Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=thed20
History of Education
Journal of the History of Education Society
ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/thed20
The hidden admission agendas in Finnish primary
teacher education in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s
Ville Mankki & Pekka Räihä
To cite this article: Ville Mankki & Pekka Räihä (2022): The hidden admission agendas in
Finnish primary teacher education in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, History of Education, DOI:
10.1080/0046760X.2022.2080283
To link to this article:  https://doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2022.2080283
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa
UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis
Group.
Published online: 05 Aug 2022.
Submit your article to this journal 
Article views: 2
View related articles 
View Crossmark data
The hidden admission agendas in Finnish primary teacher 
education in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s
Ville Mankki a and Pekka Räihä b
aDepartment of Teacher Education, Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction (CERLI), University of 
Turku, Turku, Finland; bFaculty of Education and Culture, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
ABSTRACT
Applicants’ suitability for the teaching profession has been under-
lined in admissions to Finnish primary teacher education. 
Nevertheless, hidden agendas beyond teacher competence frame-
works and attribute definitions have also influenced primary tea-
cher admissions, particularly in the last three decades (the 1990s, 
2000s and 2010s). This article investigates these agendas connected 
with the gender and age distribution of the admitted students, and 
illustrates how these agendas have led to admission reforms, the 
outcomes of which have usually been insufficient, unpredictable or 
even undesirable. It provides reinvigoration for the historical 
research of teacher education policy trends, insights into the gen-
der segregation and age segregation of model citizenship and 
a more explicit articulation of the aims and visions of teacher 
education programmes in Finland.
ARTICLE HISTORY 
Received 21 December 2021  
Accepted 13 May 2022 
KEYWORDS 
Teacher education; 
admissions; agendas; 
gender; age
Introduction
The first teacher training seminar in Finland was founded in 1863 by the Lutheran pastor 
and scholar Uno Cygnaeus. He created the Jyväskylä Teacher Training Institute, in which 
the curriculum was influenced by Swiss and German educators and valued the role of 
practical pedagogical subjects and a strict Christian spirit in teacher education.1 
A century later, during the 1970s, Finnish teacher education was modernised and 
harmonised, teacher education departments were established in the universities, and 
consequently teacher education became a degree at Master’s level. Although teacher 
education has, throughout the years, enjoyed rather unanimous public confidence and 
political acceptance nationally,2 it took almost one and a half centuries from its establish-
ment before Finnish teacher training managed to gain international attention. At the turn 
of the millennium the Finnish education system and teacher education in particular were 
placed on a pedestal due to the phenomenal success in large-scale international 
CONTACT Ville Mankki ville.mankki@utu.fi Department of Teacher Education, Centre for Research on Learning 
and Instruction (CERLI), University of Turku, Turku, Finland
1Kirsi Tirri, ‘The Last 40 Years in Finnish Teacher Education’, Journal of Education for Teaching 40, no. 5 (2014): 600–9.
2Björn Furuhagen, Janne Holmén and Janne Säntti, ‘The Ideal Teacher: Orientations of Teacher Education in Sweden and 
Finland after the Second World War, History of Education 48, no. 6 (2019): 784–805.
HISTORY OF EDUCATION                                  
https://doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2022.2080283
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.  
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any med-
ium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
comparisons, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), in 
which Finnish pupils have been scoring among the top countries in reading, mathe-
matics, science and collaborative problem-solving from the very beginning.3
With its international reputation, scholars have directed their attention to Finnish 
teacher education and presented their interpretations of what makes it so successful. For 
example, high qualification requirements – including a Master’s degree, a research-based 
approach adopted in every teacher education department to support teachers’ ability to 
make educational decisions based on theoretical knowledge and rational arguments, and 
teaching training schools to help and guide student teachers to apply educational and 
didactic theory and practice – have usually been emphasised as success factors. In 
addition, the exceptional attractiveness of the teaching profession has been seen as 
a guarantee for the quality potential of prospective teachers: while many countries 
struggle with finding ways to attract young people to apply for teacher training, resulting 
in observed shortages of competent teachers in schools,4 in Finland teacher education 
programmes, such as primary and special education teacher programmes, have tradi-
tionally succeeded in attracting a large pool of applicants. For example, only 11% of 
applicants were admitted into primary teacher programmes during the 2010s.5
In Finland, the selection challenge in teacher education has been approached by an 
orientation that gives weight to applicants’ suitability for the teaching profession. 
Through the years, everyone admitted to primary teacher training has, in one way or 
another, been assessed face-to-face by teacher educators in the entrance examinations. 
The tradition of a rigorous admissions process that highlights the assessments of non- 
cognitive attributes, which have usually been ignored in teacher training selections,6 has 
been credited in international comparisons of the best performing school systems.7 As 
Zeichner and Conklin note, teacher education programmes are often characterised by 
certain ideological or traditional conceptual orientations regarding the aims, content 
and/or structure of teacher training.8 Consequently, the trust in face-to-face assessments 
can be regarded as one of the orientations distinctive of Finnish teacher education.
Despite the general orientation, the actual methods for screening applicants have 
changed repeatedly over the decades. The lack of a comparable school certificate system 
in the early stage of the teacher seminar era required that applicants’ knowledge and 
competencies in various school subjects needed to be measured with ad hoc exams. 
When the entrance examinations also included a medical examination, aiming not only 
to prevent the spread of illness and epidemics, but also to evaluate the applicant’s posture 
3Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], Learning for Tomorrow’s World: First Results from PISA 
2003 (Paris: OECD Publishing, 2004); OECD, PISA 2015 Results (Volume I): Excellence and Equity in Education (Paris: OECD 
Publishing, 2016); OECD, PISA 2015 Results (Volume V): Collaborative Problem Solving (Paris: OECD Publishing, 2017).
4European Commission, Teachers in Europe: Careers, Development and Well-Being (Luxembourg: Publications Office of the 
European Union, 2021), 29–30; OECD, TALIS 2018 Results (Volume II): Teachers and School Leaders as Valued Professionals 
(Paris: OECD Publishing, 2020), 76.
