Finland needs a higher education policy framework
The higher education and research vision for 2040 will set lofty goals for the quality of higher education.
english translation Marko saajanaho
Teaching should be learning-focused, research-based, multidisciplinary, agile, accessible, interesting, utilising new technology, and working life oriented. It will enable true interaction and listening to students while adapting to the needs of many different kinds of learners. High-quality doctoral thesis supervision will fast-track doctorates to completion in three years.
Our universities generally do not require pedagogical education from their teaching and guidance staff. High-quality teaching and guidance must be provided, but no tools are required to realise this. The belief in the idea that teaching happens basically naturally through content knowledge seems to be alive and well despite studies indicating otherwise. Pedagogical management also remains in its infancy.
All of our universities offer pedagogical studies, but few are able to accommodate every willing teacher and doctoral researcher, i.e., future teacher, on their courses. In addition, not everyone chooses pedagogical studies. This puts our students in an inequal position in terms of the quality of the teaching they receive. The situation also puts our staff in an inequal position in terms of their career development, as those with more extensive pedagogical education can bypass those with less training in job searches.
As such, I propose that it is high time to begin devising a joint higher education pedagogy framework for our universities. This has already been done in many other countries. An important goal is to set a minimum requirement for pedagogical studies at universities, such as 10 credits. Universities of applied sciences usually require pedagogical studies worth 60 credits, but common goals should be set for continuous pedagogical education across the entire higher education field. Furthermore, it would be ideal to outline the kind of common content pedagogical studies require in the current time of social and digital transformation.
