The continuum of student selection reforms in initial teacher education

Hidden agendas and side effects

Authors

• Ville Mankki Tampereen yliopisto
• Pekka Räihä Tampereen yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.90951

Keywords:

initial teacher education, student selection, entrance examinations, aptitude test

Abstract

As in Finnish higher education in general, student selection in initial teacher education is undergoing a major upheaval. Along with general reforms such as increasing the weight given in selection to matriculation exam grades, there is also a sector-specific selection reform being carried out in teacher education, resulting in a shift towards a genuine joint admission process. In this article we examine how the extensive reforms in 2020 relate to the continuum of selection reforms carried out during the history of primary teacher education in Finland. We assign a special status to the causes and consequences of the following innovations: scrapping gender quotas in 1989, bringing the selection process forward from August to June in 1997 and the transition to the nationwide collaborative project VAKAVA in 2007. As a whole our article indicates that there is abundant trust in and ample use of logical rationalization, but that this is a somewhat inefficient method of developing student selection. This can be observed not only in teacher education but also in higher education generally: student selection reforms have only rarely achieved the goals set. Instead, the reforms often seem to be marked by unintended side effects.