Revista Española de Educación Comparada. UNED. Número 22, 2013.
La formación del profesorado en el siglo XXI
Resumen
El objetivo del artículo es describir las principales características del sistema educativo finés y de la formación del profesorado en Finlandia. El análisis se basa en el currículo oficial, en otros documentos oficiales del sistema educativo, así como en la literatura actual relativa a la educación en Finlandia. A lo largo de los últimos treinta años, Finlandia ha desarrollado un sistema educativo con dos finalidades: equidad y aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida. Desde el año 1979, todos los docentes han tenido que cursar cinco años de formación, consistentes en un grado y un máster (de acuerdo con el Proceso de Bolonia del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior). El principal objetivo de la formación del profesorado finés es que forma a sus profesores como profesionales altamente autónomos con un especial énfasis en reforzar las siguientes áreas: crear una cultura profesional basada en la investigación donde cada docente tiene una amplio conocimiento de la literatura científica; establecer un código social y moral sobre la profesión docente; integrar la teoría y la práctica; y formar a los profesores para que sean responsables del diseño curricular y la evaluación de sus estudiantes. La formación del profesorado atrae a solicitantes de gran talento, puesto que muchos estudiantes quieren ser profesores. Sin embargo, la formación del profesorado en Finlandia se enfrenta también a los siguientes desafíos: desarrollar una cultura docente que incorpore un aprendizaje más activo; favorecer que los profesores desarrollen mayores competencias para colaborar en comunidades escolares y con instancias fuera de la escuela; fortalecer las competencias del profesorado para enseñar en una escuela multicultural; y apoyar a los docentes en el desarrollo de nuevos enfoques pedagógicos para la enseñanza de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación. El principal objetivo de la formación docente en Finlandia es que los profesores tomen un rol activo en el planteamiento de cuestiones relacionadas con qué es lo que enseñan, cómo lo enseñan, y por qué fines a largo plazo están trabajando.
Palabras clave: Formación del profesorado; Autonomía profesional; Currículo nacional; Formación del profesorado finés; Profesión docente.
Introducción
Equity and equality have been discussed in countless educational forums (e.g. OECD, 2012; UNESCO, 2012; DARLING-HAMMOND, 2010). These terms are often used in a variety of ways so that their meaning and message vary. The notion of equality has been used in a way that suggests everyone should be treated the same, regardless of their background. All human beings have basic rights and should be free from facing discrimination based on gender, age, religion, or social and ethnic background. However, having equal rights does not ensure that people have the capacity to use their common rights. The fact that a people have an “equal right” to education does not mean that they all have real opportunities to access education or that they have the capacity to seek, find, or afford the education they need. Every society has groups or individuals who cannot take advantage of their equal right to education due to various cultural, historical, or social reasons. Although the principle of equity has stronger advocates in the context of Finnish educational policy making, both concepts of equality and equity can be observed in the Finnish educational system.
According to various education researchers (SCHLEICHER, 2005; VÄLIJÄRVI, 2004; SIMOLA, 2005; LAUKKANEN, 2006; NIEMI and JAKKU-SIHVONEN, 2006), since the late 1960s Finnish educational policy has purposefully aimed at achieving equity in education. This emphasis is considered one of the main reasons for good learning outcomes in Finland. Laukkanen (2006) describes that Finland has built an education system that features uniformity-free education, free school meals, and special needs education. The principle of inclusion has been an important guideline in the development of Finland’s education system. In 1968, it was decided that the parallel school system should be replaced by a national nine-year basic education rooted in the ideology of comprehensive education. When the Finnish Government delivered its bill to Parliament in 1967, one of the arguments for the common nine-year education for all students was that it was too early to judge individual capacities at the age of eleven or twelve. Finnish basic education has been logically developed toward a comprehensive model, which guarantees everybody equal opportunities in education irrespective of sex, social status, ethnic group, etc., as outlined in the Finnish constitution. However, many structural and cultural changes have been needed to ensure that such equal opportunities can actually be enjoyed by all students.
In this article the Finnish educational system is examined from the perspectives of culture, society, and the individual. In Habermas’ theory of communicative action (HABERMAS, 1987; CARR and KEMMIS, 1986), these three levels are regarded as the structural components of the “lifeworld.” Each of these levels plays a unique role in the process of social and cultural reproduction and transformation. Furthermore, processes at the social, cultural, and individual levels are all interrelated. The social level means social structures in communities and, in a larger sense, in society. The cultural level consists of social practices/activities which are grounded in knowledge and values. The individual level means the experiences of individual learners in the context of learning processes as well as their capacity to learn.
