Teachers' engagement in active learning from and within their professional community is highly dependent on the support they receive from their colleagues. In this study we examined teachers' sense of agency in the professional community and its relationship with received professional recognition over a five-year follow-up. The sample comprised…

This qualitative study examines one migrant teacher's identity positions in the context of a peer mentoring group setting in Finland. Combining theories of legitimacy and teacher narratives, this study asked which positions were available and legitimate for a migrant teacher. The analysis of three of the stories the teacher ('Ji Yoo') shared was…

Health care professional's qualifications earned in one country may not be recognised in another country and will require validation. The aim of the study was to investigate the experiences of immigrant healthcare professionals seeking the recognition of their education credentials in Finland. Altogether 11 professionals applying to a programme to…

According to previous research, the leadership in early childhood education (ECE) needs to be strengthened and improved by building sustainable structures. The aim of the current research was to investigate how ECE professionals evaluate its leadership. The context of the study was a development project called Sustainable leadership in ECE…

Adored worldwide for its 'outstanding' education system, Finland has relied on its excellent results in studies of the Programme for International Student Assessment to advertise and sell its education abroad. One of the keys to this success is often attributed to Finnish teachers, who are said to be 'the best and most respected in the world'.…

This paper looks at the importance of mechanisms that give formal recognition to vocational skills acquired through work-based learning and how such mechanisms might be developed. It describes how skill recognition can benefit individuals, employers and society as a whole, and identifies in which contexts skill recognition has the highest…

Traditional further professional training has been losing its position and importance in teacher upskilling. Traditional modes of training delivery do not work well in situations where much of the competences have been gained informally, or when teachers find it difficult to attend training days that fit poorly to their schedules or location. This…

Although the system of educational credentials differs in many important ways from country to country, all western countries have experienced a similar trend in the form of an increasing number of graduate degrees. Graduate degrees have also taken on a bewildering range of forms and content. As a consequence, not all graduate degrees have the same…

Culturally and linguistically responsive education takes the learners' diverse identities and languages into account in many ways. This article explores the orientations that emerge when pre-service and in-service teachers evaluate their preparedness to conduct certain culturally and linguistically responsive practices. Exploratory factor analysis…

This publication is based on the outcomes of a Cedefop study on certification processes and competence requirements supporting the professionalisation of in-company trainers. It also builds on Cedefop's work on the changing roles and professional development of VET teachers and trainers (Cedefop, 2010b; Volmari et al., 2009) and the studies…

This edited volume contains the papers presented in the 2nd ESREA|ReNAdet meeting that was jointly organised with the VET & CULTURE Network in the University of Tallinn (Estonia), 9-11 November 2011. The papers that appear in the volume discuss the future (or the futures) of adult educators in respect to issues of developing their identities…

This monograph contains six papers examining the field of adult education, especially in Finland and England. It explores how the body of knowledge and theory on adult education has developed and suggests where the profession of adult education and its students are headed. Titles and authors are as follows: "Legitimization in Adult Education:…

This study was written as the Finnish contribution to a symposium convened to describe and analyze for comparative purposes the factual development of the position of women as educators, i.e., as employees in the school sytems of different countries. The study emphasizes the close connections that the position of women in the school system have…

This paper examines the history of Finnish didactics and the professionalization of teacher education. In Finland, didactics is an emerging academic discipline--the science of teaching or educational science for teacher education--and includes both the subject and contextual knowledge of teaching. At the same time, the context of teaching and…