Browsing by Subject "koulutusvienti"

The main purpose of this research was aim to find out What the experts of education export think that what is situation now in the sector of education export. There is not a lot of research about this subject so that was also the reason why I chose it. Monika Schatz has written her doctoral dissertation about “Education export as Finland’s hottest export”. In that research she says that Finland hasn’t succeed in education export because we don’t really have the product to sell. Also, Schatz thinks that there is such a big interest for our educational system because of PISA-results. The second reason for this research was the act of government. They set the goal to increase the value of Education Export. The hypothesis was that the experts think that there is a huge potential in exporting Education but there are many challenges we need to solve out before the success. The study was a qualitative one. I decided to interview six experts of education export. After interviewing I transcribed the interviews. Two of my interviewees were working in the companies, two of them were principles of schools and two of them were working in the other positions in the public sector. They all had some special information of the field of education export. The data collection method was semi-structured theme interview. I shared my analysis for four section: 1. What kind of services the experts of education think that the education export includes? 2. What kind of marketing tools the experts of education think that the education exporters are using in exporting education? 3. What is the secret behind the popularity of Finnish education? And 4. what problems we have faced in education export? The results were that the experts think that we are selling education because of the high PISA-results. The other reasons for the interest were the quality of education and the good results. The experts also thought that we have a huge potential in sector of education export. They told that the websites, the marketing events, hints from the ministry of Foreign Affairs and recommendations from the old customers are the ways to find new customers. They told the places to market education are websites, marketing events and social media. They told that the reasons behind why we haven’t succeeded yet so much are wide. According the interviews - there have been many challenges in education export. Few of the biggest ones have been probably lack of co-operation and product of Finnish education export. Part of the experts thought that it’s not possible to export education as it is – there always need to do some changes

This study describes the current situation and development areas of Finnish education export from experts’ point of view. The aim of the study was to research what Finnish education export includes and why it’s being carried out. The other aim was to research challenges and promoting factors of Finnish education export as well as how Finnish education export can be developed. In this study education export is viewed as a cross-border service or product. Education export comprehensively covers exporting of education system and education expertise that is carried out by higher education institutions as well as private companies. The development of education export has been influenced by globalisation and internationalization of education. The data collection method in this study was semi-structured interview. Interviewees were selected based on their positions within their respective organizations. Interviewees work or have worked in the field of education export. Interviews were carried out as five individual interviews and one pair interview. There were seven interviewees altogether. In the analysis of interview material and the interpretation of results a modified actantial model was used. The aim of the actantial model was to create a systematic scheme for data analysis which was used for collection and interpretation of results. Aided by the actantial model, actants, in other words various factors within in the data, were identified and their respective relations were formed. Actantial model describes the structure of education export field as well. Study results showed that Finnish education export includes various services and products and it is carried out in many ways, frequently in co-operation between different operators. Motives for education export are often commercial but they may also include desire to share good practices and make long lasting impact in the field of education. Results showed demoting and promoting factors of education export as well. In addition, following factors were identified as crucial components in the development of Finnish education export: improvement of co-operation between different agents, development of services and products, improvement of education export expertise, increase of research in the field of education export, quality maintenance and improvement of the Finnish education system and modification of university activities to better support education export.

In my study I examine expatriate teachers' experiences of working abroad and the development of their professional identity. The starting point of my study is the idea that a person's identity is formed through interaction with other people and is a constantly changing process. My study is based on a narrative inquiry. This is because my intention has been to open up new perspectives to better understand the experiences of expatriate teachers, instead of trying to get measurable results. My research questions are: 1. What kind of image(s) do teachers give about expatriate teacher's work? 2. How do teachers reflect on their professional identities after their working period abroad? a) How do teachers experience the fact that they have been expatriate teachers? b) Have teachers' professional identities changed according to their stories? Four teachers who taught in Abu Dhabi as part of EduCluster Finland's education export program were interviewed. In my interviews I used the method of thematic interview which gave space for stories. In the data analysis I used the perspective of the different roles teachers held. This approach is based on Hermans' (2001) positioning theory according to which people have different roles depending on context and interaction with other people. In my first research question I used content analysis as a method to find out the different roles teachers held in their different social contexts. In my second research question I used Webster's and Mertova's (2007) critical event analysis to outline the conflicting roles from the data. In the end I focused more on the conflicting roles by using dialogical analysis based on Hermans' (2001) positioning theory. The results revealed that expatriate teachers have multiple roles many of which are in conflict with each other. From the roles of expatriate teachers were formed four different classes of conflicting roles through which the teachers reflected on their professional identity. As a result of their self reflecting process the teachers created an in between identity in order to survive among all the conflicting roles. In the end the teachers found their experiences as expatriate teachers positive but also educational. They experienced that the period abroad had an influence on their professional identities in different ways and that it brought change to their thinking as well as to their teaching in practice. The results of the research can be used in the development of teachers' international mobility and teacher education.

