Investigating Finnish teacher educators’ views on research‐based teacher education

In this article, we examine teacher educators’ views on research‐based teacher education. Finnish research‐based teacher education has four characteristics: (1) the study programme is structured according to a systematic analysis of education; (2) all teaching is based on research; (3) activities are organized in such a way that students can practice argumentation, decision‐making and justification when inquiring about and solving pedagogical problems; and (4) the students learn formal research skills during their studies. According to the results, teacher educators appreciate the research‐based approach to which the university is committed, although they were sceptical about how well this vision transfers to the students.     

Developing into similarity: global teacher education in the twenty‐first century

This article explains the process that is causing systems of teacher education in the EU, the USA and elsewhere to converge into a form of fewer qualitative distinctions. We argue that expansion brought about by processes familiar to globalisation is creating wide differences in the cost of information that incentivises use of standardised patterns for producing teachers. The logic of institutional expansion, like the logic of globalisation, operates as a uniting force across previously regarded nation‐state boundaries and cultural distinctions. This brief study identifies institutional scale and the division of information as key factors that link the interaction of institutions across markets and adds insight into the critically important issues surrounding the production of quality teachers.     

Working with students in higher education – professional conceptions of teacher educators

The objective of this research is to identify the professional conceptions that guide teacher educators in their work with students, to learn about the nature of these conceptions and to distinguish among them. This aim is important because the conceptions formulated by those working in higher education guide their professional practice and affect their everyday conduct. Multidimensional categorical content analysis of the data shows that the conceptions can be characterized according to specific criteria. The research findings reveal three types of conceptions. The first conception is that the role of teacher-educators is to assist students in succeeding in their studies and to expand ties with them. The second conception is that teacher-educators should empower students and help them grow and construct their professional identity as teachers. The third conception is that in guiding their students teacher-educators should mediate between teaching theories and practices.     

Action research as a bridge between pre‐service teacher education and in‐service professional development for students and teacher educators

The first part of this paper describes the rationale for and process of engaging student teachers in action research during the fourth and final year of their teacher education, which is also their first year as teachers (induction year). During this year the novice teachers are engaged in an action research project as a compulsory assignment in the course ‘Teacher as researcher’. The objective of the course is to provide novice teachers with reflective tools for systematic examination of their work as teachers. The second part of the paper documents the learning process of the teachers of the course (which can also be viewed as action research), since we jointly planned the course, engaged in reflective dialogues with the students and among ourselves and systematically examined our work by personal diary writing and inviting informal and more formal (questionnaire) feedback from the students. The process of our action research is documented in this paper, whereas the product is hopefully implemented in teaching a better course and in more effective support of our students.

La première partie de cet article explique la logique d'une recherche basée sur l'action menée pendant la quatrième et dernière année de formation éducative, qui par ailleurs est aussi la première année de pratique comme enseignant (année d'essai). Pendant l'année, les novices doivent s'adonner à un projet de recherche pour le cours ‘Enseignant comme chercheur’ dont le but est de leur procurer des outils de réflexion pour pouvoir examiner systématiquement leur travail comme enseignant. La seconde partie de l'article illustre ce que nous, les professeurs du cours, apprenons, ce qui peut être considéré comme recherche basée sur l'action puisque nous avons pensé le cours conjointement, et avons établi des dialogues de réflexion avec les étudiants et entre nous, avons systématiquement examiné notre travail en tenant un journal, avons requis des commentaries critiques formels (sous forme d'un questionnaire) et informels des étudiants. Le processus de notre recherche basée sur l'action est illustré dans cet article et nous espérons que son fruit se fera sentir dans un cours meilleur et un soutien plus efficace des étudiants.