5University of Helsinki, ‘Kasvatusalan valintayhteistyöverkosto: tilastoja [National Selection Cooperation Network in the 
Field of Education: Statistics]’, https://www.helsinki.fi/fi/verkostot/kasvatusalan-valintayhteistyoverkosto/hakeminen/ 
tilastot (accessed October 29, 2021).
6Robert M. Klassen and Lisa E. Kim, ‘Selecting Teachers and Prospective Teachers: A Meta-Analysis’, Educational Research 
Review 26 (2019): 32–51.
7For example, Michael Barber and Mona Mourshed, How the World’s Best Performing School Systems Come Out on Top 
(London: McKinsey & Company, 2007), 17–19.
8Ken Zeichner and Hilary Conklin, ‘Teacher Education Programs’, in Studying Teacher Education, ed. Marilyn Cochran-Smith 
and Ken Zeichner (London: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005), 646–7.
2 V. MANKKI AND P. RÄIHÄ
and physique, and an interview by the seminary rector, often based on the applicant’s 
written life story, the examinations were lengthy, lasting for three to five days.9 Although 
the majority of subject exams were removed from the entrance examinations along with 
the rise in the overall quality of the education and certification system, singing and 
drawing exams, including memory-based and imaginary drawing, remained as manda-
tory components in the entrance examinations until the 1970s.10 The privileged position 
of art education subjects in teacher training selections has been regarded as deriving from 
two aspects. First, singing and drawing skills were seen as important to ensure the 
applicant’s proper and sufficient cultural orientation, and second, they were considered 
useful for prospective teachers to illustrate their teaching and generate motivation for 
learning in various school subjects.11 From the 1950s to the 1990s the primary teacher 
education entrance examinations were methodologically dominated by the demonstra-
tion lesson. Originally, the demonstration lessons were arranged as an imaginary class-
room situation that lasted for 8–10 minutes, but in the 1970s the imaginary situation was 
turned into an authentic 10–15-minute teaching demonstration with actual pupils 
(usually third- and fourth-graders).12
Just like the methods for screening the applicants, the selection criteria and descrip-
tions of the ideal candidate have also varied over the years. In the first teacher training 
seminar in 1863 applicants were expected to possess proper reading skills, faultless 
writing skills with mediocre cursive abilities, fair skills in four mathematical methods 
when calculating with integers and fractions, ability in drawing and singing, skills in 
handicrafts and knowledge of the Christian doctrine.13 Until the end of the 1950s, the 
ideal teacher applicant was characterised as reputable, precise, healthy and well- 
mannered but also musical and with good presentation skills, whereas in the 1970s and 
1980s virtues such as extroversion and possessing suitable hobbies and interests were 
emphasised.14 From the 1990s onwards, wider and permissive criteria were provided for 
teacher educators to select suitable, motivated and educable applicants for primary 
teacher education.15 In the 2010s, suitability, motivation and educability were still the 
main attributes when teacher education departments explicitly described their objectives 
for the selections.16
In addition to the selection criteria for the ideal (student) teacher, more implicit 
agendas beyond the traditional teacher competence frameworks and attribute definitions 
have also influenced primary teacher admissions, particularly in the last three decades 
9Risto Rinne, Kansanopettaja mallikansalaisena: opettajuuden laajeneminen ja opettajuuteen rekrytoimismekanismit 
Suomessa 1851–1986 virallisen kuvausaineiston ilmaisemana [Primary Teacher as a Model Citizen: The Expansion of 
Teaching and the Mechanisms for Recruiting for Teaching in Finland in 1851–1986 as Expressed by Official Description 
Material] (Turku: University of Turku, 1986), 142.
10Esko Kähkönen, Opettajankoulutus Suomen koulunuudistuksessa v. 1958–1978: yleissivistävän koulun opettajien koulu-
tuksen järjestelyt ja tavoitteet [Teacher Training in the Finnish School Reform in 1958–1978: Arrangements and 
Objectives for the Training of General Education Teachers] (Oulu: University of Oulu, 1979), 115.
11Rinne, Kansanopettaja mallikansalaisena, 165.
12Kähkönen, Opettajankoulutus Suomen koulunuudistuksessa, 115.
13Veli Nurmi, Opettajankoulutuksen tähänastinen kehitys [Development in Teacher Education to Date] (Helsinki: WSOY, 
1979), 121.
14Rinne, Kansanopettaja mallikansalaisena, 205.
15Tuula Laes, Tulevaa opettajaa tunnistamassa: opettajaksi soveltuvuuden arvioinnista [Early Identification of a Future 
Teacher: On Assessment of Aptitude for Teaching] (Turku: University of Turku, 2005), 79–80.
16Ville Mankki, Marita Mäkinen and Pekka Räihä, ‘Luokanopettajakoulutuksen opiskelijavalintakriteerit: köydenvetoa 
soveltuvasta hakijasta [Student Selection Criteria for Primary Teacher Education: Controversy Over a Suitable 
Applicant]’, Kasvatus 49, no. 1 (2018): 36.
HISTORY OF EDUCATION 3
(the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s). In this article, we investigate these hidden admission 
agendas connected with the gender and age distribution of students admitted by analys-
ing original documents, such as statements, acts, governmental programmes and propo-
sals, newspaper articles and application guides. With this article, we provide 
reinvigoration for the historical research of teacher education policy trends that have, 
it is argued, been scarce,17 and illustrate the gender segregation as well as age segregation 
of model citizenship.18
The 1990s: the manhunt
A female majority in the teaching population is a common characteristic of the education 
sector globally. At all levels of education combined, more than two-thirds of teachers 
across OECD countries are women, and particularly in the early years of schooling the 
proportions of female teachers are very high.19 There is an equivalent situation in 
Finland: women have been the majority of primary teachers since 187520 and currently 
represent 80% of the teaching staff in primary education.21
As elsewhere, the gender monopolisation of the teaching profession has been seen as 
rather undesirable in Finland. For example, in a publication of the Finnish National 
Agency for Education it is stated that a bigger proportion of male teachers would be 
beneficial because the teacher community should resemble society and show pupils the 
equality between men and women.22 Even though the feminisation debate over the 
teaching profession has a long tradition in Finland, and has included opposing interests, 
claims of gender superiority and the distinguishing of skills and authority, in many cases 
the discussion has also included a strong, constructive tone with arguments in favour of 
gender equality and solidarity amongst teachers.23
During the time of gender-separated seminars, women and men were almost equally 
represented in teacher training.24 However, when departments were unified attempts 
were required to solve the biased gender balance of the teaching profession by modifying 
teacher training admission procedures. The most visible way to secure a satisfactory 
proportion of men in the teaching population was a gender quota that guaranteed 40% of 
degree places in primary teacher programmes for men.25 However, in 1987 the Ministry 
of Education requested a statement by the Ombudsman for Equality on gender quotas in 
primary teacher education.26 In the statement, the Ombudsman pointed out that ‘setting 
17David Crook, ‘Teacher Education as a Field of Historical Research: Retrospect and Prospect’, History of Education 41, no. 1 
(2012): 57–72.
