c e psJ ournal | Vol.1 | No1 | Year 2011 43 Educating Student Teachers to Become High Quality Professionals – A Finnish Case Hannele Niemi1 • For decades, the Finnish orientation toward teacher education has committed itself to the development of an inquiry oriented and research-based professional culture. The aims of teacher education are to train students to find and analyse problems they may expect to face in their future work. This study consists of a survey of student teachers (n=545) in two universities in Finland. Web-based surveys with quantitative and qualitative questions were sent to all student teachers in the beginning of May 2010. Students assessed how teacher education had pro- vided them with the competences they need in a high standard profession, what kinds of active learning experiences they had in their TE studies, and how research studies of teacher edu- cation had contributed to their professional development. The participants of the study assessed that they had achieved good skills in planning teaching and curricula. They were capable of using different teaching methods. They were aware of their own teaching philosophy and their responsibilities as professionals and life-long learners. They consider the research component of TE valuable to their independent and critical thinking. They were very engaged in studies. Finnish pre-service teacher edu- cation seems to function very well and to be effective in pro- viding the skills teachers need to work as independent profes- sionals. The results of the study show, however, that students also need more supervision and guidance on how to collaborate with parents and other stakeholders outside school, such as rep- resentatives of working life as well as partners in business life and culture. Keywords: Active learning, Professional development, Student teachers, Teacher education, Teachers 1 University of Helsinki, Institute of Behavioural Sciences [email protected] 44 a finnish case Introduction Finnish teacher education has received a great deal of attention because of the high learning outcomes of Finnish 15-year-old students in Pisa achievement testing. Finland was in the highest position or among the three best countries in 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009 (OECD). Many researchers, as well as Finnish policy makers, regard high qual- ity teachers and teacher education as one of the major factors in good learning outcomes. During the last twenty years, Finnish teacher education has been evaluated systematically in many national and international evaluations. Many research projects and doctoral dissertations on some components of teacher education have also provided important knowledge for further development (e.g., Buchberger et al., 1994; The Committee Report, 1994; Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Coun- cil, 2011; Jussila & Saari, 1999; Ministry of Education, 2007; Niemi, 1996; Niemi, 1999; Niemi & Kemmis, 1999; Niemi & Kohonen, 1995). Some of the evaluations have focused on structural and higher education policy issues, while some have concentrated on themes of teachers’ professional development in teacher education. The present study belongs to the latter evaluations. This study aims to investigate how student teachers in two uni- versities assess their experiences and learning outcomes in teacher education. Because there are both structural and content-based differences between elementary and secondary teacher education, one of the aims of the study is to investigate what the major differences between as- sessments of primary and secondary school student teachers in profes- sional competences and skills are. According to decrees issued in 1979 and 1995, all prospective teachers in Finland have to attain a master’s degree as a teacher quali- fication. In terms of the Bologna process, the qualified teachers’ degree is equivalent to the second cycle degree in the European higher edu- cation area (Niemi & Jakku-Sihvonen, 2006). In the Finnish educa- tional system, the combination of a three-year bachelor’s degree and a two-year master’s degree in appropriate subjects qualifies teachers to teach subjects in primary and secondary schools or general subjects in vocational institutions. This means that all other teachers must attain a master’s degree (BA 180 European credits (ECTS) + MA 120 = 300 ECTS; 1 ECTS is about 27 hours’ work). c e psJ ournal | Vol.1 | No1 | Year 2011 45 Primary teachers, also called class teachers, have educational science as their major, and this degree requires the completion of a master’s thesis. The topics of the theses can be highly school-relat- ed, and the theses are very often action research projects. Second- ary school teachers, also called subject teachers, complete a major in their academic teaching subject and a substantial minor in pedagogy. Teacher education in universities does not follow any strictly defined programmes. Students have opportunities to create their own study plan selecting those modules required for teacher qualifications for different levels of the educational system. Nonetheless, teacher educa- tion departments offer certain study schedules in order to make stud- ies effective and efficient. Finland does not have any common national standards for teacher education. Each university is responsible for the quality of the programmes and studies they provide. The Teacher Education Act and relevant decrees provide frameworks and common guide- lines; however, universities are free to modify their own courses and programmes. Even though there are no national standards there are many unofficial common principles and recommendations on which national TE working groups and Deans of TE educational departments have agreed. The following main structural guidelines