Teacher’s profession is one of the most important ones in the world.
I am sure we all agree on the fact that teacher’s profession is one of the most important ones in the world, for many of us the most important one. It is automatically included in the teachers’ profession that we have a right and an obligation to build the future and work ethically to make sure that our societies and the whole world are improving all the time.
I believe we also agree that a teacher profession is a profession of a high expertise, so to say, a profession. In the core of being a teacher is making the individual learning paths for every learner possible.
I am sure we all agree on the fact that teacher’s profession is one of the most important ones in the world, for many of us the most important one.
That is why teachers must be highly educated. We in Finland think that a basic level for a teacher should be a master’s degree from a university. In addition to that a teacher must have access to a continuous further education.
We know very well that every learner is an individual. The groups of the learners are also very different and diverse from one and another. That’s why a teacher needs to have a strong pedagogical freedom of choosing hers or his own methods and educational tools.
In Finland we trust in a large autonomy of teachers. A high education based on a master’s degree, a strong autonomy and clear national objective-based national curriculums form a kind of a circle of good so that the best students in Finland are applying to universities to become a teacher. From these starting points we in Finland have had very good results in learning.
In Finland we trust in a large autonomy of teachers.
We understand that the situation is not as strong and stable everywhere concerning teachers’ position in society, autonomy in profession, pedagogical freedom or the way parents, employer and society are trusting to the work of individual teachers. We understand that for many countries and unions it is important to have common standards. Despite that we also believe that if we consider of strengthening teachers’ position and profession, it is not in the best interest of all the countries and unions to have binding standards defining teachers’ profession and tasks that have to be followed in every country.
Olli Luukkainen
President of OAJ
Twitter: @OlliLuukkainen
