Study title

Professional Identity and Religious Beliefs of Children's Instructor Students 2014

Dataset ID Number

FSD3252

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3252
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3252

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Church Research Institute
• Pohjola, Kirsi (University of Helsinki. Faculty of Theology)

Abstract

The survey charted the professional motivation, identity and religiosity of Children's Instructor students in Christian Institutes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland. This dataset is based on the first collection wave in a cohort study that followed students studying for an upper secondary qualification in Child Care, Education and Family Welfare as they progressed in their studies. The participating students started their studies in 2014. FSD collections also include the second (FSD3262) and third (FSD3263) waves of this study. The study was part of the project "Student's Development into Church Professionals" (Kasvu kirkon työntekijäksi), funded by Kirkon koulutuskeskus (adult education school of the Evangelical Lutheran Church) and Church Research Institute.

First, the respondents were asked about their reasons for applying to Children's Instructor training (e.g. wanting to help others or work with children and interest in religious questions) and to what extent they agreed or disagreed with statements concerning working for a parish (e.g. the reliability of a parish as an employer and trust in the future of educational work in a parish). Next, participation in voluntary work and parish activities was charted with questions relating to the reasons for volunteering and the kinds of parish activities, e.g. Sunday school as a child or assisting with church service, that the respondent had taken part in.

Attitudes towards racism and migrants (foreign nationals in Finland) were examined with statements concerning, for example, whether the respondents thought that migrants have made Finnish culture more varied and whether they would accept a foreign national as their co-worker or friend. The survey also charted the respondents' attitudes towards life and future (e.g. how happy they felt and whether they were worried about the future) as well as how strong was their sense of belonging to different groups such as family, friends, online communities, parish and Finnish society.

The respondents' religiosity was investigated with questions about religious affiliation, religious identity (e.g. whether they identified themselves as spiritual persons and/or conservative in their religion) and their own religiosity compared to church doctrine (e.g. whether they believed in the resurrection of Christ and the existence of Heaven and Hell). Spirituality was charted by asking the respondents to what extent they agreed or disagreed with statements concerning, for example, alternative medicine, astrology and meditation. Finally, the presence of religion and religiosity in the respondents' lives was charted with questions concerning the frequency of e.g. praying, reading the Bible and attending church services as well as how often they discussed religious issues and with whom.

Background variables included the respondent's age, length of residency in Finland, previous degrees, educational institution, household composition at present and during the respondents' primary and lower secondary education and whether the respondent aimed for curriculum-based or competence-based qualification.

Keywords

Christianity; child day care; church; identity; motivation; religiosity; religious behaviour; vocational education

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Vocational education and training (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Religion and values (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Church Research Institute

Time Period Covered

2014

Collection Dates

2014-09 – 2015-01

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Students who began studying for a vocational upper secondary qualification in Child Care and Education and Family Welfare in 2014

Time Method

Longitudinal: Cohort/Event-based

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The questionnaire was sent to all Christian Institutes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland (12 in total) that provided upper secondary programs in Child Care and Education and Family Welfare between 2014 and 2016. The students responded to the questionnaire during contact teaching. During the study, from 1 January 2017 onwards, the educational operations in Diaconia Institutes in Lahti (Lahden diakonian instituutti), Oulu (Oulun Diakoniaopisto and its branch in Ylitornio) and Helsinki (Helsingin Diakoniaopisto) were merged under the vocational institute Suomen Diakoniaopisto. Additionally, between 2015 and 2017, Agricola Center for Education and Training (Koulutuskeskus Agricola), Jaakkima Christian Institute (Jaakkiman kristillinen opisto), Lapua Christian Institute (Lapuan kristillinen opisto) and Uusikaarlepyy Christian Institute (Kristliga folkhögskolan i Nykarleby) merged into the Church Training College (Seurakuntaopisto) of Kirkkopalvelut ry.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

45.5

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD3262 Professional Identity and Religious Beliefs of Children's Instructor Students 2016

FSD3263 Professional Identity and Religious Beliefs of Children's Instructor Students 2017

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

12 men and 270 women responded to the questionnaire.

To prevent identification of individuals, the original respondent ID as well as the variables q32 denoting gender, q33 denoting year of birth and q38_1, q38_2 and q38_3 denoting the highest level of education and occupation of the respondents' parents and spouse were removed. Additionally, open-ended responses to the response option "Other, what?" in variables q19_1, q35_2_1, q35_3_1, q35_4_1, q35_5_1 and q37_1 were removed. Variable q35_3 denoting lower-degree level tertiary education and variable q35_4 denoting higher-degree level tertiary education were reclassified into one class in variable q35_6. In variable q19 denoting religious affiliation, affiliation with the Orthodox Catholic Church was reclassified into the class "I affiliate with another Church or religious organization". In variable q34 denoting length of residency in Finland, the responses that indicated that the respondent had not resided in Finland for their whole life were reclassified into one class to prevent identification. Additionally, in the open-ended variable q35_5_1 denoting previous degrees, primary and lower secondary education was reclassified into its own variable q35_7. The open-ended responses that remain in the data were reviewed and any identifiable information, such as specific times and third parties, was removed. Anonymisations were marked with [square brackets].

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Church Research Institute & Pohjola, Kirsi (University of Helsinki): Professional Identity and Religious Beliefs of Children's Instructor Students 2014 [dataset]. Data version 1.0 (2019-07-18). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3252; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3252

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Pohjola, Kirsi (2015) Matkalla lastenohjaajaksi muuttuvissa hengellisissä maisemissa. Kirkkososiologian pro gradu -tutkielma. Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto.

Pohjola, Kirsi (2018) Matkalla kirkon lastenohjaajaksi. Kirkon tutkimuskeskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 54. Tampere: Kirkon tutkimuskeskus.