Source: European Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 31, Issue 1 February 2008 , pages 1 - 16
Finnish pupils have scored well on international comparative students' achievement tests. Apparently, this is the main reason for the current wide international interest in the Finnish teacher education system and its research-based approach. The aim of this article is to describe student teachers' perspectives on the research-based approach. We will report their attitudes towards the approach and what kinds of experiences they have concerning the realisation of the research-based approach in their studies.
The subjects of the research were part of a special group of students, who all had worked as teachers without being officially qualified to do so before they entered teacher education. The research was carried out as a web-based survey (n = 113). The questionnaire was based on the structure of the curriculum of the teacher education programme, including items from each part of the curriculum. The subjects were asked about both attitudes and experiences. According to our results, the students appreciate the research-based approach as the main organising theme of teacher education. They presume that this approach is detectable in every part of their studies, as was the case in most of the courses