Finnish High-Achieving Students’ Perceptions of the Best Practices in Teaching

Abstract

According to latest international student comparisons, Finnish students do relatively well at
school. But how to maintain this level or even do better? This study focused on Finnish
high-achieving students from the general upper secondary education. The purpose was to find
out how these special students described their best teachers and teaching and, according to
their narratives, what kind of teaching supported their strengths and study success the best.
The study was based on the positive psychological theorization of good teaching in which
teaching is understood as interaction that supports students’ strengths. A narrative study
approach was chosen and the sets of data included the Finnish straight-A graduates’ (N=14)
written and spoken narratives. The data were analyzed with narrative analyzing methods. The
results introduced five core elements of teaching that support students’ strengths and study
success: (1) trust, (2) enthusiasm and zeal, (3) appreciation of achievements, (4)
student-centeredness, and (5) dialogue. Based on the findings, opportunities to apply
strength-based teaching are discussed.