How to Train Good Teachers in Finnish Universities? Student Teachers’ Study Process and Teacher Educators’ Role in It

Due to Finnish pupils’ achievements in international comparisons, also Finnish teacher training has been widely acknowledged. Today’s educational policies aim at making teacher training more effective in Finland. However, in order to realize this in practice, not only reforms in educational policy or institutions are enough. More attention should be paid on student teachers’ study processes as a whole. In this article, we introduce an illustration of the factors that comprise student teachers’ study processes at universities. Based on the illustration, we will discuss what makes a good study process as the teacher’s academic degree and how teacher educators can make students’ progress on their study paths motivating and fruitful. We argue that teacher educators should be more thoughtful and willing to genuinely help and confront students as individuals: teacher educators should act as mentors who further students’ engagement in studying.


Introduction
How can you recognize a student teacher among students at a Finnish university?Perhaps, from backpacks and sport equipment, relaxed clothing, and vivid talking at a student café, or concentrated work on a research report at the university library reading room?At the teacher training departments and colleges of education, student teachers listen to lectures of the secrets of teaching various school subjects, didactics, and the world of human development.They learn about human strengths and resources, and critical stages in the life of the youth.What could a human being achieve if he or she was heard, appreciated, encouraged, and supported-or how to remedy disturbed development?It might well be that these questions form the core of teacher training and the science of education: prospective teachers must be able to see and respect their influence over maturing pupils, and consequently over the whole society.Student teachers realize the gamut of new challenges of the current educational system; one of them being the question why some succeed and enjoy life while others isolate themselves and become embittered even among children with similar backgrounds?What can I, as a teacher, do for my life and others' lives, and for a better future?
Teachers and student teachers at teacher training departments and colleges of education share the possibility of improving the foundation pillars of human life through education and teaching.Academic freedom at universities allows personal goals and intentions.And although responsibilities and duties fill student teachers' lives, the Finnish teacher training can provide them with promising opportunities to solve problems of human societies and to strengthen positive human characteristics (e.g., Huebner et al., 2009).
Teacher training has been the target of constant challenges and reforms, and it still faces various pressures.Student teachers have to be provided with necessary skills and knowledge needed in a teacher's profession.While students have to perform relatively extensive studies in relatively short time, maintain motivation and engagement to teaching and educational research.How to ensure they

Factors Directing Student Teachers' Study Process
The success of student teachers' study process is a sum of many factors (Figure 1).First, there is the personal level, student teachers' personal characteristics.The second level comprises factors related to the teacher training unit: teacher educators' pedagogical and scientific professionalism; teacher education curricula; and the atmosphere and conditions of the unit.The third level covers regulations, values, and cultural traditions that define and control school and teaching work.In this form of a bridge, all these factors are connected to the main character, the student teacher, who will become the torch-that is the good teacher.Although they do not explain a successful study processes alone, their development and significance should be given more and more attention at universities.Next, we will introduce all these factors in detail.

Student Teachers Themselves
Students' study processes vary greatly depending on their backgrounds, starting points, and experiences they get during their education.First of all, they have certain abilities and habits related to their learning history and experiences and that can strengthen their knowledge and self-efficacy or the sense of insufficiency.Through these experiences, students have built a positive or negative conception of themselves as learners.This conception is either strengthened or dashed at the university.Furthermore, it has been shown that students' abilities to use teaching technology and ICT affect their success in studies (Lindblom-Ylänne & Pihlajamäki, 2003).
Then, there are study skills or study strategies which can be surface or rote-learning oriented, or in-depth oriented.Study skills are fundamental to academic competence.Effective study skills are associated with positive outcomes across multiple academic content areas (Gettinger & Seibert, 2002).Likewise, writing and reading skills as well as attitudes toward studying can inspire learning or cause uncertainty.Students' skills to regulate their learning and their capability to take responsible on studying may vary greatly (see e.g., Biggs, 1987;Cassidy & Eachus, 2000).