La primera parte de este trabajo describe el racional y el proceso de involucramiento de estudiantes de marcos de formación docente en la investigación en acción, durante el cuarto y último año de su formación, el cual a su vez constituye el primer año como docentes (año de prueba). Durante este año los jóvenes docentes se involucrarán en el proyecto de investigación en acción como una tarea obligatoria en el marco del curso ‘El docente como investigador’. El objetivo del curso es de proveer a los jóvenes docentes de herramientas reflexivas para lograr un análisis sistemático de su labor como docentes. La segunda parte del trabajo documenta el proceso de enseñanza de los docentes del curso, nosotros, que a su vez puede ser visto como una investigación en acción ya que hemos planificado el curso en conjunto, nos sumergimos en diálogos reflexivos con los estudiantes y entre nosotros, y hemos analizado sistemáticamente nuestra tarea a través de la escritura de un diario personal, además de solicitar en forma informal y más formal (cuestionario) una retroalimentación de parte de los estudiantes. El proceso de investigación en acción se documenta en este trabajo, esperamos que el producto del mismo sea implementado en el mejoramiento del curso y un apoyo más eficaz para nuestros estudiantes.

Der erste Teil dieses Artikels beschreibt die Leitgedanken und Vorgehensweise eines Aktionsforschungsprojekts mit Lehramtsstudenten im vierten (somit letzten) Jahr ihrer Ausbildung, das zugleich ihr erstes Jahr als Lehrer ist (‘Bewährungsjahr’). Im Laufe dieses Jahrs sind die Neulehrer verpflichtet, an einem Aktionsforschungsprojekt im Rahmen einer Pflichtlehrveranstaltung, ‘Lehrende als Forschende’ teilzunehmen. Ziel dieser Lehrveranstaltung ist es, Neulehrer mit reflektiven Instrumenten für die systematische Untersuchung ihrer eigenen Arbeit als Lehrer auszurüsten. Im zweiten Teil dieses Artikels wird der Lernprozess der Lehrpersonen dokumentiert, die diese Pflichtlehrveranstaltung gemeinsam entwickelten und abhalten. In kritsch‐reflektivem Dialog mit den Studierenden und miteinander, durch Führen eines perseonlichen Tagebuchs und Auseinandersetzung mit formalen und informalen Reaktionen der Studierenden auf die Lehrveranstaltung, fand somit ein Aktionsforschungsprojekt der Lehrerausbilder selbst statt. Der Lernprozess, der sich in diesem Artikel niederschlägt, wird in einer verbesserten Lehrveranstaltung und einer effektiveren Unterstützung der Studierenden beim Übergang in die Berufswirklichkeit umgesetzt.     

Psycho‐analysis and teacher education II

Much debate about the teaching of educational theory has been couched in terms of what ideas should be taught. In this article I shall argue that how they are taught (or rather how they are learned) is somewhat more important, and that unless these two questions are considered together we are unlikely to get a better meshing of theoretical and practical discussion, either in the seminar room or in the school staffroom.     

A Window into the Rural Classroom: interactive television and problem‐based activity in Australian pre‐service teacher education

ABSTRACT

This project incorporated live broadcasts of teaching from small, multi‐graded, rural schools into university lecture halls where pre‐service teacher education students in the last semester of their programmes were able to observe ‘best practice’ in a learning context that they would eventually be responsible for during their final practicum session. Interactive observation sessions were immediately followed with opportunities for students to discuss various aspects of planning, classroom organisation and teaching strategies appropriate to multi‐graded contexts with the remote classroom teacher. These ‘reverse distance education’ sessions followed an intensive lecture and tutorial series centring upon topics relevant to teaching in small rural communities. Tutorial activities placed student teachers in small rural school scenarios containing everyday ‘problems’ requiring diagnosis and the generation and analysis of solutions. At the conclusion of scenario discussions, students had networked, collaborated with colleagues and applied current research findings in generating viable solutions and considered school community reactions to these proposed solutions.

The incorporation of interactive video technology with these problem situations consolidated the concept and skill development of student teachers and increased both their real time involvement in their chosen professions, and their access to best practice. This dual focus upon a problem solving approach to teaching immersed the student teacher in situations derived from real school environments, and so encouraged a collegial and open approach to teaching. Extensive evaluations revealed that pre‐service teachers were more thoroughly prepared for rural teaching experiences, displayed competence in effective multigrade teaching skills, and exhibited control during involvement     

Global and local priorities in higher education policies: a headache at the national level?

