Finnish Teachers Research Articles

Meaningful Learning Experiences in the Finnish Teacher Education

During the last few years the change of the school and how the school should change in the first place to meet the challenges of the future have been discussed a great deal. The talk has begun of the cross-disciplinary competences, referred to also as transversal (generic) competences in the curriculum, and of developing teaching towards the integrated modules called multidisciplinary learning modules in the reformed curriculum of the basic education. The multidisciplinary learning modules promote the reaching of the objectives set for the basic education and in particular, the development of the cross-disciplinary competences.This research was carried out in a Finnish class teachers' adult education programme during a study unit in January 2016. This study unit was a multidisciplinary learning experience, which was planned together and in which the contents of the seven different subjects taught in the comprehensive school were combined. The aim was to gain experiences of integrating the subjects, of planning and implementing learning modules, of meaningfully adapting information and communication technology as well as of collaborative learning. The research also surveys the knowledge of the concepts, which are related to the study unit. The results showed that the multidisciplinary learning module had offered meaningful experiences. The students had mastered well the study unit concepts. Their experiences in relation to the aims were mainly good, versatile and sufficient. Nearly every student intended to implement similar modules in their future work. The main objective of this study unit was to increase the students' understanding and knowledge about the multidisciplinary learning module through experiential learning and to provide them with a surface to reflect on the matters in their future studies.

The challenges to discussing emotionally loaded stories in Finnish teacher education

It has been increasingly acknowledged that emotions are a significant dimension in teachers’ work and professional development, and an inseparable part of reflection promoted in the research-based teacher education. However, at the same time the difficulty of prompting student-teachers to reflect on their emotions in teacher education has been recognised. This article focuses on this difficulty by examining how emotionally loaded stories about teachers’ work were dealt with by soon-to-graduate Finnish student-teachers attending peer group mentoring sessions. We illustrate this group-level phenomenon (the challenge of discussing emotionally loaded stories) through the examples provided by one of the participants, Hannele (pseudonym). Our results revealed that emotionally loaded stories in this peer group were often responded to with laughter and humour or via masking or silencing. Participants seemed to avoid deeper emotional reflection on uncertainty related to oneself and to the teaching profession, therefore maintaining an image of a proper (student) teacher. Our results have implications for both peer group mentoring and pre-service teacher education.

The Use of a Blended Learning Environment By Primary School Student Teachers to Study Music Theory

Music education, as part of general education in Finland, includes only a few compulsory courses. Primary school teachers are mainly responsible for music education during the first six school years. One big challenge arises from primary school student teachers’ competences in music and confidence in teaching it. Many student teachers have studied only the compulsory music courses at the schools before their teacher training. However, in Finnish curricula for basic education, music is defined as a many-sided subject. Lecturers (the authors) in the Finnish teacher education system have noticed that, if the student teachers’ knowledge is based only on the compulsory music courses, they find especially music theory difficult to understand. However, understanding the triad, for example, is essential for teachers to be able to instruct pupils in many-sided tasks. The purpose of the present study is to find out how student teachers study the music theory required of music teachers: in the current case, they are studying the triad. The learning environment organized by the main lecturer (one of the authors) is based on the principles of blended learning. Blended learning in the current study means exploiting contact lessons, students’ autonomous or face-to-face learning periods, peer learning, and the e-learning possibilities. The main findings are that most of the students exploited the offered possibilities of the blended learning environment. However, although a blended learning approach offers more flexibility in responding to students’ needs compared to traditional teaching-learning situations, it appears that students do not find each blended element useful.

Hearing-impaired pupils in mainstream education in Finland: teachers’ experiences of inclusion and support

Today, in Finland, the majority of hearing-impaired pupils attend regular schools. This is in line with inclusive policy. This study aims to investigate do these pupils receive support from teachers, what kind of support is given and how is inclusion functioning. A questionnaire was used with 109 Finnish teachers, with both closed- and open-ended questions. All teachers taught hearing-impaired pupils in mainstream education, at primary or at secondary stage. According to the results, the main support categories were pedagogical and technical support. However, 48% of teachers gave no support. Inclusion was successful according to teachers. Various forms of support and key areas of teaching are discussed.