18Rinne, Kansanopettaja mallikansalaisena, 59–60.
19OECD, Education at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators (Paris: OECD Publishing, 2021), 404.
20Rinne, Kansanopettaja mallikansalaisena, 63–7.
21OECD, Education at a Glance 2021, 404.
22Timo Kumpulainen, ed. Opettajat ja rehtorit Suomessa 2016 [Teachers and Principals in Finland 2016] (Helsinki: Finnish 
National Agency for Education, 2017), 42.
23Marjo Nieminen, ‘Women Teachers and the Feminisation of the Teaching Profession in a Finnish Journal for Primary 
School Teachers (The Teacher), 1915–1920’, Paedagogica Historica 58, no. 1 (2020): 139–53.
24Ibid.
25Pekka Räihä, ‘Koskaan et muuttua saa! Luokanopettajakoulutuksen opiskelijavalintojen uudistamisen vaikeudesta 
[Never May You Change! On the Difficulty of Reforming Student Selection for Class Teacher Education Programmes]’ 
(PhD diss., University of Tampere, 2010), 45–6.
26Ombudsman for Equality, Lausunto kiintiöiden käytöstä (126/1987) [Statement on Quotas (126/1987)] (Helsinki: Office of 
the Ombudsman for Equality, April 1987), 1.
4 V. MANKKI AND P. RÄIHÄ
up gender quotas in admissions is against the Act on Equality between Women and Men’, 
because they place applicants ‘in different positions based on their gender’.27 Hence, 
quotas were removed from primary teacher admissions in the 1989 selections, which 
immediately cut the share of men admitted by half to 20%, which was in line with the 
proportion of male applicants.28
Although gender quotas were removed for anti-discriminatory reasons, their removal 
caused criticism: for example, the chairman of the Trade Union of Education in Finland 
contested the decision, pointing out that a growing number of children were being raised 
without a father figure.29 During the following years universities still requested permis-
sion to re-create a male quota for primary teacher selections, but the Equality 
Ombudsman attacked these plans.30 The vision of re-establishing gender quotas in 
teacher education has come up from time to time in public discussion. For example, in 
1996 the then minister of education Olli-Pekka Heinonen was concerned about the 
proportion of men in teaching and proposed re-creating quotas, particularly in those 
programmes in which men formed a clear minority.31 The most recent time when quotas 
were proposed by the authorities was in 2012, when a working committee on 
a programme of measures for educational equality suggested investigating whether the 
Constitution of Finland, Non-Discrimination Act and Act on Equality between Women 
and Men would somehow allow enhancing the admission of the ‘underrepresented 
gender’ into teacher education programmes by awarding extra selection points or estab-
lishing a gender quota.32 Interestingly, the physical education teacher programme 
(located in the University of Jyväskylä) has managed to retain gender quotas guarantee-
ing 50% of degree places for both men and women. However, in January 2020, the 
Ombudsman for Equality also declared the quotas illegitimate in selections for physical 
education teacher training.33 The quotas were eventually removed from the selection 
criteria of the programme in January 2022.34
After removing the gender quota in primary teacher training, how to get more men 
admitted seemed to become the most essential question in primary teacher selections. 
The ‘manhunt’ agenda can be observed particularly in the various attempts executed by 
27Ibid., 4; see also Finlex Data Bank, ‘Act on Equality between Women and Men (609/1986)’, https://finlex.fi/en/laki/ 
kaannokset/1986/en19860609_20160915.pdf (accessed November 11, 2021).
28Sakari Liimatainen, ‘Opettajankoulutuksen valintayhteistyö [Selection Co-Operation in Teacher Education]’, in 
Opettajaksi soveltuvuuden moni-ilmeisyys: opiskelijavalinta valtakunnallisesti puntaroituna [The Manifoldness of 
Teacher Suitability: Addressing Student Selection Nationally], ed. Pekka Räihä and Jouko Kari (Jyväskylä: University of 
Jyväskylä, 2002), 27.
29‘Koulutuspaikkojen lisäyksellä eroon opettajapulasta [Getting Rid of Teacher Shortages by Increasing the Degree 
Places]’, Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, 25, August 11, 1988.
30For example, Ombudsman for Equality, Lausunto 27/59/92 [Statement 27/59/92] (Helsinki: Office of the Ombudsman for 
Equality, November 1992), 1.
31‘Heinonen toistaa mieskiintiöajatuksensa [Heinonen Repeats His Male Quota Idea]’, Helsingin Sanomat, September 2, 
1996, https://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/art-2000003558007.html.
32Ministry of Education and Culture, Ehdotus valtioneuvoston strategiaksi koulutuksellisen tasa-arvon edistämiseksi 
[Proposal for a Government Strategy to Promote Equality in Education] (Helsinki: Ministry of Education and Culture, 
December 3, 2012), 46.
33Ombudsman for Equality, Sukupuolikiintiöt oppilasvalinnassa [Gender Quotas in Student Selection] (Helsinki: Office of 
the Ombudsman for Equality, January 2020), https://www.tasa-arvo.fi/-/sukupuolikiintiot-oppilasvalinnassa-tas-217- 
2017-annettu-7-1-2020 (accessed November 2, 2021).
