Frequently Asked Questions and Statistics

Application period runs once a year in January. National joint online application is available in Studyinfo during the application period. 

In most cases, you need a higher education degree (or recognized equivalent) and 3 years of professional work experience in a relevant field. The degree and work experience must be completed by the end of the application period.

Applicants who seek qualification as vocational subject teachers in the field of Social Services and Health are required to have a UAS Bachelor’s degree and 5 years of work experience corresponding to the content of the degree OR a Master’s degree and 3 years of professional work experience.

Applicants who seek qualification as general subject teachers are in most cases required to have a relevant Master’s degree; no professional work experience is required.

Work experience must be obtained from a field covered by the person's degree. Any work training included in the degree programme is not accepted as vocational work experience. Teaching or training experience will not be regarded as work experience from a specific field; instead, it will be regarded as teaching experience which, in recent years, has offered additional points at the application stage. Unlike vocational work experience, teaching experience is not an entrance requirement. However, teaching experience may bring you admission points.

If you have not completed a higher education degree by the end of the application period and you are not working as a vocational subject teacher in Finland during the application period, you are not eligible to apply. But if you are working as a teacher of vocational subjects in vocational education in Finland during the application period, we may be able to consider you as an eligible applicant. The decision on eligibility will be made after you have applied and submitted the required documents. Nonetheless you should know that the completion of the Professional Teacher Education programme will not on its own qualify you for other teaching positions in Finland.

The student selection procedure is based on a national admission point scoring system. Applicants are admitted to the programme in the rank order of their total admission points within each admission group. Admission groups are based on fields of education (programme in Finnish) and separate admission groups. 

The criteria which will be taken into consideration in the admission point scoring system in 2024 are:

• other completed degrees in addition to the degree with which you will apply (max. 2 degrees)
• basic studies in educational sciences (completed according to the requirements of a Finnish university or UAS)
• further education completed since 1.1.2015
• teaching experience from official educational institutions
• teaching experience from vocational education since 1 January 2022

The degree and work experience required for eligibility will not be considered under the admission point scoring system. 

» Here you can download admission criteria 2024 in short (pdf). 

Studying at the School of Professional Teacher Education is free of charge. Costs are accumulated from eating, travelling, accommodation and the purchase of study materials.

In the School of Professional Teacher Education pedagogical studies comprise 60 ECTS. You can study either full-time or while working. We offer flexible individualized study paths. You can spread your studies over a period of three years or you can graduate even in a year. It’s up to you!  Most of the professional teacher education students study alongside work. Summer, autumn, and spring semesters enable studying throughout the year.

Our Professional Teacher Education programme is mainly meant for teachers and teacher applicants who plan to work at universities of applied sciences or at vocational institutions/colleges.

The pedagogical studies for teachers of 60 ECTS completed at the School of Professional Teacher Education provide you with pedagogical qualifications for all forms of schools. Each student's degree defines where and what they are qualified to teach. For example, an engineer (University of Applied Sciences) is qualified to teach their professional field at the upper secondary level, whereas a person with a Master's Degree in Science is also qualified to teach at Universities of Applied Sciences. Teachers of common subjects are qualified to teach their major subject and those subjects where they have completed studies of at least 60 ECTS.

The School of Professional Teacher Education is located in Oulu at Linnanmaa kampus, Yliopistokatu 9.  In the regional groups in Rovaniemi, Tornio and Kajaani students are informed about the teaching places before the beginning of the studies.

The studies are competence based. You will progress in your studies according to a personal study plan (PSP). The length of the study period is individual, and it is possible to study all year round.

The scheduled work in the study groups (consisting of 19 study days) is planned for the first year of study. The studies begin as contact teaching in Oulu. They continue online, where students meet at agreed times in webinars. The content of the contact days is shaped according to the needs of the study group and the students' competence-based study path. Team and personal tutoring is an integral part of the study group's work. In addition to the contact and online study days, students work in teams according to an agreed schedule. Studying requires a commitment to the team’s work.

The study groups’ schedules are published on our website at the beginning of the application period.

Please notice that this online programme might not make you eligible for a study-based residence permit in Finland for non-EU/EEA citizens. You may not be granted a visa based on these studies.

Teaching language of the English Teacher Education programme is English. The students must possess good oral and written English language skills (e.g. IELTS 6, B2 according European Framework of Languages). The teaching language of the other groups in Professional Teacher Education is Finnish.