High Performance Education Fails in Sustainability? —A Reflection on Finnish Primary Teacher Education

Sustainability is internationally often emphasized as an essential aim of higher education, but more as a principle than on the practical level. This is also obvious in the academic education of primary teachers in Finland. Therefore, it is a great challenge for Finnish teachers to include sustainability in their teaching and everyday life in schools. The aim of this article is to critically analyze why the implementation of sustainability in teacher education is so intricate and to discuss possible solutions with Finland—a country highly valued for its education—as an example. The article reports outcomes from educational policy documents and research on educational, philosophical, scientific and social aspects of sustainability, including evaluation of how sustainability has been implemented in schools and at universities, especially among teacher educators. In addition, the article builds on analyses of comprehensive university strategies and primary school teacher education programs. We found these reasons for the ignoring of sustainability in the Finnish teacher education: sustainability is in conflict with overall trends in society and politics, teacher education takes place at universities and is based on separate academic disciplines. Sustainability is also intricate because it is strongly connected to ecological literacy and it is value dependent. Universities need to overcome these obstacles and become forerunners in the sustainability process.

Profiles of teaching practices and reading skills at the first and third grade in Finland and Estonia

The Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure was used to observe 91 first-grade and 70 third-grade teachers in Estonia and Finland. Using a person-oriented approach, four profiles of teaching practices were identified in grade 1: the child-centred style, teacher-directed style, child-dominated style and a mixture of the child-centred and teacher-directed styles. An additional profile, the extreme-child-centred style, was found in grade 3. Children taught by child-centred teachers showed the highest reading skills, whereas children taught by child-dominated teachers showed the lowest skills. More Estonian than Finnish teachers applied the child-dominated style in grade 1 and the extreme-child-centred style in grade 3.

Making meaning of inclusive education: classroom practices in Finnish and South African classrooms

This paper reports on the findings of an international comparative research project where the roles of teachers in the implementation of inclusive education in mainstream-classroom settings in South Africa and Finland were investigated. Inclusive education within this project is broadly defined as welcoming all students to general-education schools and classrooms and not segregating students on the basis of ability or other individual or sociocultural characteristics. In this paper a qualitative analysis of Finnish and South African teachers’ day-to-day teaching and learning support practices in their classroom is discussed. Individual and focus-group interviews encouraged teachers to articulate their views in this regard. Initial findings indicate that despite the dissimilar cultural and historical contexts of these two countries, both complex contextual issues and classroom practices based on a medical-deficit understanding of diverse educational needs play a role in Finnish and South African classrooms.

EXAMINING FACTORS AFFECTING IMPLEMENTATION OF INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING IN FINLAND AND SOUTH KOREA

Using inquiry has become a universal factor in science education, but teachers often face challenges in implementing inquiry-based learning (IBL) because of, for instance, teachers’ low confidence in conducting inquiry or insufficient school resources. Much research has been conducted to identify the barriers that impede inquiry practice. However, most studies have employed small-scale qualitative methods from a single-country sample, and, thus, the effects of each factor on conducting inquiry in different educational systems have yet to be measured in one statistical model. Accordingly, this research was aimed to explore the extent to which various teacher- and school-factors have respectively affected teachers’ implementation of inquiry-based learning at lower secondary schools. To examine this issue, samples of 496 Finnish teachers in 135 lower secondary schools and 184 Korean teachers in 147 lower secondary schools were selected from the TIMSS 2011 science data set. The findings reveal that teachers’ confidence in teaching science and their collaboration to improve science teaching were strongly associated with facilitating inquiry in both countries, and these two factors’ positive effects on the implementation were partially derived from inquiry-related professional development in the Finnish sample. In addition, class size and school resources were also significantly related to inquiry practice in Finland, and the teachers’ education levels were negatively correlated with the frequency of inquiry practice in Korea. However, in both countries, the teachers’ emphasis on exams was indicated as a non-significant factor in predicting inquiry frequency. The results have implications in respect of the roles of professional development and school environment in increasing IBL practice in school science. Key words: inquiry-based learning, teacher collaboration, teacher confidence.

Teachers’ Implicit Meaning Systems and Their Implications for Pedagogical Thinking and Practice: A Case Study from Finland

ABSTRACTThis qualitative case study examines teachers’ implicit meaning systems built around their core beliefs on the malleability of human qualities. Previous research has demonstrated the influence of students’ implicit theories on motivation and achievement and has presented successful interventions for students. However, research on teachers’ implicit theories and, in particular, their actualization in natural environments is lacking. The data for this study include observations and stimulated recall interviews with two Finnish teachers whose opposing implicit theories were first indicated in 2000 by Carol Dweck . The results depict how these teachers’ implicit meaning systems influence their ways of interpreting students’ behavior, learning, and achievements, which in turn guide teachers’ pedagogical thinking as well as their practices for motivating the students. However, these Finnish teachers’ implicit theories also appear to be intertwined with culture-bound assumptions, and the classroom implementation of these theories was observed to vary situationally.

