ICT in Finnish Initial Teacher Education Country report for the OECD/CERI New Millennium Learners Project ICT in Initial Teacher Training Veijo Meisalo, Jari Lavonen, Reports of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland 2010:25 Kari Sormunen, Mikko Vesisenaho 1 ICT in Finnish Initial Teacher Education Country report for the OECD/CERI New Millennium Learners Project ICT in Initial Teacher Training Reports of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland 2010:25 Veijo Meisalo, Jari Lavonen, Kari Sormunen, Mikko Vesisenaho Ministry of Education and Culture • Department for Education and Science Policy • 2010 Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö • Koulutus- ja tiedepolitiikan osasto • 2010 2 Ministry of Education and Culture Department for Education and Science Policy P.O. Box 29 00023 Government, Finland http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/julkaisut/julkaisulistaus?lang=en Layout: Erja Kankala, Ministry of Education and Culture ISBN 978-952-485-976-9 (pbk.) ISBN 978-952-485-977-6 (Online) ISSN-L 1799-0343 ISSN 1799-0343 (Print) ISSN 1799-0351 (Online) Reports of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland 2010:25 3 ICT in Initial Teacher Education Abstract The goal of this study was to investigate the current status in Finland for the international comparative study and to present recommendations for facilitating fruitful development in this area. In Finland initial teacher education for primary and secondary schools is presently found at eight universities of which it was decided to choose, in present terms (spring 2010), the University of Helsinki (Department of Teacher Education) and the University of Eastern Finland (School of Applied Educational Sciences and Teacher Education in Joensuu) for this study. The teacher training schools associated with the respective Faculties also co-operated and participated in the study. The questionnaires were translated from the English original to Finnish in an iterative process of several rounds checking some details from the Swedish version to ensure correct interpretations. A request to fill in the forms on the Internet was sent by e-mail to about 200 student teachers enrolled in the final teaching practice period (systematic sampling). Similarly, about 30 teacher educators and 30 mentor teachers were asked to fill in the respective forms at both universities. Another request to participate in the study was sent to about 500 student teachers (the next-year group) and all teaching staff and mentor teachers in November. Persons responsible for teacher education programmes at the two departments filled in the respective forms assisted by several staff members during the first round. They as well as representative groups of teacher educators, mentor teachers, and students were also interviewed (convenience sampling). We may interpret the survey data, combined with the interview, observation, and other data indicate that the motivation of teacher educators and mentor teachers to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in their teaching and guiding student teachers to use different technologies was high. Wishes for more co-operation of staff members at all involved institutions were expressed. Student teachers were also motivated to use modern equipment and innovative teaching methods, and reported help being available when needed. Peer support was deemed to be very important. Student teachers gave mainly positive feedback, but some saw a problem in the reality of practice teaching being more conservative than the expressed intentions of mentors and educators. Even if modern equipment and an Internet connection of high quality were generally easily available, some practical problems in the accessibility could be identified and rapid technological development was seen as a major challenge. The situation was altogether very dynamic. A few years earlier there had been complete absence of ICT use in some subject areas, but now there was a major effort to update the equipment and to offer possibilities for versatile ICT use throughout the teacher education programmes. Both 4 Departments involved in the study were active in research programmes focussing on ICT use in education and had a number of younger staff members enrolled in related doctoral studies. Based on the triangulation data including surveys and interviews, several recommendations for how ICT use in teacher education could be developed are given. The recommendations fall under the titles: Strategy level; Teacher education programme; Staff development programmes for teacher educators and mentor teachers; Research and development activities; and Monitoring and evaluation of the strategy implementation. 5 Tieto- ja viestintätekniikka opettajien peruskoulutuksessa. OECD/CERI New Millennium Learners -projektin ICT in Initial Teacher Training maaraportti Suomesta Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää Suomen osalta kansainvälisen, tieto- ja viestintätekniikan (TVT) käyttöä opettajankoulutuksessa vertailevan tutkimuksen edellyttämiä ajantasaisia tietoja ja esittää kehittämissuosituksia. Suomessa peruskoulun ja lukion opettajien peruskoulutusta on tätä kirjoitettaessa kahdeksassa yliopistossa, joista valittiin (vuoden 2010 terminologiaa käyttäen) Helsingin yliopisto (Opettajankoulutuslaitos) ja Itä-Suomen yliopisto (Soveltavan kasvatustieteen ja opettajankoulutuksen osasto, Joensuun kampus) tähän tutkimukseen. Myös yliopistojen normaalikoulut osallistuivat tutkimukseen. Kyselyt käännettiin suomeksi alkuperäisistä englanninkielisistä teksteistä iteratiivisessa usean kierroksen prosessissa käyttäen hyväksi myös ruotsinkielistä kyselyn versiota yksityiskohtaisen tarkkuuden varmistamiseksi. Kehotus osallistua tähän verkkokyselyyn lähetettiin keväällä 2008 sähköpostilla noin 200:lle opettajaksi opiskelevalle, jotka olivat päättöharjoitteluvaiheessa (systemaattinen otanta). Vastaavasti noin 30 opettajankouluttajaa ja 30 ohjaavaa opettajaa molemmista yliopistoista pyydettiin vastaamaan kyselyyn. Vastausten määrä kevään kyselyyn jäi vähäiseksi ja siksi marraskuussa lähetettiin kysely 500:lle opettajaksi opiskelevalle (seuraava ikäluokka) sekä kaikkille opettajankouluttajille ja ohjaaville opettajille näillä laitoksilla. Opettajankoulutuksen vastuuhenkilöt näissä kahdessa yksikössä täyttivät avustajiensa tukemana laitosjohdolle tarkoitetut kyselylomakkeet tutkimuksen ensimmäisessä vaiheessa. Heitä samoin kuin muita opettajankouluttajia ja opiskelijoita myös haastateltiin (harkintavalinta). Kyselytutkimuksen, haastattelujen ja muun kerätyn aineiston perusteella voidaan päätellä, että opettajankouluttajien ja ohjaavien opettajien motivaatio modernin teknologian (tieto- ja viestintätekniikka) hyväksikäyttämiseen omassa opetuksessaan ja opettajaksi opiskelevien ohjaaminen eri menetelmien ja TVT-välineiden käyttöön oli korkea. Myös opettajaksi opiskelevat olivat motivoituneita käyttämään moderneja laitteita ja innovatiivisia opetusmenetelmiä ja heidän mielestään tukea niiden käyttämiseen oli hyvin saatavilla ja tuki arvokasta. Henkilökunnan keskuudessa tuntui olevan tarvetta kehittää keskinäistä yhteistyötä ja vuorovaikutusta. Opettajaksi opiskelevat antoivat pääosin positiivista palautetta, joskin muutamat totesivat opetusharjoittelun arjen olevan konservatiivisempaa kuin opetussuunnitelmassa tai ohjaavien opettajien suullisissa kannanotoissa esille tulleet tavoitteet antoivat ymmärtää. Vaikkakin uudenaikaista laitteistoa oli yleensä helposti saatavilla, saatavuuden suhteen esiintyi kuitenkin joitakin käytännön ongelmia ja nopea teknologian kehitys synnytti suuria haasteita. Kaiken kaikkiaan tilanne koettiin hyvin dynaamiseksi. Muutama vuosi aikaisemmin saattoi 6 olla alueita, joissa tieto- ja viestintätekniikkaa ei käytetty lainkaan hyväksi, mutta nyt oli opettajankoulutuksessa kautta linjan nähtävissä vakava pyrkimys opetusvälineiden ajanmukaistamiseen sekä tieto- ja viestintätekniikan monipuoliseen hyväksikäyttöön opetuksessa. Molemmissa tutkimukseen osallistuneissa opettajankoulutusyksiköissä oli aktiivisia tieto- ja viestintätekniikan hyväksikäyttöön fokusoituvia tutkimusohjelmia ja niihin liittyen jatko-opintoja suoritti useita tohtoriopiskelijoita. Tutkimusaineiston perusteella voitiin tehdä johtopäätöksiä ja esittää suosituksia opettajankoulutuksen kehittämiseksi. Suositusten kohteena ovat useat asiat strategian formuloinnin tasosta niiden soveltamiseen, henkilöstön jatkuvaan koulutukseen sekä tutkimus- ja kehitystyöhön. 7 Contents Abstract 3 Tiivistelmä 5 Foreword 8 Introduction 10 Theoretical Background 12 Use of ICT in teacher education – the point of view of learning 12 Use of ICT in teacher education – the point of view of motivation 14 Classification of ICT use and ICT use as an innovation 16 Diffusion and adoption of ICT innovations 18 Access 19 Competence, ICT skills 19 The development of teacher education at universities in Finland 20 The tripartite co-operation in Finnish teacher education 25 The study system in teacher education 27 Continuing Professional Development of Teachers in Finland 30 Implementation of the OECD/CERI study in Finland 32 Selection of the target groups 32 University of Helsinki 32 University of Eastern Finland 35 Data acquisition 38 Questionnaires 38 Interviews 40 Results 42 Interview data 42 Questionnaire data 46 General Observations 51 Summary and Conclusions 53 Acknowledgements 60 References 61 Appendices Appendix 1. Questionnaire for Universities (The Finnish translation) 67 Appendix 2. Questionnaire for Teacher Trainers (The Finnish translation) 71 Appendix 3. Questionnaire for Student Teachers (The Finnish translation) 75 Appendix 4. Questionnaire for Mentor Teachers (The Finnish translation) 79 Appendix 5. Researcher visit to University of Joensuu 19.–20. April, 2009 83 8 Foreword In 2008, the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched in the context of the New Millennium Learners (NML) project a comparative study “ICT in Initial Teacher Training” (IITT) (for primary and secondary schools). The objectives of this study were to provide a detailed picture of how technology is used in initial teacher training in OECD countries from a comparative perspective, analysing the views of the main stakeholders. Furthermore, it was intended to issue a number of policy recommendations in this domain both for teacher training institutions and governments (a framework of the research plan is available at the OECD web page1). The IITT study includes an international review of the state of the art, new empirical data collected through surveys, and institutional case studies. Contributing countries have been Austria, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Except for the USA, all the countries have used the same survey instrument translated into local languages when necessary. When Finland was invited to participate in this study, Prof. Jari Lavonen of the University of Helsinki (UH) participated as one of the invited speakers at the expert meeting organised by OECD in Paris, October 28th–29th, 2008. This meeting focussed on getting feedback from several countries on the planned implementation of the study. In Finland, the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), formerly the Ministry of Education, allocated funds for recruiting a part-time researcher as the co-ordinator of the national study. (We use in this report the present wording for the Ministry, although in several cases we refer to the time period when the older version was valid.) Further meetings of experts were organised on 23th-24th February, 5th-6th October, and 9th-10th December, 2009 at the OECD headquarters mainly for national co-ordinators Prof. Emer. Veijo Meisalo (UH) representing Finland in these meetings. The questionnaires used in this study were originally formulated by OECD staff, but they were modified and refined on the basis of feedback from participating countries. When the project started, it was planned that the questionnaires would be available quite early in the beginning of 2009. However, for various reasons it was difficult to organise necessary feedback from participating countries in a short time, and the beginning