THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TURKU: UTU
1.-The Faculty of Education of the University of Turku was established in 1974, it has over 2000
students and 350 employees, and it has around 250 scientific publications per year. The faculty has two departments:
- Department of Education
- Department of Teacher Education
It has two teacher training schools in the following cities: Turku, Rauma.
2- Department of Teacher Education:
The Department was founded in 1974 as part of the University of Turku Faculty of Education. The Department is an open, innovative and developing organization. Its vision is based on the conception of man as a whole person and its versatile and balanced development. The Department provides a theory-embedded, discipline- based education of high quality with the ultimate goal of educating future teachers whose personal educational philosophy consists of a solid theoretical foundation, rigorous expertise, resourcefulness and critical reflection skills necessary for continued success and development in the teaching profession and in the teaching community. Throughout university education, personal development is encouraged, communications skills and active learning skills are fostered.
The Department functions on two campuses in Turku and Rauma.
3- Research focus in the Faculty of Education:
Research in the Faculty of Education is focused on studies in learning research and education policy and education systems. Teaching and teacher hood studies are gaining more research interest in the Faculty.
Major themes in the field of learning are:
- basic competences (for example reading, mathematics, natural sciences) in long-term learning processes
- motivation, metacognition and social processes in learning research
- new technology enabled learning environments in school, university and work life
- development of expertise and the factors influencing it in different fields such as medicine, business administration and engineering
Major themes in the field of education policy and education systems are:
- the premises, changes and effects of the Finnish, European Union and supranational education policy
- education, educational degrees and flows as part of a new global knowledge economy and building of human capital
- the different mechanism and means of assessment of basic education, special education, secondary education, higher education and adult education
Teaching and teacher hood research focuses on for example subject didactics and the opportunities and challenges of multiculturalism.