Pedagogical environments – Case Finland

Abstract

Teacher education plays a key role in educating teachers who are engaged in change-making both in school communities and in broader society. Finnish education has received a lot of international attention, as Finnish 15-year-olds typically perform very well in the OECD’s PISA surveys. The major reasons for this success are a purposeful educational policy and educational system and the high quality of teacher education. This article introduces the basic principles of Finnish educational policy, namely the Finnish educational system. This article also provides a description of Finnish teacher education, which is considered a cornerstone of Finnish success and part of the developmental process used in the teacher education department to meet future challenges.