芬蘭老師是怎樣“煉成”的？

In a quiet classroom adorned with the joyful creations of small children， Ville Sallinen is learning what makes Finland’s schools the envy of the world.

Sallinen， 22， is teaching a handful of eight-yearolds how to read. He is nearing the end of a short placement in the school during his five-year master’s degree in primary school teaching.

Viikki teacher training school in eastern 1）Helsinki describes itself as a laboratory for student teachers. Here， Sallinen can try out the theories he has learned at the university to which the school is 2）affiliated. It’s the equivalent of university teaching hospitals for medical students.

Finland is going through a deep economic crisis， and there are financial pressures on schools， just as there are on the rest of the public sector. But the five-year master’s degree for primary school teachers is not in question.

Leena Krokfors， professor of teaching at Helsinki University， says： “The beef in the Finnish teacher training system is the time that students have to learn.”

The high-level training is the basis for giving young teachers a great deal of 3）autonomy to choose what methods they use in the classroom—in contrast to England， Krokfors says， where she feels teaching is “somewhere between administration and giving tests to students”. In Finland， teachers are largely free from external requirements such as inspection， standardised testing and government control； school inspections were scrapped in the 1990s.

“Teachers need to have this high-quality education so they really do know how to use the freedom they are given， and learn to solve problems in a research-based way，”Krokfors says. “The most important thing we teach them is to take 4）pedagogical decisions and judgments for themselves.”

In Britain， by contrast， academies， private schools and free schools can hire people to teach even if they are not qualified. Labour claimed in 2013 that becoming a teacher in Britain was now easier than flipping burgers.

Olli M？tt？？， a teacher trainer at the Normal 5）Lyceum in Helsinki， said “When we got the international ranking results， we were thinking， if we are that good， how bad are the others？” he says.

For a small， 6）agrarian and relatively poor nation， educating all of its youth equally well was seen as the best way to catch up with other industrialised countries， according to Pasi Sahlberg， a Finnish educationist at Harvard who has done much to popularise Finland’s methods abroad.

The Finnish dream， as he calls it， was for all children， regardless of family background or personal conditions， to have a good school in their community—a focus that has remained unchanged for the past four decades.

In the early phase， during the 70s and 80s， there was strict central direction and control over schools， state-prescribed curriculums， external school inspections and detailed regulation， giving the Finnish government a strong grip on schools and teachers. But a second phase， from the early 90s， consciously set out to create a new culture of education characterised by trust between educational authorities and schools， local control， professionalism and autonomy. Schools became responsible for their own curriculum planning and student assessment， while state inspections were abandoned. This required teachers to have high academic 7）credentials and be treated like professionals.

Not only is teacher education in Finland strongly researchbased， but all the students on the primary school master’s course are engaged in research themselves—a point of pride for Patrik Scheinin， dean of the faculty. The course aims to produce “8）didacticians” who can connect teaching interventions with sound evidence， he says.

“We want to produce cognitive 9）dissonance. The task of a good didactician is to disturb the thinking of someone who assumes they know everything about teaching，” Scheinin says. “Just because you’ve been doing something for 20 years and it works for you doesn’t mean it works for other teachers， other students， or in other subjects.”

In Helsinki Normal Lyceum， student teachers are running day-long 10）multidisciplinary workshops for pupils aged 13 to 19. In one， Maria Hyv？ri， 24， is discussing 11）Dewey， 12）Steiner and 13）Montessori， and asking pupils to think critically about teaching methods at the school. “I want to make a difference，” she says. “There are all these new teaching tools and ideas， and it’s great because here we can try different things—it makes me feel inspired.”

Hyv？ri is in the middle of an undergraduate degree in French and English， but she has chosen to take an additional pedagogical year in the middle of her five-year degree， which will launch her on to a teaching track in her final two years to emerge qualified as a secondary school teacher. During this year she spends about half her time in the school， and half in the university’s teaching department.

For Olli M？tt？？， a teacher trainer at the school， Finland’s 14）PISA scores are a byproduct of the system rather than a central goal. “When we got the results， we were thinking， if we are that good， how bad are the others？ We were taken by surprise，” he says.

It showed that the country was doing some things right， he says， and 15）vindicated the decision in the 1970s to make primary school teacher education a university degree.

Educationists point to historically specific factors that have helped to fashion Finland’s schools， such as the country’s small population， its relatively late dash for modernity， and broad acceptance of values such as equality and collaboration. But the decision to make teaching an advanced degree subject has given teaching a high profile in Finnish society.

Back in primary school， Ville Sallinen got the teaching bug eight years ago while still a full-time student， when he started coaching football. It sparked his interest in working with children. He is not particularly academic， he says， but like many students， his passion for teaching got him on to the master’s course.

“I would like to have more experience in schools like what we are having now，” Sallinen says. “Next year we have no practical element. It is good to get experience in a real school.”

At the end of each day， he sits down with his mentor， Tunja Tuominen， to 16）deconstruct teaching moments and to theorise them. Says Tuominen： “Student teachers come here like little chicks， mouths wide open and eager to learn.”

維勒·薩利寧正身處一安靜的教室中，里面裝飾著小孩子創造的色彩繽紛的作品，他正在學習是什么讓芬蘭的學校成為世人艷羨的對象。

薩利寧今年22歲，他正在教一群八歲的孩子閱讀。他在這所學校的短期代課已快接近尾聲。他現在正在攻讀一個五年的基礎教育碩士學位。

維吉教師培訓學校位于赫爾辛基的東部，該學校形容自己為“師范生的實驗室”。在大學附屬學校里，薩利寧可以一一試驗在大學里學到的理論知識，就相當于醫學生的大學附屬醫院。

芬蘭正在經歷一場嚴重的經濟危機，和其他公共部門一樣，學校也面臨著很大的經濟壓力。但小學老師必須取得5年碩士學位，這是毋庸置疑的。

麗娜·克羅克佛斯是赫爾辛基大學的教學系教授，他說：“芬蘭教師訓練系統的強大就在于學生投入的學習時間。”

克羅克佛斯說，給予年輕教師高度的自主權去選擇各自的教學方法的前提是擁有高水平的訓練體系——與英國相比，克羅克佛斯說，她感覺英國的教學著重的是“行政管理以及讓學生考試”。在芬蘭，老師不會受到太多的外部要求、比如說督導、標準化考試和政府管制等。學校督導制度在上世紀90年代就被廢除了。

“教師需要接受這種高質量教育，因為這樣他們才能學會如何運用他們手中的自由，如何以研究性的方式解決問題。”克羅克佛斯說，“我們教會他們最重要的一件事就是學會自主做出教學決定和判斷。”

相比之下，在英國，即便教師不夠資格，所有院校，私立學校和公立學校都可以聘請他們來任教。……