Features of pre-service teacher education: Finland.

The results of the international comparative studies have become a powerful instrument that influences policy-making decisions in many different countries. Finland, as a highly scored country in PISA and TIMS, attracted attention from the rest of the world. Many researches, who embarked on the journey of finding formula of success, suggested that the secret lies in teachers’ professionalism. This blogs uncovers some of the features of Finnish pre-service education that is initial investment in the teachers’ competence.

Admission to the finish university is comprised of two phase entrance exams, where the first phase assesses academic knowledge and the second applicants’ motivation.  VAKAVA is the nationwide literary test, consisting of articles (180 pages!). The test assesses such skills as memorization, understanding and application of knowledge in the articles (Malinen, 2012). The second phase of the selections is designed by universities. Thus, different universities develop their own selection criteria.  Aptitude test usually assesses motivation of students. Thus, Finnish teacher are expected to have skills that will help them to deal with large amount of information and apply their knowledge during their studies. Finish universities might have different vision on characteristics the teacher needs to have, so a candidate may analyze selection criteria of various universities and chose an institution that suits him best.

In Finland (University of Helsinki) the content for future class teachers was mostly based on evidence-based professional knowledge and scientific practice knowledge (Rasmussen & Bayer, 2014).  The first type of knowledge is included in the content with the purpose of teaching students how to deal with different issues in the local context and it mainly comes from research.  The latter type is mainly devoted to the research methodologies. The significant though not major part of the content is devoted to the development of philosophical professional knowledge.  Its  inclusion might be related to the fact that the curriculum of the  first teacher-training college for the education of elementary school (1863) was developed  according to Swiss and German models, and as a result was largely impacted by the theories of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Diesterweg (UNESCO, 2003).

The fundamental principal that underpins Finnish teacher education is that acquisition of research-based knowledge and skills facilitates teachers’ learning and increases professionalism (Tryggvason, 2009).   It is believed that research –based knowledge helps teachers to make informed decisions, to be aware of the latest research and apply new methods in practice. Therefore, teachers are expected to take responsibility for their decisions and actions.

Interestingly, TALIS results revealed that at least one in four teachers (28 %), who completed teacher education program in Finland, feel unprepared for some elements of teaching. Finnish teacher education, as it was mentioned above, does not entirely focus on providing future teachers with direct instructions on how to deal with every-day issues.

Teacher education has a long history of consistent development and managed to develop its unique features. However, it does not necessary mean that this is how teacher-education should operate. There are other successful models that showed great results in the short period of time. My next post will look at teacher training in Singapore.

Reference

Rasmussen, J., & Bayer, M. (2014). Comparative study of teaching content in teacher education programmes in Canada, Denmark, Finland and Singapore. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 46(6), 798-818.

Tryggvason, M. (2009). Why is Finnish teacher education successful? Some goals Finnish

teacher educators have for their teaching. European Journal of Teacher Education, 32 (4), 369–382.