were accepted in 2006: The main elements of all teacher education curricula consist of studies in: • Academic disciplines. These can be whichever disciplines are taught in schools or educational institutions or in the science of education. Academic studies can be a major or minors depending on the qualification being sought. Class teachers have a major in educational sciences and minors in other disciplines. • Research studies consist of methodological studies, a BA thesis and a MA thesis. • Pedagogical studies (min. 60 ECTS) are obligatory for all teachers. They also include teaching practice. • Communication, language and ICT studies are obligatory. • The preparation of a personal study plan is a new element in university studies in Finland. Its main function is to guide students to develop their own effective programmes and career plans, and to tutor them in achieving their goals. 46 a finnish case • Optional studies may cover a variety of different courses through which students seek to profile their studies and qualifications. Pedagogical studies The traditional distinction between class teachers and subject teachers has been retained, but the structures of the respective degree programmes allow students to take very flexible routes, to include both in the same programme or permit later qualification in either direc- tion. Pedagogical studies (60 ECTS) are obligatory for qualification as a teacher and are approximately the same for both primary and sec- ondary teachers. These studies give a formal pedagogical qualification to teachers of all levels in the Finnish educational system regardless of the programmes in which they are provided. They provide teachers’ general competences with an emphasis on a reflective and research- based orientation in the teaching profession. According to the law, pedagogical studies must be studies in the science of education. Peda- gogical studies can be part of degree studies or they can be taken sepa- rately after the completion of a master’s degree. The goal of pedagogical studies is to create opportunities to learn pedagogical interaction, to learn how to develop one’s own teach- ing skills, and how to plan, teach and evaluate teaching in terms of the curriculum, the school community, and the age and learning capacity of the pupils. Students should also learn how to cooperate with other teachers, parents and other stakeholders and representatives of the welfare society. (www.helsinki.fi/vokke) Teachers’ pedagogical studies also include guided teaching practice (approx. 20 ECTS). The aim of guided practical studies is to support students in their efforts to acquire professional skills in re- searching, developing and evaluating teaching and learning processes. In addition, students should be able to reflect critically on their own practices and social skills in teaching and learning situations. During guided practical studies, students should meet pupils and students from various different social backgrounds and learning orientations and have opportunities to teach them according to the curriculum. An important aim of pedagogically oriented studies is also to educate teachers who are able to study and develop their own re- searched-based practices. For this reason, the modules on behavioural research methods are also obligatory for subject teachers. c e psJ ournal | Vol.1 | No1 | Year 2011 47 Perspective and theoretical framework For decades, the Finnish orientation toward teacher education has committed itself to the development of a research-based profes- sional culture (Niemi & Jakku-Sihvonen, 2006). The aim of TE studies is to train students to find and analyse problems they may expect to face in their future work. Professional skills The measurements of professional skills are based on the para- digms of the reflective teacher, the teacher as a researcher, and inquiry- oriented teacher education (e.g., Darling-Hammond, 2005, 2010; Nie- mi, 2002; Scardamalia, 2000; Smyth, 1995; Tabachnick & Zeichner, 1991). The theoretical framework of professional skills also consists of a concept that takes a broad view of teachers’ professional role in schools and society. There are tensions in many countries on how the practical com- ponent of teacher education, e.g., teaching practice, should be integrat- ed and implemented in teacher education programmes. As profession- als, teachers need many practical skills that enable them to mediate academic subject knowledge, values and attitudes to individuals or groups. Teachers need the confidence to work with learners in real situations, and student teachers often ask for very practical advice on their teaching practice. Recent research on expertise has revealed that there are different phases in the development of individual expertise (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986). Student teachers also need different kinds of support in the different phases of their development. In Finnish teacher education the aim is for teachers to be able to work as independent professionals in schools and to make an ac- tive contribution to educational issues including the development of school curricula, as well as formative and summative assessments of students’ learning. These competences require strong expertise and the integration of different kinds of knowledge. Davenport and Pru- sak (1998) have found that an expert needs codified knowledge and organised official and literally transferable knowledge. In addition, the development of expertise requires role models, observing experts, tacit knowledge, a social network and even good stories of successful prac- tice. Davenport and Prusak (1998) point out that experts’ knowledge is deep personal knowledge that has been tested in practical situations. According to Schön (1991), experts always