0000000000309321
AUTHOR
Raimo Nevalainen
Pressures, rewards and teacher retention: a comparative study of primary teaching in England and Finland
The article presents some findings from the York‐Jyvaskyla Teacher Professionalism project. The project was a follow‐up study to earlier case‐study research in six schools in Finland and six schools in England on the impact of educational reforms on teachers' work. Data were collected by re‐interviewing a sample of teachers from the original schools six years later. The views of English and Finnish teachers concerning the ways in which changes in practice, pay and working conditions affected their perception of teaching as a profession are contrasted. The crucial factors discouraging teachers from remaining in teaching were work intensification, low pay, deteriorating pupil behaviour and a …
A comparative analysis of primary teacher professionalism in England and Finland
Policy‐makers' conceptions of teacher professionalism currently differ markedly in England and Finland. In England they are shaped by agendas associated with the drive to raise standards and ‘commercialized professionalism’ whilst in Finland they are influenced by notions of ‘teacher empowerment’. This article analyses findings on the theme of teacher professionalism derived from re‐interviewing a sample of English and Finnish teachers in 2001 as a follow‐up to earlier ethnographic research in six schools in each country during 1994–1996. Issues of professionalism are addressed through three broad themes: the impact of curriculum and pedagogical reforms; working together to implement these …
Active learning in the process of educational change
Abstract The findings reported in this article form part of a wider comparative research project investigating the active learning of teachers and of pupils in the educational practices of eight countries. This article aims to describe what a small rural school in Finland understands by active learning. Data is presented from a qualitative research case study of one school in relation to six aspects: goal setting, task structuring, accessing of information, processing of work and learning, utilizing the outcomes of work and learning, and assessment procedures. On the basis of the data, the transformative learning process of teacher in the changing school culture is presented.
Ecological approach and community education as promoters of the social development of reform school students
ABSTRACT New models of operation are being sought for Finnish reform school education traditionally based on segregation. This article deals with the possibilities of applying the ecological approach and community education to support the socialization of reform school students. The aim is to describe the participation of the students in one Finnish reform school, as well as their expressed need to join in the production system, cultural system, contact system and the decision‐making system of society. This article presents part of a larger project carried out at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. In the research project a three‐part division in the description into an ideal state, a r…