Thirdly, we want to emphasize student teachers' motivation which reflects in their way of seizing studies and persistence (Allen, 1999;Mäkinen, 2000).Many have worked as substitute teachers and realized they want to learn more about teaching skills and obtain necessary information about teaching.Strong intrinsic motivation makes survival from problematic and challenging phases easier because then learning and acquiring knowledge and skills are considered rewarding as such (see also Ryan & Deci, 2000).Certainly, outer rewards matter too.Receiving positive and encouraging feedback on one's own progress is important as it improves one's receptiveness to new learning experiences and tolerance of failures.On the other hand, the perceived feeling of insufficiency, poor performance level, teachers' inadequate guidance or disinterest and previous failure experiences decrease motivation (Pajares, 2001).Through them, insecurity, shyness, fears, or tension may lead to extreme difficulties in having an exam, holding a presentation, addressing the study group, or expressing an opinion in a guidance situation.Everyone also perceives success in studies subjectively and evaluates personal achievements in different ways (Maddux, 2002).Expectations for the future affect greatly how people react on changes and challenges (Carver & Scheier, 2002) and there are various strategies that lie behind the one that leads to active and meaningful studying.
Furthermore, student teachers' foreknowledge about studies in the form of expectations and perceptions of university studies, the academic field of education, and prospects after graduation affect the start of their study process.In order to progress in studies, one should realize one's short and longterm learning needs and goals and plan one's use of time for each semester and the whole training period.Teacher training has a special position in young adults' lives: they know or think they know what school and teacherhood are, already when they start their education.Many of them also have succeeded well at school: they have enjoyed being at school and want to work there (Flores & Day, 2006;Heikkilä et al., 2012;Richardon & Watt, 2006).Everyone has experienced the school and the role of being a pupil, and if these experiences are mostly positive, student teachers may have limited ability to perceive school otherwise, that is requiring improvements and reforms.Student teachers should learn how to pay special attention to those pupils who perform poorly at school, need special support, or have multiple problems, to provide everyone with proper tools of living a good life.
Naturally, studying should also be in balance with other areas of life: interesting hobbies, good human relationships and family life, versatile and relaxing leisure time act as a good counterbalance to studying (e.g., Lowe & Gayle, 2007).More often than not, student teachers participate actively in stu-© 2012, European Journal of Educational Research, 1(4), 339-352 dent-time hobbies: they play music, sing in student choirs, do sports and related activities, and are active members of student organizations.Participating in these kinds of activities increases also student engagement.For example, Kuh's (2003) framework for student engagement is based on five benchmarks: level of academic challenge, enriching educational experiences, supportive campus environment, student-faculty interaction, and active and collaborative learning.Therefore, it seems that engagement is one basic concept when considering successful studying.

Teacher Training Unit
Teacher educators.The completion of an academic degree is, ultimately, students' responsibility because even the most skillful teacher cannot learn on students' behalf.Yet, teaching skills, teachers' abilities to be in an appreciating interaction with students and to guide students make a salient impetus -or pitfall -in university education.Teaching skills can be practiced and developed.Today's good university teachers bear the responsibility both for the discipline their represent and are concerned of their students and their success.Consequently, the quality of university teaching can be evaluated with many criteria.Shulman (1987) distinguishes two areas of knowledge: content knowledge which pedagogical knowledge should merge with.On the other hand, it is possible to distinguish substance knowledge, breadth, topicality, theory versus practice-orientation, necessity versus redundancy, interesting versus platitudeness, difficulty versus intelligibility, fragmentariness or structure, hastiness or concentration.Ideal university teaching is based on research and thus it can be research-based, evidence-based, research-oriented (Määttä & Uusiautti, 2013) or practical inquiry, practitioner researcher or formal research (Richardson, 1994).Määttä (2012) has divided the resources of a good supervisor into four dimensions.In her illustration, (A) Will: A supervisor's commitment to supervision, (B) Knowledge: substance knowledge and/or the mastery and ability to comprehend the overall structure, (C) Actions: Ensuring that the contents meet the scientific quality requirements, and (D) Proficiency: positive and supportive supervision methods and personality constitute the four fundamental features of supervision.The length of the square's sides varies with the supervision situation.Nor does the area remain the same.A supervisor can emphasize different features depending on his or her own style and on a student's work habits and needs.Supervision is not likely to succeed if one of the aforementioned resources is completely missing.
