The teacher education in Finland is university based and leads to a master degree. Science and research are important aspects of the education and students write a scientific thesis (33/40 ECTS). The aim of the research-orientation is that students get a preparedness to systematically and in a reflective way investigate issues and as a consequence develop their own practice as professional teachers. The aim of the research-orientation is thus related to the view of a professional and reflective teacher.

However, the research-orientation of the teacher education in Finland has been discussed and criticized. The student teachers conceive the relation between research and the teacher profession as diffuse and difficult to handle and they have difficulties in relating real practical problems to theoretical issues in their work of the thesis.

The aim of this study is to investigate student teachers’ ideas of writing a scientific thesis within teacher education. Data for the empirical study were collected through essays, including four open questions, with 69 students from the Department of Teacher Education at Abo Akademi University in Finland. The phenomenographic approach was taken as the point of departure and data were analysed in a qualitative way.

The results of the study show that in an intellectual way, students understand the motive for and meaning of a scientific thesis in a university based teacher education. They have different conceptions of their own learning in relation to the thesis although the relation to the teacher profession is not at all clear for the students.

In order to develop the scientific thesis in teacher education the relation between theory, research, and practice has to be emphasized to a higher extent. A scientific thesis within teacher education should more be treated as a “learning task” for a professional teacher, and not merely as a “research task”.

The teacher education in Finland is university based and leads to a master degree. The education consists of 300 ECTS and is planned to be carried out in five years. Science and research are important aspects of the education and at the Master of Education Level the students write a scientific thesis (33/40 ECTS). The aim of the scientific thesis is that students develop and deepen a scientific attitude. The students have own supervisors and during the process they get professional help. The thesis writing process involves a 1-year seminar, during which time students make research plans and get the individual work started. At the end of the writing process students present their thesis, which are critically examined by independent opponents.

The aim of the research-orientation is that the students get a preparedness to systematically and in a reflective way investigate issues and as a consequence develop their own practice as professional teachers. The aim of the research-orientation is thus related to the view of a professional and reflective teacher. The scientific thesis is also meant to have significant relevance to the teaching profession while the thesis work means that the students become familiar with scientific tools such as methods for gathering data, systematic analytic thinking, and interpretation and evaluation.

However, the research-orientation of the teacher education in Finland has been discussed and criticized, especially from the students’ perspective. The student teachers conceive the relation between research and the teacher profession as diffuse and difficult to handle and they have difficulties in relating real practical problems to theoretical issues in their work of the thesis.

The aim of this study is thus to investigate student teachers’ ideas of writing a scientific thesis within teacher education. More specifically the study aims at answering questions concerning student teachers’ conceptions of the writing process, why they should write a scientific thesis, what they can learn from writing a thesis, and finally what use a scientific thesis as well as pedagogical research and science has to them as professional teachers.

Data for the empirical study were collected through essays, including four open questions, with 69 students from the Department of Teacher Education at Abo Akademi University in Finland. The phenomenographic approach was taken as the point of departure and the data were analysed in a qualitative way.

The result of student teachers’ ideas of writing a scientific thesis, including their motives for and conceptions of learning, showed that their views were to a large extent divided. The majority of students (n=50) had a positive view of writing a thesis. They saw the project as exciting and interesting and they were looking forward starting to write. The positive view was accompanied by a negative one while many of the students (n=34) were at the same time worried about the project and experienced it as difficult and stressful.

The majority of students (n=37) had an external motive for writing a thesis and in order to get a master’s degree they realized they had to write a scientific thesis. The fact that the thesis marks the end of the education was also by many students seen as something positive and in that way they were looking forward it. Although most students had an external motive, the majority of them also expressed internal motives. Four students could not express any motive for writing a thesis.

Most students had clear ideas of what they expected to learn from the project while only two students could not express their expectations of learning. The majority of students (n=37) were looking forward getting insight into research and experience of scientific work in writing a scientific thesis. Only nine students related research to teaching and the relation between the research-orientation and the teacher profession was thus not very obvious for the students.

In examining student teachers’ views of what use a scientific thesis and pedagogical research have to them as professional teachers, all students were able to relate the thesis to the future teacher profession and 30 students saw pedagogical research and science as the basis of a professional teacher. The clear majority of the students also emphasized that research gives them deeper insight into a subject.

It was much more difficult for the students to relate the development of a professional teacher to the scientific thesis (n=9) than to pedagogical research in general (n=30). The students referred to the relation between research, theory and practice and in order to become a professional teacher they expressed the importance of having insight into and experience of both pedagogical research and real practice. Some students also related a scientific thesis and pedagogical research to their own personal development.

Seven students referred to the development of the written language when thinking about what use a scientific thesis has to them as professional teachers, while five students saw a scientific thesis as a tool for information retrieval. Only four students related writing a scientific thesis to a future research carrier and expressed an ambition to keep on researching after having written the scientific thesis. Nine students could not see any relation between pedagogical research and their future teacher profession. The students felt that pedagogical research is far-away from the classroom and science does not matter for the practical teacher work.

Finally,the scientific thesis meets the intellectual needs of the student teachers that it can produce a sense of important personal achievement such as pride in one’s work and enhanced professional confidence and it can help to foster a critical approach among the students. In order to develop the scientific thesis in teacher education the relation between theory, research, and practice has to be emphasized to a higher extent. A scientific thesis within teacher education should thus be treated more as a “learning task” for a professional teacher, and not merely as a “research task”.