1. Teachers - a major factor for successful educational systems: Reflections based on Finnish Teacher Education
Jari Lavonen
Department of Teacher Education University of Helsinki, Finland

2. Republic Finland
In northern Europe, area of km2 (10 times bigger than Catalonia)
5,4 million people (70% of Catalonia)
Success in - welfare - education

3. Content of the presentation
Finnish education context
Teacher professionalism
Teacher education
Discussion

4. Finnish education context4

5. Characteristics of Finnish Education Laukkanen (2008), Niemi et al
Characteristics of Finnish Education Laukkanen (2008), Niemi et al. (2012), Sahlberg (2011)
Educational equality - need to mitigate socio/economic backgrounds - education is free (books, meals, health care, …) - well-organised special education (inclusion) and counselling
Decentralisation or devolution of decision power to the local level - leadership and management at school level (headmaster) - teachers are responsible for local curriculum and assessment - trust culture: no inspectors, no national exams (testing) …

6. Outcome based –model Finnish –model Aims as Learning outcomes
Broad aims for teaching/ learning
Important level
National/district level planning and assessment
Assessment and planning at the level of a school and classrooms
+a learner knows what he/she should learn - competitive school culture: ranking of students and schools
- “teaching to the test”
+co-planning +a teacher conducts assessment for enhancing learning processes
- problematic to compare the quality of learning outcomes and select students to next level
*Spelling correction for district
*removed “Too” from the focus for outcome based-model
*The format on here might be too large for the slide?

7. Learning of 21st century competences
Values and Aims of a Finnish School Values: human rights (rights for high quality education), equality, democracy, natural diversity, preservation of environmental viability, endorsement of multiculturalism, individualism (responsibility, a sense of community), respect for the rights …
Professional teachers
Versatile knowledge base
Collaboration skills
Competence for life-long learning
Local curriculum
and environments
Broad aims
Versatile learning environments and use of technology
Teaching and assessment methods
Leadership and
quality culture
Distributed leadership & management
Goal orientation and interaction
Quality assurance
Teams and teamwork
Networks & partnerships
Grade and subject teans
School level teams
School-family partnership
City level teams
Learning of 21st century competences
Global
Stakeholders
Parents
Finnish society
Partners
Diverse learners
Finnish school

8. Finnish educational context
Helsinki, February 2011, 12:00
Teacher professionalism
Finnish educational context

9. Teacher professionalism (Müller et al, 2010; TALIS 2008 survey)
Teacher professionalism refers to status of teachers and depends on
individual characteristics (teacher knowledge, teaching philosophy, interaction skills, …)
school level factors (shared leadership, collaboration, school-society-family partnership …)
cultural and education policy factors at state level or context (accountability policy  trust culture, …)
All important

10. Diverse definitions to professionalism (Hargreaves & Goodson, 1996; Evans, 2008; Freidson, 2001; Urban & Dalli, 2011; Evetts, 2012)
Individual characteristics
The professional (conceptual) knowledge base
Self-regulation of and -control over the work (self-assessment).
Specific professional ideology, incl. shared understanding of professional values and ethics code .
Include social and individual elements
Strong institutionalization of an occupational group.
Autonomous role in planning and implementation.
Work (activities) is complex and not easy to standardize.
high quality knowledge
base
networks & partnerships
life-long- learning

11. Teacher leadership Broad meaning of teacher leadership fits with the Finnish teachers
A teacher leader (Lieberman, 1992, Katzenmeyer & Moller, 2001; Harris, 2003)
has a clear vision and is goal oriented
can plan, implement and assess his/her own practice and pupils’ learning
has deep understanding on teaching and learning
is able to work collaboratively with other teachers
is a facilitator, coach, mentor or a trainer of other teachers
is able to consume research based knowledge
Is a curriculum specialist and innovator for new approaches
is able to use assessment outcomes for school development. …
high quality knowledge
base
networks & partnerships
life-long- learning

12. 4. Finnish Teacher Education
Teachers are academic experts who are able to - autonomous decision making, - plan and implement learning activities - evaluate their own teaching and student s’ performance - lifelong learning (professional development)
Helsinki university main building
3. Finnish Teacher Education
4. Finnish Teacher Education

13. McKinsey &Company Auguste, B. , Kihn, P. , & Miller, M
McKinsey &Company Auguste, B., Kihn, P., & Miller, M. (2010) Closing the talent gap: Attracting and retaining top third graduates to a career in teaching: An International and market research-based perspective. McKinsley & Company

14. Finnish Teacher Education Development Programme (2002): The teacher education programmes should help students to acquire:
high-level subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, and knowledge about nature of knowledge,
social skills, like communication skills; skill to cooperate with other teachers,
moral knowledge and skills, like social and moral code of the teaching profession,
knowledge about school as an institute and its connections to the society (school community and partners, local contexts and stakeholders),
skills needed in developing one’s own teaching and the teaching profession.
academic skills, like research skills; skills to use ICT, skills needed in processes of developing a curricula, ….
high quality knowledge
base
networks & partnerships
life-long- learning

15. A secondary (subject) teacher
typically teaches at grades 7 to 12 (ages 13 to 19)
teaches typically one major and one minor subjects (e.g. math and physics)
An elementary (primary) school teacher (a class teacher)
teaches at grades 1 to 6 (ages 7 to 13)
teaches typically all 13 subjects