In November 2001 the Finnish Ministry of Education published a working group report on the internationalisation strategy for higher education, and shortly after another report concentrating on the local dimensions and effects of higher education. In the era of internationalisation and globalisation, local concerns seem to be so great that the Ministry intends to add a third mission in the University Act along with the traditional quests of research and teaching. Thus, in the future, Finnish universities are obliged to act in collaboration with their local environment. This paper analyses the proposals and argumentation of the two reports, aiming, in particular, at discovering the intersections and contact surfaces of the global and local. Finnish developments and discussion will be analysed against the ideas of glonacal agency heuristic presented by Marginson and Rhoades.     

The care‐less manager: gender,care and new managerialism in higher education

While there has always been a profound indifference to the affective domain in formal education, given its Cartesian allegiance to the development of the rational autonomous subject, this indifference to the emotional subject is intensifying with the glorification of performativity. As higher education is especially subject to performance measurement and rankings, this study of top‐level management in Irish higher education shows that those who hold senior management posts are subjected increasingly to disciplinary rationalities that largely preclude being a primary carer. The definition of senior managerial posts as care‐less positions, in terms of primary care responsibilities, advantages those who are care‐free and these are disproportionately men in societies where the moral imperative to do primary care work applies mainly to women. The data suggest that understanding how the care ceiling operates is crucial for understanding why women do not occupy senior managerial positions within new managerial regimes in higher education.     

Vocational education and the binary higher education system in the Netherlands: higher education symbiosis or vocational education dichotomy?

The Netherlands has a binary higher education system in which academic education and higher professional education at EQF levels 5–8 co-exist. There is also secondary vocational education at EQF levels 1 up to 4. In this paper, I analyse policy documents resulting from the Bologna Process and argue that under neo-liberal conditions, higher professional education brings opportunities for both students and employers, but also creates a socio-economic tension in terms of employability. The gap between higher professional education and secondary vocational education adds to the formation of a labour market in which higher professional education graduates are prepared to an international labour market but employability pressure is being put on lower skilled employees, creating unequal employability opportunities for vocational education graduates.     

Career‐span education for the chemistry teacher

This paper considers the implications of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (case) project results for science teaching methods. Results are summarized briefly and then the peculiar features of the case methodology and subject‐matter are described and consideration given to how they could be incorporated into any science curriculum. In particular, the use of cognitive conflict, metacognition, and bridging are described, and set in the context of the development of formal operational thinking. Finally, the potential roles of printed materials and INSET are reviewed for introducing such features into the professional repertoire of science teachers.     

Re‐imagining doctoral education: Professional Doctorates and beyond

Portents of the demise of the Professional Doctorate have emerged in some recent policy and institutional circles in Australia, raising questions about the meaning and relevance of the Professional Doctorate in an era of ‘league tables’ and research assessment in Australia. This article argues that such portents, based largely on narrow market‐driven arguments, are premature, reactive and unhelpful, in that they foreclose on a set of critical questions concerning the future purpose, scope and practice of doctoral education. The article argues that the simple re‐assertion of the PhD as the default award represents a restoration of the logics and imperatives of disciplinarity and of older notions of so‐called ‘real’ research. Further, questions of the changing economies of knowledge and practice within, between and beyond the reach of the university, are subordinated and disavowed. The article presents a re‐reading of the emergence of Professional Doctorates, from the perspective of a decade‐and‐a‐half of development and change. It suggests the need to revisit that history critically in the light of the current developments in doctoral education, in knowledge production and in developing different relations around knowledge between universities and different social and professional domains. Such revisitings can bring out emerging issues for doctoral education at a time when anxieties may inhibit taking up opportunities for innovation and linking with new kinds of knowledge production that go beyond Euro‐centric and university‐centric traditions.     

The appreciation and realisation of research‐based teacher education: Finnish students' experiences of teacher education

Finnish pupils have scored well on international comparative students' achievement tests. Apparently, this is the main reason for the current wide international interest in the Finnish teacher education system and its research‐based approach. The aim of this article is to describe student teachers' perspectives on the research‐based approach. We will report their attitudes towards the approach and what kinds of experiences they have concerning the realisation of the research‐based approach in their studies. The subjects of the research were part of a special group of students, who all had worked as teachers without being officially qualified to do so before they entered teacher education. The research was carried out as a web‐based survey (n = 113). The questionnaire was based on the structure of the curriculum of the teacher education programme, including items from each part of the curriculum. The subjects were asked about both attitudes and experiences. According to our results, the students appreciate the research‐based approach as the main organising theme of teacher education. They presume that this approach is detectable in every part of their studies, as was the case in most of the courses.

