A comparison of student teacher conceptions of excellence in teaching at two universities in England and Finland

Abstract

‘Excellence' is a word that appears regularly in government documentation on teaching, for example when reviewing the curriculum review in England (DFE, 2011) or teacher education (DFE, 2010) but it is not defined. It appears that conceptions of excellence may be different in England and Finland,arising out of philosophical, historical, socio-economic and political differences, in other words, from cultural backgrounds. This assumption was tested by means of a small international research project that investigated student teacher conceptions of excellence in teaching at Education Departments at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland and the University of Bedfordshire in England.