Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? (Series on School Reform) by Sahlberg Pasi

Author:Sahlberg, Pasi [Sahlberg, Pasi]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Published: 2011-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

ACADEMIC TEACHER EDUCATION

Until the end of the 1970s, primary school teachers were prepared in teacher colleges or special teacher-education seminars. Lower- and upper-secondary school subject teachers studied in specific subject-focused departments within Finnish universities. By the end of the 1970s, all teacher-education programs became a part of academic higher education and, therefore, were only offered by universities. A master’s degree became the basic qualification to teach in Finnish schools. Simultaneously, scientific content and educational research advances began to enrich teacher-education curricula. Finnish teacher education is now academic, meaning that it must be based on and supported by scientific knowledge and be focused on thinking processes and cognitive skills needed to design and conduct educational research (Niemi, 2008; Jakku-Sihvonen & Niemi, 2006). A particular principle of research-based teacher education in Finland is systemic integration of scientific educational knowledge, didactics (or pedagogical content knowledge), and practice to enable teachers to enhance their pedagogical thinking, evidence-based decision making, and engagement in the professional community of educators. Consequently, the basic requirement today for permanent employment as a teacher in all Finnish comprehensive and upper-secondary schools is possession of a research-based master’s degree, as shown in Table 3.1.

Teacher education is an important and recognized part of higher education in Finland. In many other nations, the situation is different: Teacher preparation is frequently viewed as semiprofessional training arranged outside of academic universities. In the Acts on Teacher Education in 1978–79, the minimum requirement for permanent employment as a teacher was raised to a master’s degree that includes an approved master’s thesis with scholarly requirements similar to those in any other academic field. This legislative policy served as the impetus to transfer all teacher-education programs from colleges to Finnish universities. The seeds were sewn for believing that the teaching profession is based on scholarly research. An important side effect of this transition was unification of the Finnish teaching cohort, which had become divided by the Comprehensive School Reform of the 1970s into primary school teachers and subject teachers working in lower- and upper-secondary schools.

The role of the Trade Union of Education in Finland (OAJ), established in 1973, has been both a negotiator of the terms of teachers’ employment contracts and speaker for education (www.oaj.fi). The union represents teachers at various school levels and institutes, ranging from kindergarten teachers to instructors in vocational schools, school principals and lecturers in universities. More than 95% of teachers in Finland are OAJ members.

As mentioned above, all Finnish teachers must hold a master’s degree. The major subject in primary school teacher-education programs is education. In subject-focused teacher-education programs, students concentrate within a particular subject, for example, mathematics or foreign languages. Subject-focused teacher candidates also study didactics, consisting of pedagogical content knowledge (subject didactics) within their own subject specialty. Today, successful completion of a master’s degree—that includes a bachelor’s degree—in teaching takes from 5 to 7 years, according to the Finnish Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education, 2007). There are no alternative ways to earn a teacher’s diploma in Finland; only the university degree constitutes a license to teach.

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