Homeroom teachers’perceptions over their tasks of school guidance

이 연구는 한국과 핀란드의 중등교육 담임교사가 자신의 역할을 어떻게 인식하고 있고, 그 역할을 수행함에서 겪는 어려움이 무엇인지를 살피기 위해 교사의 여러 역할 중생활지도를 중심으로 검토하였다. 이를 통해 두 나라의 담임 교사의 역할과 임무에 대한 인식을 비교 및 재고하였으며, 교사 역할 수행과 학교 교육에 대한 시사점과 개선 방향을 도출하고자 하였다. 각국 5명씩, 중학교 담임교사들과의 심층 인터뷰(화상 전화, 직접 대면)를 통해 자료를 수집하고 주제 분석을 했다. 분석 결과, 첫째, 한국 담임 교사들에게 생활지도는 가장 우선적인 과업이며 학생과의 관계 형성에 좀 더 집중하는 모습을 보였다. 반면, 핀란드 교사들에게는 교과 지도를 잘하는 것이 주요 임무이자 교사로서의 최대 관심사였다. 둘째, 두 나라 모두에서 담임교사들은 생활지도를 위한 좀 더 나은 시스템과 업무 환경이 구축되길 바랐는데. 특히, 학부모들의 학교나 교사에 대한 태도, 생활지도를 위한 시간과 자원 부족, 담임교사들의 과중한 업무들과 급여에 관한 내용이 어려움으로 언급되 었다. 마지막으로 전체적인 맥락 속에서 두 나라 교사들 간 중요한 차이점은 교사와 학교 교육을 향한 사회적 신뢰, 그리고 사회와 가정으로부터 학교 교육에 전가되는 책임에 대한 인식 속에서 나타났다. 이에 관한 문제들이 담임 교사의 생활지도를 어렵게 하거나 크게 영향을 미치는 것으로 드러났다.This study explores and compares how the homeroom teachers in Korea and Finland perceived their roles and difficulties of role performance focusing on the school guidance, which is one of main tasks for the teachers. It aims at drawing implications and improvements on homeroom teachers’performance and schooling in both countries. As for the methods, it employed thematic analysis approach through ten homeroom teacher interviews in the lower secondary school level. As a result, the school guidance was the top priority and relation with students was more valued for the Korean teachers, while teaching subject was the main task and more concerned for the Finnish teachers. Secondly, the homeroom teachers in both countries hoped to improve school systems and working environment to perform school guidance properly. They felt difficulties and challenges, for instance, with regards to parents’ attitudes, lack of resources and tight curriculum. Lastly, there were significant aspects through the whole context from the data concerning societal trust toward teachers and schooling. Furthermore, shifting responsibility from society and home to schools and a teacher seemed to be problematized in both countries.

Student teachers’ concept definitions of area and their understanding about two-dimensionality of area

ABSTRACTWe examine what kind of concept definitions of area a group of Finnish primary and lower secondary student teachers (N = 82) use, and how the quality of the definitions is associated with the participants’ success in seven exercises involving area. We are especially interested in how the understanding of the two-dimensionality of area appears in the participants’ responses. Only six student teachers were able to give a mathematically precise and correct definition of area. Altogether 26 participants defined it as ‘the size of a figure’ and 20 respondents required that a figure must be bounded. Further, 22 of them associated area with a formula or an example and eight respondents gave an incorrect or nonsensical definition. On average, student teachers master rather well the area formulae of a circle and a rectangle but already the relationship between the surface area of a cube and its volume is less commonly perceived. Most student teachers associate the area of an irregular domain with the method of exhaustion but clearly fewer of them acknowledge the difference between the area and an approximation of it. Surprisingly, there is only a weak Spearman correlation between the participants’ scores in the test exercises and the qualitatively ordered categories of concept definitions.

