Early career teachers’ experiences of professional knowledge from the research-based teacher education in Finland
Author(s):
Gunilla Eklund (presenting / submitting) Jessica Aspfors
Conference:
ECER 2017
Network:
10. Teacher Education Research
Format:
Paper

Session Information

10 SES 03 A, Professional Knowledge & Teacher Identity: The role of research

Paper Session

Time:
2017-08-22
17:15-18:45
Room:
K5.18
Chair:
Kirsten Darling-Mcquistan

Contribution

During the past decade, interest in teacher education has increased as a consequence of different international student assessments and evaluations. Teacher education is considered to be a crucial factor in increasing educational quality, improving the national economy and meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century (BERA, 2014; Hökkä & Eteläpelto, 2014; Menter, 2015; Özçınar, 2015). However, considerable variations exist all over the world regarding the content and goals of teacher education. The involvement of national governments also differs based on whether they are centralised or decentralised (Hökkä & Eteläpelto, 2014). Thus, much of the international debate on teacher education has centred on how teacher education should be organised (cf. Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005¸ Özçınar, 2015).

In Norway for example, there has been a shift in the development from a shorter and more practice based teacher education towards a research-based teacher education. The reform will be implemented in its entirety in 2017, when all teacher education programmes will be based on Master’s degrees (Munthe & Rogne, 2015). The research-based approach in Norway resembles research-based teacher education in Finland, although a major difference is that Finnish teacher education has been university-based since 1971 (cf. Wågsås Afdal, 2012).

Teacher education in Finland has a strong research-based approach and has received a great deal of publicity due to Finland’s top scores in international evaluations (Barber & Mourshed, 2007). The programme is structured based on the systematic analysis of education. All teaching is based on research. Students can practice argumentation, decision making and justification during their studies, and they also learn research skills (Jakku-Sihvonen & Niemi, 2006; Tirri, 2014; Toom et al., 2010). This approach thus illustrates an extended professionalism, as defined by Menter (2015) and stands in sharp contrast to the development of teacher education in other countries as for example the US and UK (cf. BERA, 2014).

The present study forms a part of a longitudinal research project, started in 2015, and ranges over the course of five years. The overall aim of the project is to explore newly qualified teachers’ (NQTs’) experiences of research-based teacher education in relation to the school reality they encounter. The project is also comparative to its character and similar studies are carried out at the Arctic University of Norway, UiT (cf. Jakhelln, Bjørndal & Stølen, 2016). As presented above, the teacher education programmes in the two countries represent two different cases of research-based teacher education. One represents well-established teacher education developed over more than 40 years, while the other is a pioneering effort. Consequently, a comparative analysis of the two teacher educational programs is relevant.

The aim of this paper is to investigate early career teachers’ experiences of professional knowledge from the research-based teacher education in Finland. The research question we will discuss is: How do early career teachers experience the professional knowledge they have gained in research-based teacher education after five years in the profession?

According to König, Blömeke, Klein, Suhl, Busse and Kaiser (2014), teacher knowledge is a multifaceted concept, comprising content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and general pedagogical knowledge. It is represented in both a declarative (knowing that) and a procedural (knowing how) mode. Knowledge acquired and represented as declarative knowledge is mainly manifested in teacher education, whereas procedural knowledge is more evident in the professional life of a teacher. Declarative knowledge is regarded as a premise for procedural knowledge although both forms of teacher knowledge contribute to the teacher’s expertise as a professional teacher.

Method

In this paper we will primarily report qualitative data consisting of semi-structured interviews with 10 early career teachers after five years in the profession. The informants were chosen from a total sample of 49 qualified in 2011 and educated at a teacher education department at a university in Finland. All the informants were educated as primary school teachers but specialized in various subjects, for example, physical education, mathematics, biology, and pre-primary teacher education. Several of them are also qualified as special education teachers. The interviews were carried out in autumn 2016 and spring 2017. The interviews were semi-structured and transcribed verbatim. The interview guide comprised three main themes; the teachers’ background characteristics, professional competence, and professional identity and development. In relation to each theme, several interview questions were asked as well as follow-up questions when appropriate. Qualitative content analysis is used as the data analysis method (Schreier, 2014). In order to ensure the trustworthiness of the study, peer debriefing between the authors will be conducted, and a thick description of the data presented (cf. Angen, 2000). The study follows the general ethical standards approved by the scientific community and listed on the website of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity (2016).