34University of Jyväskylä, ‘Liikuntatieteellinen tiedekunta poistaa sukupuolikiintiöt liikunnan opettajankoulutuksen valin-
taperusteista [The Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences Removes Gender Quotas from the Selection Criteria of the 
Physical Education Teacher Programme]’, https://www.jyu.fi/fi/ajankohtaista/arkisto/2022/01/liikuntatieteellinen- 
tiedekunta-poistaa-sukupuolikiintiot-liikunnan-opettajankoulutuksen-valintaperusteista (accessed April 21, 2022).
HISTORY OF EDUCATION 5
the joint selection working group in the 1990s. This group, consisting of teacher educa-
tion departments’ heads of study affairs, was liberated from the authority of the Ministry 
of Education in 1993 and after that it became possible for the working group indepen-
dently to draw up the pre-selection criteria for primary teacher admissions and update 
them annually.35 The chair of the working group at the time, Sakari Liimatainen, has 
stated that the main motive for many of the modifications of pre-selection scoring was 
precisely to enhance men’s chances of selection for training.36
In the first primary teacher selections according to the criteria created by the working 
committee, pre-selection points were awarded for completed or ongoing military service 
or non-military civilian service.37 However, since the Act on Women’s Voluntary 
Military Service was enacted in April 1995, the first women were able to enter voluntary 
military service in October 1995, completing their then eight-month service in June 1996 
at the earliest.38 Despite the opportunity provided, the number of women entering 
military service has been exceedingly low compared with men: for example, between 
2000 and 2010 around 400 women entered military service annually, while the number of 
men fluctuated between 26,000 and 32,000.39 The circumvention of the Act on Equality 
between Women and Men with points awarded for military service can therefore be 
considered rather audacious.
In addition, more subtle changes were made to the pre-selection scoring in pursuit of 
enhancing the position of men. For example, the applicant’s personal hobby activities were 
removed from pre-selection grading in 199440 and points for experience in organising and 
supervising hobby activities for children and youth were abolished in 1996.41 Liimatainen 
explained that these removals were based on the observed advantage they had given to 
female applicants, who received higher scores in these categories, but also because they were 
troublesome and exceedingly laborious to verify in a reliable manner.42 At the end of the 
decade, extra pre-selection points started to be awarded for completion of the advanced 
syllabus in mathematics43 and previous studies in the fields of technology and media,44 
while the weighting given to music and art diplomas was reduced and definitions were 
made stricter.45 Despite the weighting of ‘masculine features’ in the pre-selection grading, 
the proportion of men in the entrance examinations (and among students admitted) for 
primary teacher training remained firmly under 20% throughout the 1990s.46
The changes connected to the manhunt were not entirely restricted to the pre- 
selection phase. Rather, they also impacted on the reform that shifted the primary teacher 
entrance examinations from August to June in 1997.47 The decision to prepone the 
35Liimatainen, ‘Opettajankoulutuksen valintayhteistyö’, 26.
36Ibid., 30.
37University of Tampere, Valintaopas 1993 [Application Guide 1993] (Tampere: University of Tampere, 1993), 64.
38Finlex Data Bank, ‘Act on Women’s Voluntary Military Service (1994/1995)’, https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1995/ 
19950194 (accessed December 7, 2021).
39Statistics Finland, ‘Conscription and International Crisis Management, 2000–2020’, https://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/ 
en/StatFin/StatFin__kou__aseve/statfin_aseve_pxt_001.px/ (accessed November 11, 2021).
40University of Tampere, Valintaopas 1994 [Application Guide 1994] (Tampere: University of Tampere, 1994), 67.
41University of Tampere, Valintaopas 1996 [Application Guide 1996] (Tampere: University of Tampere, 1996), 66.
42Liimatainen, ‘Opettajankoulutuksen valintayhteistyö’, 28.
43University of Tampere, Valintaopas 1997 [Application Guide 1997] (Tampere: University of Tampere, 1997), 66.
44University of Tampere, Valintaopas 1998 [Application Guide 1998] (Tampere: University of Tampere, 1998), 66.
45University of Tampere, Valintaopas 1999 [Application Guide 1999] (Tampere: University of Tampere, 1999), 63.
46Liimatainen, ‘Opettajankoulutuksen valintayhteistyö’, 30.
47University of Tampere, Valintaopas 1997, 66.
6 V. MANKKI AND P. RÄIHÄ
entrance examinations was based on the aim of gaining a general competitive advantage 
among the applicants, men in particular, so that they would not run off to other, for 
example technological, fields before the selection process for primary teacher education 
had even begun.48 The relatively small change in timing had, however, a major impact on 
the execution of and the methods used in entrance examinations: it practically ended the 
era of the demonstration lesson in primary teacher selections. As the summer holidays in 
Finnish basic education occur in June and July, the teacher education departments were 
not able to gather pupils from teacher training schools to participate in the demonstra-
tion lessons. The abandonment of the traditional method caused opposition in some 
teacher education departments: for example, in 2001 the University of Helsinki reintro-
duced demonstration lessons in their primary teacher selections one more time by 
arranging entrance examinations abnormally in May to pre-empt pupils’ summer 
holidays.49
The 2000s: attention to the fresh graduate
In addition to the biased gender balance, the other major demographic characteristic of 
primary teacher training is that instead of fresh general upper secondary school gradu-
ates, it is older and more experienced applicants who have usually been admitted into the 
programme. Nevertheless, this matter has not been considered categorically as a negative 
feature among teacher education departments: instead, the arduous admission process 
that usually requires multiple attempts to gain access to the programme have made the 
teaching profession look elusive, and, rhetorically, maturity and life experience gained 
have been considered beneficial for the individual intending to become a teacher.50 In 
particular, work experience from schools has been valued as a clear indication of interest 
in and commitment to the field and the teaching profession.51
Already in the 1990s some attention was paid to the position of young applicants in 
admissions by the joint selection working group, which reacted to the weakened employ-
ment circumstances in the teaching field.52 For example, the maximum pre-selection 
score from experience working as an unqualified or substitute teacher was lowered and 
other work experience was removed from grading in 1994.53 In 1995, the score awarded 
from previous studies was diminished and points from completed degrees were entirely 
removed from pre-selection grading.54
Nevertheless, the relatively high age of students admitted and the poor position of 
fresh upper secondary school graduates were recognised more extensively at the begin-
ning of the new millennium, when it became increasingly evident that the further the 
primary teacher admission process proceeded, the lower the proportion of newly matri-
culated applicants. In 2001–2005, the proportion of fresh graduates among all applicants 
48Jouko Kari, ‘Sukupuolinäkökulma opettajan ammattiin [Gender Perspectives on the Teaching Profession]’, in Miehiä 
kouluun: taustaa ja keskustelua tasa-arvosta [Men into School: Background and Debate on Equality], ed. Olli-Pekka 
Heinonen, Jouko Huttunen, Jouko Kari, Armi Mikkola and Mika Silvennoinen (Helsinki: WSOY), 38–9.
