Finnish Teacher Education Research Articles

Comparing Finnish and Chinese national teacher education frameworks from the teacher competency perspective

ABSTRACT Finnish and Chinese teacher education have gained worldwide attention because of their pupils’ significant achievements in international assessments. Focusing on the manifestations of teacher competencies in the respective teacher education frameworks, this article compares Finnish and Chinese teacher education and their curricular traditions. The mixed-method analysis of the two national frameworks draws attention to significant differences and similarities. Due to particular cultural contexts, while the Chinese Framework emphasises ethics, student management, and assessment competencies, Finnish teacher education focuses comparatively more on adaptive teaching, innovation, and partnering. The competencies of subject matters, pedagogy and subject didactics, teaching technologies, communication, multidisciplinarity, reflection and inquiry, and professional development are emphasised in both countries. This article provides insights into manifestations of teacher competencies in the context of hybrid curriculum traditions in Finland and China through adapting and applying an international framework, offering alternative perspectives on quality teacher education beyond Anglo-American approaches.

Exploring the reliability and validity of multiple mini-interviews in admission to teacher education

ABSTRACT This study addressed the need to explore the reliability and validity of the recently renewed aptitude test based on the multiple mini-interview (MMI) format in Finnish teacher education programmes. Utilising a nationwide dataset (N = 3306), we explored the reliability of the format using intraclass correlations and multilevel modelling. Furthermore, we validated the intended structure of the MMI with confirmatory factor analysis and contrasted the scores of the MMI with other admission scores, i.e. cognitive measures. The results showed mostly small effects of clustering of the applicants according to the different interviewers and circuits. The largest variance component for the MMI total score was the applicant (73.3%), followed by measurement error (15.09%). The intended structure was validated, and the MMI seemed to measure different attributes from other admission measures. Thus, the study demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity of MMI in admission to teacher education, yet the stations need further development.

Who has the power to define the ideal teacher? Insights into the social structure of Finnish teacher education

In Finland, graduating teachers are expected to become “transformational agents” who are able to critically reflect upon and evaluate what types of changes are necessary in education and who can also implement the required changes. However, based on previous studies, teacher education seems to have little influence on future teachers’ core perceptions of teacher’s work. Instead, previous studies have demonstrated that new teachers’ perceptions might draw on tradition and cultural-historical phases of the Finnish teacher profession, and normative ideas concerning the ideal characteristics of a “good” teacher or student teacher. In this study, we examine how student teachers’ perceptions of teacherhood build upon and who has the power to define the “ideal teacher.” Based on our study, we suggest that to understand how the perception of the ideal teacher is formed and how teacher education could better influence the transformation of these perceptions, we must consider the unofficial power relations among student teachers. These power relations seem to originate from the hegemonic discourse of the “typical student teacher,” which contains and renews traditional perceptions of teaching and teachers as authorities and experts transmitting subject content knowledge and skills to pupils. This discourse seems to be renewed among student teachers and has more impact on students’ perceptions than the official aims of teacher education. Hence, in our study, the unspoken sociocultural power relations come to light in different ways, in the peer relations between student teachers but also in the students’ conceptions of the teacher educators. We suggest that by unraveling the unofficial power relations in the sociocultural context of teacher education and by focusing on supporting every student teacher’s agency and critical reflection, it is possible to transform the perceptions about the ideal teacher.

Finnish pre-service teachers’ understandings of the role of language(s) in learning mathematics

ABSTRACT We examined Finnish pre-service primary school teachers’ understandings of the role of language(s) in learning mathematics and how these understandings developed during a period of teaching practice. We also examined how the participants experienced the usefulness of the ready-made multilingual digital material Binogi and how the teaching practice period influenced their thoughts on multilingual pedagogies. Our results indicate that the teacher training period increased awareness of linguistic challenges and of the importance of students’ L1s in learning. However, some participants’ views reflected monolingual ideologies, especially regarding the conditional use of L1s. Regarding linguistic support, the participants reported using visual supports and explaining vocabulary and structures. Although many participants perceived Binogi as beneficial and motivating, less than half used it. Some participants emphasised that the practice period reinforced their understanding of the importance of multilingual pedagogies. It is important to critically reflect on the language policies and practices of Finnish teacher education and support the dialogue between research and practice regarding a shared understanding of valuing linguistic diversity in teacher education.

