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 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 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 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 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 Marta， a teacher trainer at the Normal 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， 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 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 “didacticians” who can connect teaching interventions with sound evidence， he says.

“We want to produce cognitive 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 multidisciplinary workshops for pupils aged 13 to 19. In one， Maria Hyvari， 24， is discussing Dewey， Steiner and 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.”

Hyvari 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 Marta， a teacher trainer at the school， Finland’s 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 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 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(chuàng)造的色彩繽紛的作品，他正在學(xué)習(xí)是什么讓芬蘭的學(xué)校成為世人艷羨的對(duì)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(xué)校的短期代課已快接近尾聲。他現(xiàn)在正在攻讀一個(gè)五年的基礎(chǔ)教育碩士學(xué)位。

維吉教師培訓(xùn)學(xué)校位于赫爾辛基的東部，該學(xué)校形容自己為“師范生的實(shí)驗(yàn)室”。在大學(xué)附屬學(xué)校里，薩利寧可以一一試驗(yàn)在大學(xué)里學(xué)到的理論知識(shí)，就相當(dāng)于醫(yī)學(xué)生的大學(xué)附屬醫(yī)院。

芬蘭正在經(jīng)歷一場嚴(yán)重的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)，和其他公共部門一樣，學(xué)校也面臨著很大的經(jīng)濟(jì)壓力。但小學(xué)老師必須取得5年碩士學(xué)位，這是毋庸置疑的。

麗娜·克羅克佛斯是赫爾辛基大學(xué)的教學(xué)系教授，他說：“芬蘭教師訓(xùn)練系統(tǒng)的強(qiáng)大就在于學(xué)生投入的學(xué)習(xí)時(shí)間。”

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

“教師需要接受這種高質(zhì)量教育，因?yàn)檫@樣他們才能學(xué)會(huì)如何運(yùn)用他們手中的自由，如何以研究性的方式解決問題?！笨肆_克佛斯說，“我們教會(huì)他們最重要的一件事就是學(xué)會(huì)自主做出教學(xué)決定和判斷?！?/p>

相比之下，在英國，即便教師不夠資格，所有院校，私立學(xué)校和公立學(xué)校都可以聘請(qǐng)他們來任教。工黨在2013年曾說，如今在英國當(dāng)教師比在快餐店里當(dāng)煎漢堡排的店員還容易。

奧利·瑪塔塔是赫爾辛基師范學(xué)院的一位教師訓(xùn)練員，他說：“當(dāng)我們的教育水平在國際上取得名列前茅的排名時(shí)，我們?cè)谙?，如果我們的教育水平有這么好，那么其他國家的到底有多差？”他說道。

帕斯·薩爾伯格是哈佛大學(xué)的一位芬蘭籍教育學(xué)家，他為把芬蘭的教育方法推向國際付出了許多努力，他認(rèn)為，對(duì)一個(gè)領(lǐng)土小、相對(duì)較為貧窮的農(nóng)業(yè)國家來說，讓所有的年輕人都接受同等高質(zhì)量的教育是追趕其他工業(yè)國家的最好方法。

芬蘭夢，他這樣說，是屬于所有孩子的，無論家庭背景或個(gè)人情況如何，社區(qū)內(nèi)要有一所好學(xué)?！@一點(diǎn)在過去四十年內(nèi)從未改變。

在早期階段，上世紀(jì)七八十年代的時(shí)候，學(xué)校仍受到嚴(yán)格的中心指導(dǎo)和管制，有國家規(guī)定的教學(xué)大綱、外部督導(dǎo)及細(xì)致的規(guī)章制度，芬蘭政府對(duì)學(xué)校和老師有著嚴(yán)密的管制權(quán)限。然而到了第二個(gè)階段，自上世紀(jì)90年代起，芬蘭政府有意創(chuàng)造一種新的教育文化，特點(diǎn)是建立起教育部門與學(xué)校、本土管制、專業(yè)主義和教育自治之間的信任。國家督導(dǎo)被廢除，學(xué)校開始負(fù)責(zé)起本校的課程設(shè)計(jì)和學(xué)生評(píng)估。這就要求老師擁有很高的學(xué)術(shù)資格并被視為專業(yè)人士。