49Räihä, ‘Koskaan et muuttua saa!’, 51–2.
50Ibid., 96.
51Ministry of Education, Opettajankoulutus – tietoa, taitoa, tulevaisuutta [Teacher Education – Knowledge, Skill, Future] 
(Helsinki: Ministry of Education, 2006), 20.
52Liimatainen, ‘Opettajankoulutuksen valintayhteistyö’, 28.
53University of Tampere, Valintaopas 1994, 67.
54University of Tampere, Valintaopas 1995 [Application Guide 1995] (Tampere: University of Tampere, 1995), 63–4.
HISTORY OF EDUCATION 7
was almost a quarter, but their share among students admitted was just slightly over 
10%.55 In two teacher education departments the proportion of new graduates was less 
than 5% of the students admitted in 2005.56
Once again, attention was focused on the pre-selection phase, albeit involving more 
intensive measures than previously, i.e. not confined to scoring adjustments. Instead, 
a unified national entrance examination in the field of education (the so-called VAKAVA 
exam) was developed and launched in 2007, particularly to improve the chances of newly 
matriculated applicants. A multiple-choice exam replaced the burdensome and compli-
cated pre-selection system based on scoring accumulated from the matriculation exam-
ination, work experience as an unqualified teacher or a school assistant, military service 
and non-military civilian service, and studying educational science at open universities.57 
The extensive and demanding pre-selection procedure had become exceedingly heavy for 
both applicants and teacher education departments since gaining access to training was 
practically impossible without collecting additional selection points from work experi-
ence or studies in an open university.
The VAKAVA exam was open to all eligible applicants regardless of previous aca-
demic achievements, and those who were the most successful in the examination were 
selected for the second stage of selection (an aptitude test).58 The cornerstone of the 
implementation of the new pre-selection was to equalise opportunities for preparation 
for the exam between fresh graduates and those who had already completed their 
matriculation examination earlier.59 To this end, the collection of a few Finnish scholarly 
articles in the field of education serving as material for the exam, published both online 
and as a book, was not made available until after the matriculation exams were over, i.e. 
about a month before the VAKAVA exam. Therefore, applicants who had graduated 
from upper secondary school in preceding years were prevented from gaining an 
advantage by preparing themselves for the entrance exam at the same time as fresh 
graduates were still gearing up for their matriculation exam. The first material for the 
VAKAVA exam included five articles on topics such as problem-based learning, the 
reliability of qualitative research and child development in Rousseau’s Émile.60
The launch of the VAKAVA exam significantly increased the total number of appli-
cants for primary teacher training.61 However, despite equalised preparation opportu-
nities, the lack of newly matriculated applicants continued at the same level in the pre- 
selection stage.62 Apparently, estimates of the shortage of time were somewhat false and 
new upper secondary school graduates still seemed to be worn out by the matriculation 
exams: it was only in those VAKAVA exam items which were applied more than 
55Timo Kumpulainen and Seija Saari, eds., Opettajat Suomessa 2005 [Teachers in Finland 2005] (Helsinki: Opetushallitus, 
2005), 9. Between 2001 and 2005 the annual proportion of fresh upper secondary graduates among admitted students 
decreased from 13% to 10%.
56Räihä, ‘Koskaan et muuttua saa!’, 103.
57University of Tampere, Valintaopas 2006 [Application Guide 2006] (Tampere: University of Tampere, 2006), 58–9.
58University of Tampere, Valintaopas 2007 [Application Guide 2007] (Tampere: University of Tampere, 2007), 75.
59Pekka Räihä, ‘Vakava-hankkeesta ei tullutkaan uuden ylioppilaan pelastajaa [The VAKAVA Project did not become 
a Saviour for the New Upper Secondary School Graduate]’, Kasvatus 41, no. 3 (2010): 216.
60Merja Hillilä, Pekka Räihä and Marjatta Bardy, eds., Samalta viivalta: kasvatusalan valintayhteistyöhankkeen (VAKAVA) 
kirjallisen kokeen aineisto [From the Same Line: The Material for the Written Examination of the Selection Cooperation 
Network in the Field of Education (VAKAVA)] (Jyväskylä: PS-kustannus, 2007).
61Timo Kumpulainen, ed., Opettajat Suomessa 2008 [Teachers in Finland 2008] (Helsinki: Opetushallitus, 2005), 19–20.
62Räihä, ‘Vakava-hankkeesta’, 217.
8 V. MANKKI AND P. RÄIHÄ
memory-based and detail-emphasising that newly matriculated applicants performed on 
the same level as other applicants.63 Although the VAKAVA reform did not have the 
intended impact on pre-selection outcomes, the reform did, however, take a beneficial 
turn in selections since the proportion of graduates among students admitted increased 
significantly from 10% to 20%.64 In explaining this, it has been considered that many 
teacher education departments independently decided to transfer matriculation exam 
grades that were previously used in pre-selection grading to final selection scoring, i.e. as 
additional points for the aptitude test score.65 As an age-neutral instrument, the grades 
helped new graduates by diminishing the advantage that older applicants seemed to have 
in the interviews and group assignments in the aptitude test.
