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Jari Lavonen
Department of Teacher EducationUniversity of Helsinki, Finland
Teachers - a major factor for successful educational systems:
Reflections based on Finnish Teacher Education
Republic Finland
2
In northern Europe, area of 340 000 km2 (10 times bigger than Catalonia)
5,4 million people (70% of Catalonia)
Success in - welfare - education
1. Finnish education context
2. Teacher professionalism
3. Teacher education
4. Discussion
3
Content of the presentation
4
Finnish education context
5
Characteristics of Finnish Education Laukkanen (2008), Niemi et al. (2012), Sahlberg (2011)
1. Educational equality - minimize the influence of socio/economic background - education is free (books, meals, health care, …) - well-organised special education (inclusion) and counselling
According to PISA 2012 52% of FI, 35% of CAN, 33% of U.S, 32% of SGB and 5% of UK teachers use pedagogy for supporting pupils with heterogeneous abilities to learn in all classes they have.
2. Devolution of decision power to the local level - leadership and management at school level the role of school principal is important - teachers are responsible for local curriculum and assessment
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
Values and Aims of a Finnish SchoolValues: 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 …
Finnishsociety
Partners
Global StakeholdersParents
Learning of 21st century competences
Professional teachers• Versatile
knowledge base• Collaboration skills• Competence for
life-long learning
Local curriculumand environments• Broad aims • Versatile learning
environments anduse of technology
• Teaching and assessment methods
Networks &partnerships•Grade and subject teans
•School level teams
•School-family partnership
•City level teams
Leadership and quality culture• Distributed
leadership & management
• Goal orientation and interaction
• Quality assurance• Teams and teamwork
Finnish school
Diverse learners
Networks and partnerships
Networks are for sharing (communicating) ideas, opinions
and experiences
Networks support adoption of educational innovations:
The information flows through the networks (Rogers,
2003).
In a partnership parties collaborate and share common
aims, information and services:
School-family-partnership facilitates the sharing of
educational aims and responsibilities in order to support
the development and learning of a pupil (Epstein, 2009).
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Helsinki, February 2011, 12:00
Teacher professionalism
Teacher professionalism refers to status of teachers and depends on (Müller et al, 2010; TALIS 2008 survey)
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, …)
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All
im
po
rtan
t
An “effective teacher”
An effective teacher is able to support pupils’ learning and
effectiveness is seen in pupils’ learning outcomes A link to accountability, where testing recognises effective
and non-effective schools and teachers (Williamson & Walberg, 2004).
Standards and accreditations are needed for teaching,
teachers, schools and teacher education. (Bullough Jr., Clark
& Patterson, 2003).
According to PISA 2012
15% of FI, 30% of CAN, 49% of AUS, 57% of U.S,
86% of SHA and 87% of SGB teachers feel that pupils’
assessments are used to make judgements about teachers’
effectiveness
Finnish teachers focus on educating pupils towards the 21st
century aims than maximizing their test performance 11
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.
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high quality knowledge
base
networks &partnerships
life-long-learning
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. … 13
high quality knowledge
base
networks &partnerships
life-long-learning
3. Finnish Teacher Education
15
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
“… most important part of any successful educational system — the teacher”SCIENCE, 13th January 2012, Vol 335
Recruit the best and the brightest to be teachers, and train
them well.
Give them the independence from centralized authority, and
time to prepare lessons and ...
