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The social and health care educator’s role in educating future professionals need to be stronger emphasised and deserves international recognition. The purpose of this study was to develop and test an empirical model of social and health care educators’ competence in higher and professional education. The presented research employed a cross-sectional study design. Data were collected using HeSoEduCo-instrument from 28 educational institutions in Finland. The model was empirically tested with confirmatory factor analysis through Structural Equation Modelling that applied the Full Imputation Maximum Likelihood estimator. A total of 422 social and health care educators participated in the study. The empirical model of social and health care educators including eight competence areas: leadership and management, collaboration and societal, evidence-based practice, subject and curriculum, mentoring students in professional competence development, student-centred pedagogy, digital collaborative learning, and cultural and linguistic diversity. All of the connections between concepts of the empirical model were found to be statistically significant. There were strong connections between most of the identified competence concepts; however, two weak connections were found, namely, the link between competence in evidence-based practice and competence in subject and curriculum, along with the link between competence in digital collaborative learning and competence in student-centred pedagogy. The presented empirical model can help stakeholders identify which areas of social and health care educators’ curricula should be further developed. The model is also relevant for improving continuous education, allowing educators to assess their competence levels and evaluating educators’ performance at the organisational level.

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore connection of an educational intervention on the competence of health care educators and educator candidates (n=11) in digital pedagogy as a part of national TerOpe project. An educational intervention, Basics of Digital Pedagogy was developed by the TerOpe project’s experts. The participating educators and educator candidates of the educational intervention were recruited from the universities and university of applied sciences, which were involved in TerOpe project. All the participants of the educational interventions were invited to take part in this study. The educational intervention was conducted during spring 2019. Pre- and post-tests were implemented digitally by using an Educators’ and Educator Candidates’ Competence in Digital Pedagogy self-assessment instrument (OODI), which was developed for this study. The OODI includes 32 items divided in six digital competence areas professional engagement, digital resources, teaching and learning, assessment, empowering learners and facilitating learners’ digital competence. The data was analysed statistically. The self-assessed level of overall competence in digital pedagogy and competence in all competence areas of digital pedagogy increased statistically significantly during the intervention. The educational intervention used in this study seems to increase educators’ self-assessed competence in digital pedagogy. We recommend that all educators be encouraged to conduct continuous education on the basics of digital pedagogy.

Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvata sosiaali-, terveys- ja kuntoutusalan (soteku) opettajien itsearvioitua osaamista. Lisäksi selvitettiin koulutusalojen ja koulutusorganisaatioiden välisiä eroja opettajien itsearvioidussa osaamisessa. Tutkimus oli osa ”Osaavat opettajat yhdessä!” TerOpe– OKM -kärkihanketta. Kohderyhmä muodostui 21 ammattikorkeakoulun ja seitsemän ammatillisen oppilaitoksen opettajista (n=422). Tutkimusaineistona hyödynnettiin TerOpe-hankkeen HeSoEduCo-mittarilla (1–4 Likert-asteikko) hankkimaa aineistoa, joka mittasi opettajien itsearvioitua osaamista kahdeksalla osaamisalueella. Aineisto analysoitiin tilastollisin menetelmin Mann Whitneyn U- ja Kruskal Wallis-testeillä. Opettajat arvioivat osaamisensa hyvälle tasolle. Vahvin osaaminen muodostui opiskelijan ammatillisen kehittymisen ohjausosaamisesta ja heikoin osaaminen yhteisöllisestä digipedagogiikasta. Terveysalan opettajien näyttöön perustuvan toiminnan osaaminen oli sosiaalialan ja yhdistettyjen alojen opettajia parempi. Sosiaalialan opettajien substanssi- ja opetussuunnitelmaosaaminen sekä verkosto- ja yhteiskunnallinen osaaminen olivat terveysalan opettajien osaamista vahvempia. Yhdistettyjen alojen opettajien opiskelijalähtöinen pedagoginen sekä verkosto- ja yhteiskunnallinen osaaminen oli ter veysalan opettajien osaamista parempi. Ammattikorkeakoulujen opettajien osaaminen oli ammatillisten oppilaitosten opettajien osaamista parempi opiskelijalähtöisen pedagogiikan, yhteisöllisen digipedagogiikan, kulttuurisen osaamisen, johtamis- ja hallinnollisen sekä näyttöön perustuvan toiminnan osalta. Tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää ammattikorkeakoulujen ja ammatillisten oppilaitosten johtamisessa sekä soteku-alan perus- ja täydennyskoulutuksessa., The purpose of the study was to describe the competence of social-, health care, and rehabilitation educators based on their evaluations. Differences between educational organizations and work organizations in the competencies of educators were also investigated. The study was part of the ”Competence educators together!” TerOpe project which was funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland. The target group consisted of educators from 21 universities of applied sciences and seven vocational institutes (n=422). The data was collected with a HeSoEduCo instrument (1–4 Likert scale) in the autumn of 2018 by the team of TerOpe project. The instrument measured educators’ self-assessed competence in eight areas of competence. The data were analyzed using statistical methods. Educators evaluated their competence at a good level. The highest competence consisted of mentoring students into professional development competence and the lowest of competence of digital collaborative learning. The evidence-based competence of health care educators was better than the competence of social care and combined fields’ educators. Subject and curriculum competence, as well as collaboration and societal competence of social care educators, were higher than those of health care educators. The student-centered pedagogy, collaboration, and societal competencies of the educators of the combined fields were better than those of the health care educators. Competence of universities of applied sciences educators was higher than those of vocational college’ educators in terms of student-centered pedagogy, digital collaborative learning, culture, leadership and management, and evidence-based practice competence. The results can be used in the management of the university of applied sciences and vocational colleges, as well as in basic and continues education in the social-, health care, and rehabilitation fields.

Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvata sosiaali-, terveys- ja kuntoutusalan (soteku) opettajien (n=388) digitaalista osaamista osana TerOpe-hanketta. Aineisto kerättiin DigCompEdu CheckIn Self-reflection Tool -itsearviointityökaluun perustuvalla mittarilla, joka sisälsi 21 (strukturoitua) väittämää ja yhden avoimen kysymyksen. DigCompEdu-viitekehyksen kuutta osa-aluetta (ammatillinen sitoutuminen, digitaaliset resurssit, opettaminen ja oppiminen, arviointi, oppijoiden voimaannuttaminen ja oppijoiden digitaalisen osaamisen tukeminen) käytettiin sekä määrällisen aineiston keskiarvomuuttujien muodostamisessa että laadullisen aineiston deduktiivis-induktiivisen analyysin runkona. Opettajat olivat motivoituneita kehittämään digitaalista osaamistaan ja kokivat sen kehittämisen tarpeelliseksi. He laativat ja hallinnoivat digitaalista opetusmateriaalia ja käyttivät digitaalista teknologiaa säännöllisesti opetuksessa. Vähäiset resurssit, kuten riittämätön aika, tuki ja koulutus, vähensivät opettajien mahdollisuuksia kehittää digitaalista osaamistaan ja digitaalisen teknologian hyödyntämistä opetuksessa ja oppimisessa. Tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää soteku-alan opettajien jatko- ja täydennyskoulutuksen sekä terveystieteiden opettajakoulutuksen kehittämisessä. Opettajat tarvitsevat aikaa, tukea, koulutusta ja käyttäjäystävällisiä järjestelmiä digitaalisen teknologian hyödyntämiseen opetuksessa ja oppimisessa., The purpose of the study was to describe the digital competence of social, health care and rehabilitation educators (n=388) as part of the TerOpe project. The data were collected using the DigCompEdu CheckIn Self-reflection Tool, which contained 21 (structured) variables and one open-ended question. DigCompEdu Framework containing six areas (professional engagement, digital resources, teaching and learning, assessment, empowering learners, and facilitating learners’ digital competence) was used in forming the mean variables of the quantitative data, and as a framework in the deductive-inductive analysis of qualitative data. The educators were motivated to develop their digital competence and felt the development necessary. They created and managed digital teaching materials and used digital technology in teaching regularly. Limited resources, such as inadequate time, support and training, reduced educators’ ability to develop their digital competence and to use digital technologies in teaching and learning. The results can be used to develop continuing and in-service education of social, health care and rehabilitation educators, and teacher education in health sciences. Educators need time, support, education and user-friendly systems to utilize digital technology in teaching and learning.

Background and purpose: Educators’ ethical competence is of crucial importance for developing students’ ethical thinking. Previous studies describe educators’ ethical codes and principles. This article aims to widen the understanding of health- and social care educators’ ethical competence in relation to core values and ethos. Theoretical background and key concepts: The study is based on the didactics of caring science and theoretically links the concepts ethos and competence. Methods: Data material was collected from nine educational units for healthcare and social service in Finland. In total 16 semi-structured focus group interviews with 48 participants were conducted. The interviews were analysed with a thematic analysis according to Braun and Clarke. Ethical considerations: The study is approved by the Declaration of Helsinki, the legislation regarding personal data and the General Data Protection Regulation. The study received ethical permission from the University of Jyväskylä. Informed consent was obtained from all the educational units and participants in the study. Findings: The findings are presented based on three general patterns, an ethical basic motive, an ethical bearing and ethical actions. Subthemes are Humane view of students as unique individuals with individual learning, Bearing of tactfulness and firmness, Bearing of perceptiveness and accessibility, Bearing of satisfaction and joy over student learning, Valuing bearing towards each oneself and colleagues, Ability to interact and flexibility, Collegiality and a supportive work community and Educators as role models and inspirators. Conclusion: Educators’ personal and professional ethos is crucial to student learning, personal growth and ethical reasoning. Therefore, it is important to further develop educators’ training regarding ethical competence.