face problems in 48 a finnish case situations that are unique and consist of uncertainties, value conflicts and other tensions because of complexity. They work in complex situ- ations. This establishes special requirements for their knowledge base. Experts’ knowledge is rational in nature, but this is not sufficient. They also need principles, rules and models, and they need to know how to apply scientific theories and techniques to complex problems. Working as an expert means that one has the knowledge and practical abilities to work in complex situations. In addition, experts need confidence in two complementary ways (Isopahkala-Brunet, 2004): they need the self-confidence to carry out their expertise in de- manding unique situations, and they also need to implement their ex- pertise in such a way that their customers, stakeholders and colleagues trust them. In the teaching profession this means that students and parents, and even society at large, need to be able to trust teachers’ expertise. Although teachers need many specific skills they also need a comprehensive idea or vision of what their work as an educational expert means. Teachers need to understand the complexity of educa- tional processes and see evidence that comes from different sources. They need research-based and research-informed knowledge, but they also need to be open to acquiring and assessing local evidence. Scarda- malia and Bereiter (2003) have examined the behaviour of experts. The feature that really distinguishes experts from others is their approach to new problems. The pattern recognition and learned procedures that lead to intuitive problem solving are only the beginning. The expert in- vests in what Bereiter and Scardamalia call progressive problem solv- ing, that is, tackling problems. Unlike reducing problems to previously learned routines, this increases expertise. Active learning How to get students to become more active learners is a very common problem in many countries. Active Learning research has revealed that teachers who seek to tutor their pupils to become active learners gain a new pedagogical role. They become facilitators who give more responsibility to students. They are more democratic; they nego- tiate more with students about aims, methods and control of learning. They see, more than before, all learners as resources for one another. New teaching methods, which consists of more independent learning, more collaborative arrangements, more open tasks and projects, ena- bles students to collaborate with one another, but very often a teacher c e psJ ournal | Vol.1 | No1 | Year 2011 49 is also a partner in a learning team. A teacher’s position is no longer at the front of the classroom, nor in the centre of the classroom, but s/ he is a circulating expert, learning together with students and trying to give as much space as possible to his/her students. To promote active learning, the teacher should be a tutor. In addition to the teacher, other partners (e.g., peers, parents, employers) in networks and co-operative projects should have a tutoring and supporting role. These scenarios of teachers’ work create new demands on teacher education. Hannele Niemi has investigated active learning in schools and teacher education (e.g., Niemi, 2002). The research focused on the Finnish case of active learning in teacher education and found that there are many factors that are obstacles to active learning. Schools, as well as teacher education institutions, change very slowly. We carry our learning culture from the early days of our own school life, and it forms our concepts and ideals as to what we regard as the aims of learning. The framework of active learning assessment in this study is based on theories that consider learning as a constructivist and col- laborative process. Active learning consists of independent inquiry, the structuring and restructuring of knowledge, a problem solving orien- tation, a critical approach and the evaluation of knowledge. The goals of learning are that the learner can elaborate on applications of knowl- edge and s/he is capable of producing new knowledge individually and collaboratively (e.g., Nonaka & Toyama, 2003; Scardamalia, 2002; Sfard, 1998). Active learners develop their skills of inquiry and learn to reflect on and control their own learning processes (e.g., Pintrich & McKeachie, 2003). Knowledge is not just an individual possession but is socially shared and emerges from participation in sociocultural ac- tivities. Learning is increasingly seen as building knowledge together. When seeking new ways for knowledge creation as an interactive pro- cess we see that all educational settings, including schools, should pre- pare students for ‘virtuous knowledge sharing’ (European University Association, 2007, p. 21). Research studies in teacher education An important aim of research oriented studies is also to educate teachers who are able to study and develop their own research-based practices. For this reason, modules on behavioural research methods are also obligatory for all TE students in Finland. The critical scientific literacy of teachers and their ability to use research methods are con- sidered crucial. The goal of these studies is to train students to find and 50 a finnish case analyse problems that they may expect to face in their future work. Research studies provide students with an opportunity to complete an authentic project in which students must formulate a problem in an educational field, be able to search independently for information and data related to the problem, elaborate on them in the context of recent research in the area and synthesise the results in the form of a written thesis. They learn to study actively and to internalise the behaviour of how teachers may act