Session Information
23 SES 07 C, Teacher's work, Training and Professionalism (Part 1)
Paper Session. Continued in 23 SES 08 C.
Time:
2009-09-29
15:30-17:00
Room:
HG, HS 16
Chair:
Romuald Normand
Contribution
Educational changes in Finland during the 1990s are most apparent in the ways that schools and educational systems are governed. Decentralisation, goal steering, accountability, evaluation, and competition have moved on the scene as key terms that have become a vital part of Nordic education discourse. (Rinne, Kivirauma & Simola, 2002; Johannesson, Lindblad & Simola, 2002.) The national implementation of this policy in Finland has led to many controversies and collided with conflicting historical traditions, which has given the implementation of QAE a uniquely Finnish flavour. Some of these Finnish adaptations are connected with the autonomy and status of teachers. Teachers in comprehensive schools enjoy a higher status in Finland than in most other advanced liberal countries (Simola 2005).
School-based self-evaluation is gaining more and more ground both as a practice mandate by law and as a discourse. In Finland one might even claim that this term is one of the magic words of re-structuring. The school legislation makes self-evaluation a responsibility of every school. Self-evaluation is also a key word for rational development of both teachers and students. (Johannesson et al. 2002.) It could be also claimed that the locus of control over the processes and content of teaching has shifted from the teachers to evaluation. Evaluation is constant and all-inclusive, effective and omnipotent for all purposes: in serving, stimulating, and encouraging the pupil’s individual learning process. But this might not be enough. The teacher should be able to self-evaluate him/herself as a teacher as a part of development of the whole school. (Rinne et al. 2002.)
This gives us a reason to ask how Finnish teachers perceive the quality of education, its implemen-tation in their own work and position as teachers.
Our research questions are the following:
• What do teachers think quality is?
• How do their perceptions of quality translate into the quality instruments that they use?
Method
The material used in the study is a part of the international research project entitled Fabricating Quality in European Education. This comparative project explores the impact of QAE on policy and practice in the national systems of Finland, Denmark, England, Scotland and Sweden.
The data of this study was gathered by using a web-based questionnaire between November 2007 and January 2008. It was sent to 8595 school teachers chosen as a cluster sample from 10 regions of Finland. A total of 1526 teachers replied, which meant a response rate of 17.8 %.
The purpose of the questionnaire was to clarify the views of teachers on the evaluation of quality and its effect on basic education. Factors used to examine views on the evaluation of quality and its effects include teachers’ background (gender, age, pupils’ background and teaching experience) and views of on professional autonomy, trust and respect.
Expected Outcomes
The teachers are of the opinion that a high-quality education in primary and lower secondary schools is an indication of education which “produces” confident and independent individuals. In addition, pupils with good literacy, communication and numeracy skills and who have creative and independent thought are also considered as indicators of high-quality education.
The high quality of education is measured by monitoring the progress of pupils, through school and teacher self-evaluations and by aiming at reaching the target set by the school. On the other hand, the high quality of education cannot be determined by using certain external performance measures, such as quality management models, international comparison or school by school comparison of performance, which is even feared to reduce the quality of education.
References
Johannesson, I.A., Lindblad, S. & Simola, H. 2002. An inevitable Progress? Educational restructuring in Finland, Iceland and Sweden at the turn of millennium. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. 46(3), 325-339. Rinne, R., Kivirauma, J. & Simola, H. 2002. Shoots of revisionist education policy or just slow re-adjustment? The Finnish case of educational reconstruction. J. Educational Policy. 17(6), 643-658. Simola, H. 2005. The Finnish miracle of PISA: historical and sociological remarks on teaching and teacher education. Comparative Education. 41(4), 455-470.
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