Seminar.net with special issue from Finland

Most of the world has learned to ”see to Finland” over the last decade, beacuse of its reputation as a leading nation in educational achievement, as well as its many creative and diligent approaches in technology. Since 1990 Finnish researchers in media, technology and education have met annually to discuss research matters and further advances in the area. For the conference of 2016, held 13-15th April in Hämeenlinna, Finland, we were asked to have the best papers published in Seminar.net. After a rigourous review process we will print six papers, four in this issue and two in the next.Antti Syvänen, Jaana-Piia Mäkiniemi, Sannu Syrjä, Kirsi Heikkilä-Tammi and Jarmo Viteli, all of the University of Tampere, present the paper “When does the educational use of ICT become a source of technostress for Finnish teachers?» This interesting paper is based on the analysis of questionnaires filled in by 2741 Finnish teachers. It provides significant insight into what causes teachers to experience stress and alienation when using information and communication technologies (ICT) in their classrooms.Tuulikki Keskitalo and Heli Ruokamo of Lapland University present a paper dealing with “Students’ Expectations and Experiences of Meaningful Simulation-Based Medical Education». Simulation in nursing education is a very rapidly developing area, and the students – as well as their teachers – have high expectation. This project is about student’s expectations and the very positive result from this study was that their experiences were even higher than their expectations.Hanna Vuojärvi, of the University of Lapland and Miikka Eriksson, of the University of Eastern Finland, have written the article «Using Mobile Tools to Support Meaningful Work-based Learning in Vocational Education» together. Their case study focused on meaningful work-based learning (WBL) and the pedagogical use of mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs) in vocational tourism education. It demonstrates how the use of smartphones was applied in the project and its usefulness in the student’s work with the learning material.Antero Lindstedt, Kristian Kiili, Pauliina Tuomi and Arttu Perttula, all from Tampere University of Technology, Pori department provide the paper called “A user experience case study: two embodied cognition user interface solutions for a math learning game». They have used a particular game development environment, Semideus, to test out how different user interfaces influenced. They found interesting differences, mainly in favour of the «tilting user interface».

When does the educational use of ICT become a source of technostress for Finnish teachers?

The accelerating digitalization of society has resulted in a demand to speed-up the implementation of ICT in teaching, and changes in curriculum policies reflect this development. However, the demand to increase the educational use of ICT may also cause stress. The aim of the current study was to explore how demographics are associated with technostress and which factors predict it in Finnish school teachers. The data was collected with the OPEKA online self‑evaluation questionnaire tool. The sample consisted of 2,741 teachers. The results indicated that subject teachers were more “technostressed” than class teachers, female teachers were more stressed than males, and teachers with 16–30 years of working experience were more stressed than teachers with 0–15 years of experience. The key predictors of the technostress were ICT competence, the concordance of the educational use of ICT with the teaching style, school support, and attitudes to the educational use of ICT. High ICT competence, high concordance of ICT with the teaching style, high levels of school support, and positive attitudes to ICT were associated with low levels of technostress. The results are discussed in the light of previous findings, and the practical implications and the need for future studies are explored.

Outcomes of primary teacher education in Finland: an exit survey

Seven final year cohorts of Finnish pre-service primary teachers (N = 384) were given an exit survey, which measured their estimated attainment of knowledge and experience in the 10 domains of professional activity considered critical for new teachers in the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) standards. The results indicated that the profile of the graduates was uneven, showing low levels of satisfaction in the fields of special education and cooperation but high levels of satisfaction in the fields of reflective practice and planning. The satisfaction with the estimated knowledge and experience achieved was divided into three components of pedagogic, instructional and complex skills satisfaction. The central role of teaching practice was considered to be reflected in the results. The areas of low satisfaction were those in which the amount of teaching practice in the teacher education curriculum was considered insufficient to generate enough experience. This was especially so in the field of special education and in meeting the diverse needs of students. The 10-item INTASC scale showed sufficient psychometric qualities. The results are also discussed in terms of the suggested exceptional quality of Finnish teacher education.

Finnish and Iranian teachers’ views on their competence to teach purpose

This paper examines Finnish (n = 464) and Iranian (n = 556) teachers’ views on their competence to teach purpose. ‘Purpose’ is defined as a stable intention to accomplish something that is both meaningful to the self and of consequence beyond the self over time. The study revealed that all Iranian teachers evaluated their competence for teaching purpose as being high, regardless of the subject taught. In contrast, among Finnish teachers, there were statistically significant relationships between the subject taught and teachers’ self-perceptions: religious education seemed to provide a subject in which Finnish teachers can guide students to consider explicitly their purpose in life and plans for the future, while science and mathematics appeared to offer the most challenging contexts for teaching purpose. Hence, the results challenge Finnish in-service and pre-service teacher education programmes to create new approaches and new cultures for mathematics and science education, which intentionally take into account the moral aspects of teaching. Moreover, regression analysis revealed that teachers’ ethical sensitivity predicted their views on teaching purpose in both countries. Results indicate that improving teachers’ ethical sensitivity skills in teacher education programmes could provide a significant path for supporting teachers’ competence in teaching purpose.