Furthermore, Lahtinen and Toom (2009) have characterized a good university teacher with the following characteristics: Good teachers -are good learners, -are enthusiastic about the things they teach and want to share their enthusiasm with students, -understand the wider connections of the things they teach and are able to adopt their teaching to meet students' needs, -encourage students to learning that enhances understanding, critical thinking, and problemsolving skills, -encourage students to expand and mold their knowledge, -set clear goals, -use appropriate and relevant evaluation methods, -give students well-grounded feedback, and respect students and are interested in both students' professional and personal growth (see also Määttä &, Uusiautti 2011a;2011b;2011c Likewise, the process of becoming a teacher seems to be greatly influenced by teaching practice and many students and teachers regard it as the cornerstone of teacher education.Therefore, the role of the supervisors of teacher practicum is significant (Jyrhämä, 2006).According to Jyrhämä (2006), there are three main actors in teaching practice: the student teacher himself or herself, the supervisor from the university, and finally the local mentor who is the teacher in the teacher practicing school.University-based supervisors are more influenced by academic views and their focus is on the teacher education curriculum.While teachers in practicing schools are more focused on school pedagogy and they are more familiar with their own school curriculum.Student teachers need to be familiar with both these curricula and need to achieve the goals of both (see also Ojanen & Lauriala, 2006).
In Finland, student teachers have traditionally had several teaching practice periods of varying lengths at different stages in their studies.Teaching practicum has numerous goals that aim at developing good teacherhood.On an organizational level, the cooperative partners involved in teaching practice are the universities and the designed teacher training schools.In the Finnish education system, the cooperation between universities and these schools has become a norm.Therefore, teachers of these schools have a good perception of the need of student teachers and the quality of supervision is seen as being particularly high (Jyrhämä, 2006).Jokinen and Välijärvi (2006) conclude that mentoring provides teachers with a forum for discussion, sharing of experiences, receiving feedback, and participating in a dialogue on important issues in their work.They claim that teacher education should offer more links with the daily life and practice of schools and mentoring should be the tool for supporting teachers' professional development.The © 2012, European Journal of Educational Research, 1(4), 339-352 emphasis lies on a collaborative partnership between new and experienced teachers and on shared reflection on various aspects of the theory and practice of education.According to Välijärvi (2012), one of the key questions for Finnish teacher education in the future is how to integrate pre-service and inservice training more effectively so as to support teacher's professional development throughout their work careers.
The teacher training curriculum.The curriculum provides both teachers and students with a clear goal.It answers the questions of what kinds of expertise students will have in the training program and what kinds of study entities they will study along with the study units.Five stages can be distinguished in curriculum work (see Alaoutinen et al., 2009): (1) to define the basic task and profession of the education/discipline/art, to evaluate the need for education; (2) to define required competencies and general goals of teaching; (3) to define the model of curriculum; (4) to define the goals, contents, workload, and methods for study entities and units; (5) to determine the communication in the curriculum; and (6) to evaluate the curriculum and the proficiency produced by it and its constant development.
Learning goals in the curriculum tell what students are expected to know after taking a certain study unit, and they also direct working and the way learning, teaching, and studying are being evaluated.In practice, the forms and proportions between obligatory and optional studies in university curricula may differ greatly between universities (see e.g., Jakku-Sihvonen et al., 2012).However, Gardiner (1994) points out that types and breadth of courses available, specific courses in the curriculum, and degree of choice may make relatively little difference in educational outcomes, whereas a true-core curriculum can be positively associated with many valued outcomes.