of 1 http://www.oecd.org/document/38/0,3343,en_2649_35845581_42418790_1_1_1_1,00.html 9 the questionnaire study (final forms of the questionnaires are available at the OECD web page1) was delayed from early spring towards the end of the academic year. This caused major difficulties especially in Finland. It was also understood too late that the study could be continued during the fall term of 2009. We feel that the advance information for the project severely underestimated the time, funds, and all the effort needed. The present report describes the outcome of the Finnish case study and surveys with some additions and amendments to the version available at the OECD/CERI Website. In the following we describe as requested in the original research plan also both recent developments of teacher education (TE) in Finland, as well as its organisation and structure to make some of our approaches more easily understandable to international readers. We have also contributed to the report of Caroline Rizza (2009) as to the Finnish system of TE (see http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/33/52/42031754.pdf ). We observe that the present study does not discuss problems related to vocational education, but focus on education of teachers of primary and secondary schools. The introductory and theoretical parts of this country report rely strongly on some of our previously published work (e.g., Lavonen, Juuti, Aksela, & Meisalo, 2006; Lavonen, Lattu, Juuti, & Meisalo, 2006; Meisalo, 2002; 2007; 2009; Meisalo, Lavonen, Juuti, & Aksela, 2007; Meisalo, Lavonen, Lattu, Juuti, & Lampiselkä, 2006). This study has been a case of close collaboration between the authors at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) Joensuu campus and UH. Prof. Lavonen has been the project leader responsible for e.g., contacts with the Ministry and different parties at UH as well as part of the analysis of the questionnaire data. Professor Sormunen has correspondingly been the local leader in Joensuu organising the contacts at UEF. Professor Meisalo has been the project co-ordinator and the principal researcher being responsible for data collection including the questionnaire study, interviews and observations as well as analysing the qualitative data and writing the main part of the report. Dr. Vesisenaho has been the local co-ordinator in Joensuu taking care of practical organisation of the study at the UEF Joensuu campus and he contributed to the analysis of the questionnaire data as well as writing the description of TE at the UEF for the report. All the authors have continuously commented on the running of the study including e.g., the different versions of the Finnish questionnaire forms and the preliminary Country Report, the final version and especially the recommendations which were accepted by all authors. 10 Introduction Centre for Educational Research and Innovation of OECD launched in the context of the New Millennium Learners project a global survey Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in (initial) teacher education in autumn 2008. Austria, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom (England) and the United States have contributed to the study with empirical work. Except for the United States, all the countries have used the same research instruments translated into local languages, if needed. We present here a preliminary report describing the outcome of the Finnish case study. The literature survey starting the project (Rizza, 2009) recognised several paradoxes in the research literature considering the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) at school as well as in teacher education (e.g., OECD, 2006; Younie, 2006): –– national level ICT-strategies and national curriculum guidelines for ICT use have been prepared during the last two decades in several countries which had only minor influence on the visions and practice of the teachers on their use of ICT in education; –– there is research evidence about the influence of ICT to learning and students’ motivation, but teachers do not rely much on research-based evidence to identify good practices; –– students have rich experiences of the use of technology outside of school, but do not use technology for learning at school; –– teachers are skilled technology users, but they are unable to take advantage of their competence and to apply it to the way they teach in school. –– ICT is available in schools, but teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning (e.g., the belief about good practice in school) do not support the use of technology at school; –– a large amount of ICT material already exists, but teachers are not experienced in using these materials effectively within and outside regular classroom activities. From research on policy implementation and reform in education, it is well known that change is either very slow or tends to fail. Implementation is a complex procedure, not a direct transfer from government policy to practice (Younie, 2006). There is also research-based knowledge about planning and implementing of ICT strategies in Finland and difficulties in this implementation (Lavonen, Lattu, Juuti, & Meisalo, 11 2006). Consequently, it is challenging to help student teachers or practicing teachers to adopt ICT in education. We will focus here mainly on initial teacher education (TE) according to the OECD ICT in Initial Teacher Training (IITT) project aims. The general framework of the research plan is presented at http://www.oecd.org/document/38/0,3343 ,en_2649_35845581_42418790_1_1_1_1,00.html and the OECD Website also includes other information on the international project. In general, there is a broad agreement with the reasons and methods for why and how ICT should be integrated into TE. The importance of this area can be seen in that there are specific associations for promoting research in this area like the Association for Information Technology in Teacher Education and many more whose activities expend to this field like the Finnish Association for Mathematics and Science Education Research in Finland. Scientific journals devoted to ICT in education (see the references at the end of this report) have an important impact and an example of a modern approach the portal WikiEducator Teacher Education Portal (www.wikieducator.org/Teacher_Collaboration), which is creating and maintaining teacher networking. There have also been descriptions of best practices of staff development programmes (e.g., Epper & Bates, 2001; Rowley, Dusand, & Arnold, 2005). However, it is obvious that on one hand, there are many necessary differences due to local circumstances in the adopted approaches with different types of national programmes or strategies and on the other, it takes time to gain the full effects of the ideas and their implementations. The focus of the present study is to find evidence of teacher educators in Finland preparing student teachers enough in the use of ICT in education. Is there a lack of equipment, confidence, support, incentives, or knowledge of how to work with ICT in a pedagogical way? The questionnaire study includes questions about these factors and also to what extent teacher educators and mentor teachers use certain kinds of technology in their teaching and what kinds of help could enable them to increase the use of ICT in their teaching. There are also questions about the importance they attach to ICT in teaching. The interviews and observations are used to validate and concretize the findings through triangulation even utilizing similar data of student teachers on the one hand and deans or faculty administrators on the other. We understand that ICT use in TE is in a very dynamic situation and there may be major changes in the situation even during the implementation of the present study. We shall proceed in the following first to theoretical considerations including a short description of ICT in Finnish TE analysing it from the viewpoints of learning and motivation as well as its introduction as a diffusion of innovations process. Thereafter we will give a general outline of the development of TE in Finland to help international readers to understand the present situation. The main part of the report presents the implementation of the 2009 OECD/CERI study on ICT in TE (the IITT Project) in Finland. Finally, there is an analysis of the outcomes of the study on the basis of triangulation data and recommendations for the development of this area in Finland. 12 Theoretical Background In this section we describe first different uses of ICT in learning activities to get an idea of how it can be analysed as an innovation for TE (cf. Meisalo & al., 2007). Thereafter, we discuss some ideas on production and use of digital learning resources (DLR), open and distance learning (ODL) approaches like the use of web-based learning environments and learning management systems (LMS), as well as other communication and teaching/ learning tools. Furthermore, we discuss the promoting of their use in the diffusion of innovations process as well as adoption of innovations (cf. Lattu, Lavonen, Juuti, & Meisalo, 2004). The descriptions and analyses help the readers to understand the background behind the questionnaires and interviews in this research. These descriptions and analyses can be compared with the Chapter ‘Systemic Innovation and ICT in Education’ in the recent project report ‘Beyond Textbooks’ (OECD, 2009, 31-57). There the starting point in analysing factors in using ICT in TE is the Access, Competence, and Motivation (ACM) Model. This model focuses on the importance of user access to modern technologies, the needed competencies of users, and the motivation of users to learn and utilize technologies for ICT use to explain how much ICT is used within an educational system. Use of ICT in teacher education – the point of view of learning ICT is used in education for supporting students’ learning or for development of competences, in other words for helping to reach the goals of education. The quality of learning depends on how ICT is used in learning. These issues have been and are frequently discussed in the context of TE in Finland (Järvelä, Hakkarainen, Lipponen & Lehtinen, 2001; Löfström, Kanerva, Tuuttila, Lehtinen, & Nevgi, 2006). According to Bransford, Brown, & Cocking (1999) meaningful learning engages students in tackling the topic to be learnt in such a way that they create meaningful and understandable knowledge structures on the basis of a goal for learning. Based on them, it is possible to present an outline of learning with a specific focus on ICT use in learning (see also Järvelä, Veermans & Leinonen, 2008). Learning represents each individual learner’s own personal knowledge construction process which presupposes each learner’s active, goal-oriented and feedback-seeking role. The constituents of meaningful learning are the following: activity, intention, contextualization, construction, collaboration, interaction, reflection, and transfer. These serve as development and selection criteria when choosing teaching and learning activities emphasising ICT use. 13 Activity and intention mean that students take responsibility over their own learning. Thus they set, together with a teacher, their learning goals and proceed according to the plan to reach the goals they set. This process may be facilitated, for example, by guiding students to plan by themselves or in small co-operative groups. On the other hand, students neither master the logical structure of the subject nor recognise their own biased preconceptions, and therefore students’ goal setting needs to be supported and guided by the teachers. Thus, activities that support co-operative planning and evaluating learning are important for learning. Learning could also be enhanced by self-evaluating activities. Bransford and Donovan (2005) emphasise the role of self-evaluation in learning. They suggest that a teacher should provide support for students’ self-evaluating for example by giving them opportunities to test their ideas by building things or making investigations, which enable them to check whether their preliminary ideas were working. Feedback is