Nevertheless, it has been argued that the biggest changes derived from the VAKAVA 
reform actually took place outside teacher education. First, when pre-selection points 
were no longer awarded for working experience in schools, school rectors reported that 
recruitment of substitute teachers and school assistants became much more difficult.66 
Before the reform, those who considered applying for primary teacher education formed 
a reliable labour reserve for schools. Second, the VAKAVA reform caused a collapse in 
the popularity of educational sciences at the open universities. For example, at Jyväskylä 
Open University, the drop in educational sciences in 2007 was a thousand students and 
16,500 study credits compared with the previous year.67 The reduction in earlier studies 
was also observable among students admitted: in 2005, more than a quarter of the 
students admitted for primary teacher training at the University of Jyväskylä had 
completed intermediate studies before entering the programme, whereas three years 
later none of the students admitted had completed intermediate studies.68
The 2010s: national cross-disciplinary rejuvenation efforts
The challenging admission process for new general upper secondary graduates was not 
restricted exclusively to teacher education. Instead, the slow transition to higher educa-
tion has been acknowledged as a broader characteristic of the Finnish education system. 
The latest statistics indicate that the transition to higher education became even more 
involved during the 2010s, and that only 28% of new graduates began their studies in 
higher education without a delay.69 Up to 27% of students entered higher education with 
a delay of more than two years after leaving their previous level of schooling; only in 
Sweden was the proportion of delayed entrants higher.70
63Ibid., 220.
64Ibid., 216–17.
65University of Tampere, Valintaopas 2007, 76. For example, in the University of Tampere final selection points were 
awarded also for mother tongue and mathematics.
66Räihä, ‘Koskaan et muuttua saa!’, 108–15.
67Jyväskylä Open University, Avoimen yliopiston toimintakertomus vuodelta 2008 [The Annual Report of the Open 
University 2008] (Jyväskylä: Jyväskylä Open University, 2008), 2.
68Räihä, ‘Koskaan et muuttua saa!’, 105–6.
69Statistics Finland, ‘Share of Passers of the Matriculation Examination Left Outside Further Studies Grew Further’, https:// 
www.stat.fi/til/khak/2018/khak_2018_2019-12-12_tie_001_en.html (accessed December 8, 2021).
70Kristina Hauschildt and others, Social and Economic Conditions of Student Life in Europe: EUROSTUDENT VII Synopsis of 
Indicators 2018–2021 (Bielefeld: wbv Media GmbH & Co. KG, 2021), 83–4.
HISTORY OF EDUCATION 9
From the perspective of the national economy, the slow transition to higher education 
is regarded to be detrimental. Consequently, several working groups drafted plans for 
a swifter and smoother transition to higher education71 and the facilitation of young 
people’s transition into tertiary education was included in all government programmes in 
the 2010s.72 The rejuvenation objectives set in government programmes led to student 
admission reform in Finnish higher education, which has also had a significant impact on 
admission to primary teacher education.
The first phase of the reform came into effect in 2016, when universities and uni-
versities of applied sciences were obligated to create a quota for applicants who had not 
previously accepted a degree place in higher education.73 In their proposal to Parliament 
in 2014, the government estimated that ‘when a sufficient quantity of degree places is 
reserved for first-timers, they will be admitted to a greater extent’.74 In primary teacher 
education, the agreed amount for the so-called first-timer quota has been 80% of the 
admitted applicants.75 However, the first indications are that the quota has not had 
a visible impact on the admission results, since the majority of the applicants have been 
classified as first-timers during the first years of the quota.76
As a second phase of the reform, higher education institutions committed to dimin-
ishing entrance examinations and increasing the weight of the matriculation exam 
certificate in admissions to the extent that by 2020 more than half of the student places 
were filled based on matriculation exam grades.77 The change has been significant, as 
a few years earlier only 15% of degree places in universities were filled solely based on 
matriculation exam performance.78 The aim of the so-called certificate-based selection is 
particularly to lighten the laborious and prolonged preparation for entrance examina-
tions that was seen as decelerating the transition to higher education.79 In some high- 
status disciplines, such as medicine and law, the competitive admissions and demanding 
preparation for entrance examinations have provided room for a shadow-education 
market and commercial preparatory courses.80
71For example, Sakari Ahola, Yhteishausta yhteisvalintaan. Yliopistojen opiskelijavalintojen kehittäminen. Selvitysmiehen 
loppuraportti [From Joint Application to Joint Selection. Development of Student Selection in Universities. Investigator’s 
Final Report] (Helsinki: Ministry of Education, 2004); Kari Sajavaara and others, Yliopistojen opiskelijavalintojen arviointi 
[Evaluation of Student Selection in Universities] (Helsinki: Edita Publishing, 2002).
72Prime Minister’s Office, Programme of Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen’s Government (Helsinki: Prime Minister’s Office, 2011), 
https://vnk.fi/julkaisu?pubid=3606 (accessed April 2, 2021); Prime Minister’s Office, Finland, a Land of Solutions: Strategic 
Programme of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s Government (Helsinki: Prime Minister’s Office, 2015), https://vnk.fi/julkaisu? 
pubid=6407 (accessed April 2, 2021); Finnish Government, Programme of Prime Minister Antti Rinne’s Government: 
Inclusive and Competent Finland – A Socially, Economically and Ecologically Sustainable Society (Helsinki: Finnish 
Government), https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/handle/10024/161664 (accessed April 2, 2021).
73Finlex Data Bank, ‘Universities Act (2009/558)’, https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2009/en20090558_20160644. 
pdf (accessed November 3, 2021); Finlex Data Bank, ‘Universities of Applied Sciences Act (932/2014)’, https://www. 
finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2014/en20140932_20160563.pdf (accessed November 3, 2021).
74Finnish Government, ‘The Government’s Proposal to Parliament to Amend the Universities Act and the Universities of 
Applied Sciences Act’, https://www.eduskunta.fi/valtiopaivaasiakirjat/HE+244/2014 (accessed April 2, 2021).
75University of Tampere, Valintaopas 2016 [Application Guide 2016] (Tampere: University of Tampere, 2016), 87.
76Sakari Ahola, Rita Asplund and Pekka Vanhala, Opiskelijavalinnat ja korkeakouluopintojen nopeuttaminen [Student 
Selection and Acceleration of Higher Education Studies] (Helsinki: Prime Minister’s Office, 2018), 7.
77Ministry of Education and Culture, ‘Korkeakoulujen opiskelijavalintojen kehittämisen toimenpiteet 2017–2020 [Measures 
for the Development of University Student Admissions 2017–2020]’, https://urly.fi/PxJ (accessed November 4, 2021).