Finnish student teachers’ perceptions on the role of purpose in teaching

This study identifies the nature of the purposes that Finnish student teachers of different subjects (N = 372) have for teaching and how these perceptions could inform teacher education. Earlier studies have shown that both American and Finnish students have found the role of their teachers to be very important in teaching and learning purpose. Finnish student teachers have also been found to be purposeful in their teaching. The data for this study were gathered in 2013 with quantitative questionnaires measuring different elements of purpose, such as purpose identification, goal-directedness, beyond-the-self orientation, and competence to teach purpose. Using K-Cluster analysis, four purpose profiles were identified among student teachers: Purposeful, Dabblers, Dreamers, and Disengaged. Student teachers of religious education were found to be the most purposeful in their profiles, while student teachers of mathematics differed from the others, with more than 40% having a Disengaged profile. The results indicate that student teachers of mathematics need special support for their purpose development, as well as education in purposeful teaching.

¿Qué diferencia a los docentes fineses de los españoles? Un paso hacia la realidad: desde la formación hasta la práctica docente

<p>La elaboración de investigaciones y evaluaciones actuales enfocadas en la práctica docente en las aulas tiene como principal objetivo avanzar y mejorar los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje. Por este motivo y dada la importancia de dar respuesta a las necesidades de los alumnos en el siglo XXI, se presenta este estudio comparado sobre la formación teórica y la práctica docente en España y en Finlandia en el que se recogen las estrategias que los docentes fineses y españoles utilizan en el aula con sus alumnos.</p><p>Para la consecución de dicho objetivo se elaboró un cuestionario formado por 5 dimensiones: estrategias metodológicas, estrategias de planificación, estrategias educativas, estrategias tecnológicas y estrategias de evaluación, respectivamente; compuesto por un total de 39 ítems, contestados por 60 profesores de Educación Primaria (20 de Madrid, 20 de Ciudad Real y 20 de Finlandia).</p><p>Tras los análisis estadísticos realizados se puede verificar que existen diferencias significativas en la formación inicial de los profesores en España y Finlandia y como consecuencia en la enseñanza práctica que llevan a cabo en las aulas con sus alumnos, siendo los profesores fineses los que obtienen mayores puntuaciones en el uso de estrategias de carácter práctico en la clase.</p>

Developing teachers' intercultural sensitivity: Case study on a pilot course in Finnish teacher education

In scholarly discussions, developing intercultural competencies, with intercultural sensitivity as their core, is an acknowledged aim of teacher education. Religion forms a foundational part in many cultures, and its prominence in the public sphere is increasing. However, educational research and practice have largely disregarded religious diversity. This paper examines how Finnish student teachers' develop intercultural sensitivity through self-reflective learning processes in a pilot course on cultures and religions in education. The results depict students' willingness to engage in self-reflection as a necessary starting point for developing ethno-relative orientation to diversity and sensitivity to religious identities.

The conceptualisation of pupils’ problems by Finnish and Norwegian primary school teachers: performance, welfare and behaviour

Drawing on the tradition of childhood studies, this study explores how children’s problems are being conceptualised by primary school teachers in Finland and Norway and what kind of institutional childhood is reflected in those conceptualisations. I use thematic content analysis to analyse data derived from two primary schools in Tampere, Finland, and two in Trondheim, Norway. In both Nordic contexts, problems were conceptualised in terms of children’s performance, welfare and behaviour. The results imply that the welfare (or care) perspective to childhood, along with more instrumental perspectives of learning outcomes and behaviour management, is essential in Nordic primary education.

The significance of emotions in Finnish teachers’ stories about their intercultural learning

The need to improve teachers’ abilities to respond to the needs of diverse students has been widely acknowledged. To acquire these abilities teachers need ongoing reflection and opportunities to learn in practice in various contexts. However, earlier research has not extensively theorised teachers’ intercultural learning as a holistic life-long learning process. This article discusses teachers’ intercultural learning as a lifelong process in which emotions play a significant role. The article is based on the findings of an analysis of biographical interviews with 10 Finnish teachers. The research question addressed here is: How does the significance of emotions for teachers’ intercultural learning appear in teachers’ stories? The findings present four ways in which the emotional dimensions of intercultural learning was present in the teachers’ stories: emotions shook the teachers’ values and perspectives, emotions triggered action, the teachers’ own feelings of otherness enabled sensitivity towards others, and the emotional climate supported the teachers’ intercultural learning. Finally, the article discusses the pedagogical conditions for teachers’ intercultural learning as an emotional process.