Finnish Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Leadership Development in a Study Group Intervention to Enhance Their Teacher Leadership

This study, conducted within a Finnish teacher education program, examined student teachers’ perceptions of their skills development in a study group intervention designed to enhance their teacher leadership. Data were collected via semi-structured focus group interviews with the student teachers ( n = 15) and examined using qualitative content analysis. Katzenmeyer and Moller’s leadership development for teachers model was utilized as the theoretical framework. The results indicate that through collaboration, the student teachers developed leadership skills, especially in personal assessment and influencing strategies, but need more support to be able to better recognize these skills as leadership skills.

On the Shoulders of a Perfect Stranger: Knowledge Gap About the Indigenous Sámi in the Finnish Teacher Education Curriculum

ABSTRACT Motivated by the growing discussion of the decolonial significance of teacher education (TE) and the problematic mainstream knowledge gap about Indigenous peoples, this study examines Finnish TE curriculum discourses that limit or enable attaining knowledge about and from the Sámi people (henceforth, ‘Sámi knowledge’). The topic is approached through critical discourse analysis and Susan Dion’s theory of the ‘perfect stranger’, a subjective position impeding engagement with Indigenous-related knowledges and reforms. The findings indicate that the formal curricula of the renowned Finnish TE perpetuate future teachers’ perfect stranger position by overriding critical and Indigenous perspectives with biased narratives and liberal discourses uncommitted to social change. Contextualizing the findings within the Finnish system, this study discusses how inadequate institutional support for disrupting the perfect stranger positionality leaves the reality of Sámi knowledge unsustainably dependent on future teachers and calls into question the education system’s capacity to address the knowledge gap undermining Sámi rights in Finland.

Chilean and Finnish university-based teacher educators’ agentic approaches to academic career path development

ABSTRACT University-based teacher educators are key agents of educational and societal change. Yet their academic careers across institutions and countries have received insufficient attention. To bridge this gap, our empirical study collected data from 12 teacher educators in different Chilean and Finnish research-oriented universities. Drawing from Archer’s social theory, we examine teacher educators’ reflexivity as a decision-making process, offering them directional guidance to act in and over their (professional) lives. We identify three agentic approaches to career path development triggered by reflexivity modes – we-relationship, excellence-driven and value-oriented – that Chilean and Finnish teacher educators practice amidst workplace structural and cultural conditions. These approaches explain their diverse professional trajectories, even under similar circumstances, and contradict ideas of linear progression and ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions to career development. This study contributes to promoting more equitable career pathways for teacher educators in Chile, Finland and elsewhere.

Research-informed teacher education, teacher autonomy and teacher agency: the example of Finland

Finnish education has received worldwide attention due to the country’s performances in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Research investigating Finland’s positive outcomes in the assessment has highlighted not only the strength of teachers, but also the rigour of Finnish teacher education. Finnish student teachers must undertake research-based teacher education culminating in a master’s degree. The study of educational science, underpinned by empirical research, creates teacher-researchers. A Nordic/Continental view of educational governance allows for input control in terms of a national core curriculum in Finland, without surveillance of outcomes. The structure of the Finnish education system, characterised by decentralisation and the national core curriculum, entrusts teachers to make their own pedagogical decisions. This leads to autonomous and agentic teachers in terms of decision-making on the classroom, school, and professional levels, both individually and collectively. Finnish education, underpinned by social democratic values, views education as an agent of social change. Therefore, teachers enact social transformation through the agency enabled by research-informed teacher education. Finland’s political consensus regarding education and societal trust in teachers further reinforces teacher autonomy and agency. This article argues that the rigorous research focus of Finnish teacher education cultivates autonomous and agentic teachers.

Implementing Education for Democracy in Finnish Teacher Education

Implementing Education for Democracy in Finnish Teacher Education

Reproducing inequality through ambivalence, ignorance, and innocence – Revisiting practices of equality and human rights in Finnish teacher education

ABSTRACT Finland has repeatedly been presented as a “success story” of equality and education, promoter of human rights and included equality and human rights as part of national curricula. However, research has shown the slow progress of integrating topics of equality and human rights in teacher education despite hundreds of project-based interventions during the past 50 years. We used historically informed discursive reading drawing from the existent literature, human rights and equality policy documents, and data from student teachers (n = 311) about their perceptions. The theoretical framework in this article is grounded in critical and feminist theories. The aim is to analyse why student teachers still report receiving too little education in human rights and equality despite the improvements in human rights and equality education law and policy. We argue that Finnish teacher education has an ambivalent role of representing itself as “exceptional” while reproducing inequalities. Furthermore, this alleged “exceptionalism” does not enable a focus on equality and human rights policies goals. We constructed a general theoretical frame to re-examine critically the role of ambivalence, ignorance, and “innocence”, which reproduce inequalities. Our analysis describes several discursive realities of public narratives and student teachers’ experiences concerning equality and human rights education. This article provides a novel interpretation frame for the persisting inequalities in education in a country that profiles itself as a champion of human rights and equality. Based on our results, we suggest critical self-reflection for educational policy to advance continuous measures to affect structural inequalities.