In Finland, curricula for teacher training have a research-based approach as the main guideline.This means that the following objectives are set for teacher training (see Niemi & Jakku-Sihvonen, 2006): (1) Teachers need a profound knowledge of the most recent advances of research in the subjects they teach.In addition, they need to be familiar with the latest research on how something can be taught and learnt.Interdisciplinary research on subject content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge provides the foundation for developing teaching methods that can be adapted to suit different learners.
(2) Teacher education in itself should also be an object of study and research.This research should provide knowledge about the effectiveness and quality of teacher education implemented by various means and in different cultural contexts.
(3) The aim is that teachers internalize a research-oriented attitude towards their work.This means that teachers learn to take an analytical and open-minded approach to their work, that they draw conclusions based on their observations and experiences, and that they develop their teaching and learning environments in a systematic way.(pp.40-41) The atmosphere and conditions of the teacher training unit.Many characteristics of university community either enhance or hinder students' smooth progress on their study process.Studying atmosphere can vary from open and vivid dealings between students and teachers and other personnel to distant, minimal, and formal relationships between the above-mentioned groups.Indeed, the meaning of © 2012, European Journal of Educational Research, 1(4), 339-352 informal student-faculty contacts and learning outcomes has been noted already three decades ago (see Pascarella, 1980).Parker and Scott (1985) have analyzed the level of invitation at colleges and distinguished four levels: intentionally and unintentionally disinviting and intentionally and unintentionally inviting.In the modern time of increasing multiculturalism, these features are of great importance.
Likewise, student teachers' mutual relationships and the overall studying atmosphere are important; the atmosphere can be competitive or collaborative, hurried or engrossing, flexible or engaging, school-like and performance-oriented or individualistic where students are noticed as their own personalities.Finding studying meaningful has been noted to have a positive relationship with students' perceptions of academic atmosphere at the unit (see e.g., Kezar & Kinzie, 2006;Mayya & Roff, 2004;Pimparyon et al., 2000).
Even the same discipline can involve various student cultures which can be, for example, profession-oriented, scientific-academic, philosophical-ideological, and/or co-operative culture.Students' interaction may be tribal, active, or passive.Social support and shared experiences are important not only to students' well-being but also to their progress in studies (see also Renchler, 1992;Renn & Arnold, 2003).
The conditions of the teacher training department covers the outward conditions including studying facilities and their location, the number of teachers in proportion to the number of students, social, economic, and health services, library services (the availability of books, opening times), ICT facilities and their sufficiency, the length of studying days, the accumulation of lectures versus even division by weekdays and time.It is a known fact (e.g., Greenwald, Hedges, & Laine, 1996) that a broad range of resources are positively related to student outcome (see also Atjonen, 2007).

Regulations, Values, and Cultural Traditions That Define and Control Schooling and Teaching
In Finland, education is a public service, and general education, vocational education, and higher education are free of charge and financed mostly by the state and local authorities.The ideology originates in the history of Finland as the goal of the new educational system was for Finland to improve educational opportunities for all and to become internationally economically competitive by producing a better-educated population.Municipalities as local authorities are the providers of education.National Board of Education, a national agency on the sector of education, is responsible for implementation of the education policy for example by providing the National core curriculum.Municipalities are obliged to provide a local curriculum within the framework decided in the core curriculum.(Välijärvi, 2012;Jakku-Sihvonen & Niemi, 2006).
All children in Finland go to school in the year they turn seven.Primary school begins at the beginning of the autumn semester.Basic education lasts nine years.At the comprehensive schools, class teachers are mainly responsible for classes 1-6, and most of the subjects are taught by subject teachers in grades 7-9 (Jakku-Sihvonen & Niemi, 2007).