在芬蘭，不僅師范教育有很強(qiáng)的研究性，所有攻讀基礎(chǔ)教育碩士學(xué)位的學(xué)生本身也會(huì)參與調(diào)研，這點(diǎn)讓系主任帕切科·西尼恩感到很驕傲。他說，課程目標(biāo)是培養(yǎng)出能根據(jù)合理證據(jù)設(shè)計(jì)出教學(xué)方案的“教學(xué)大師”。

“我們想制造認(rèn)知沖突。一位好的教學(xué)大師的任務(wù)就是要擾亂那些自認(rèn)為對(duì)教學(xué)了如指掌的人的想法?！蔽髂岫髡f道。“二十年來，你一直從事某種工作，你的方法奏效了，但這并不意味著這個(gè)方法對(duì)其他老師、學(xué)生，或者在其他科目上就適用?！?/p>

在赫爾辛基師范學(xué)院，實(shí)習(xí)教師們正在給13至19歲的學(xué)生開多學(xué)科的研討會(huì)。在一場研討會(huì)上，24歲的瑪利亞·海瓦利正在與學(xué)生討論杜威、斯坦納以及蒙臺(tái)梭利，她還讓學(xué)生對(duì)學(xué)校的教學(xué)方法進(jìn)行批判性思考?！拔蚁Ｍ苿?dòng)改變?！彼f道?！艾F(xiàn)在有這么多新的教學(xué)工具和教學(xué)理念，這樣非常好，因?yàn)槲覀兛梢栽谶@里嘗試不同的東西——這能激發(fā)我的靈感?！?/p>

現(xiàn)在是海瓦利修讀的五年大學(xué)課程的第三年，她的專業(yè)是法語和英語，但她已決定多修一年教育學(xué)，這將會(huì)讓她在大學(xué)最后的兩年走上教學(xué)的道路，等她畢業(yè)，她將會(huì)成為一名合格的中學(xué)老師。在這一年里，她的一半時(shí)間在學(xué)校度過，另一半在大學(xué)的教學(xué)部門度過。

對(duì)奧利·瑪塔塔這位教師培訓(xùn)師來說，芬蘭的國際學(xué)生評(píng)估項(xiàng)目的得分只是其教育體制的附帶結(jié)果而不是主要目標(biāo)?！爱?dāng)我們得知結(jié)果時(shí)，我們?cè)谙耄绻覀兊慕逃w制這么好，那其他國家的有多差？我們感到很驚訝。”他說。

這表明這個(gè)國家做的某些事是對(duì)的，他說道，這證明了上世紀(jì)70年代讓基礎(chǔ)師范教育學(xué)成為大學(xué)學(xué)科門類是一個(gè)正確的決定。

教育學(xué)家指出造就芬蘭良好辦學(xué)的歷史因素，比如說，該國的人口基數(shù)小，相比其他國家較晚進(jìn)入現(xiàn)代化社會(huì)，擁有寬容的價(jià)值觀，像是平等與合作這樣的觀念。但讓教育學(xué)成為一門高級(jí)學(xué)位課這個(gè)決定令教學(xué)在芬蘭這個(gè)社會(huì)擁有超然地位。

回到小學(xué)，維勒·薩利寧在他8年前開始教授足球時(shí)就對(duì)教學(xué)產(chǎn)生了興趣，他那時(shí)還是一個(gè)全日制在校生。這點(diǎn)燃了他與小孩一起工作的興趣。他說，他的學(xué)術(shù)成就不是特別高，但和其他學(xué)生一樣，對(duì)教學(xué)的熱情促使他攻讀碩士學(xué)位。

“我希望在學(xué)校也能像現(xiàn)在這樣獲得這么多的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，”薩利寧說道?！跋乱荒晡覀兙蜎]有實(shí)踐課程了。能在一間實(shí)實(shí)在在的學(xué)校獲得經(jīng)驗(yàn)真好?！?/p>

每天晚上，他都會(huì)與導(dǎo)師圖尼亞·圖渥米尼恩分析解構(gòu)他的教學(xué)時(shí)光，并將之理論化。圖渥米尼恩說：“實(shí)習(xí)教師像小雞一樣來到這里，大張嘴巴，對(duì)學(xué)習(xí)充滿渴望?！?/p>