Measuring higher-order cognitive skills with multiple choice questions –potentials and pitfalls of Finnish teacher education entrance

This mixed methods study examines the structure of the multiple-choice exam for student selection in Finnish teacher education. Through qualitative content analysis, we categorized multiple-choice questions into items that assessed lower- and higher-order cognitive processes based on the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded four factors that represented lower- and higher-order cognitive processing skills and comprehension of empirical and theoretical items. These were associated with matriculation examination grades, especially with the average grade and the mother tongue grade. When developing future multiple-choice exams for admissions, we recommend emphasizing higher-order processing skills and the role of source materials.

From pre- and in-service teachers’ asymmetric backgrounds to equal co-teaching: Investigation of a professional learning model

The existing co-teaching practices in teachers’ professional learning emphasize collaboration between pre-service and in-service teachers. Although this collaboration is usually defined by a mentor–student relationship with asymmetric power relations, successful co-teaching practices in schools are considered to involve parity, resulting in mutual learning for all involved parties. In this study, we designed a model for teachers’ professional learning in which pre- and in-service teachers collaborate and have shared goals, with the aim of equal responsibilities for planning and implementing instruction, despite the teachers’ diverse backgrounds. During the 4 years of piloting and developing the model in the Finnish teacher education context, we investigated how the participants reflected on the co-teaching process. We analyzed data from collaborative reflection sessions to identify the challenges and benefits of this untypical form of collaboration. The findings showed that asymmetric backgrounds may cause challenges, but that if these are overcome, they can also create opportunities for valuable co-teaching experiences for all the participants. Helping the participants initiate the co-teaching process and take different roles appeared to be essential for a successful process. We discuss the findings regarding the development of co-teaching practices in teacher education and in schools.

Transformation toward sustainability in Finnish teacher education policy: Promises and shortcomings

While the state of the world is becoming ever more unsustainable, transformation and transformative learning have become increasingly relevant and raised attention in various sustainability education discourses. This is obvious in both policy and research. As teacher educators, we have studied how this sustainability and transformative education trend is visible in education policy. We have first read international policy and research on sustainability education and transformation. In a more thorough study, our focus has been on two recent and fundamental policy documents outlining the Finnish teacher education. Our results show that even if several UNESCO policies documents for years have called for a transformation toward sustainability through education, the Finnish teacher education policy has not yet fully acknowledged sustainability issues and teachers’ transformative agency in addressing them, but emphasize other aims. Therefore, it is mainly up to the individual teacher educators and the leaders of their faculties to decide on how to prepare student teachers not only to deal with changes in general, but to particularly bring about changes towards sustainability.

Teacher Students’ Designing Media Education for Older People: Creative and Need-Based Pedagogies Emphasized

This study develops Finnish teacher education by exploring the perspectives of teacher student’s on older people’s media education and equipping teacher students to better support older people’s media literacies. Student teams designed media-literacy interventions in the context of a course, “Older People, Media Education, and Facilitation of Learning,” offered in separated teacher pedagogical studies at one Finnish University during the academic year 2019‒2020. Research participants included 22 teacher students and 15 stakeholders (older people and professionals working with older people). The research data consists of students’ designs and presentations on how media education should be implemented for older people as well as feedback from stakeholders. The research data was collected during the course and evaluation workshop organized at the end of the course as part of an ongoing project. Results indicate that creative and need-based pedagogies were emphasized and course development should be continued in light of the results.

Fit between applicants’ prior knowledge and university selection criteria: study of Finnish teacher education student admission in 2013–2015

ABSTRACT Fluent transitions to higher education are a common concern, especially in highly selective Finnish teacher education (TE). This study examined the fit between the matriculation examination (ME) results and the selection criteria applied in TE. We studied the accepted applicants in Finland in 2013–2015 (n = 5116), and both the accepted and rejected applicants at the University of Oulu in 2015 (n = 2170). Among the accepted applicants, the ME typically consisted of mother tongue, advanced syllabus English, basic syllabus mathematics, psychology, and health education. The various selection criteria did not directly differentiate the applicants with respect to the ME. The two strongest predictors in the ME for acceptance to TE were the choice of and performance in advanced syllabus mathematics and psychology. The results are discussed in light of selection criteria and TE.

Five decades of persistent decontextualisation of academic teacher education in Finland

Aiming at constructive criticism, this article analyses the historical development of Finnish teacher education from the perspective of decontextualisation. The article suggests that essential contexts for teacher education are daily schooling, the historically constructed structures of school, and finally the whole society. The results indicate that as an unintended consequence of the academisation of Finnish teacher education, the socio-historical context of teaching and learning has narrowed, and ties between educational theory and practical schooling have loosened. This may hinder the good intentions underpinning the Finnish teacher education system and produce a discourse that unreflectively silences the complexity of education.

Experimenting with the languaging approach in teaching poetry

This article aims to address the need for research on a collective response to poetry reading and the need for research on poetry pedagogy. Our goal is to develop a teaching method called: the languaging approach. Languaging is understood as a socio-culturally applied and embedded practice that has the potential to improve students’ metacognitive understanding. The article examines the differences between dialogue-based student discussions and teacher-led conversation and whether the languaging approach and collaborative dialogue can offer new teaching approaches for literature education. The context of our study is Finnish teacher education. The data were collected during a teaching experiment that was conducted as a part of student teachers’ pedagogical studies. The data were collected from two groups of 13-year-old students (n = 31) during their L1 lessons. The structures of the lessons differed from each other: A) the teacher led the discussion, or B) a languaging approach was used in a group discussion. Eighty minutes of video data were analysed using a directed content analysis. The study revealed that several students who were encouraged for languaging were able to describe their thoughts to each other and build meaningful analytical discussions together. The languaging approach encouraged students to communicate their own thinking processes and present argumented representations of poems, but also express their hesitations and doubts about their readings. With the languaging approach, students’ various orientations to interpret the poem were made visible. Student’s discussions also give an insight that facility with terminology can help students describe their thoughts more accurately.

Diversity as the new normal and persistent constructions of the immigrant other – Discourses on multicultural education among teacher educators

The aim of this study was to explore the role of social justice in multicultural education taught in teacher education. The study investigated discourses on multicultural education among Finnish teacher educators, and the subject positions constructed in them. Discourse theory analysis revealed six discourses on multicultural education, ranging from conservative to liberal and critical, with liberal discourses having the most articulations. Although Finnish teacher education has taken steps towards social justice, the results also highlight racialisation and the subject position of the immigrant Other as themes that need to be challenged to prevent the reproduction of inequalities in teacher education.

Dichotomous and Multifaceted: Teacher Educators’ Understanding of Professional Knowledge in Research-based Teacher Education

ABSTRACT In the Nordic countries, teacher education programmes are shifting towards a research-based design, thus placing new expectations and requirements on teacher educators. In this study, we aim to explore teacher educators’ understanding of professional knowledge in research-based teacher education. We interviewed 16 Norwegian and six Finnish teacher educators. The teacher educators’ views of professional knowledge could be divided into two main categories – academic characteristics and personal characteristics – and three dichotomies were discussed: educational sciences versus subject sciences, research versus teaching and collaboration versus autonomy. Teacher educators come from various backgrounds and bring different experiences into teacher education. Thus, their understanding of professional knowledge in research-based teacher education seems to be dichotomous and multifaceted. The dichotomies that were uncovered and the tensions between them provide the foundation for further development of teacher education in Norway and Finland.

‘Human rights and democracy are not self-evident’: Finnish student teachers’ perceptions on democracy and human rights education

This article discusses democracy and human rights education (DHRE) in Finnish teacher education, drawing on existing literature, curricula and a survey of student teachers’ perceptions. Earlier studies suggested that DHRE in Finnish teacher education is unsystematic, implicit, and dependent on the teacher’s individual interests. These studies highlight a sense of national exceptionalism, where DHRE is assumed to be self-evident. In 2019, we conducted a survey of student teachers (n=300) in one university. Data content analysis reveals that student teachers now see DHRE as relevant and timely, and by no means self-evident. Student teachers believe that DHRE needs to be explicit and part of their professional education. Although the Finnish national curriculum addresses DHRE explicitly, there is a lack of implementation and explicit DHRE teacher education. We contend that the data reflects societal change, and that the notion that democracy and human rights are self-evident needs to be challenged in Finland.