Study title

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

Dataset ID Number

FSD3263

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3263
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3263

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 third 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 first (FSD3252) and second (FSD3262) 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 was charted with questions relating to the types of volunteering the participants had done, e.g. helping relatives and acquaintances, fundraising and donating to charities. The survey also charted the respondents' happiness and attitudes towards life and future (e.g. whether they thought that they could get through hard times in life and whether they were worried about the future).

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 how they believed in God. The presence of religion and religiosity in the respondents' lives was charted with questions concerning the frequency of e.g. praying, meditation and reading the Bible, the situations where they prayed (e.g. in the mornings and before a significant event) and their feelings about their faith (e.g. whether comforting or contradictory in their life). Finally, the respondents were asked to evaluate their abilities in aspects relating to their studies and work, such as guiding children and volunteers, cooperating with parents, or religious education, and to mark which of these aspects they felt had developed the most during their studies.

Background variables included the respondent's educational institution 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

2017

Collection Dates

2016-11 – 2017-03

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 follow-up 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

9,5

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

FSD3252 Professional Identity and Religious Beliefs of Children's Instructor Students 2014

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

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

To prevent identification of individuals, the original respondent ID as well as open-ended responses to the response option "Other, what?" in variables q9_1 and q6_7_1 were removed. Additionally, in variable q9 denoting religious affiliation, affiliation with the Orthodox Catholic Church was reclassified into the class "I affiliate with another church or religious organization". The open-ended responses that remain in the data were reviewed and any identifiable information 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 2017 [dataset]. Data version 1.0 (2019-07-31). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3263; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3263

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