Being a Teacher in Finland

Being a teacher in Finland means being at the top of your class; it is a highly respected profession. Finns sometimes say that they are "poor" in natural resources like oil so they put their focus instead on their most important resource, their people and in particular their kids.  Kids graduating at the top of their high school cohorts are as inclined to move into teaching careers as they are to become lawyers, doctors, etc. even though those professions pay more salary.  Teacher education programs only take the top 5% of the applicant pool that applies, and elementary education is more competitive than secondary education.  The salary between US and Finnish teachers is about the same, but the prestige of being a teacher in Finland is very high compared to the US.

All teachers in Finland must complete a 5 year university program in which they attain a Master's Degree in the subject they teach and complete an independent thesis research project.  The upshot of all this training and societal respect is that, once they become a teacher, they are trusted to be professionals and make independent decisions regarding their practice.  Teachers, once they get a position, are pretty much automatically "tenured" and secure in their jobs.  There is no evaluation system (really...none!).  The teachers I have met have all said that they have seldom if never had administrators observe them teach or assess their performance.  When I asked how their administrators know they are good teachers they looked at me funny as if to say "why would they assume we are not"?  Its a societal given that, if teachers are so well trained and only the top 5% of candidates can become teachers, they are "masters" in their professions and thus trusted to make the right decisions for their students.

Talking with a panel of Finnish teachers at Finland Fulbright Orientation

Jari Lavonen, Dept of Teacher Education (Univ. Helsinki) giving an overview.

Here are some of my Fulbright fellows out at an ice skating event.

My wife Janet and daughter Emma arrived a few days ago from the US and are getting settled in to stay for the next two and a half months.  Here, Emma and I went out for cocoa and croissant at a downtown Helsinki cafe.