important for learning. Reflection means that students examine their own learning and develop metacognitive skills to guide and regulate their learning. Metacognitive skills are necessary for planning and evaluating one’s own work. These skills also make learning a self-regulatory process in which the student becomes less dependent on the teacher. For example, self-evaluating or evaluating in a small group, taking multiple-choice tests, doing exercises and consulting answer keys support developing reflective and, moreover, metacognitive skills. Collaboration and interaction mean that students actively take part in group activities and support each other by discussing and sharing knowledge. Learning new concepts presupposes a dialogue both between the teacher and the students and amongst the students (explaining, debating, questioning). In addition to face-to-face interaction ICT offers several possibilities to share ideas through newsgroups, e-mail, a LMS, or through social media like Facebook. Construction means that students combine their earlier knowledge with the new topics to be learnt and thereby tailor information structures that they can comprehend. Therefore, the teacher should encourage students to bring up their previous views and beliefs and thereby construct new knowledge on the basis of this shared information. For example, prior to starting reading or writing, students need to be guided to bring up their prior views on the subject to be dealt with. Respectively, before an investigation or other practical activity students should be encouraged to present his or her prediction or even supposition. Contextualization means that learning takes place in real life situations or in situations simulating real-life instances. This in turn presupposes that the learning setting allows for authentic and real-life learning experiences. For example, when using a search engine (e.g., Google), students should be encouraged to look up information from different sources. This enables them to treat the concepts in various contexts and thereby deepen the meanings these concepts acquire. It pays off also to keep in mind that the quality of all Internet-based sources needs to be checked carefully to ensure that the facts are right (source criticism). From the point of view of what is interest, the context in which science ideas are learned, rather than the ideas themselves, has an important influence on learning. For example, when writing it is crucial that students write to prospective readers other than to their teacher (cf. also Sutinen & Vesisenaho, 2005; Vesisenaho, 2009). Learning is cumulative and, therefore, students are aided in noticing how a new concept or skill is related to other already familiar concepts or a network of concepts or skills. The learning of science processes and ICT skills are similar. In both areas there are low level and high level skills. For example, before a student learns to use a LMS he or she should learn to use word-processing and a search engine. Consequently, students should 14 be supported in learning new skills and in internalising the new concepts and in building conceptual networks in the given field. The previous characteristics of learning activity may be realized through the use of ICT. For example, by employing the Internet in inquiry-based learning, students have access to meaningful information on the topic. When looking up information in varied sources, students at the same time actively structure the flow of information they encounter into meaningful entities in order to be able to complete tasks. Similarly, this exploration of information in varied sources forces students to evaluate the reliability of both the information and the sources they use. Within an activity students could be encouraged to work together and also to systematically evaluate their activities. Several studies have indicated that information processing, inquiry-based learning, and exploring resources via networks, are beneficial for education (Linn, 2003). Use of ICT in teacher education – the point of view of motivation ICT could be used in education for supporting the development of students’ motivation. The concept ‘motivation’ in TE is by no means trivial, it has been used here to describe the factors within an individual (including an interaction with the environment) which arise, maintain and channel behaviour towards the aims of the developed DLRs. We note that the project report ‘Beyond Textbooks’ (OECD, 2009) does not include a definition or an analysis of this concept. There are many concepts that can be used to describe motivational aspects of teaching and learning. Here we base our analysis on Self Determination Theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2000) and Theory of Interest (Krapp, 2007). According to SDT, a student’s way of thinking has an important role in the process of motivation. Motivated behaviour may be (i) self-determined or (ii) controlled and they involve different reasons for behaving. Self-determined or autonomous behaviour is behaviour which arises freely from one’s self. Controlled behaviour, in contrast, means that the behaviour is controlled by some interpersonal or intrapsychic force, like a curriculum or a task. The motivation styles in SDT are: (i) amotivation, (ii) extrinsic motivation and (iii) intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation has positive effects on learning, in particular, on the quality of learning. Intrinsically motivated behaviours are based on the need to feel competent and self- determined (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Extrinsically motivated behaviour is instrumental in nature. Such action is performed for the sake of some expected outcome or extrinsic reward or in order to comply with a demand. Central to SDT is the concept of basic psychological needs assumed to be innate and universal. These needs are the need for autonomy, the need for competence, and the need for relatedness (need to belong to a group). The fulfilment of the need for competence is especially problematic in the case of ICT because the required studies are perceived as being difficult. This perceived lack of competence has an effect on interest and motivation. Furthermore, the interest of the student in a learning activity has an effect on motivation. Consequently, the features of a learning activity and behaviour of a teacher (trainer) could increase the motivation of a learner (student teacher). This is because self- determined learning occurs when a learning activity itself supports fulfilment of basic psychological needs or the development of interest. A closer analysis of motivational aspects is based on SDT: ICT is used for motivating or for increasing students’ interest for learning. How motivating learning with ICT is for students depends on how ICT is used 15 in this context. Next these issues, which have an influence on the students’ motivation and interest, are briefly described as they are presented in TE. Interest is a content-specific motivational variable (Krapp, 2007). Interest is approached from two major points of view. One is interest as a characteristic of a person (personal interest) and the other is interest as a psychological state aroused by specific characteristics of the learning environment (situational interest). Personal interest is topic specific, persists over time, develops slowly and tends to have long-lasting effects on a person’s knowledge and values (Hidi, 1990). Pre-existing knowledge, personal experiences and emotions are the basis of personal interest (Schiefele, 1991). Situational interest is spontaneous, fleeting, and shared among individuals. It is an emotional state that is evoked by something in the immediate environment and it may have only a short-term effect on an individual’s knowledge and values. Situational interest is aroused as a function of the interest of the topic or an event and is also changeable and partially under the control of teachers (Schraw & Lehman, 2001). Although students themselves primarily produce their motivation, it can be enhanced and learned. In practice, a teacher can offer optimal challenges and rich sources of motivating stimulations through choosing the learning activities. Therefore, in addition to the previously discussed features of self-determined and controlled behaviour of a learner, it is also appropriate to analyse features of a learning activity that could increase motivation of a learner. This is because self-determined learning occurs when the learning activity itself is considered as interesting, enjoyable, or personally important by a learner. From the point of view of the SDT and interest research, the motivational features of a learning activity could be classified into five categories: 1 autonomy-supporting activities/teacher, through –– choosing student-centred learning methods like “open ended” inquiry and other tasks where students have some choice of how to plan or study, –– collaborative learning activities which support the feeling of autonomy, –– co-planning of the learning activities. 2 Use of ICT where students have –– choices, possibilities for planning and evaluating ones own activities, and –– support to the feeling of effectiveness and the importance of working. 3 Support for students’ feeling of competency, through –– choosing inquiry and other tasks, which are not overly difficult for the student to solve (optimal goals); –– choosing and using constructive evaluation methods, like self assessment, portfolio evaluation, and informal discussions, which help students to recognise that they are good at an activity or do the activity well, and –– giving support to the feeling that the activity has some value or use for the student. 4 Support to students’ social relatedness, through –– choosing tasks, collaborative learning activities, co-planning, and ICT use which help students to feel close to peers, and –– giving support to the feeling that the students can trust each other and feel close to each other, as well as 16 –– supporting the formation of learning communities over social media and various forms of networking. 5 Support to interest and enjoyment, through –– waking up curiosity by choosing surprise-evoking inquiry and other activities or tasks, –– organising enjoyable, fun-evoking and interesting activities, such as choosing interesting web pages or simulations, –– choosing activities which hold the students’ attention, as well as –– interesting content (new materials or new knowledge) and context (human being, occupations, technology, or history). To summarize, it is important for motivation to promote autonomous learning activities in TE, related even to the attainment of competence in ICT use, but also to support learning communities and other forms of positive social networking. Classification of ICT use and ICT use as an innovation The concept ICT use can be considered here as the crucial innovation to be analysed and e.g., the qualities of innovation including the needed competence will be related to it. We categorise ICT use here into (A) tool applications or tool software and (B) ICT use in study and learning (learning through ICT) (cf. Webb, 2002) as well as in more recent literature also into social media or social communication media (C). In the tool category (A), ICT is treated as a set of available software enabling students and teachers to accomplish their tasks in a more efficient way. Typical examples of tool software are related to school or course administration or to office software (text processing, spreadsheets, graphics, etc.). A teacher can use tool applications in several ways. In addition to the previously mentioned, he or she can prepare assignments, tests, and other resources for teaching and learning. A video- or data-projector can be used as a tool in several ways for classroom presentations and it can be connected for example to a document camera or a microscope. A new interesting tool teachers have started to use in Finnish schools as well as elsewhere in Europe is an interactive whiteboard (numerous commercial brands like Cleverboard, AKTIVboard, SMART Board, etc.) although there have been controversial