In Finland, responsibility for providing education to prospective class teachers working in primary schools was transferred from teacher-training colleges to universities in 1971.The purpose was to develop academically high-quality, research-based Master's-level education for prospective teachers (Jakku-Sihvonen & Niemi, 2006).The training of class teachers emphasizes the theoretical and methodological contents of multidisciplinary educational science and the subjects taught at school and their practical applications.The objective is to link teaching and study to scientific research.The idea is to prepare student teachers with the ability to independently analyze and solve educational problems and develop their work through research (Niemi, 2005).The main subject in class teacher training is education providing the theoretical foundation.Teachers attain the Master's degree in education which consists of 300 ECTS (usually 4-5 years of studies at the minimum).The degree also gives eligibility for postgraduate studies in education.Subject teacher training includes studies in one or two teaching subjects and teacher's pedagogical studies as part of the Master's degree.A teaching subject means a © 2012, European Journal of Educational Research, 1(4), 339-352 school subject included in the curriculum of basic education, upper secondary school or some other educational institution (Jakku-Sihvonen, 2007).

A Good Teacher as the Goal of Teacher Training
The Finnish educational system has wanted to provide everyone, regardless of the place of domicile, economic or social background, gender, age, or abilities, with the right to learn.Indeed, Finnish students have performed well as the recent international comparisons have shown (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2012;Lavonen & Laaksonen, 2009;Välijärvi et al., 2007;OECD, 2000;2003).Thanks for this success belong mostly to our good teachers and teacher training system.What is a good teacher, then?Some features can be pointed out.
In the 1860s, the father of the Finnish elementary education, Uno Cygnaeus, emphasized teachers' own being by stating that a teacher's decency is the most dependable guarantee for the success of educational aspirations.Features such as compassion, love, and patience toward pupils should have an eminent part in a teacher's personality (Määttä & Uusiautti, 2011abc).Later on, numerous educationalists have emphasized the significance of a teacher's personality.Among others, Martti Haavio concluded in the 1960s how a teacher's pedagogical being involve humility, authenticity, joyfulness, sense of responsibility, and pedagogical love and tact.
Since various eras, theories, ideologies, and ideas of man have their own emphases in the illustration of a good teacher, any ideal picture of a teacher's personality traits cannot be obviously drawn.Thus, there are many ways of being a good teacher: a good teacher is a personality who does no behave in a certain mechanical manner.Luckily good teachers are different because pupils are, too!At the same time, it is true that anyone cannot be a good teacher.A teacher's work involves plenty of emotional strain and every teacher feels frustrated occasionally.There are situations when teachers fail regardless of a solution they make.Teachers confront such problems and challenges that do not have any ready solutions.
Preparing good teachers means almost the same as preparing good personalities.Teacher training should take care of personalities along with teaching skills.An important part of a teacher's work has to do with interaction with pupils, parents, teacher colleagues, and the wider context including for example business partners.A teacher's ability to build a network where the school forms a part of the local community strengthens the cultural and social task of school.Current trends, such as internationalization and multiculturalism, require that teachers bear new kind of societal responsibility and active role as future makers.
As noted in earlier chapters of this paper, teachers' professionalism develops along the mastery over school subjects.Teachers have to know the subject matter they teach.Still, this mastery is not enough because teachers' enthusiasm and expertise do not guarantee pupils' learning.Good teachers can inspire various learners and help them succeed, and thus, it is the question of looking at the school subject from a pupil's perspective, supporting the pupil, and foreseeing the critical points in learning, and the willingness to make the effort for pupils' learning.Pupils become enthusiastic when they experience successes, notice that they make a progress, and are convinced that they are cared for, understood, and appreciated.Good teachers can prioritize and find the joy in the smallest achievements.
Indeed, teachers are tested in the modern schools by the ever-increasing flood of information.Various demands are set for teachers by school authorities, pupils, and their parents.While working between a rock and a hard place, teachers should remember to take care of their coping in order to maintain motivation and activity in their work.Thus, teachers need good self-reflection skills, and a realistic attitude and appreciation of themselves as teachers and teaching.Good teachers are not perfect but they are humane toward themselves and pupils.Good teacher do not expect their pupils to be perfect either.