Expected Outcomes

The results from the first part of the project highlight NQT’s experiences of research-based teacher education (Aspfors & Eklund, 2017, forthcoming). Students obtain a solid basis for their future teaching profession, as well as high levels of legitimacy and status in society. Their education encourages them to become professional teachers who are worthy of the trust and autonomy accorded to them by society. Even though the results of the study revealed some challenges, research-based teacher education provides students valuable explicit and implicit experiences useful in their future profession. The tentative results from the present study indicate that the ECTs are rather distanced from the teacher education, completed five years ago. They have difficulties in explaining the use of research-based teacher education in a concrete way although they understand the meaning of it. Instead, the early career teachers’ main focus is on the experienced knowledge they have gained during their first five years in the profession. They especially point out the relational knowledge when working with pupils, colleagues and parents. ECTs further emphasize that they have learnt a lot by writing the Master’s thesis although it is quite diffuse for them to see the use of it in the practice. Furthermore, many of them have experienced a lack of interest for their Master’s thesis among colleagues and in the society. Despite a lack of interest in their previous research projects there are a lot of ongoing developing projects in the schools, encouraged by the school leaders and inspired by the new curricula, implemented in 2017 in Finland. Since the research base for teacher education has historically been quite narrow, a more solid basis for research on teacher education is needed. The overall research project and the presented study is one contribution in the ongoing and policy-driven debate on teacher education.

References

Angen, J. (200). Pearls, pith, and provocation. Evaluating interpretive inquiry: reviewing the validity debate and opening the dialogue. Qualitative Health Research, 10(3), 378-395. Aspfors, J. & Eklund, G. (2017, forthcoming). Explicit and Implicit Perspectives on Research-Based Teacher Education - Newly Qualified Teachers’ Experiences in Finland. Journal of Education for Teaching - International Research and Pedagogy, 43(5). Barber, M. & Mourshed, M. (2007). How the world’s best-performing school systems come out on top. London: McKinsey & Co. British Educational Research Association. BERA. (2014). The role of research in teacher education: reviewing the evidence. Interim report of the BERA-RSA inquiry. Cochran-Smith, M. & Zeichner, K. (2005). Studying Teacher Education: The Report of the AERA Panel on Research and Teacher Education, Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence: Erlbaum Associates. Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity. (2016). Accessed November 11 2016. http://www.tenk.fi/en/frontpage Hökkä, P. & Eteläpelto, A. (2014). Seeking new perspectives on the development of teacher education. A study of the Finnish context. Journal of Teacher Education 65 (1), 39–52. Jakhelln, R., Bjorndal, K. E. & Stølen, G. (2016). Masteroppgaven – relevant for grunnskolelæreren? Acta Didactica Norge 10 (2), 193–211. Jakku-Sihvonen, R. & Niemi, H. (Eds.). (2006). Research-based teacher education in Finland - Reflections by Finnish teacher educators. Research in Educational Studies 25. König, J., Blömeke, S., Klein P., Suhl, U., Busse, A. & Kaiser, G. (2014). Is teachers' general pedagogical knowledge a premise for noticing and interpreting classroom situations? A video-based assessment approach. Teaching and Teacher Education, 38, 76-88. Menter, I. (2015). Teacher Education. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2nd edition), 24, 51–55. Munthe, E. & Rogne, M. (2015). Research based teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 46, 17–24. Tirri, K. (2014). The last 40 years in teacher education.” Journal of Education for Teaching, 40 (5),600–609. Toom, A., Kynäslahti, H., Krokfors, L., Jyrhämä, R., Byman, R., Stenberg, K. Maaranen, K. & Kansanen, P. (2010). Experiences of a Research-based Approach to Teacher Education: suggestions for future policies. European Journal of Teacher Education, 45 (2), 331-344. Wågsås Afdal, H. (2012). Constructing knowledge for the teaching profession. A comparative analysis of policy making, curricula content, and novice teachers’ knowledge relations in the cases of Finland and Norway. PhD diss., Faculty of Educational Sciences. University of Oslo. Özçınar, H. (2015). Mapping teacher education domain: A document co-citation analysis from 1992 to 2012. Teaching and Teacher Education 47, 42–61.

Author Information

Gunilla Eklund (presenting / submitting)
Åbo Akademi University
Vasa
Jessica Aspfors
Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Norway

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