Tension patterns in Finnish teacher education: Recruitment, reform and relevance

In this chapter, tension patterns and development opportunities withinFinnish teacher education are examined. We have chosen to focus the analysis onthe recruitment of student teachers, the relationship between theory and practice andmentorship for newly qualified teachers. Tension patterns and development oppor-tunities appear in all three phases, linking the content and form of teacher education.The analysis examines the overarching idea behind a recently introduced recruit-ment reform that was developed to let interviews play a larger role in the process.This was developed to address a situation in which an applicant applies to severaluniversities or programmes, but is interviewed only once. The relationship betweentheory and practice in teacher education remains problematic, despite the practiceschools’ favourable organizational conditions. New teachers still face challengeswhen entering the profession; mentoring programmes have been introduced toreduce these tensions.Like some other provinces in the Nordic countries, the self-governing ÅlandIslands have their own school system, which has both Finnish and Swedish traits, aswell as similar kinds of tensions. Despite the presented tensions, research-based teacher education continues to be an appropriate foundation for the continuingdevelopment of Finnish teacher education.