© 2012, European Journal of Educational Research, 1(4), 339-352 Pedagogical love as a form of good teacherhood means constant trust in pupils' learning and their talents and opportunities to be discovered.For instance, in situations where a learner's progress is slow or tangled, a loving teacher takes care that the learner does not lose his or her trust in his or her own learning when getting frustrated.When a teacher believes in a learner's abilities, the teacher will find it easier to convince the learner of them as well.Indeed, "the aim of education must transcend the development of academic competence" states Pajares (2001, p. 34) and continue that in order to prepare caring and fully functioning individuals, schools and teacher "must be armed with optimism, selfregard, and regard for others" (p.34).
Working in a teaching profession necessitates constant up-dating and continuing education.Teachers have to be able to renew and acquire pedagogical and subject knowledge and skills and seek answers to problems in their work through innovative experiments and research-based evaluations.Martti Haavio wrote already in 1954 how teachers are eternal pupils.Likewise, in today's teacher training, we talk about teachers as researchers of their work.
As sum, there are numerous illustrations of a good teacher.Laine (2004) categorized good teachers according to student teachers' perceptions of teacher preferences into five groups: (1) didactic experts, (2) affectively child centered, (3) task and goal oriented, (4) climate centered and (5) emancipatorily oriented teachers.Niemi and Jakku-Sivonen (2006) point out that As professionals, teachers need countless practical skills that will enable them to mediate contents to individuals or groups and to construct knowledge jointly.This kind of knowledge can be described as procedural knowledge.Academic content and practical skills must not be seen as separate or exclusive; they are always complementary in the teaching profession.The following summary describes what kinds of abilities are needed in the teaching profession: 1) the ability to support different learners (age, gender, cultural background, learning difficulties etc.), 2) the ability to co-operate with other teachers in schools or other educational settings; 3) the ability to promote co-operation with stakeholders; 4) the ability to develop and improve curriculum and learning environments; 5) the ability to solve problems in school life or educational institutions and 6) the ability to reflect on one´s own professional identity.(pp. 44-45) Discussion: The Far-Reaching Influence of Teacher Educators' Work In Finland, a teacher's profession is a desired one: only about 10-15 % of applicants become selected as student teachers (Välijärvi, 2012).Passing the entrance test and becoming selected is the dream come true for many students.Still, many of them also are uncertain of what university-level studies require of them.The motivation at the beginning of the study process can strengthen or diminish depending on the impression the new student teachers have of the university.Teacher training is highly demanding and it must meet the expectations set for teachers.How to strengthen student teachers' confidence that they will handle the studies and get support when needed?
Teacher educators have a special responsibility and role as the activators, supporters, and accelerators of student teachers' study processes.Research on the study processes has shown that learning results from the first study year predict the success of the rest of the study process.That is why support is so important immediately from the beginning of the education, but this does not make guidance during the later phases of bachelor's and master's studies any less important.Student teachers encounter problems, options, and questions where they need support and guidance in order to avoid mistakes and prolonged study process.
In modern world, student groups are more heterogeneous than ever.Therefore, it is essential that students learn how to live and work effectively with others who differ from themselves (e.g., Zhao, Kuh, & Carini, 2005) and that places a new challenge for the implementation of education (Watts & © 2012, European Journal of Educational Research, 1(4), 339-352 Smolicz, 1997).Cruce, Wolniak, Seifert, and Pascarella's (2006) research provided evidence that good practices in education have a compensatory effect for those students who enter university below the average on a particular measure of cognitive ability or orientation to learning.Concerning especially the latter, students' backgrounds have indeed changed as nowadays there are less and less those who come from a so-called traditional family (San Antonio, 2008).This, in fact, is an important issues because students' abilities to stay engaged in school can be affected by students' home responsibilities, lack of family resources, and peer-group tensions related to social class hierarchies.Low-income students in particular benefit from having a meaningful relationship with at least one school staff member who knows their interests, skills, and struggles (see San Antonio, 2008).