like researchers in their work. The research component is an essential part of Finnish teacher education. It comprises approximately 20% of the entire TE studies of both elementary teachers (major in Education) and secondary school teachers (major in Academic Subject). Despite initial difficulties in in- tegrating research studies with other components of TE in the 1980s, research methods and the writing of a master’s thesis are now among the best segments of elementary school teacher education (e.g., Niemi 2002; Niemi & Kohonen 1995;). The general result of evaluations is that the more demanding the studies are, in terms of quality of learning, the more useful they are. The research In this research we investigate: • How well do teacher education studies provide wide and comprehensive professional competences to student teachers? • How do teacher education studies steer student teachers to become active learners? • What kind of contribution does a research component in teacher education bring to student teachers’ professional development? Data collection The study consists of a survey to student teachers with the fol- lowing measures: • Teachers’ professional skills and competences needed in a high standard profession (40 questions) • Student teachers’ experience of active and collaborative learning in TE (20 questions) and 5 open-ended questions. • Student teachers’ experiences of the research component in teacher education and how research studies of teacher education had contributed to their professional development (20 questions). c e psJ ournal | Vol.1 | No1 | Year 2011 51 Most of the questions were structured items using a 1-5 scale. There were also open answers for qualitative descriptions of their ex- periences during TE. The questionnaires were based on the theoretical basis presented in the earlier chapter, on the guidelines and aims of the Act and Decrees of Finnish teacher education, as well as on national strategies, e.g., the use of ICT in schools. The questionnaires on professional skills and competences and active learning had many of the same questions that had appeared in earlier surveys of Finnish teacher education (Niemi, 1995). The open-ended questions were: • Describe 1–3 learning situations or units in your university studies in which you experienced being a strongly active learner. • What are the greatest obstacles to active learning in teacher education? • How could teacher education give teachers the readiness to tutor pupils at schools for active and self-regulated learning? Analysis methods of the study were quantitative and qualita- tive. The quantitative data has been analysed using descriptive statis- tics: means and standard deviations. In addition, correlate and multi- variate methods were applied. Data reduction methods, such as Factor Analysis, were used (Principal axel method with Varimax and Promax rotations) in the analysis of the Active Learning questionnaire. The qualitative data has been analysed using content analysis techniques. The categories that describe student teachers’ best active learning ex- periences will be presented in this study. Sample The data of this study were collected among students of class teacher and subject teacher education programmes at the Universities of Helsinki and Oulu. These two universities offer both primary and secondary teacher education degrees, with the main structures of TE being the same in both universities. In terms of contextual differences between universities, we can find some special features. The Univer- sity of Oulu is a more technology oriented university and has many regional responsibilities to the locality. The University of Helsinki is an internationally recognised comprehensive university with an emphasis 52 a finnish case on basic research. Both universities have been actively involved in national cooperation to develop teacher education and follow joint agreed recommendations. Therefore, there is no hypothesis that these two universities would differ in assessments made by their student teachers. Both universities have a strong research oriented component in pedagogical studies as well as in subject matter studies. All students have to write both BA and MA theses in their major subject. Class teachers major in educational sciences whilst subject teachers major in academic subjects with a substantial minor in Education. Teaching practice is integrated with pedagogical studies from the beginning of the studies. (Jakku-Sihvonen & Niemi, 2006). Web-based surveys were sent to all student teachers in the beginning of May 2010 and the website was open until 4 June 2010. Departmental mailing lists were used in data gathering. The students could assess their TE studies anonymously. Two email reminders about the questionnaire were sent to the mailing lists. The official, total num- ber of student teachers in both universities is approximately 1450, con- sisting of 1000 class teachers (all students in 5 years programmes) and 450 subject teachers undertaking one year pedagogical studies. The ex- act numbers of students are very difficult to estimate because students have a lot of freedom to make their personal study plans, which can shorten or lengthen their study times. A total of 605 students visited the web-based interview sites, but the number of students who actually responded varies between sets of questionnaires and open ended ques- tions. Around 30-42% of the total number of different student teachers’ groups responded to the questionnaires. In comparison to general an- swer rates in web surveys we can view the achieved rate as good, or at least satisfactory. The background information about the respondents is outlined in Table 1. The total number of students in the survey is between 545-331, depending on the questionnaire.