opinions even among the present researchers e.g., due to needed high investment expenses. The touch-sensitive display can be connected to a computer and digital projector and then computer applications can be controlled directly from the display. It is possible to write notes in digital ink and save one’s work to continue working on or to share later. Most interactive whiteboards also have specially designed software that includes a range of useful tools. The advantages of the interactive whiteboard are: documents and software can be accessed from the screen without having to move away to a laptop, it is easy to move between screens to return to earlier work and furthermore, the drag and drop facility can be used to move contents across windows. The advantages including the positive motivational effect of modern equipment have proved more important than associated problems when interactive whiteboards have been made available. However, it seems that too little effort has often been put into teacher training in this context. The main uses of ICT in studies and learning in TE (B) can be divided into three different uses for directly supported learning: (B1) Computer-assisted learning (CAL) is any interaction between a student and a computer system designed to help the student 17 learn. CAL includes, for example, simulations (Applets on the Internet) and virtual-reality environments. (B2) Computer-assisted research is the use of ICT as an aid in collecting information and data from various information sources with the emphasis on the use of ICT in data analysis supporting scientific reasoning. Typically, these investigative activities are conducted in small collaborative groups where ICT is used as an agent for interaction with an information source, like the Internet or nature, or in schools and in TE, often in Microcomputer-Based Laboratories (MBL). (B3) Computer-assisted interaction: ODL has evolved in a natural way from using only regular mail to using all available IT services adjusted to fully facilitate student learning. Thus, modern ODL solutions are based on a wide range of communication technologies, such as course management systems (e.g., Blackboard, WebCT, or moodle), and two-way audio/video teleconferencing. ICT use as social media or social communication media (C) is a concept referring to media for social interaction using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. It involves in all school life more and more ICT-based interaction channels including e-mail, chat, Facebook, wikis, etc. Indeed, the Web 2.0 ideology is being implemented in TE for example through wikis and blogs which are growing even on a day-to-day basis in some projects. Social media use Web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social dialogues. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) have defined social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content”. The wide definition of DLR (OECD, 2009) adopted in the NML Project is obviously supposed to cover all the above uses of ICT, but it is quite easy to focus on some limited aspect only if further refined analysis is neglected. It is no more necessary to speculate on claims that ICT use has been able to make learning more versatile, goal and investigative oriented as well as to activate students in acquiring, handling and evaluating information and, furthermore, to increase collaboration, contextuality and creativity in TE. ICT use is an integral part of life of the New Millennium Generation (NMG) and teachers must be prepared to use these tools (cf. e.g., Sardone & Devlin-Scherer, 2008). The above interpretation has been challenged by several researchers (e.g., OECD 2009, p. 34), we however note the obvious need of the NMG to be able to utilize in school versatile facilities offered by a modern learning environment. It is also to be noted that the NMG frequently uses mobile technologies in ways that were not thought possible only a few years earlier. Altogether, new social media offer here many possibilities not yet fully activated in learning. Furthermore, our societies are presently evolving at a faster pace than ever before, challenging both individuals and organisations to deal with changes and this is most critical in teacher education. As a consequence of this ongoing transformation is the development of new cognitive, communicative and collaborative forms of organizing interactions and their use by especially the new generations. We have a growing trend pointing to life publishing and life logging using mobile devices and social mobile media to enrich and support innovative ways of interaction and learning, shifting the focus away from the computer screen to other places of interest. Social mobile media refers to the use of rich digital content as well as Web and mobile based tools for the purpose of creating spaces and opportunities for sharing and discussing information and experiences with other people in new ways that may differ from earlier forms of communication. These situations may happen across locations and devices, using both mobile and wired Internet access. Lankshear and Knobel (2006) as well as Buckinghamn and Willett (2006) claim that many educational institutions ignore some of these developments and argue that 18 mobile technology and social media might be integrated into current school educational activities since they are transforming and defining new literacies outside traditional education. It is our opinion that these arguments are valid also for TE. Diffusion and adoption of ICT innovations In practice, diffusion of ICT use into teacher educators’ daily practice is difficult. Wiesenmayer and Koul (1999) suggested that implementation of ICT strategies must be organized based on research. Agreeing with this, we maintain that general research- based knowledge about diffusion and adoption of innovations has to be taken into consideration. It is known that there may be many barriers: an ICT use might be too complicated for beginners and new features are developed all the time (difficulty), staff do not easily collaborate or network with each other or with experts (lack of communication), they feel that they do not have enough time for experimenting, they might have negative attitudes towards innovations (no motivation to adopt them), there may be no support available and, furthermore, people are naturally resistant to new ideas or innovations. Variables that influence the uses of ICT in education are consistent with other research findings regarding innovations and diffusion or adoption of innovations. In our study, the diffusion is a process by which the versatile uses of ICT in TE (innovation), is communicated when implementing the ICT strategy, the staff development programme and development of ICT facilities (communication channels) over a period of several years (time) among the staff of the TE unit (social system) (cf. Rogers 2003). Rogers differentiates the adoption process from the diffusion process and defines the former as an individual’s mental process through which he or she passes from first hearing about an innovation to final adoption. We may also interpret these as analyses of the same process, the former with a grassroots level view and the latter with a top-down view. The adoption process can be divided into several stages, for example: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption. Individuals who are members of the society adopting the innovation can be categorized in adopter categories: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Fullan (2001) categorized the properties of educational innovations that affect their acceptance into two general classes: Firstly, there are the properties of the innovation; in this case, the properties of the ‘ICT use in TE’ itself (e.g., different ways of ICT use practiced in TE, usability of ICT, and ease of ICT use). However, the nature of this innovation is not simple. For example Watson (2001) argued that its adoption requires change in teaching style, change in learning approaches, and change in access to information. Secondly, Fullan emphasized that there are local characteristics, such as the pedagogical orientation of the staff, nature of collaboration and reflection between staff members, their beliefs about the usability of educational technology, administrative leadership, technical and pedagogical support available, and external factors such as funding, nature of training or staff development, as well as the nature of development projects in ICT use (Matthew, & al., 2002). Furthermore, external factors like a national ICT strategy and other different strategies in the institute (e.g., strategy development for teaching and training, library strategy, and research strategy) have an effect on the adoption of the innovation. Different kinds of networking may foster the integration of ICT in education like collaboration with schools, with other departments and universities, as well as with working life (Moonen & Voogt, 1998). The contextuality of the implementation is another important aspect in this research. 19 In the recent project report ‘Beyond Textbooks’ there is an analysis of innovation (and diffusion of innovations) processes. It includes four phases: Initiation, Implementation, Scale-up, and Monitoring and Evaluation (OECD, 2009, 47–50). Furthermore, there are related issues like the knowledge base utilised in the innovation process as well as the stakeholders in innovation. This analysis focuses on the innovating process, less on the problems of adopting new innovations. We found in a number of cases producing DLRs it was deemed important not to consider these processes as linear but iterative. We refer here to the tradition of design-based research (DBR). It can be considered as a methodology aiming to bridge the gap between educational research and praxis. It is a general framework for design, development, implementation and evaluation of learning resources and it uses a pragmatic frame (Juuti & Lavonen, 2006). DBR emphasises an iterative design process, producing an artefact, and novel educational knowledge (Design- Based Research Collective, 2003), which all fits well in the process of designing DLRs. Access Access can be considered to be a concept associated with little or no controversy. Access to good quality DLRs is obviously most important to the advancement of ICT use in schools as well as in TE. However, too often related studies have been interested only in the technical aspects of access, i.e. in the number of students per computer or in the quality of the available Internet connection, on the societal level this approach is evident in the recent report of the International Telecommunication Union ITU (2010). For example, in 1999 in some countries one in five teachers only used ICT in teaching to a significant degree (Hakkarainen et al., 2000). Respectively, there was of the order of one computer for every ten students in lower secondary schools (Pelgrum & Anderson, 1999). In most industrialized countries, schools have had already for a long time had access to the Internet (Russell and Bradley, 1997). These are necessary but not sufficient conditions. A crucial problem of access is often the cost of learning materials as e.g., Finnish student teachers are not nowadays willing to invest in purchasing textbooks but expect course materials to be available as open educational on over the Internet. There is great pedagogical value in having student teachers develop DLRs themselves, but it is not feasible to expect to produce most of the required course materials in this way. There is also a question whether the needed DLRs could be of the nature of PowerPoint slides, textbook chapters, or even teaching-learning sequences with detailed instructions to the learner. Anyway, materials accumulated over several years under the supervision of professional experts and being updated systematically may solve quite a number of access problems in TE. Competence, ICT skills In many countries the development of mainstream initial teacher education has been slowed down by inadequate ICT skills of teacher educators and the fact that only a few units providing teacher education have drafted a strategy for the educational uses of ICT. Consequently, even many young schoolteachers have felt unprepared to use ICT in their classrooms. There has been a worldwide discussion about challenges set to teacher education concerning how to help teacher educators in using ICT in teacher education (e.g., Epper & Bates, 2001; Judge & O’Bannon, 2008). These challenges have been approached by developing ICT strategies to TE units and by implementing these strategies. 