.... Finland acknowledges the central role of teachers in
society, as demonstrated by the respect
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EditorJohn E. Burris
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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
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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
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Teacher education at the University of Helsinki
University of Helsinki (11 faculties, 38 000 students, 7 400 staff members)
Faculty ofBehaviouralSciences
Faculty of Arts
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Biosciences
Faculty of Theology
Faculty ofSocial Sciences
Dept. of TeacherEducation
Teacher TrainingSchools
Secondary teacher education: pedagogical studies + subject studies
Primary teacher education
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Structure of the Master’s degree of a secondary teacher: 3 + 2 years, 300 cr
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Major Subject
Minor Subject
Pedagogicalstudies
Communicationand language
studies
Bachelor’s level (180 cr) Master’s level (120 cr)
Master-thesis
cr
= 2
7 ho
urs
of w
ork
Stu
dy c
redi
ts
Ped. thesis
Teachersbenefit of the
research orientationwhile they make
the school curriculum, plan, implement
and evaluateteaching and
learning
BSc thesis
Teachingpractice
Subject knowledge,
knowledge about teaching and learning, and school practise
are integrated into the students’ own personal pedagogical
theory/view
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The structure of the pedagogical studies in secondary teacher education programme in Finland
In Finland huge amount of PCK is taught also at the departments of Physics, Chemistry,…
Pedagogical studies in Finland (60 cp.) General courses on
education, teaching and learning 13 cp
Subject pedagog y (PCK) 17 cp
Educational research 10 cp
Teaching practice 20 cp
- Psychology of development and learning 4 cp - Special needs education 4 cp - Social, historical, and philosophical basis of education 5 cp
- Psychological basis of teaching and learning of a subject 5 cp - Curriculum development and planning of teaching 5 cp - Evaluation of teaching and learning, evaluation of a curriculum 7 cp
- Research methodology in education 3 cp - Teacher as a researcher-seminar 3 cp - Minor thesis in pedagogy 4 cp
- Supervised basic teaching practice 7 cp - Supervised applied teaching practice 5 cp - Supervised advanced teaching practice 8 cp - Reflection supported by portfolio assessment work
Psychology of development and learning, 4 cp
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Objectives: A student becomes familiar with development of an
individual and group and identifies the special
characteristics of the different groups.
The student develops readiness to understand different
views on the growth, development and learning of the
human being and from the significance of the interaction
between an individual and a group and takes the
psychologic principles of the learning into consideration in
the teaching.
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Special Courses at the Department of Physics for Physics student teachers
Master level courses Concepts and structures of physics I: Classical physics Concepts and structures of physics II: Modern physics Structures and processes of school physics Experimentation in school laboratory History and philosophy of physics Physics teachers‘ master thesis seminar
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Structure of the master degree of a primary teacher: 3 + 2 years
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Major Education orEd. Psych.
Multi-disciplinarystudies
Minor Subject
Communicationand language
studies
Bachelor’s level (180 Bachelor’s level (180 cr) Master’s level (120 cr)
Master-thesisMaster-thesis
cr
= 2
7 ho
urs
of w
ork
Stu
dy c
redi
ts
BSc thesis
Finnish language, PCK
Mathematics, PCK
Physics, PCK
Chemistry, PCK
Biology, PCK
Geography, PCK
History, PCK
Religion/ethics PCK
Sports
Arts
Music
Crafts
Pedagogicalstudies
Teachingpractice
The pedagogical studies helps the students …
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.
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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
Assessment of teachers
Finnishtrends
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
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FeedbackStudents learning outcomes and evaluations (feedback + self-evaluations)of the programmeMunicipality feedback
Outcomes,Collection
of students’ evaluations
EU andNational strategies
Curriculum- framework- localAssessment
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 researchon teachereducation
Framework for designing a teacher education programme at the University of Helsinki
Subject teacher education programme
Co-operative planning of the programme: Teachers from the subject departments, Department of teacher education,
school teachers , principals and student teachers
Discussion
Finnish teachers, in general, are effective in the traditional meaning of teacher effectiveness:
Finnish students perform well:
(they have achieved the highest scores in reading–,
mathematics–, and scientific-literacy assessments in PISA). The low variation of performance in results indicates that all
teachers and schools are in general very similar.
In Finland, the teacher effectiveness /professionalism could
be discussed in the context of ‘input’ - instead of the widely
accepted ‘output approach’
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1. A versatile knowledge base
Subject matter knowledge: the broad meanings of
concepts; epistemological, ontological and
methodological issues related to the subject. PCK and GPK, which are needed for (broad) planning
(including the local curriculum), implementation and
assessment of teaching and learning. Moral and ethical knowledge in order to work ethically
correctly with students and parents. Skills needed in producing and consuming research
based knowledge.
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The planning and assessment of
teaching and learning are based on
1) the local curriculum and
2) the different needs of the students.
2. Life-long-learning competencies
Skills needed in evaluating and developing the teaching
profession:
learning of new subject matter and pedagogical
knowledge, for example, from a book, journal or an in-
service training course…
Skills and the willingness to engage in collaborative and
creative processes.
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A creative teacher recognises problems around
him/her, is able to generate alternatives for solving
the problems and able to select the most
appropriate solution among the alternatives.
3. Readiness for collaboration and partnership
Readiness for collaboration inside the school :
Multiprofessional teams Readiness for collaboration with parents. Readiness for school society/industry/… partnership.
Schools are not isolated institutes in a society.
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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
In education we need …
Thank you!