78Ahola et al., Opiskelijavalinnat ja korkeakouluopintojen nopeuttaminen, 9.
79Ministry of Education and Culture, ‘Developing Student Admissions’, https://okm.fi/en/acceleration-of-transition-to- 
working-life (accessed December 9, 2021).
80Sonja Kosunen and others, ‘Private Supplementary Tutoring and Socio-Economic Differences in Access to Higher 
Education’, Higher Education Policy 34 (2021): 949–68.
10 V. MANKKI AND P. RÄIHÄ
In primary teacher education, certificate-based selection modified the pre-selection 
phase. Whereas in 2019 pre-selection was based purely on performance in the VAKAVA 
exam,81 in 2020 the majority (60%) of the places in the decisive aptitude test phase were 
filled based on matriculation exam grades.82 Scoring of the matriculation exam is based 
on two generic models.83 Teacher education departments utilise the model in which pre- 
selection points are awarded from four matriculation exam grades: (1) mother tongue, 
and the grades that provide the best selection score in (2) mathematics, (3) humanities 
and sciences, and (4) foreign languages.84
The matriculation exam scoring models have aroused much heated debate in Finland, 
because the models accentuate certain subjects by awarding a considerably higher score 
for those grades compared with others.85 In particular, the emphasis given to the grade in 
the advanced mathematics syllabus has been widely criticised for forcing upper second-
ary students to study mathematics regardless of their wishes, interest or the field they 
want to pursue, thus weakening the mission of the general upper secondary school to 
provide extensive general knowledge, and preventing the recognition of the special needs 
and characteristics of educational sectors and disciplines.86 On the other hand, unlike the 
first-timer quota, certificate-based selection, combined with the increase in the number 
of degree places, seems to have brought at least some relief to new upper secondary 
graduates: in 2020, the proportion of those continuing their studies immediately after 
upper secondary school increased by almost 10%.87
The national requirements to lighten the entrance examinations have also forced 
a revision in the implementation of the VAKAVA exam: from 2020 onwards, the exam 
has been based on material provided in the exam instead of pre-material.88 The removal 
of pre-material combined with the certificate-based selection reform will most likely 
change the student population in primary teacher education from at least one perspec-
tive. It can be assumed that success in the highly competitive selection tests required 
careful familiarisation with the educational articles used as pre-material in the exam. 
Also, the pre-selection system preceding the VAKAVA exam in practice forced appli-
cants to accumulate extra points from educational science studies in open universities to 
gain admission. Therefore, for the first time in decades, students enter a primary teacher 
programme with no prior knowledge of educational science.
81Studyinfo, ‘Luokanopettaja, kasvatustieteiden tutkinto-ohjelma, kasvatustieteen kandidaatti ja maisteri [Primary 
Teacher, the Degree Programme of Educational Sciences, Bachelor and Master of Arts (Education)]’, https://opinto 
polku.fi/app/#!/korkeakoulu/1.2.246.562.17.19708380258 (accessed May 5, 2019; site now discontinued).
82Studyinfo, ‘Luokanopettaja, kasvatustieteiden koulutus, kasvatustieteen kandidaatti ja maisteri [Primary Teacher, 
Educational Sciences, Bachelor and Master of Arts (Education)]’, https://opintopolku.fi/app/#!/korkeakoulu/1.2.246. 
562.17.52969217141 (accessed June 11, 2020; site now discontinued). The remaining 40% of aptitude test places 
were filled based on VAKAVA exam performance.
83Studyinfo, ‘Yliopistojen todistusvalinnan pisteytykset [Scoring in Certificate-based Selection in Universities]’, https:// 
opintopolku.fi/wp/opo/korkeakoulujen-haku/mika-korkeakoulujen-opiskelijavalinnoissa-muuttuu-vuoteen-2020- 
menessa/yliopistojen-todistusvalinnat-2020/#kalops (accessed December 9, 2021).
84Ibid.
85See Timo Holmström, ‘Mielipide: yliopistojen todistusvalintaa ohjaava pisteytystyökalu on täysin epäonnistunut [Letter: 
The Scoring System Steering University Certificate-Based Selection is a Complete Failure]’, Helsingin Sanomat, June 16, 
2018, https://www.hs.fi/mielipide/art-2000005721169.html (accessed December 9, 2021).
86Jarkko Lyytinen, ‘Liian pitkä matematiikka [Too Advanced Mathematics]’, Helsingin Sanomat, May 26, 2019, https:// 
www.hs.fi/sunnuntai/art-2000006117803.html (accessed December 9, 2021).
87Statistics Finland, ‘Entrance to Further Studies by New Passers of the Matriculation Examination was Easier in 2020 than 
in the Year Before’, https://www.stat.fi/til/khak/2020/khak_2020_2021-12-09_tie_001_en.html (accessed December 9, 
2021).
88Studyinfo, ‘Luokanopettaja, kasvatustieteiden koulutus’.
HISTORY OF EDUCATION 11
In economics degree courses, initial observations have already been made that remov-
ing compulsory literature from the entrance examinations has significantly increased the 
number of failures in basic studies and therefore teaching staff have been forced to lower 
the requirements in their courses.89 It is, of course, essential to reflect on whether it is 
reasonable to expect students to possess disciplinary knowledge before the start of their 
studies. On the other hand, the removal of the literature section from entrance examina-
tions means that when a person has applied for the ‘wrong’ field, the error that used to be 
noticed when reading for the entrance examinations can now be spotted only after 
studies have already begun.
Conclusion
In this article, we have investigated and illustrated the hidden admission agendas in 
Finnish primary teacher education student selections during the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s 
and, thus, supported the more explicit articulation of the earlier aims and visions of 
teacher education programmes in Finland.90 Although student selection practices in 
Finnish teacher education have been praised in international comparisons,91 we suggest 
that the outcomes of the agenda-driven reforms have usually been insufficient, unpre-
dictable or even undesirable. Minor technical measures such as the adjustment of pre- 
selection scoring have not produced significant outcomes, and, thus, have been insuffi-
cient in solving the structural problems in Finnish teacher education or the teaching 
population. For example, the proportion of men in primary teacher education did not 
increase despite multiple attempts to adjust the pre-selection grading to support their 
admission in the 1990s. In hindsight, the obsessive and constant actions aiming to give 
men an advantage appear as a discriminatory activity. In the end, it is easy to say that the 
problem with biased gender distribution is a broader societal question connected to the 
willingness of men to apply for the educational sector and therefore too complex to be 
solved in the admission process in a sustainable way to secure the access of men to 
teacher training to the same extent as during the era of quotas.