20 The development of teacher educators’ competence could be promoted by developing up-to-date information and communication strategies, organizing and developing possibilities for studying in different environments including ODL and in general innovative approaches to ICT use in TE. National strategy goals have been in Finland, e.g., that more than half of the teachers should have a good competence in the educational use of ICT or that they can use a text processor, e-mail and an Internet browser well, make web-pages, use distance learning tools and that they also know the pedagogical principles for using ICT. Such an educational policy has been quite common in all countries. However, the situation is more complex in practice and the implementation of ICT strategies for TE is more difficult than educational policy discourse implies (Kay, 2006). Especially, organizing an effective staff development programme, adequate guidance, and promoting ICT in education are not easy tasks. McFarlane and Sakellariou (2002) have already taken a critical look at oversimplified strategies. They suggested that the planning of ICT uses should be based on addressing questions of what and for whom the TE programme is designed for and what successful navigation through that programme might look like. Kay (2006) pointed out that often strategies are issued, but there is little evaluation and follow-up of the impact of ICT strategies on TE. We shall analyse Finnish ICT strategies from the viewpoint of TE later in this study. Finally, we note that the problem of staff competence and skills is challenging due to the rapid technical development in this field necessitating massive continuous brushing up of knowledge and skills. The development of teacher education at universities in Finland The road up to research-based teacher education The major upgrading of TE was implemented in Finland starting in the 1974-1975 academic year. During the first year it meant integrating these studies with the university system (home economics and textile handicraft teacher education following one year later). Primary school TE for Master’s level started 1979 in the context of the general renewal of university studies in Finland. (Kindergarten teacher education joined the development in the mid eighties, but it is not discussed in the present context.) This development can be described as the Finnish road towards research-based TE. Research-based teaching is the key issue on the university level and it brought challenges demanding essential upgrading of staff competences. There are several indicators pointing to the benefits of this development. They include the high standards of recruited students in TE programmes – they are among the best of each age group. Also, the good results of Finnish students in international comparative studies like PISA have been accredited at least partly to competent teachers. To understand the renewal of TE in the seventies, we first have to consider the planning processes of the renewal of the TE systems and of the introduction of the TE institutions within the previously existing university structure. The political decision (Law 844/71) was made in the Parliament of Finland after a preparation process involving several committees in parallel or in the aftermath of introducing the comprehensive school system. The general framework and common grounds for the design process and decisionmaking were planned on the national level with much vivid discussion on possible alternatives. Important aspects were the personnel structure 21 and staff qualifications as well as integration into the traditions of research-oriented universities. All pre-service TE for schools in the general education sector was assigned with these decisions in mind to seven previously existing autonomous universities (eleven localities). The TE units were formed as Faculties of Education including departments of TE with teacher training schools for organising teaching practice. This development has been summarized in a compendium edited by Tella (1996). Finnish universities have had autonomy in designing their curricula, thus no detailed “curriculum of TE” covering all universities in Finland has developed. The process of integrating pedagogical studies in subject teacher education with more traditional university studies began in the renewal of 1970’s. Pedagogical studies were now included in the university degrees, but only as extraordinary studies, not equivalent with studies at subject departments. Other faculties and the whole university administration were rather critical of the practical orientation and the lack of a research tradition at the new and rather large departments of teacher education. Further integration of educational studies and teaching practice was implemented in the reform of the academic degree system after 1978, when also the Master’s degree became the basis for teacher qualification even in primary and lower secondary schools. It is to be noted that in spite of their academic freedom, there are some principles and general outlines that have been followed by all TE institutions in curricular development. These have been partly due to recommendations by the MEC and partly due to an agreement of the Deans of the Faculties of Education and the Directors of the Departments of TE, who are supposed to have regular contact with the Ministry and with each other. The MEC has had full confidence in the departments and faculties involved in TE so that there have been no external examinations for teacher qualification. On the other hand, there are differences in pedagogical studies between subject areas and especially in arts-oriented universities there have been special features differing from the curricula followed in most other faculties and universities. During the last decade there has been active development of different kind of ODL and mobile solutions to teacher education (Häkkinen & Järvelä, 2006; Kynäslahti, Kansanen, Jyrhämä, Krokfors, Maaranen, & Toom, 2006; Meisalo, Lavonen, & Juuti, 2006; Koskimaa, Lehtonen, Heinonen, Ruokamo, Tissari, Vahtivuori-Hänninen, & Tella, 2007; Vesisenaho & Dillon, 2009; Vesisenaho & Valtonen, 2010). Strategies guiding the development of TE Although the universities in Finland are autonomous, their development has been guided by national strategies. These strategies have generally emphasised a research orientation and teaching based on research. Universities have planned and implemented their own strategies based on the national framework. When TE became part of the university system, there were many difficulties in the process of fusion. However, gradually the universities clearly saw the importance of (especially subject) teacher education in their mission and this was seen as one of the important means of contributing to the welfare of society (a new task given to universities). For instance, the importance of subject teacher education was expressly indicated in the General Strategy of the University of Helsinki for 2004-2006. The strategy listed subject teacher education as one of the key areas of development and stated that ‘subject teacher education will be remodelled by organising jointly planned pedagogical and subject-related studies and by creating a continuum from basic teaching 22 Table 1. The objectives and implementation approaches of the national ICT strategies in Finland. Year Strategy Objectives Implementation approaches 1986, Computer in Education - Students as active workers of the information society: - Funding the production of software suitable for computer-assisted learning 1989 TOP, 1986; 1989 - IT as a school subject -basic IT skills for all -advanced IT skills for IT teachers - Large in-service programme for all teachers at school - Training of IT teachers 1995 Education, Training and Research in the Information Society - Students active in information processing - ICT as an intercurricular subject - Promote the use of ICT in learning - Funding the production of Web pages and Web-based learning environments - Funding of an in-service programme for all teachers at schools 2000 The Second Strategy for Education Training and Research in the Information Society (SETRIS, 2000) - Students active in information processing and in use of communication technology - ICT as a part of an intercurricular subject “Human Being and Technology” - Promote the pedagogical use of ICT, emphasising ODL solutions; Teachers to have not only technical but also pedagogical ICT competences. - All teachers on all levels should have at least moderate ICT competence, 50% good ICT and ODL competence, and 15% excellent - Funding virtual schools and designing of new learning environments that relate to future operational environments - Funding of ICT infrastructure of schools and libraries - Funding of an in-service programme for all teachers at schools and universities 2004 Information Society Programme for Education and Research 2004-2006 (OPM, 2004) It should be taken care in TE that students get necessary knowledge and skills in utilising ICT, knowledge on digital learning materials and services, as well as on teaching, and school – home interaction. Recommendation to universities and polytechnics 2006 Information Society Programme 2007-2015 Teachers should have outstanding information society skills, and ICT should be a part of multiform teaching at all levels of education. Close integration of the use of ICT in teaching with basic and further education of teachers. Encouraging institutions to implement new, innovative learning styles and methods. 23 through teacher training schools and field schools to in-service training’ (Strategy, 2004, p. 28). Somewhat earlier TE strategies had been published at the University of Turku (Strategy Turku, 2000), the University of Oulu (Strategy Oulu, 2000) and the University of Helsinki (Strategy, 2002). The National ICT strategies in Finland There have been so far four official national strategies for the information society or national ICT strategies, and before these one national educational ICT development project in Finland. The recommendations of the TOP Project (TOP, 1986; 1989) in the eighties can be seen as the first, although it was an unofficial or semi-official national ICT strategy. A summary of these strategies is presented in Table 1 (cf. e.g., Meisalo, 2007; 2009; OECD, 2009, 132-133). Each University was supposed to formulate strategies of their own in harmony with the national strategies, and even though they have not necessarily been updated recently, they do have continuous obvious effects on the planning of curricula as well as TE programmes. An example of these strategies is the Information Technology Strategy developed at UH (Strategy, 1996) right after the publication of the first official national strategy in 1995. The latest development in this field is that the teacher training schools attached to universities have co-operated nationally in formulating their own strategies (Strategy, 2009). The Ministry of Education and Culture has financed teacher educators’ in-service training courses or staff development projects supporting ICT use in TE from the mid 90s until the end of year 2007. These in-service courses and projects have aimed to develop teacher educators’ ICT-competence and they have been designed based on the ICT strategies in each Finnish university. As an example of this type of staff development project, one at UH is shortly described below (for more detail see Lavonen, Lattu, Juuti, & Meisalo, 2006). A project at UH is an example of a university level ICT strategy development project for TE. An ICT strategy and an implementation plan for TE were created in a co-operative