16. Teacher education at the University of Helsinki
University of Helsinki (11 faculties, students, staff members)
Faculty of Behavioural Sciences
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Biosciences
Faculty of Theology
Faculty of Social Sciences
Dept. of Teacher Education
Teacher Training Schools
Secondary teacher education: pedagogical studies subject studies
Primary teacher education

17. Teachers
benefit of the research orientation
while they make the school curriculum,
plan, implement
and evaluate
teaching and learning
Structure of the Master’s degree of a secondary teacher: years, 300 cr
Master’s level (120 cr)
Bachelor’s level (180 cr)
180
160
Master- thesis
140
Subject knowledge, knowledge about teaching and learning, and school practise are integrated into the students’ own personal pedagogical theory/ view
120
cr = 26 hours of work
Study credits
100 80
BSc thesis 60
Ped. thesis 40
Teaching practice 20
Major Subject
Minor Subject
Pedagogical
Communication
studies
and language
studies

18. The structure of the pedagogical studies in secondary teacher education programme in Finland
(60 cp.)
General courses on
Subject pedagog
y (PCK)
Educational research
Teaching practice
educatio
n, teaching and
17 cp
10 cp
20 cp
learning
13 cp -
Psychology of -
Psychological basis of -
Research -
Supervised
basic
development and
teaching and learning
methodology in
teaching practice 7 cp
learning
4 cp
of a subject
5 cp
education
3 cp -
Supervised applied -
Special needs -
Curriculum -
Teacher as a
teaching practice
5 cp
education 4 cp
development and
researcher -
seminar
3 cp -
Supervised advanced -
Social, historical, and
planning of teaching -
Minor thesis in
teaching practice 8 cp
philosophical basis of
5 cp
pedagogy
4 cp -
Ref
lection supported by
education 5 cp -
Evaluat
ion of teaching
portfolio assessment
and learning,
work
evaluation of a
curriculum 7 cp
In Finland huge amount of PCK is taught also at the departments of Physics, Chemistry,…

19. Structure of the master degree of a primary teacher: 3 + 2 years
Finnish language, PCK
Mathematics, PCK
Physics, PCK
Chemistry, PCK
Biology, PCK
Geography, PCK
History, PCK
Religion/ethics PCK
Sports
Arts
Music
Crafts
Structure of the master degree of a primary teacher: years
Master ’
s level (120 cr)
Bachelor ’
s level (180
s level (180 cr)
180
160
Master -
thesis
140
120
cr = 26 hours of work
Study credits
100
Pedagogical studies
Teaching practice 80 60
BSc thesis 40 20
Major
Multi- disciplinary studies
Minor
Communication
Education or
Ed. Psych.
Subject
and language
studies

20. The pedagogical studies helps the students …
Education
Psy. = Psychology of development and learning;
Spe. = Special needs education;
Phil. = Social, historical, and philosophical basis of education;
Sem. = Research methodology in education and teacher as a researcher-seminar;
Pedagogy
Cur. = Curriculum development and planning of subject teaching;
Eval. = Evaluation of subject teaching and learning;
Practice
B_prac. = Basic Supervised teaching practice;
Ap._prac. = Applied Supervised teaching practice;
Ad._prac. = Advanced Supervised teaching practice
to integrate subject knowledge, knowledge about teaching and learning and school practice into their own personal pedagogical theory/view,
to become aware of the different dimensions of the teacher profession: social, philosophical, psychological, sociological, and historical basis of education,
to be able to reflect on their own personal pedagogical “theory/view” (reflection for, in and on action),
to develop potentials for lifelong professional development.

21. Assessment of teachers
Finnish trends
Opposite trends (an example)
Qualification
Master degree
Teachers in US apply to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (use of portfolio, videotaped lesson, …)
Standards for teachers
No standards
Australian professional standards for teachers
Assessment (appraisal)
Self-assessment and development discussions with the headmaster
External appraisal and writing of evaluation sheets (S. Korea)
Inspectors
No-inspectors
Heavy inspection in England
Testing
No-national testing
Teachers are valued based on their students’ success in national tests

22. Subject teacher education programme
Framework for designing a teacher education programme at the University of Helsinki
Research on - subject matter
teaching and learning - needs of learners - policy, history, ...
→ Content
Research on teacher education - Structure of teacher knowledge - Forms of knowledge: professional …practical - Teacher identity - Agency University pedagogy
Own research on teacher education
EU and
National strategies
Curriculum - framework - local Assessment
Feedback Students learning outcomes and evaluations (feedback + self-evaluations) of the programme Municipality feedback
Outcomes,
Collection
of students’ evaluations
Co-operative planning of the programme: Teachers from the subject departments, Department of teacher education, school teachers , principals and student teachers
Subject teacher education programme

23. Discussion

24. In education we need … – more ... less ... professionalism bureaucracy
long term policy and a vision
ad hoc ideas coming from the politicians
decentralization, decision making, assessment and quality culture at local level
standardization, inspection, national testing and heavy quality control
trust based responsibility (self-evaluations, listening of students and municipality people/ parents voice)
test and inspection based accountability
collaboration, networking and partnerships
competition and rankings

25. Thank you!