Therefore, teacher educators' work is demanding and important, and requires resources, time, and concentration.Teaching and mentoring deserve a special position at least because of the following reasons: (1) Liability for students A university teacher cannot dodge responsibility to provide student teachers with support, guidance, and information about the progress, objectives, and contents of the training program.The promises given in the universities application guides must be fulfilled so that every student feels welcome and becomes convinced that he or she made a good choice when applying for teacher training.Jukka Sankala (2012) mentions also the student's responsibility whereas Asko Karjalainen (1996) refers to academic responsibility as the opposite of disregard of students' learning and understanding: "Tieteestä ei saa tulla näennäistietämisen tyhjä tynnyri, jota kapulakieliset 'tutkijakovikset' kilvan kolistelevat [science must not become the empty barrel of quasi-knowledge that jargon-speaking 'researchertoughies' tussling bang about" (p.24).
(2) Commitment to the task of the university and securing its funding In Finland, university education is basically free of charge and because universities are financed by the government.Universities are autonomous, but the current finance system means that university personnel have to engage in such activities that are defined by the economic resources provided by the public funding.Education is the biggest source of the basic funding: the economic capacity of a university especially depends on the number of graduates, and performed study points and courses-along with research.A new indicator of universities' profitability and thus basis for funding will be the proportion of students who have performed 55 ECTS points every study year.To achieve this goal, both university personnel and students have to be extremely active-just to protect the existence of the university.
(3) Rewarding work-rewarding studies The most far-reaching and rewarding part of teaching and mentoring is to make student teachers interested and seize the questions of their discipline, and finally become enthusiastic about working for the continuity and development of science.When teachers support and strengthen student teachers' learning and trust in their development and skills, teachers get their students motivated, develop, and even reach top achievements that they would not have achieved without the teachers' help, encouragement, and positive feedback.Teachers who devote to teaching and mentoring can feel joy from students' success.With the teacher's support, students can start trusting in themselves and their talents and study more and more actively and toward quality outcomes (Schunk & Pajares, 2005).Good learning and teaching results require work but enhance both teachers and students well-being.
© 2012, European Journal of Educational Research, 1(4), 339-352 (4) Teachers as examples and bellwethers University teachers and teacher educators can be invaluable or primary models, examples, and bellwethers for student teachers.Through their work they can show the direction, encourage to find own goals for studies and life in general.
(5) The power of encouragement University teachers can help with even the smallest gestures student teachers to achieve even the greatest results.A few encouraging words can be enough (Määttä, 2011;2012) or a small story of one's own experiences that make students part of the world of science.It is important to learn the philosophy of service: after finding the genuine desire to help, one learns new lessons about life and relationships.The ability to encourage can become a mirror that strengthens oneself too and shows how to enjoy the ability to supervise, guide, and teach.
(6) A valuable part of academic work Quality guidance and teaching make a central, valuable part of the whole sphere of academic work.In addition to research skills, teaching and guidance knowledge can be learned, developed, and shared collegially within the university community.Skillful teacher educators are strong experts of their field, interested in students' learning, and know how to support it.In addition, they develop their skills in varied ways and actively within their academic communities.
Although there are plenty of good guidance and teaching experiences and practices available in teacher training, new ones are never uncalled for.Caring for student teachers is the lifeline of the quality and profitability of teacher training.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Factors that direct student teachers' study processes Haapaniemi, Voutilainen, and Ikäheimonen (2001)Ikäheimonen (2001)have studied students' opinions on good mentoring.According to the results, good mentoring consists of the factors that are the following (see Määttä & Uusiautti 2011c): ).© 2012, European Journal of Educational Research, 1(4), 339-352 -pays attention to various goals and individual needs for supervision -notices opportunities (e) interaction -honesty, notices the student -teacher is interested in the students, empathetic -enough time should be reserved (f) sufficient and clear communication -questions are answered -one cannot (do not know how to) ask everything