Music Education is changing rapidly worldwide. What effective and promising practices in music teaching and learning are available and can be cross-culturally applied? Using Finland as a case study, this exploratory research highlights promising current endeavors in primary and secondary school music education. In light of these undertakings, data…

The shift to an earlier start in foreign language teaching in Finland took place nationwide in 2020. Both class teachers and subject teachers faced a new situation. They would be teaching children younger than before, or they would be teaching a completely new subject for them. This article examines teachers' conceptions of the skills and…

Much of the international debate and research on teacher education has centred on how the preparation of teachers should be organised. In contrast to many other countries, teacher education in Finland has been university-based for decades and has a strong research-based approach. This inductive study describes newly qualified teachers' (NQTs)…

Vocational education has a historical legacy of being low-status and aimed at producing skilled workers. Students with low marks in comprehensive school are still often guided to the vocational educational track. In this article we examine how mathematics teaching in a vocational educational context is framed (henceforth VET). Therefore, our aim…

This research investigates aspirations for a master's-level teaching profession in England, providing key stakeholder perceptions in one densely populated region within a multiple case study. Although this intended move to a master's-level profession represented a major shift in teachers' professional development in England, only limited…

Purpose: This study investigated Finnish physical education (PE) teachers' intentions to leave the profession and the reasons behind them. Method: A large sample (N = 808) of PE teachers who graduated between 1980 and 2008 (432 women, 376 men) answered a modified job satisfaction and teacher follow-up questionnaire that elicited career…

This article discusses how teachers perceive their role in supporting and guiding students in transitions. Do teachers see themselves more as gatekeepers or as supporters? The analysis draws upon qualitative data collected in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Finland. Based on the analysis of teachers' interviews, we developed three…

Finland does a number of things to support their children well, but one of the big factors is that they have strong teachers. With the US drifting down the international depth chart of educational performance, what can reformers and teachers do to ensure they learn from the world's best and transform their teaching profession in a way that makes…

Recent studies have suggested that the professional training received by general educators does not adequately prepare them to properly implement inclusion-based practices. The idea of inclusion in practice has not significantly changed the situation of teaching pupils with special educational needs (SENs) in mainstream classes. This study's…

A study examined the extent to which Finnish horticulture graduates' assessments of their work force competencies differ from those of their teachers and employers. Questionnaires were sent to all 68 plant production graduates of the University of Helsinki's plant production program from 1990-1993, a sample of 38 employers representing…

This document is an English-language abstract (approximately 1,500 words) of an investigation of a group of teacher applicants observed during the entrance examination, the training period of four years, and the first three years of teaching. The study was divided into four parts: (1) the effects of selection and training on the results of…

A discussion of issues in third-language instruction and language teacher training focuses on the situation in Finland, where a second and third language is required of all students and it is possible to study as many as six languages in addition to the native language. The Finnish school system is explained, noting that second and third languages…