**5.2. Outcomes of the benchmarking of teacher education strategies in neighbour countries**

Teacher education programmes and strategies were benchmarked in neighbour countries and discussed in the forum meetings. For example, the Norwegian 2016 elementary teacher education strategy (framework) aims to raise the Norwegian teacher education credential to the Master's level and augment expectations of teachers, in addition to traditional pedagogical competences: 'for example, *take responsibility for developing and leading inclusive, creative, safe and healthy learning environments (skill)'* in the classroom, as well as competences needed to contribute to the professional community of teachers: able to '*contribute to both colleagues and the school's professional and organisational development*' [40]. Compared to previous national strategies, the new Norwegian strategy emphasises a research orientation in teacher education—*academic knowledge and knowledge on scientific thinking and research methods—*along with improved competences in teacher collaboration, personal and whole school environment development.

In Sweden, a renewal of teacher education aims to update it to the Master's level, similar to the initiative in Norway [41]. According to Swedish documents, for the degree of Master of Arts or Science in secondary education the student shall demonstrate the competences needed to participate autonomously in the teaching profession *the knowledge and skills required*  *to work autonomously as a subject teacher in the specialisation* and competence needed in the development of learning environments—the *capacity to create conditions in which all pupils can learn and develop (skill)*—and the school environment: *the capacity to plan, implement, evaluate and develop teaching and educational processes individually and together with others*.

#### **5.3. Outcomes of the national web-based brainstorming process**

and taken into account in the planning of the development programme. In particular, research outcomes related to the role of education in a society; teaching and learning, engagement and individual differences of learners; the design and use of educational innovations, like education technology, in teaching and learning and, moreover, the research on teachers and teacher education had an impact on the work of the forum (see e.g., [38]). One important topic discussed in the meetings was the link between teachers pre- and in-service training. According to the literature review, during pre-service training student teachers should be willing and able to learn new competences continuously in their work as teachers, including competences needed to organise inclusive classrooms, entrepreneurship education, network-

One outcome of the literature review emerging from the perspective of classroom interaction

• support learners as they integrate new knowledge with previous knowledge using effec-

• take into account the affective dimensions supportive of learning, including respect for

• provide suitable challenges for learners; emphasise the acquisition of learning and selfregulation skills and encourage learners to develop self-confidence and self-esteem [39].

Teacher education programmes and strategies were benchmarked in neighbour countries and discussed in the forum meetings. For example, the Norwegian 2016 elementary teacher education strategy (framework) aims to raise the Norwegian teacher education credential to the Master's level and augment expectations of teachers, in addition to traditional pedagogical competences: 'for example, *take responsibility for developing and leading inclusive, creative, safe and healthy learning environments (skill)'* in the classroom, as well as competences needed to contribute to the professional community of teachers: able to '*contribute to both colleagues and the school's professional and organisational development*' [40]. Compared to previous national strategies, the new Norwegian strategy emphasises a research orientation in teacher education—*academic knowledge and knowledge on scientific thinking and research methods—*along with improved competences in teacher collaboration, personal and whole school environment

In Sweden, a renewal of teacher education aims to update it to the Master's level, similar to the initiative in Norway [41]. According to Swedish documents, for the degree of Master of Arts or Science in secondary education the student shall demonstrate the competences needed to participate autonomously in the teaching profession *the knowledge and skills required* 

**5.2. Outcomes of the benchmarking of teacher education strategies in neighbour** 

and learning identified best practices for professional teachers. They should:

tive pedagogy; anticipation and solution-oriented approaches;

pupils and a passionate attitude towards teaching and learning;

• guide learning through classroom interaction; • monitor learning and give feedback to learners;

12 Contemporary Pedagogies in Teacher Education and Development

ing and co-teaching.

**countries**

development.

As one of its activities, the *Finnish Teacher Education Forum* organised a national web-based brainstorming process related to the renewal of teacher education following the concept of the 'wisdom of crowds' [42]. According to this principle, a large group of people is collectively smarter than a few experts and is more likely to come to wise decisions. In practice, a call to participate was sent to teacher educators in all Finnish universities, as well as to all teachers and administrative employees working in the field of education at both national and local levels. The goal of this invitation was to solicit diverse opinions related to the development of teacher education, encouraging decentralisation of idea generation and independent thinking. The participants were first guided to generate ideas about what will be important in the future of teacher education and to evaluate or rank about 10 ideas contributed by others. In the ranking, participants assigned a number (from 0 to 100) evaluating the importance of these ideas. The web-based brainstorming tool combined similar ideas and reduced the number of ideas offered for ranking. According to participants, the most important priorities for students to learn in teacher education are learning-to-learn skills, along with interaction and collaboration skills. The same skills were also emphasised in the recent Norwegian and Swedish teacher education strategy papers and emerged from the teacher education literature review. The competences involved in generating ideas, readiness for change, research-based action and collaboration in partnerships and networks are all needed so that teachers can participate collaboratively to develop classroom practices and culture in particular school contexts. Most of the top-ranked skills and competences identified are needed outside the classroom. This means that, in teacher education, participants believe that more attention should be paid to the skills and competences needed for effective teacher collaboration. Meanwhile, interaction and collaboration skills, student-centredness and the competences to meet variation, integration of school subjects, digitalisation and the use of various learning environments are skills, competences and attitudes needed by effective, professional teachers in a classroom environment.

#### **5.4. Strategic aims for Finnish teacher education**

Altogether, the forum organised eight full-day meetings of the entire forum, along with several meetings of smaller thematic groups, during 2016 and 2017. The steering committee of eight people met every month, discussing outcomes of the literature review, best practices based on teacher education strategies and policy documents in other countries and the brainstorming process and designing the *Development Programme for Teachers Pre- and In-service Education*. This development programme [31] set out holistic competence goals for teachers' pre- and in-service education and continuous life-long professional development. According to this document, a professional teacher should have:
