Finland’s high outcomes in the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) generated worldwide interest in the country’s education system. My doctoral research revealed the crucial role that teachers and teacher education played in Finland’s impressive performance in PISA. My postdoctoral research (Chung, 2022), therefore, focused upon Finnish teacher education in more detail. This post focuses on Finnish teachers and their research-based teacher education, which includes a Master’s degree for all qualified teachers. The rigorous level of education for teachers and high expectations of teachers has resulted in a critically reflective, autonomous teaching profession (Chung, 2022). Many educational researchers, including myself, credit Finnish teachers for the country’s PISA success.
Teachers in Finland have always maintained an important position in Finnish society. Teachers were traditionally considered “candles of the nation” (Niemi, 2012: 21; Tirri, 2014: 602), responsible for educating the entire community, and not just children (Chung, 2022). Teachers were educated in seminaries, with the first one opening in 1863. Later, teaching colleges emerged, and while coexisting with the seminaries, they promoted a more academic, teacher education rather than a teacher training approach to teacher preparation (Chung, 2023). Teaching colleges catalysed the academic study of education science, which provided the foundation for today’s research-based teacher education. In 1971, all teacher education moved to universities, and in 1979, all qualified teachers needed to earn a Master’s degree. This unified teacher education for all, and included both primary and secondary teaching candidates. The requirement for all teachers, including primary education teachers, to complete a Master’s degree, is considered one of the most important policy decisions for Finnish education (Niemi, 2012). The raising of expectations for all teachers resulted in a highly-qualified, autonomous, and agentic profession (Chung, 2023).
The rigorous process of becoming a teacher includes the study of educational science. The terminology of educational science is used deliberately, in order to denote the academic rigour of the study of education (Chung, 2022). Furthermore, Finnish educational science is based on empirical research underpinning teacher education in Finland. Finnish teacher education is embedded in research, with student teachers reading academic literature, writing essays, and studying research methods (Krokfors et al., 2011, p. 4). Finnish teacher education views teachers’ work as involving constant research, and all qualified teachers are eligible for doctoral study (Uusiautti and Määtä, 2013). Whereas some policymakers disagreed with raising the education level of teachers, not to mention the expense to the government, Finland’s performance in PISA validated the research emphasis of Finnish teacher education.
Finnish teachers undertake most of their teaching practice in normaalikoulu, or normal schools. These ‘lab schools’ are affiliated with universities, and differ from municipal schools. The normal schools’ affiliation with universities further reinforces the research and theoretical underpinnings of Finnish teacher education. Many mentor teachers, approximately 20% in some schools, have achieved a level of education higher than the required Master’s degree (Chung, 2022). The mentor teachers need to exercise their own research-informed, critically reflective practice in order to instill the same values in student teachers. These student teachers are encouraged to find their own “personal practice theory” (Mouhu, 2011: 157), integrating theory and practice, to establish their own teaching style. Normal schools also serve the affiliated universities as loci for research. Professors, lecturers, and student teachers, as well as normal school mentor teachers, conduct research in the schools. These activities further connect theory, research, and practice in Finnish education.
While teachers have always garnered respect in Finnish society, the Master’s degree for all qualified teachers has been an impactful policy decision for Finnish education. The academization of education along with the Finnish dedication for implementing research-informed teacher education, has resulted in critically reflective, self-reliant, autonomous teacher-researchers. Finnish policymakers must be commended for the long-term vision needed to see major policy change to fruition, with teaching now an academically-based profession. Finnish teacher education (Chung, 2019, 2022) and resulting teacher autonomy contribute to Finland’s impressive PISA outcomes.
References
Chung, J. (2019) PISA and Global Education Policy: Understanding Finland’s success and influence. Leiden/Boston: Sense/Brill.
Chung, J. (2022) The Impact of Finnish Teacher Education on International Policy: Understanding university training schools. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan.
Chung, J. (2023) ‘Research-Informed teacher education, teacher autonomy and teacher agency: the example of Finland’. London Review of Education, 21 (1), 13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/LRE.21.1.13.
Krokfors, L., Kynäslahti, H., Stenberg, K., Toom, A., Maaranen, K., Jyrhäma, R., Byman, R. and Kansanen, P. (2011) ‘Investigating Finnish teacher educators’ views on research-based teacher education’. Teaching Education, 22 (1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210.2010.542559.
Mouhu, H. (2011) ‘Becoming a supervisor in the Finnish teacher education system’. In M. Kontoniemi and O.-P. Salo (eds), Educating Teachers in the PISA Paradise: Perspectives on teacher education at a Finnish university. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 157–83.
Niemi, H. (2012) ‘The societal factors contributing to education and schooling in Finland’. In H. Niemi, A. Toom and A. Kallioniemi (eds), Miracle of Education: The principles and practices of teaching and learning in Finnish schools. Rotterdam: Sense, 19–38.
Tirri, K. (2014) ‘The last 40 years in Finnish teacher education’. Journal of Education for Teaching, 40 (5), 600–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2014.956545.
Uusiautti, S. and Määtä, K. (2013) ‘Significant trends in the development of Finnish teacher education programs (1860–2010)’. Education Policy, 21 (59), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v21n59.2013.
