The Finnish PISA success is now well-known and according to the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, Finland was the highest-performing country on the PISA 2006 science scale. Finnish schoolchildren achieved the best results in mathematics and second in reading, and they also topped the list in the natural sciences. One main reason for the Finland’s good results seem to be the teachers and the quality of the Finnish teacher education. As a consequence the interest for the Finnish teacher education has largely increased during the last years. The Finnish teacher education is university based and leads to a master degree. Science and research are important aspects of the education and the student teachers have research oriented studies at two levels in their education At the Bachelor of Education Level they write a scientific essay (6 study points) and at the Master of Education Level they write a scientific thesis (34 study points) The students also have scientific courses aiming at learning students how to carry out a research process and write a scientific thesis. The aim of this research-orientation is that the student teachers get a preparedness to systematically and in a reflective way investigate issues and as a consequence develop their own practice as professional teachers. The aim of the research-orientation is thus related to the view of a professional and reflective teacher. However, the research-orientation of the Finnish teacher education has also been discussed and criticized, especially from the students’ perspective. The student teachers conceive the relation between research and the teacher profession as diffuse and difficult to handle and they have difficulties in relating real practical problems to theoretical issues in their work of the thesis. Based on this fact, the overall aim of this study is to investigate student teachers’ views of the scientific thesis within the Finnish teacher education.

Data for the empirical study were collected at the Department of Teacher Education at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. In the first case, a total number of 69 student teachers participated and they were asked to answer open-ended questionnaires concerning the scientific thesis. The sessions were planned in such a way that the students were investigated at the very beginning of the writing process. A qualitative approach was taken as the point of departure and meaning categorization was used as the method of analysis. In the second case, some student teachers were asked to write essays about their own research process in writing the scientific thesis. The students were investigated at the very end of the writing process, i.e. when they had finished the scientific thesis. A qualitative approach was taken as the point of departure and a narrative analysis was used as the method of analysis.

The results of the study indicate that student teachers have a complex picture of the scientific thesis within teacher education. The students conceive the writing process as challenging, but at the same time as quite difficult. In an intellectual way they understand the motive for and meaning of the scientific thesis within a university based teacher education. However, the relation to the teacher profession is not at all clear for the students. The connection between the research-orientation and the teacher profession thus seem to be quite complicated for the students. In order to develop the scientific thesis in Finnish teacher education the relation between theory, research, and practice has to be emphasized to a higher extent. The pedagogical research should be directed to transform theories to real models that can be used in practice and a stronger relation between research and the practical teacher work should thus be aimed at.