How Do We Get Great Teachers?

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How Do We Get Great Teachers? Part I Finnish
Teacher Education ModelLearning from the
International ExperienceLifting U. S. Students
to World Class Levels of PerformanceA
Conference Organized by the Harvards Program on
Education Policy and GovernanceHarvard Kennedy
School, Cambridge MA, USAAugust 17-19, 2011

• Jari LavonenProfessor of Physics and Chemistry
  Education, Head of the Department
• Department of Teacher Education, University of
  Helsinki, Finland

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What is common in teacher education in high
performing PISA countries?
McKinseyCompany
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attrition työntekijöiden) poistuma
Teaching considered as an academic career
4
Finnish educational context
Helsinki, February 2011, 1200
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Characteristics of Finnish Education Halinen
(2008) Jakku-Sihvonen Niemi (2006) Laukkanen
(2008)

• Common, consistent and long-term policy
• - models for teacher and compulsory education
  are 40 years old
• Educational equality (especially in comprehensive
  school) - education is free (books, meals,
  health care, )- schools do not select their
  students (there are school districts)-
  well-organised special education (inclusion) and
  counselling
• 3. Devolution of decision power to the local
  level - a headmaster is a pedagogical leader
  (leadership) - local authorities (together with
  the teachers) plan local curriculum, allocate
  resources, ... - school based and encouraging
  assessment
• The culture of trust and co-operation
  national level district school families -
  no inspectors, no national exams - no private
  tutoring or evening schools

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Finnish teacher education programmes
Teachers are academic experts who are able to -
autonomous decision making, - plan and implement
learning activities- evaluate their own teaching
and student s performance- lifelong learning
(professional development)
Helsinki university main building
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Teacher Education Development Programme (2002)
The teacher education programmes should help
students to acquire

• high-level subject knowledge and pedagogical
  content knowledge, and knowledge about nature of
  knowledge,
• academic skills, like research skills skills
  needed in developing a curricula,
• social skills, like communication skills skill
  to co-operate with other teachers,
• knowledge about school as an institute and its
  connections to the society (school community and
  partners, local contexts and stakeholders),
• moral knowledge and skills, like social and moral
  code of the teaching profession,
• skills needed in developing ones own teaching
  and the teaching profession.

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A secondary (subject) teacher

• typically teaches at grades 7 to 12 (ages 13 to
  19)
• teaches typically one major and one minor
  subjects (e.g. math and physics)

An elementary (primary) school teacher (a class
teacher)

• teaches at grades 1 to 6 (ages 7 to 13)
• teaches typically all 13 subjects

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Framework for designing the teacher education
programme at the University of Helsinki
Subject teacher education programme
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Structure of the Masters degree of a secondary
teacher 3 2 years, 300 cr
180
160
140
Subject knowledge, knowledge about teaching
and learning, and school practise are
integrated into the students own personal
pedagogical theory
120
1 cr. 26 hours of work (60 cr. 1 study
year)
100
Study credits
80
BSc thesis
60
40
20
0
Major Subject (e.g. physics)
Minor Subject(e.g. chemistry)
Pedagogical
Communication
studies
and language
studies
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Structure of the master degree of a primary
teacher 3 2 years
180
160
140
120
1 cr. 26 hours of work (60 cr. 1 study
year)
Study credits
100
Pedagogicalstudies
80
BSc thesis
60
40
20
0
Major
Multi-disciplinarystudies
Communication
Minor
Subject
and language
Subject
Education
studies
12
Structure of the master degree of a primary
teacher 3 2 years
180
160
140
120
1 cr. 26 hours of work (60 cr. 1 study
year)
Study credits
100
Pedagogicalstudies
80
BSc thesis
60
40
20
0
Major
Multi-disciplinarystudies
Communication
Minor
Subject
and language
Subject
Education
studies
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Aims of the pedagogical studies (in all teacher
education programmes) are to help the students

• to integrate subject knowledge, knowledge about
  teaching and learning and school practice into
  their own personal pedagogical theory,
• to become aware of the different dimensions of
  the teacher profession social, philosophical,
  psychological, sociological, and historical basis
  of education,
• to be able to reflect on their own personal
  pedagogical theory (reflection for, in and on
  action),
• to develop potentials for lifelong professional
  development.

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Question for the content analysis of the aims of
the pedagogical studies

• What kind of support the pedagogical studies
  offers to the construction of teacher knowledge
  from the point of view of - structure of the
  knowledge- origin of the knowledge

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Theoretical framework
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A structural perspective to teacher knowledge

• A knowledge base for a professional teacher-
  Subject matter knowledge, - Pedagogical Content
  Knowledge (PCK) - General Pedagogical Knowledge
  (GPK) (Shulman, 1987 Carlsen, 1999
  Hashweh, 2005)
• Knowledge about how to produce and/or
  consume research based knowledge in education
  (RES)

Origin of teacher knowledge

• Teacher knowledge could be divided into
• practitioner (practical) and
• professional (theoretical) knowledge
  (Hiebert et al., 2002)

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Academic General pedagogical knowledge (GPK) ?
Teachers personal pedagogical knowledge

• Research based General pedagogical knowledge
  (GPK) consists of 1) classroom management and
  organisation, 2) instructional models and
  strategies, 3) classroom communication and
  discourse.
• Teachers personal pedagogical knowledge is
  divided into1) personal beliefs,2) personal
  practical experience

Importance of interplay between GPK and personal
pedagogical knowledge through reflection
e.g. Gore Gitlin, 2004Morine-Dershimer
Kent, 1999
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Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)

• PCK is a knowledge domain that is synthesis of
  all knowledge needed for teaching and learning a
  specific content
• PCK is - content specific, - event- and
  story-based pedagogical constructionan
  experienced teacher has developed
• as a result of repeated - planning and
  teaching and - reflection on the teaching of
  the most regularly taught topics.

Is it possible to organise a course on PCK?
e.g. Grossman, 1990 Bromme, 1995 Hashweh, 2005
McCaughtry, 2005Nilsson, 2008
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Output of the analysis
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The main categories of the contents
GPK
PCK
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Output of the analysis
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Number of single aims, recognised based on the
analysis of course descriptions(pedagogicalstudi
es)
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Educ. res.
PCK
GPK
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From the point of view of the origins of teacher
knowledge

• 58 of the aims emphases professional
  (theoretical) knowledge
• 42 of the aims emphasises practitioner
  (practical) knowledge

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Number of single aims, recognised based on the
analysis of course descriptions(pedagogicalstudi
es)
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Educ. res.
PCK
GPK
From the point of view of the origins of teacher
knowledge - 45 of the aims were emphasising
professional (theoretical) knowledge and - 33
of the aims were emphasising practitioner
(practical) knowledge
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The research orientation in Finnish teacher
education programme

• Altogether 30 of the aims are linked to the
  research orientation
• Finnish student teachers - are critical
  consumers of research based knowledge while
  they read academic books and conceptualise their
  teaching practice experiences - engage in
  reflective activities which have characteristics
  of research making and collaboration, -
  producers of educational research while they
  engage in their pedagogical research project.
  
•  The research orientation aims to enhance student
  teachers capacity for independent critical
  thinking (in planning and assessment) and
  life-long-learning

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Conclusions

• The challenge is to support future teachers in
  fulfilling their potential as academic
  professionals through integrating
• theoretical knowledge,
• individual experiences and
• knowledge created in practice.
• Awareness of structural and epistemological
  assumptions underlying the teacher education
  programme emphasis also to the origin of
  knowledge when designing the programme