Les étudiants finlandais ont obtenu de bons résultats dans les comparaisons internationales de résultats scolaires. Ceci doit être la raison principale de l'intérêt international aujourd'hui répandu pour la formation des enseignants basée sur la recherche. Cet article traite des vues des futurs enseignants finlandais sur l'approche basée sur la recherche. Plus précisément il s'agit de l'appréciation qu'ils portent à cette approche et de sa mise en ?uvre durant leurs études. Les personnes interrogées sont des étudiants en formation multiforme qui ont travaillé comme enseignants sans qualification avant de commencer la formation et dont la plupart travaillent comme enseignants à côté de leurs études. Le matériel a été obtenu par le moyen d'un questionnaire électronique (n = 113). Les parties du questionnaire étaient basées sur la structure du plan d'études et contenaient des thèses sur chacun des modules d'études. L'étude a porté sur les appréciations et les expériences. D'après les résultats, les étudiants apprécient l'approche basée sur la recherche et en général l'attendent également de leur formation.

Die finnischen Studenten haben gute Resultate in den internationalen vergleichenden Schulleistungstesten (PISA). Vermutlich ist dies die Ursache für die heutige weltweite Interesse für die finnische Lehrerausbildungssystem, das auf der wissenschaftliche Research beruht. Die Ursache für dieses Artikel ist, dass wir finden wollten, welcherlei Aspekte die Referendaren/Innen zu ihrem Studium auf der wissenschaftliche Betonung (research‐based) haben. Wir wollen berichten, welcherlei Einstellungen die Studenten zu diesen Betonung der Studium haben und welcherlei Erfahrungen sie in ihren Studium bekommen haben. Die Studenten in diesem Erforschung sind eine speziale Gruppe. Sie haben alle als unqvalifizierte Lehrer vor ihrem Lehrerstudium gearbeitet. Diese Erforschung wurde als einem Survey in Internet verwirklicht (n = 113). Der Survey war auf den Strukturen des Unterrichtsprogramms für die Lehrerstudenten/Innen begründet. Beinhaltet waren auch Thesen aus allen Teilen des Unterrichtsprogrammes. Es wurden sowohl Bewertungen als auch Einstellungen befragt. Nach unserem Resultaten die Studenten bewerten wissenschaftliche Betonung des Studiums und das erwarten sie auch von dieser Ausbildung. So war es in den meisten Fällen der verschiedenen Kursen.

En comparaciones internacionales sobre resultados escolares, los estudiantes finlandeses han obtenido buenos resultados. Ésta es, con toda probablidad, la razón principal por la cual la formación pedagógica finlandesa basada en la investigación es, actualmente, objeto de gran interés a nivel internacional. En este artículo se estudian las opiniones de alumnos de formación de profesores sobre el enfoque investigador de la formación. Con más exactitud, se trata de saber si los alumnos valoran esta orientación y cómo, según sus experiencias personales, se cumple el enfoque investigador durante sus estudios. Los encuestados son alumnos de la formación multimodal de profesores. Han trabajado como profesores no titulados antes de empezar estos estudios, y la mayoría continúa trabajando como profesores también durante la formación. Los datos fueron obtenidos a través de una encuesta virtual (n = 113). Las diversas partes de la encuesta se basaban en la estructura del plan de estudios de la formación de profesores y contenían afirmaciones sobre cada uno de los componentes del plan. Se estudiaron tanto las valoraciones como las experiencias de los alumnos. Según los resultados, los alumnos valoran el enfoque investigador de la formación y, por regla general, también esperan que sea un aspecto importante de sus estudios.     

Preparing teachers for professional learning: is there a future for teacher education in new teacher induction?

