From structured teaching to independent research – The academization process of subject teachers’ educational studies at the Universities of Helsinki and Joensuu in 1980–2011

Authors

• Mikko Puustinen Helsingin yliopisto

Abstract

This article examines the educational studies that subject teacher students have pursued at the Universities of Helsinki and Joensuu between 1980 and 2011. The subject teacher education in Finland became fully academic in the 1970s. The objective of this article is to research how subject teachers’ educational studies have developed since then. The main question is to find out if the education has become more academic. The data of the study have been collected from the curriculums of the two universities. Interdisciplinarity and the contents, modes and objectives of the studies are interpreted here as indicators of the process of academization. The analysis is based on a historical perspective. It reveals academic progress in the educational studies, but not between the field of education and the students’ main subjects. The volume of educational research that the subject teachers’ studies include has increased. In addition, lecture hall teaching and tutorials have been replaced by independent studying. Both of these changes have started in Helsinki before Joensuu, even though some local differences can be found. In Helsinki the Department of Teacher Education has aimed at scholarly credibility since the 1990s, which has guided teacher trainers to research instead of teaching. The financing policies of the Finnish universities have underlined this development. The changes are also related to the launch of research-based teacher education. At the same time, interdisciplinary training arrangements between the departments of teacher education and the departments of students’ major subjects have not succeeded. Instead of creating interdisciplinary subject teacher training, the cooperation has failed. Therefore, the change in the subject teachers’ educational studies can be described as educational academization rather than complete academization.