process during the two academic years 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 at the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences in UH. Visions and expectations of staff members and students were registered by questionnaires and by making notes during co-operative sessions in which the strategy was created. Thereafter, an implementation document, where the staff development programme and plans of how to develop ICT infrastructure and to integrate ICT in TE, was created. A large programme for staff ICT skills development was implemented and a new infrastructure (a new domain and websites etc.) was developed. Altogether 53 one or two credit point in-service courses were organised on the use of basic ICT tools and learning management tools, web publishing, and ODL solutions. As many as 505 staff members participated in these ICT courses. On the basis of staff self-evaluation data we may evaluate that staff ICT skills developed substantially and ICT use in TE grew more versatile. On the basis of the data collected during the staff development project, a list of properties needed for a successful staff development project was created. The main facilitator for development of ICT skills was the co-operative local ICT strategy planning and implementation process where staff became aware of the possibilities of ICT use as a part of teaching and learning and how ICT use and ODL solutions can make teaching and learning in TE more versatile. Secondly, the development of an ICT infrastructure, 24 especially web publishing and the use of ODL solutions, reduced the constraints usually associated with versatile ICT use. Thirdly, organising multiform and versatile courses, which were co-operative, reflective and contextual, helped staff members to improve their ICT competence. The courses demonstrated how ICT and ODL solutions could be used in TE and staff members could easily try and evaluate different ICT uses. Consequently, there are some basic conditions that should be realised before staff members use ICT in TE: They should have an ability to control ICT use in teaching and learning, and ICT use should maximise the effectiveness for achievement of higher level goals of TE and not interfere with achieving other higher order goals. After the systematic staff development project described above, several ICT courses have been organised for staff members annually. These courses have been partly financed with the resources allocated by the MEC specifically for this purpose. It is not clear how these types of courses could be financed in future. Moreover, there have been available ICT-courses offered by the Educational Centre for ICT at UH. These courses are generally offered to all staff members of the university without any special orientation to TE. The final comment on the effects of steering through strategies is that there seems to be too little co-ordination and harmony between different types of national and local level strategies. When there are too many, too different, and too often changing strategies, their implementation in the formulation of goals or in teaching practice is very difficult. Perhaps the most important effects of different evaluation processes can be accredited to the self-evaluation phase. However, there have been so many and frequent efforts to implement new strategies and recommendations for various types of evaluations which have had little connection with these strategies that most members of staff are totally exhausted and reluctant to make further efforts. Furthermore, there have been indications that the adopted top-down approach to strategy implementation may be problematic (Lavonen & al., 2006). In addition to implementation of the ICT strategies through seminars, training and tutorials organised for teacher educators, the academic curriculum is an important tool for strategy implementation focussing on the development of skills of student teachers. For example, at the Department of Teacher Education at UH, goals for learning the use of ICT in education are described in the aims of TE courses and teaching practice. In the primary school TE programme, there is an ICT driving licence course and test that aims to introduce basic ICT tools and university ICT services, like databases and library services. In addition, there is a media education course to introduce different types of ICT use in school education. More specific competences to use ICT, for example, in the analysis of research data are learned within courses designed for research methodology. Moreover, there are goals for ICT use in teaching and learning within the aims for teaching practice. Student teachers in the subject teacher education programme learn to use basic ICT tools at their home departments. The goals for learning pedagogical use of ICT are described among the aims for specific pedagogical courses. For example, in the course “Theoretical, psychological, and didactical basis related to teaching and learning particular subject” these student teachers should learn to use versatile teaching methods and ICT in the teaching of their subject. During their teaching practice, student teachers should learn to use as a support the theories of education, pedagogy and learning while analysing and developing their own pedagogical approaches for teaching the subjects. 25 The tripartite co-operation in Finnish teacher education In the Finnish system of subject teacher education there are three partners who participate in the programme and make important contributions. The subject departments at various faculties have focussed traditionally on educating future researchers (or artists) and little on the future needs of those students studying for teaching careers. However, this situation has been and is changing as the importance of TE is now quite generally recognized. This is at least partly due to the societal role of universities being at the forefront of discussions on the budgetary needs of universities and the major impact of teachers in forming the new generations, the future of the whole society (Lavonen, Krzywacki-Vainio, Aksela, Krokfors, Oikkonen, & Saarikko, 2007). Some subject departments have had chairs with the responsibility to supervise TE at the department. The crucial role of subject departments is in ascertaining the high level of content area knowledge for subject teachers is highlighted by their writing their Masters’ theses at the department of their major subject. The thesis facilitates the future teacher’s access to research-oriented work, and emphasises the understanding of the creation process of new scientific knowledge in their field of teaching and learning. What is most important is the goal of preparing future teachers to autonomously understand and utilize new achievements in scientific research. One of the interests of subject departments is in recruiting new talented students. The departments therefore maintain contacts with schools and urge student teachers to meet with young people, even in their free time (e.g., at shopping malls) to introduce them to interesting science phenomena. The interaction with pupils not only at school but also in their leisure time also provides student teachers with valuable experience of working with young people. We may note an important role of subject departments had in the implementation of the very successful LUMA Project (LUMA, 2006) on advancing mathematics and science education in Finland in organising Master-level courses for unqualified substitute teachers working at schools. In primary teacher education, at least in Helsinki, professors of subject area take responsibility for the quality control of specialization courses in their subject. The second partner in TE is the Department of Teacher Education at the Faculty of Education (or equivalent). These institutions are responsible for organising and developing the Master’s level primary school TE programme and the pedagogical studies of a subject TE programme. In these institutions, there are professors of general education, educational psychology, etc., but also several specialised in educational problems of certain subject areas. It has been important that there has been a development towards full professor status for even the latter. Their focus has been on introducing students to research into teaching and learning and on how to implement research outcomes in teachers’ daily work but also in further education including even international doctoral schools. Consequently, they have over the years played an important role in the development of research in these areas. Pedagogical content knowledge has been one of the crucial issues in training of subject teachers, but the shift from syllabus type of thinking (emphasising organisation of contents) to curriculum-oriented ideas has put more importance on the goals of education at the student level and on the teaching-studying-learning process. Among other things, the pedagogical studies in TE introduce student teachers to the idea of a teacher as a co-operative professional who is able to develop him/herself while working as a formally competent academic teacher. This kind of professional is able to put forward arguments for the decisions that s/he makes regarding his/her own teaching. 26 The third partner in TE in Finland is the teacher training school. Teacher training schools were transferred into the university structure in 1974. This system of Normal Schools (practice schools) attached administratively to universities has many unique features as almost all other schools in Finland are run and financed by local authorities. The Normal Schools are state schools and their teachers have a different status than teachers in other schools. They have a dual role: on one hand to teach their pupils and on the other, to supervise and mentor student teachers. Many mentor teachers are active in research and development work and/or are members of teams producing learning materials for schools. They have good contacts with different university departments that offer visits and study opportunities even for school students. Altogether, these schools want to offer a multi-faceted environment for teaching practice extending even outside the schools. They have close contacts with different educational establishments, civic associations and organizations. In addition to study in the classroom, their students also visit different places of employment (with a possibility of internships), as well as museums and theatres. Learning by researching is supposed to be a natural way of approaching an issue, often with co-operative supervision by university professors and other experts. Herewith, the student teachers can put into practice their knowledge of theory as well as their experience and skill in doing research. Being able to guide others to learn is one of the central aims of the practical training. The above features are described as goals of teacher training schools, but there is frequent critique based on the demand of having at least a substantial part of the teaching practice in more typical schools. Actually, parallel to the Normal Schools there have been so-called field schools which have made an important contribution to the capacity and volume of TE in times of high demand for qualified teachers. There has been a three-year project financed by the MEC to study their contributions to the field of TE. The ongoing reform of the Finnish university system will most probably have an effect on the status of Normal Schools, but at the time of writing this text there is little information on which way the development will proceed. There are many challenges in taking advantage of all the positive features of the described system above. Recruiting competent personnel and talented students is essential for the successful functioning of research-based TE. There has been much effort towards these goals and the outcomes have grown gradually rather good in both respects. In Finland, TE programmes attract students of the highest ability groups, which is different from many other OECD countries. Also, competent staff with high academic standards has been easier to recruit when the integration