Teacher Training: Major Reforms, Part Two

The reforms to teacher training help explain the respect for teachers and teaching in Finland:

"The long march of teachers from despised and underprivileged civil servants to the core of the academic elite has been more glorious and successful in Finnish society than in most countries of the world" (Kivinen & Rinne, 1994, p. 521).

The example of primary school teachers illustrates this fact. Even as far back as 1890, primary school teachers wanted their training within universities, and not in seminaries (Simola, 2005). Before World War II, more primary school teachers had an upper-secondary education than their colleagues in any other country. After the founding of the Jyvaskyla College of Education in 1934, more universities developed faculties of education, eventually including the training of primary school teachers and raised the level of their training within the educational hierarchy. In the 1950s, the teachers' union insisted that primary school teachers have training at the same level of grammar school teachers, from a university (ibid.).

The educational reforms of the 1970s fully supported the training of primary school teachers at the university level. The comprehensive school reforms (1972-1977) and the teacher education reforms (1973-1979) had a sister reform, the General Syllabus and Degree Reform in Higher Education (1977-1980), which abolished the bachelor's degree and subsequently raised the level of primary school teacher education to the master's level in 1979 (Simola, 2005).

Teacher Training: Major Reforms, Part One

In 1971, the Teacher Training Act moved all teacher training to the university level. These teacher training reforms mirror the school reforms of the 1970s. Seven universities at that time had teacher training departments, one of them Swedish-speaking. These programs all led to a master's degree in education, the formal training for all teachers in Finland, including the primary school level.

Primary teacher training, originally a three-year program at teacher training colleges, expanded to a four-year, then finally five-year programs in universities in the late 1970s (Sahlberg, 2007). The reforms to prepare teachers as professionals and researchers create the foundations of teacher training reforms.

The attention to teacher training within the general educational reforms illustrated the objective of professionalizing and "academizing" teacher training (Begrem, et al., 1997). It also closed the gap between educational science and teacher education. Finnish teachers, even those not currently engaged in any educational research, thus maintain a strong knowledge of educational theory (ibid.).

Finnish teacher training maintains popularity and high quality. In 1982, only 10% of applicants were accepted into teacher training programs (Whittaker, 1983).

The National Core Curriculum

The National Core Curriculum, created by the Finnish National Board of Education, provides teachers with a plan of educational objectives as well as assessment criteria.  Although the board of education lays down the guidelines, the municipalities and schools place the curriculum into the local context, and the teachers hold the responsibility  of carrying out the curriculum as they see fit.  

In 1970, Finland introduced the first national curriculum, with strong centralization.  The curriculum has undergone three reforms since its inception, in 1985, 1994, and 2004.  

In 1985, the National Curriculum became the National Core curriculum, with increasing emphasis on a municipally-based syllabus.  The reforms also abolished ability grouping and increased eligibility to studies after compulsory education.

In 1994, the reforms delegated power further to the municipalities and schools.  The changes also abolished school inspections, encouraged cooperative learning, and created a "thinner" core curriculum.

The 2004 reforms reversed the curricular reforms and strengthened the core curriculum.  It also re-distributed the lesson hours, emphasizing goals instead of content.  The reforms in general have strengthened the roles of local authorities and schools, and stress the relevance of local and school-specific curricula.  They have also increased the role of student welfare and special education, in addition to individualized student learning.  Although the reforms of 2004 have increased the control of the local authority over the curriculum, the latest reform has applied more regulations to the National Core Curriculum, for the Board of Education felt it needed to provide more guidance.  

The Finnish Education System: History and Reforms

Between 1856 and 1866, compulsory folk schools began to develop alongside the private secondary schools, established both the break the church monopoly and to advance the progress of Finnish-speakers.  The creation of these folk schools allowed those without a wealthy background or with Finnish as a mother tongue access to education.

At the time of independence in 1917, education was seen as a tool for maintaining national identity, literacy, and political freedom.  

After World War II, Finland found schooling a bit disjointed owing to the class and language differences.  The education system also gave very little possibility of transfer between the tiers of education after the age of eleven.  After the exam at age eleven, those successful could continue with secondary education, and leave school at the earliest at fifteen.  Those who did not study at secondary schools could study more practical subjects.  

Originally, the education system of Finland was under centralized control.  However, in the 1960s a restructuring occurred and the Ministry of Education established a new local education administration.  The Finnish Ministry of the 1960s found especially useful the educational models from Sweden and Germany.  

The 1970s brought major reforms to the Finnish education system.  This time in Finnish history also became a point of transition for many aspects of Finnish life.  Many viewed the education system as biased towards the Swedish-speaking upper class, and not to the needs of the Finnish people.  Government committees proposed to make schools comprehensive and egalitarian, to make general and vocational subjects interrelated, and to standardize schools in outlying areas.  These reforms faced heavy resistance.  Opponents to the reforms argued that it was impossible to educate the entire population.  The government proposed that these reforms take place in a "rolling" manner, between 1970 and 1985.  Geography determined the first areas to see reform, as examples of "inadequate education" made way for the new comprehensive system, beginning in the North in 1972 and ending in the Helsinki area in 1977.  

In the 1980s, the education system undertook a market economy model and underwent decentralization.  This decentralization of the education system increased the autonomy of schools, and therefore accountability for schools and teachers.  The schools have the responsibility of producing learning outcomes, while the government has the responsibility of providing for the schools in order to meet their goals, therefore creating a cycle of trust in the governance of Finnish education.