In this study, we examined educational change and teachers' continuous learning from the perspective of teachers' transformative agency within the context of digitalization. We also examined the transformative needs of teachers participating in a specialization program related to digitalization and educational change, as well as experiences and…

Giftedness in the Finnish educational culture is seen as taboo, and it is easier to talk about talent development. We need to widen the concept in the ways that would address both excellence and ethics. The definition of transformational giftedness includes a beyond-the-self orientation and implies that the purpose of giftedness is to help to make…

Sexual abuse is a public health issue with long-term consequences for children's lives and education. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is a key reference point in safeguarding, increasingly incorporated into domestic law. This article aims to strengthen safeguarding theory and practice by reviewing human rights education (HRE) theory and…

This study examines the two kindergarten teachers' shared professional identities in teamwork in an effort to clarify what constitutes their shared identities and how these identities affect the teachers' professional practices and beliefs. The relational nature of identity maintains that individuals are not the only constructors of their…

Over the past 15 years, Finland has performed very well on international student achievement tests. Although Finland's results have slightly deteriorated from those at the beginning of the 21st century, Finnish students still perform very well in all comparative international surveys such as PISA, TIMSS and ICCS. The Finnish school system seems to…

With the current rise of China as a political, cultural, and economic superpower, Chinese as a foreign and second language has gained popularity worldwide. Finland is also responding to this global wave, as is reflected by the increasing number of Chinese courses in formal and informal settings in the Nordic country. Yet not all actors involved in…

The article introduces how the Finnish educational system has been moved systematically towards equal opportunities for all learners. It also describes how principles of equity and lifelong learning are tied together and what consequences this has had on teachers' professional role. Finally, the article reflects on what kind of studies and…

Numerous researches have demonstrated the enormous role of teachers in achievements of students. Educated and motivated teacher that cares about the success of students devotes more effort to preparing the lesson and thus provides the students better conditions for achieving results. The problem occurs when teachers are not equally qualified,…

The "intercultural" is now omnipresent in most departments of teacher education in Europe and elsewhere. It can be implemented under the guise of, amongst others, multicultural, transcultural, global and/or development education. In this paper, I problematise post-intercultural teacher education. The context of this study is that of…

An international comparative research project was carried out in the Netherlands, Wales, Germany and Finland to understand how trainee teachers reflect upon play. Data was collected among 31 Dutch, 37 Welsh, 40 German and 19 Finnish teacher trainees. They watched four videotaped sequences of preschoolers engaged in an activity. Next, they answered…

This article examines the way Finnish teacher education has changed over the last three decades. The role of teacher educators has become progressively more research-intensive, and teacher education currently faces a challenging dilemma. Not only is it dependent on the terms and conditions of conducting research, it must also address the need to…

Finnish 15-year olds have been among the top overall performers in international student assessment studies during the last decade; metaphors like "miracle" and "paradox" have emerged, especially related to school mathematics. The goal of this article is to situate the good results in the Finnish educational policy in the…

Teachers play an important role in bullying prevention. This study examines teachers' views on the extent and ways in which they would intervene in bullying situations. The sample comprised 136 teachers from junior high schools in Finland (107 females and 29 males). Years of service ranged from newly qualified to over 20 years of experience.…

The challenges of contemporary multicultural societies have resulted in changing aims for religious education and the necessity to adjust teacher education accordingly. The processes of negotiation related to the coexistence of different religious and cultural groups are intertwined in the Finnish curriculum for religious education. This case…

Playful learning environments (PLEs) have been constructed in schoolyards in Finland with the aim of increasing learning through play in curriculum-based education. In order to better understand and inform this development, the Hyvonen sets out to ascertain how teachers view and use play in kindergarten and elementary education. Fourteen teachers…