of TE into the traditional research-oriented university culture has proceeded. There have been efforts over long periods of time to apply creative approaches in TE at all levels. A demand for creativity has been obvious in areas like arts, music or literature, but creative problem solving has been a key issue, say, in mathematics and science education. Here even contacts with researchers in different areas as well as innovators in industry and business have been utilised. Altogether, the chair holders are key persons in networking both locally with several subject departments and nationally with teachers’ organisations or scientific associations, and even globally in their research contacts. Many staff members have been active in teams producing teaching/learning materials for teacher education and for schools. European co-operation within e.g., Socrates and other programmes has also been important for the staff. Quite many of them have also influenced the designing of the national core curricula for schools in their specialty subject area. 27 Co-operation of all the partners is important and many universities have founded councils of co-operation in TE. These councils have been active in formulating strategies for TE, and organising seminars to bring together all the partners in TE; their work has proved to be most valuable. It has also been possible to establish resource centres for TE and school contacts in different faculties like the LUMA Centre at the Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences (co-operating with the Department of Teacher Education, Faculty of Behavioural Sciences) and the AINO Centre at the Faculty of Humanities, both at the University of Helsinki, but recognising relevant needs at the national level. Similar activities are emerging at least at the Aalto University, the University of Oulu, and the University of Eastern Finland. The study system in teacher education Master-level teacher qualification as a basis for orientation to research and development The first degree to be studied at university level is kandidaatti/kandidat (Bachelor, B.A./B. Sc./B.Ed.), which became compulsory in the Bologna process as the first formal step towards academic qualification. The second, higher degree is maisteri/magister (Master, M.A./M.Sc./M.Ed.) and is presently the basis for teacher qualification in general education. The lisensiaatti/licentiat (Licentiate) degree is usually considered as the first (non-compulsory) post-graduate degree while the doctorate (tohtori/doktor) is a very formal and internationally highly esteemed degree. Since the Master’s degree is the basis of qualification, postgraduate studies are not beyond the reach of practicing teachers. The work to renew once more the system of TE, this time along the guidelines of the Bologna process, was started efficiently with a national steering group (Jakku-Sihvonen & Niemi, 2006a). The new system has been implemented since 2005 and the transition period has now ended. The Bachelor degree is divided into intermediate and minor level subjects: there is no major subject level, but a dissertation at the intermediate level is included (see e.g., Jakku- Sihvonen & Niemi, 2007). This degree is the common first degree while the Master’s degree including the major part of pedagogical studies qualifies for teacher profession. In subject teacher education a Master’s degree usually includes studies in one major and two minor subjects. Studies in the major subject are further divided into intermediate subject studies and advanced studies. The core of advanced studies is comprised of the Master’s dissertation project, which alone gives about 40 credits. It is also possible to take more than the minimum number of credits in teacher studies to get a wider competence. Primary school teachers (grades 1–6) major in educational sciences (M.Ed. degree) and take the intermediate level multi-subject didactical course of (60 credits). These studies qualify for teaching all subjects at primary level. One of the “minor subjects” in subject TE programmes covers pedagogical studies for 60 credits (intermediate level). These pedagogical studies are divided into three roughly equal parts: courses in general pedagogy, subject didactics, and teaching practice. In the Finnish system teachers who take the Master’s degree including these pedagogical studies get full formal competence for teaching in secondary schools for those subjects included in their degree studies with more than 60 credits. There are no further examinations or other accrediting authorities in the qualifying process, but local authorities and schools recruiting teachers may have their own preferences regarding the combination of subjects and/or practical experience. 28 A rather recent idea that has an effect on TE is the political goal of having a more unified (comprehensive school) TE harmonising class teacher education and subject teacher education. This has become feasible as both types of teachers take a Master’s degree. There are obviously many practical problems in pursuing this goal, but it has already been put into practice by primary school student teachers who may study a minor subject such as Mathematics or English for 60 credits and thus qualify to teach the subject concerned in lower secondary schools. It is also possible for student teachers in subject teacher education to study the multi-subject didactical courses of 60 credits designed for primary teacher education. However, courses of this type have seldom been opened due to problems in financing them. It seems that the access may be gradually growing more open, though depending on political decisions and the availability of necessary funds. Another unification, which has happened already, is the opening of the vocational education sector to teachers qualified in general education and vice versa. There have been frequent evaluations of TE over recent years in different contexts. The Committee on the Development of Teacher Training (1989) was assigned to analyse the need for reforms in TE and soon afterwards, teacher education was subjected to further scrutiny by a national and international evaluation process in the context of evaluation of Faculties of Humanities, Mathematics and Sciences, and Education (OPM, 1994). Another evaluation process covering all faculties active in TE was arranged in 1999 (Jussila & Saari, 1999). Soon thereafter the national programme for developing TE was published (OPM, 2001). At the University of Helsinki there were, moreover, further evaluation processes by international groups of experts (Lahtinen, 2003; Kaivola, Kärpijoki, & Saarikko, 2004; Niemi & Jakku-Sihvonen, 2006). The next step was the Bologna Process, which has been implemented quite successfully in TE in Finland (see e.g., Jakku-Sihvonen & Niemi, 2006a). It should be noted that the above evaluations have put little emphasis on the progress of ICT use in TE. However, there has been a national working group analysing challenges of ICT in Finnish education under the auspices of the Finnish Parliament and SITRA, the Finnish Innovation Fund (Sinko & Lehtinen, 1999). Their recommendations have helped in promoting ICT use even in TE. Teacher education programmes in Finland As we begin 2010, there is a big and rapid change towards an even more independent system of higher education. All Finnish universities have been state universities being autonomous as to what they teach and research, but their finances depend on the State Budget. These financial ties are being loosened and the status of the university staff as state officers is being discontinued. It will be seen how much these and other current changes will affect curricular development. As mentioned before, even now no detailed “curriculum of subject teacher education” covering all universities in Finland can be presented. Their large variation in pedagogical studies is illustrated e.g., by Jakku- Sihvonen, Tissari, and Uusiautti (2008). The general features of the curriculum have been described e.g., by Niemi and Jakku-Sihvonen (2006) and Jakku-Sihvonen and Niemi (2006b). The curricula are usually revised every second year and they are published on the web pages of the faculties. Secondly, TE is diversified in that subject departments design their own curricula and the respective faculties make decisions about these. Special profiling of courses given to student teachers has become more common in recent years. This profiling has increased the possibility of getting the themes of Master’s thesis projects closer to the problems of subject teachers’ work. 29 In primary TE much emphasis has been put on the development of the graduate research seminar as well as the interaction of teaching practice and data acquisition for Master’s thesis projects. Furthermore, the recently emphasized possibilities for combining classroom teacher and subject teacher competences have become attractive as it opens up new professional flexibility and sometimes even gives higher salary to graduating teachers. Much emphasis in secondary TE has been focussed on subject didactics at Departments of TE. This does not necessarily mean that the share of subject didactics in credit points has increased, but student teachers are more motivated to do study general education courses when these courses are tailored to account for topics relevant to the specific subject area and the age level of their future pupils. Since subject teachers teach all children in several age groups and particularly due to the principle of inclusive education implemented in the comprehensive school, there has been a growing need for courses in educational psychology and special needs education tailored for student teachers. Problems of multicultural education need more emphasis in TE, too, since there are increasing numbers of immigrant students in the Finnish school system. Here teaching of official domestic languages (Finnish and Swedish) to immigrants of all ages is also crucial. During recent years, much effort has been expended on promoting the interaction and co-operation of different departments and faculties involved in TE. Furthermore, co-operation with institutions outside universities has grown in importance. It may be said that the emphasis on goal setting has gradually changed from teaching different content areas to educating top-quality teachers. Professional growth is a long process. It is important that student teachers receive orientation to their future work even during their first study years. This has been especially challenging for subject teacher studies at the subject departments. This should not mean only some school contacts during the first study years but also, among others, balancing critical scientific thinking and creativity in the goals of teacher studies. There is a significant motivational factor for student teachers in seeing the relevance of their studies to their future profession. Similarly, the curriculum covering pedagogical studies in subject TE has been processed at the Departments of Teacher Education and at the Faculties of Education. It has been important to harmonise the approaches and terminology in courses of general education and subject didactics. Offering experiences of teamwork during studies has been considered important in both primary and secondary TE as teachers can be seen as members of multi-professional teams when they work in schools. The challenge of having to satisfy the demands of the whole extent of student teachers’ future career has brought up the need for applying futurological research in the planning of TE and even including methods of futurological research in the TE curriculum. The relevant time span in a teacher’s career is at least thirty years, possibly fifty years or even more into the future. These challenges have been accentuated in the rapid development of ICT use in schools. Already in the 80’s, this has led even to researching values as well as moral and ethical aspects in TE (e.g., Niemi, 1988). Such an interest has continued to focus on current critical issues in different disciplines, especially on problems associated with computer science and computer applications in schools (see Tirri, 2000; Meisalo, Sutinen, & Tarhio, 2003, 194-216), but also nanoscience and gene technology have lately perhaps been the most problematic areas. Careless copying in the Internet seems to be a serious problem not only in relation with TE and even globally. Professional ethics have become in Finland during recent years an important focus area for teachers’ organisations2 as well as study and research ethics at universities and research institutions. 