Teaching: A practical or research-based profession? Teacher candidates' approaches to research-based teacher education

This article analyses teacher training in Finland from the teacher candidate's perspective. The focus is on two key concepts, the Teacher as a Researcher and the Personal Practical Theory, which characterise the agenda of Finnish teacher education. Cluster analysis divided the respondents into five groups, and each cluster had a short textual description. Qualitative data were included in the summary. According to our analysis, the main concepts of the Teacher as a Researcher and the Personal Practice Theory are unclear to teacher candidates and are appreciated differently. Subject teacher candidates in particular, who come from other academic cultures, might consider these concepts educational jargon that have no substance. We also argue that teacher students are not always able to connect the theoretical parts of their studies with practice. These results challenge the claim that Finnish teacher education has resolved the demanding relationship between theory and practice.