The aim of this article is to focus on the language needs of university graduates at today's workplace as seen through the eyes of their employers. Using interview data from the representatives of 15 Finnish employers, we highlight certain language-related trends at the workplace of university graduates, underline the need for a range of languages…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effectiveness of entrepreneurship training programmes targeting post-graduate students. Design/methodology/approach: The approach takes the form of a case study of an entrepreneurship training programme, to assess its effectiveness. For this purpose the paper concentrates on the number of firms…

The aim of the current study was to tap implicit theories of a set of values selected from Schwartz's value model. The associations to seven value items (helpful, broad-minded, social justice, unity with nature, authority, ambitious and successful) were examined by a sample of 130 university students from three different fields of study (social…

This study aimed to develop a theoretical basis for the promotion of school staff's occupational well-being. The "Content Model for the Promotion of School Community Staff's Occupational Well-being" describes the four aspects of the promotion of occupational well-being ("working conditions", "worker and work",…

The present study examined whether perceptions of organizational fairness (the procedural and interactional components) were able to diminish the negative effects of high job demands and low job control on the balance between work and family. The study participants were 713 women working in long-term care for elderly people in Finland. The results…

Engestrom examines activity theory and expansive learning by describing Who are the subjects of learning? Why do they learn? What do they learn? and How do they learn? Presents five principles: activity system as the unit of analysis, multiple voices, historicity, contradictions as sources of change, and expansive transformation. Young provides…

The purpose of the present study is to look at the senses in which everyday workplace interactions can be considered manifestations of learning at work and the ways in which such activity could be supervised. The data consists of discussions between employees taped in two technology enterprises and three municipal youth centres, analysed from an…

This study examined cognitive, that is, information processing, style and its relationship to the experiencing of sources of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction and cognitive demands of the work environment among employees in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The aim of the study was to gain a more thorough understanding of the role of…

Interviews in two technology-intensive Finnish companies (banking and engineering) found that workplace learning was continuous and active. Learning stimuli and competence development differed in two settings. A more systematic, long-term approach to learning and acknowledgment of collective competence could improve the work environment as a…

The aim of this study was to identify social patterns in mobile technology mediated collaboration among distributed members of the professional distance education community. Ten participants worked for 12 weeks designing a master's programme in information sciences. The participants' mobile technology usage activity and interview data were first…

Applies research on the adult work environment to schoolchildren's daily lives, using health survey data from 11-, 13-, and 15-year-old students in Finland, Latvia, Norway, and Slovakia. The most important school-setting predictor of students' perception of their academic achievement is satisfaction with school, teachers, and classmates. (59…

A. N. Leontiev (1978) introduced the philosophical concept of practice, or "objective activity" into psychology to reconsider its foundations, and in this context he elaborated the concept of the object of activity. This article deals with the co-formation of an object of a collective activity and of the goals, motives and capabilities…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the baseline results of a school development project where the aim was to improve school community staff's occupational wellbeing in co-operation with occupational health nurses. Design/methodology/approach: The Wellbeing at Your Work index form for school staff developed for the study aimed to…

By utilizing a 2-year longitudinal design, the present study investigated the experience of work engagement and its antecedents among Finnish health care personnel (n = 409). The data were collected by questionnaires in 2003 (Time 1) and in 2005 (Time 2). The study showed that work engagement--especially vigor and dedication--was relatively…

Taking an approach to learning in the workplace as a phenomenon situated and accumulated in the course of work activities and everyday practice, the purpose of this study was to investigate how workers (development engineers and designers) themselves perceive the role of experience in work and learning. The empirical material consists of…