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Koulutuksen tutkimuslaitos

A factor underlying the Finnish success in PISA: Teacher’s profession highly appealing (8th April 2015)

Teacher’s profession is highly appealing and appreciated in Finland. Teachers are committed to and satisfied with their work, and thus only relatively few teachers decide to leave the field. However, there are some problems with in-service training and also with the induction phase of new teachers.

These are the main findings drawn from the recent Finnish PAL project (Mobility among pedagogical experts), which studied teachers’ professional motivation, teacher mobility, and the challenging skill requirements the teachers face at work in primary and secondary education. The study involved more than 1,900 Finnish teachers.

Finland is a remarkable exception when the number of teacher applicants is compared to other European countries. In many countries it is difficult to fill all the starting places, whereas in Finland teacher training is one of the most popular choices among university applicants. The high educational level and work motivation of teachers might, in fact, be one of the reasons why the Finnish students have performed so well in the PISA assessments.

The popularity of teacher training is connected to the high appreciation of the teaching profession in the Finnish society. The appreciation, in turn, is related to one’s own school time memories, the public image spread by the media, as well as the salary but also the teachers’ well-being at work and the opportunities to develop themselves professionally.

According to the results, over 80% of the teachers were satisfied with their job. Another sign of job satisfaction is that relatively few teachers leave the teaching field in Finland and even then it is often related to personal progress in professional career. Only 9.3% of the primary and secondary school teachers have moved on to other tasks during their entire work career.

Induction phase and in-service training need improvement

Teachers’ work is changing rapidly. Teachers have to endure pressure and conflicts more than before. According to their own experience, teachers’ pre-service training in Finland does not prepare them well enough for the cooperation between home and school, multiprofessional collaboration, and issues related to maintaining order at class, or how to face the most challenging students.

According to the PAL study, however, Finland has not made a full effort in developing teachers’ professionalism. The maintenance and development of one’s skills has too often been left for the teachers themselves. The support of teachers’ professional development calls for growing attention in the next few years. The basis for professionalism is created in the teacher training programmes of the universities and in vocational teacher education, but the skill maintenance requires constant attention.

The PAL study revealed that the induction phase of new teachers requires improvement. In the teaching profession, the transition from education to work is often more challenging than in some other occupations. However, a majority (57%) of the teachers in primary or secondary schools had not received any induction or support during their first years of work. In this respect the situation in Finland is therefore worse than in many other countries. In the Finnish school system, teachers have a full pedagogical and juridical responsibility since their first day of employment. Although the induction phase is very important in the transition from teacher education to actual teachership, Finland does not have any statutory national induction programme for teachers.

The PAL project was carried out in 2010–2013 in collaboration with the Finnish Institute for Educational Research, Finnish National Board of Education and the Vocational Teacher Education College, Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences. The reports are available online in Finnish, English, and Swedish.

Further information:

The English online report:

The Swedish online report:

The Finnish online reports: