre-service teachers. Also, the cultural context is expected to influence EI and TSE. Therefore, this study examined the associations between EI and TSE in two cultures, Finland and Greece. A comprehensive evaluatio…
Student selection into initial teacher education in Finland
This study examines the association between applicants’ success in the 2021 university entrance exam for initial teacher education in Finland, known as the VAKAVA exam, and their logical reasoning abilities to provide evidence of criterion-related validity. The data consists of applicants’ scores on the VAKAVA exam, which reflect their cognitive processing skills, and the abbreviated International Cognitive Ability Resource test (ICAR16; N = 403)…
Relationship building in culturally diverse European classrooms – a scoping review
Changing demographics in Europe highlight the need of teachers prepared for culturally diverse educational contexts (CDEC) and relationship building (RB). This scoping review explores how the topic of RB in CDEC has been addressed within European-centred research. We conducted a search involving three databases, a grey-literature search, and a reference search, identifying 32 articles that met our requirements. Our findings indicate among others …
Institutional agents’ concepts of support for the integration of international degree students into host communities in Finland
Institutional agents play a crucial role for international degree students in gaining social capital and boosting their likelihood of staying in Finland after graduation. This phenomenographic study explores how institutional agents understand support for the integration of international degree students into host communities. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 15 agents working in universities and municipalities. Four ways of understa…
Preservice teachers’ professional identity
This study is a systematic review of preservice teachers' professional identity (PI). It focuses on empirical research published in English between 2014 and 2024 concerning university-based initial teacher education in the European Higher Education Area. The review aims to provide an updated overview of the theoretical foundations informing research on preservice teachers' PI and to identify empirical insights into its development. The search emp…
Longitudinal associations between pre-service teachers’ emotional intelligence and cultural beliefs
Beliefs and emotions are intricately connected. This study first investigated changes in pre-service teachers’ emotional intelligence (EI) over three years of initial teacher education. It then examined the relationship between EI and cultural beliefs (i.e., multicultural and egalitarian beliefs), and the stability of these associations across time. The study used data collected from two cohorts in eight Finnish universities using an online surve…
Psychology (8 works) · Pedagogy (7 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (5 works) · Mathematics education (4 works) · Emotional intelligence (3 works) · Emotional Intelligence and Performance (3 works) · Global Education and Multiculturalism (3 works) · Higher education (3 works) · Qualitative research (3 works)