2 e.g., http://extra.oaj.fi/portal/page?_pageid=515,447767&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL 30 The general objective of a teacher as a researcher and developer of his/her own work has a long tradition and was originally described as a ‘pedagogically-thinking teacher’ in Finland. This is considered to be a definitely more powerful approach than that of reflective teacher, since only personal experiences are less valid and reliable than research outcomes as the basis of pedagogical decision-making. There is a strong tradition of research into teacher thinking in Finland (e.g., Kansanen, 1991; 2002). Ideas of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) have been under intensive discussion and several models of implementation have been suggested and tested. However, it has also become most evident that the principles of ultimate constructivism cannot be successfully applied in subject areas with well-developed theoretical structures like mathematics or physics. MEC has emphasised the development and implementation of the strategy of the information society in TE and this has even influenced the curricula. It is interesting to note that at some stage the formal goal of having at least one third of the TE courses in virtual form was suggested, but now the goal-setting even here focuses more on the skills and motivation of student teachers. There has been a solid research (and development) effort covering a wide field of computer applications from using e-mail in modern language education (Tella, 1991) to developing computer-assisted piano lessons for student teachers (Oksanen, 2003) and different applications of microcomputer-assisted school science laboratories (Lavonen, 1996) as well as interactions in Web-based communities of student teachers (Meisalo, Lavonen, & Juuti, 2006), and activating mobile-based learning in science and other subjects in the field and in laboratories (Vesisenaho & Valtonen, 2010). Further important projects have been recently described in an OECD (2009) publication from the viewpoint of researchers at the University of Jyväskylä. Continuing Professional Development of Teachers in Finland In-service Education In-service training is considered to be training to update the knowledge and skills of teachers who are already working in schools, during the course of their employment. This ‘brushing up’ of professional skills covers all kinds of effort towards teacher professional development delivered within the school sector, but also often by external training providers. The definition of in-service education covers all activities intended to update teachers’ skills and knowledge. In Finland there is little on the level of laws about the professional development of teachers. The focus is on in-service education, which is considered to be the responsibility of employers. (i.e., municipalities which are the local school authorities in Finland.) However, the National Board of Education (NBE) co-ordinates national in-service programmes. It is important that, as we can see in Table 1 above as an example of these efforts, all listed ICT strategies have included some kind of in-service training effort for teachers. It may be noted, indeed, that while pre-service TE of teachers for general education has been assigned to universities, they have a minor role only in in-service education. The general approach has been that the NBE yearly puts a number of in-service courses on tender and university staff and educational enterprises may make offers to run them. A positive case of interaction of national authorities responsible for curricular reform in schools (NBE) and teacher educators was in the context of the 2003 reform, when physics and chemistry were given subject status for grades 5 and 6 in Comprehensive Schools having earlier been integrated into general science with little emphasis. It meant 31 that primary school teachers who previously had marginal training only in these subjects were supposed to start teaching them. In this situation, there was a call for a major push for in-service education of teachers working at this school level. While already in the period when the curricular reform was designed, the science education experts at the university department of teacher education were well informed on the renewal process and were strongly in favour of it, they had the major challenge of renewing the pre-service education curricula of primary school teachers. Finnish industrial organisations had supported the curriculum reform and the Information Office of Finnish Industry found it important to support the production of materials for in-service training (DLRs at www.tat.fi/Aineistot/Verkko-oppimateriaalit) as well as materials for classroom use. The NBE has the overall responsibility for organising in-service education, but the City of Helsinki also had a massive task of training essentially all primary school teachers to cope with this renewal and was willing to co-operate. All these parties joined forces and created Web materials in co-operation with experts at HU for grades 5 and 6 teachers and these materials were widely used both in pre-service and in-service courses. Both teachers’ and students’ materials produced in the framework of the ASTEL Project emerging from this co-operation are available on the Internet (in Finnish and most of it also in Swedish) at the Web pages www2.edu.fi/astel/index.php of NBE. Further education Further education of teachers gives new qualifications and higher competence levels. It is often considered to be of the type of postgraduate education and is usually organized at universities; research-based TE can be seen to benefit greatly from the system of further education. There has also been available some resources for doctoral schools in this area and there has been important international co-operation recently between doctoral schools in several countries. The implementation of modern technologies both in the daily work of teachers and in the research projects has been among the goals of doctoral schools following the official goals of the information society. Their research is supposed to focus on the development of teaching practise, new learning materials, etc. Postgraduate studies are assigned to the partner universities; the doctoral schools organise seminars mainly on relevant research methods. There is also interaction over the Internet on the problems of research projects in the meantime. An important feature of these schools has been their international co-operation offering doctoral students contacts across borders as well as broader views on the key issues in their research area. The doctoral school makes it possible for schoolteachers who get full-time researcher positions to finish their doctorate in three to five years. However, it is not uncommon that most of the doctoral work is done while working full-time as a teacher and only the final stages of the thesis project are accomplished with the aid of a scholarship. Many teachers studying in postgraduate schools have long teaching experience. They have high competence in applying their research outcomes in school practice both for themselves and through being active in in-service training. These doctoral students are not young and there are demands that the median age of doctors should be lower in the future. 32 Implementation of the OECD/CERI study in Finland Selection of the target groups In Finland, initial teacher education for primary and secondary school is presently at eight universities of which it was decided to choose for practical reasons only the University of Helsinki (UH), the Department of Teacher Education and the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), the School of Applied Educational Sciences, Joensuu campus, for this study (as two institutions with rather different profiles). Also the teacher training schools associated with the respective Faculties co-operated and participated in the study. A specialist group with experts from the MEC/NBE (Jari Koivisto), the Ministry of Traffic and Communications (Sanna Vahtivuori-Hänninen), the IT Department of University Administration of UH (Matti Lattu) as well as the representatives of the Departments of TE were consulted for the planning of the study. The University of Helsinki is situated at Helsinki metropolitan area and while all Finnish institutions active in TE can be considered to be quality providers, at this multidisciplinary university the number of possible subject specialisations is larger than at other universities. Joensuu is a smaller town in eastern Finland, which has made a major effort to develop ICT uses in education and related research. There is a short description of the selected Departments below. The target group of this study represents over 40% of all student teachers in Finland. This percentage value has been estimated using the intake figures to teacher education (OPM, 2007, pp. 22-23) and is rather high due to the large number of student teachers enrolled in subject teacher education programmes at University of Helsinki. It was not possible to extend this study to all institutions active in TE in Finland due to the limited resources allocated for this project. University of Helsinki General description The University of Helsinki is a traditional research-oriented university (founded 1640) with 12 faculties (Theology, Law, Medicine, Arts, Science, Pharmacy, Biological and Environmental Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences, Agriculture and Forestry, and Veterinary Medicine as well as the Swedish School of Social Science). It is a member 33 of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and has been the best Finnish university on international ranking lists. The present Department of Teacher Education was established in 1974 following a thorough reform of the system of general education in the late sixties. (The Department was for some years been called the Department of Applied Sciences of Education, but adopted again its original name from 1st January, 2010.) Tasks of the University include research, teaching and interaction with society. UH is bi-lingual (Finnish and Swedish), which also teaches many courses in English. However, according to the national TE policy primary TE and pedagogical courses in secondary TE for Swedish-language schools have been assigned to Åbo Akademi University. There are 35,300 degree students actively enrolled at UH, as well as 47,000 continuing education and Open University students. The University has 7,900 employees, 3,900 of whom are researchers and teachers. UH operates on four campuses in Helsinki and in 19 other localities in Finland. It aims to establish its position among the leading multidisciplinary research universities in Europe. The organisational structure of the University has been renewed at the end of 2009 to be more efficient and to cope with the new legislation covering higher education in Finland as well as the financial challenges of the current tight economical situation. Central administration and ICT UH has an IT Department, which makes it easier for staff and students to work in the university by offering high quality ICT services. The services of the department support the execution of the basic tasks of the University. The IT services in campuses are provided by Campus Service Centres of the University Administration. They coordinate IT activities, standardize the technical solutions and take care of the local maintenance of the information network. They also provide IT classrooms and service points as well as local support by local teams. The Helpdesk service deals with all requests for help and support from both staff and students. The Educational Centre for ICT o