Finnish Teacher Training

After reading about the comparison to  Finnish schools I was curious to learn more about what kind of training Finnish teachers go through to make them so good. I found two articles, one published a few years ago in The Guardian and one from the university of Helsinki. Some of the things described were:

• Teaching is a highly respected profession 
• Trainees are engaged in hands-on work from day one
• Teachers enjoy wide autonomy and flexibility to organize own teaching
• All teachers are required to have a master's degree, which is a 5 year and 300 credit program 
• Student teachers are engaged in research during their master's program 
• Grade schools are affiliated with universities for easy placement of student teachers 
• Teachers are trained to know when to hand over students to other professionals, such as speech therapists

All of these things sound great and mostly reasonable, although the 5 year masters program is a commitment and makes it difficult to change one's mind, but I keep thinking in circles that the main reason the Finnish system works is that as a society they have a broad acceptance of certain values, so while they have freedom of choice, the core of what they're teaching is the same. Something in the US, I'm not sure we'll ever have. Student teachers are also provided with free education,  so there are no massive loans to pay back and the Finns have universal healthcare, so most students arrive at school with baseline needs met that not all American children have. The  I start to think the US is so different that maybe a one size fits all solution won't work,  but it also won't hurt to take ideas from  different systems to make them work for us.

https://www.helsinki.fi/en/news/education-news/why-is-finnish-teacher-education-excellent-teacher-training-schools-provide-one-explanation

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jun/17/highly-trained-respected-and-free-why-finlands-teachers-are-different