Today the quality of teachers is held to be increasingly important yet there continue to be doubts about whether teacher education programs graduate teachers ready to meet the challenges of their initial years of teaching. In some jurisdictions, other agencies (Ministries of Education, school districts, and private providers) are supplementing the work of teacher education through the introduction of new teacher induction programs which have become favoured policy initiatives to enhance new teacher transition, retention and quality. Evidence suggests that induction and mentoring increase teacher retention and ensure more effective socialisation of new teachers into the school culture. In spite of their growing popularity, the degree to which induction programs complement teacher education and/or impact new teacher professional learning remains unclear. In this paper the authors report a secondary analysis of data from an evaluation of the New Teacher Induction Program in Ontario, Canada to consider the implications for the future of teacher education by asking: What are the challenges facing new teachers? In what ways does the induction program support new teacher professional learning? What are the major implications for the future of teacher education?     

Mixing distance and face‐to‐face higher education

There is an unreal demarcation in higher education between distance and face‐to‐face providers, argues Malcolm Tight, Director of the Centre for Research and Development in Part‐time Higher Education at Birkbeck College, University of London. Given the undoubted success of distance education, established by the Open University and others, there is now a strong case for diversifying methods of provision in higher education, in the interests of expanding opportunities for students and increasing the effectiveness of teachers.     

Re‐imagining and rescripting the future of education: global knowledge economy discourses and the challenge to education systems

Using critical discourse analysis as a methodology for analysis, this paper sets out the nature and form of the challenges directed to the compulsory schooling sector by the knowledge economy that is contained in key policy and related documents put out by the OECD, the World Bank and the UK government. The OECD and the World Bank’s policy agendas are increasingly important in setting policy and programme agendas for the developed and developing countries respectively; however there are important differences between the two institutions regarding how education should be redesigned. The World Bank’s redesign of education favours the market and individualism as the means for developing knowledge and skills for the knowledge economy. The OECD, however, while concerned with human capital formation, rejects the market model in favour of an institutionally embedded liberalism to overcome the problems posed by tacit knowledge. The UK, on the other hand, has promoted the idea of personalized learning. The paper suggests that this idea is particularly problematic for developing a system of innovation for the economy that is dependent on high levels of social interaction.

The first half of the twenty‐first century will, I believe, be far more difficult, more unsettling, and yet more open than anything we have known in the twentieth century. I say this on three premises; none of which I have time to argue here. The first is that historical systems, like all systems, have finite lives. They have beginnings, a long development and finally, as they move far from equilibrium and reach points of bifurcation, a demise. The second premise is that two things are true at these points of bifurcation; small inputs have large outputs (as opposed to times of the normal development of the system, when large inputs have small outputs); and the outcome of such bifurcation is inherently indeterminate. The third premise is that the modern world system as a historical system has entered into a terminal crisis and is unlikely to exist in 50 years. However, since its outcome is so uncertain, we do not know whether the resulting system (or systems) will be better or worse than the one in which we are living, but we do know that the period of transition will be a terrible time of troubles, since the stakes of the transition are so high, the outcome so uncertain, and the ability of small impacts to affect the outcome so great. (Wallerstein, 1999, p. 1)     

Community-based collaboration for early childhood teacher education: Partner experiences and perspectives as co–teacher educators

The relevance and effectiveness of traditional, course- and clinical-experience-based models of teacher preparation have been called into question, and institutions of teacher education must respond to the changing landscape of educational policy, which increasingly emphasizes that candidates must be prepared for challenges faced in complex, increasingly diverse classroom and community contexts through extended field experiences (Rust, 2010). In this article, we present a case for the development of mutually beneficial community partnerships as the foundation of all early childhood teacher education. First, key policies and research findings are presented that point to partnership as a key theme that must be addressed by preparation programs; next, a framework for the development of mutually beneficial partnerships between preparation programs and schools/community agencies is introduced; interview and focus group data are presented from the development and implementation of a field-based undergraduate early childhood teacher preparation program. These include examples of strategies that assist in leveraging resources toward mutual benefit, as well as vignettes illustrating field-based teacher education in action. Finally, partnership practices that address the shared goals of early childhood educators and those who prepare them are presented.