The professional development of a future teacher begins at school as a pupil. The memories and experiences together with teacher education form the starting point of our future teachers’ perceptions of teaching and what it means to be an ideal teacher. Finland’s pedagogical success is often explained by the high-quality teacher education and by the fact that teachers and schools have substantial autonomy. But how do the pre-service teachers develop into education experts? In this seminar you will hear how the primary school teacher program is organized at the University of Lapland, some surprising facts about the Finnish education system, and what the secret behind Finnish teacher education might be.