Even in those cases where the objectives set for the reform have at least partially been 
fulfilled, the mechanism has been unpredictable. For example, the VAKAVA reform 
managed (by chance) to increase the proportion of fresh upper secondary school 
graduates in primary teacher education, not because it made the pre-selection phase 
more propitious for them, but because teacher education departments wanted to hold on 
tightly to the matriculation exam grades, and therefore included them in the final 
selection decision, where it turned out that these grades levelled the advantage gained 
in the aptitude test by more experienced applicants. The above reform caused the largest 
undesirable changes outside teacher education, i.e. in substitute teacher recruitment and 
open universities, as did certification-based selection later by unintentionally impacting 
study orientation and subject selection in the upper secondary school.
89Pihla Loula, ‘Todistusvalinta aiheutti reputtamisaallon Vaasassa ja huonojen arvosanojen suman Turussa – nyt Helsingin 
yliopisto varautuu samaan [Certification-Based Selection Caused a Rash of Failures in Vaasa and a Sum of Bad Grades in 
Turku – Now the University of Helsinki is Preparing for the Same]’, Helsingin Sanomat, June 15, 2019, https://www.hs.fi/ 
kotimaa/art-2000006144044.html (accessed December 9, 2021).
90See Zeichner and Conklin, ‘Teacher Education Programs’, 702.
91For example, Barber and Mourshed, Best Performing School Systems, 17–19.
12 V. MANKKI AND P. RÄIHÄ
At the beginning of the 2020s, a new joint selection reform was carried out in Finnish 
teacher education that for the first time extended the long-lasting pre-selection colla-
boration between teacher education departments to the decisive stage of selection. The 
aim of the reform is to increase coherence and collaboration in student selection and to 
dismantle the structural obstacles to selecting the most suitable cohort for teacher 
education programmes.92 Based on the groundwork done in the Student Selection to 
Teacher Education in Finland – Anticipatory Work for Future project,93 teacher education 
departments committed themselves to executing a uniform aptitude test from 2020 
onwards. Before the reform, applicants for primary teacher education, for example, 
had been invited to the aptitude test held at one of the teacher education departments 
offering primary teacher training, even if the points earned in pre-selection were high 
enough to grant an invitation to multiple education departments. Thereby, applicants 
have been able to gain admission only to that department in which they have taken the 
aptitude test. With the uniform aptitude test applicants can gain admission to other 
teacher education departments and programmes, such as special education, early child-
hood education and care teacher programmes, if their selection score is not sufficient for 
their first choice.
Compared with the agendas addressed in this article, the aims of the latest reform have 
emphasised improving the quality, reliability and validity of the admission process 
instead of providing an advantage to certain demographic groups. Therefore, it can be 
stated that the development of teacher education admissions has been reversed and is 
now back on track: the (development of) teacher education admissions should be 
conducted with high regard for quality and professional suitability, because they are 
the only real hurdle to entering the teaching profession.
Nevertheless, due to the present Zeitgeist, this reform is not entirely free of efficiency 
or resource issues. For example, in 2018 individual teacher education departments 
utilised as many as three different aptitude test methods,94 whereas the unified selections 
are based on only one method: Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI). In MMI applicants are 
interviewed in sequential stations, which all have their own assessor, structured theme 
and material when necessary.95 Simplifying admissions by reducing the diversity of 
methods can be considered damaging, as the basic principle is that better selection 
decisions are made when using several complementary methods that provide additional 
information regarding the applicant.96 In any case, it is with interest that we await and 
observe the intended, but particularly the unintended, impacts that the reform entails.
92University of Turku, ‘Opettajankoulutus siirtyy yhteisvalintaan keväällä 2020 – uusi soveltuvuuskoe yhdenmukainen 
kaikissa yliopistoissa [Teacher Education will Move to Joint Selection in Spring 2020 – New Aptitude Test is Uniform in 
All Universities]’, news release, January 21, 2020, https://www.utu.fi/fi/ajankohtaista/mediatiedote/opettajankoulutus- 
siirtyy-yhteisvalintaan-kevaalla-2020-uusi (accessed December 9, 2021).
93University of Turku, ‘Student Selection to Teacher Education in Finland – Anticipatory Work for Future’, https://sites.utu. 
fi/ovet/en/ (accessed November 9, 2021).
94Studyinfo, ‘Luokanopettaja, kasvatustieteiden tutkinto-ohjelma, kasvatustieteen kandidaatti ja maisteri [Primary 
Teacher, the Degree Programme of Educational Sciences, Bachelor and Master of Arts (Education)]’, https://opinto 
polku.fi/app/#!/korkeakoulu/1.2.246.562.17.19708380258 (accessed May 11, 2018; site now discontinued).
95Julian Diaz Fraga and others, ‘Reliability and Acceptability of a Five-Station Multiple Mini-Interview Model for Residency 
Program Recruitment’, Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives 3, no. 3–4 (2013), n.p. https://doi. 
org//.10.3402jchimpv3i34.21362.
96Terry Bowles and others, ‘Proposing a Comprehensive Model for Identifying Teaching Candidates’, Australian 
Educational Researcher 41, no. 4 (2014): 365–80.
HISTORY OF EDUCATION 13
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Ville Mankki is a University Research Fellow at the Department of Teacher Education, University 
of Turku, Finland. His research interest and publications focus on teacher education, teachers’ 
professional learning and student selection in teacher education programmes.
Pekka Räihä, Associate Professor, works as a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Education and 
Culture, Tampere University, Finland. His research interest and publications focus on teacher 
education, education export, teachers’ professional learning, and student selection in teacher 
education programmes.
ORCID
Ville Mankki http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7064-3472
Pekka Räihä http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6224-6319
14 V. MANKKI AND P. RÄIHÄ