This master’s thesis examines the Finnish education brand constructed through the marketing communications of Finnish education export companies, and the discursive strategies that companies use to legitimize their activities. The aim of the thesis is to examine, what are the attractiveness factors and justifications that Finnish education export companies rely on in marketing and branding their education in the early 2020s. Since topping the PISA-rankings in the early 2000s, Finland has gained international recognition for its education system. Since then, the Finnish government has strategically tried to capitalize the “PISA-miracle” and turn education into a new significant area for export. However, in the current context, excessive reliance on PISA success can be seen as problematic, as Finland's PISA results have been on a downward trend for a long time. Therefore, it is relevant to examine what other factors have become essential components of the Finnish education brand and how companies are adapting to a scenario where PISA-success cannot be relied upon as heavily as before. The research data was collected from the websites of 11 Finnish education export companies, operating in the field of primary education, as well as from the web page of the Education Finland project, coordinated by the Finnish National Agency for Education, aimed at boosting Finnish education exports. The analysis was conducted in two parts: firstly, a thematic analysis was done to identify the themes describing the Finnish education brand. Secondly, using critical discourse analysis, the data were examined to identify the discourses that legitimize education exports, and these discourses were then analysed in relation to Van Leeuwen's (2007) theory of legitimation strategies. The thematic analysis identified four main themes of the Finnish education brand: well-being, equality, creative thinking, and expertise. The legitimation of the Finnish education export was built around the discourses of societal development, evolving expertise, and professionalism. Hence, Finnish educational competence was presented as a tool for social development, raising the level of competence and responding to current and future needs of competence.

The 2001 PISA results have acted as an accelerator of positive reputation of Finnish education globally. Now Finland is taking steps to make its education to an exportable education product. The aim of this master's thesis is to examine how Finnish education is referred to as an export product and how it is justified. The aim was to critically examine the educational export discourse and to deepen the discussion on the Finnish education export. Comparative education perspective offers tools to examine the Finnish education export, in analyzing the transfer of educational practices from one context to another. In addition, international literature on the internationalization of education and on the development of Finnish education contextualize the thesis. The case representing Finnish education export was a Finnish learning concept Yrityskylä, which is a learning module for sixth and ninth graders. The research data was collected by interviewing the participants involved in Yrityskylä's internationalization. Along with the interviews, the data consisted of observation and documents related to the internalization project. The data was analyzed by operating with critical discourse analysis. The aim of the discourse analysis was to come out from the case, to look more extensively on the discourses of Finnish education exports and to reveal assumptions and common truths in the speech of Finnish education exports. As a result of the thesis, four discourses were constructed, which justify and describe the Finnish educational export speech and discussion. The discourses were the discourse of Finnish quality, the discourse of global necessity, the discourse of the potential of productization, and the discourse of innovative solutions. Based on the thesis, Finnish education export is presented without critical examination of the culture and context of the recipient country. Finnish education is presented as an excellent concept that does not need an explanation. Finnish education export is seen as an untapped potential and productization is presented as a solution. Finnish education export rely on the Finnish curriculum, but the actual products are presented as innovations, outside the traditional school.

Contradictory perceptions about education export and the commercialization of education are factors that slow down education export. Many educationalists in fact are against commercialization of education. This study is a case study of Finnish teachers' experiences and perceptions of education export. The study deals with the theme of education export from both a Finnish and a global point of view. Three Finnish teachers who work or have worked with education export were interviewed for this study. All the study subjects worked in an education export project where a group of 100 teachers came from Saudi Arabia to Finland to learn about the Finnish school system. This study is made partly in a context of this particular project. In addition, the experiences and perceptions of the teachers that were interviewed were affected by their possible other experiences of education export and their experience from working as a teacher. The data was analyzed with the methods of qualitative content analysis. Teachers reflects continuously their professional identity while working. Teachers' constant further education and activity in the fast-changing field of education are considered important. Teachers face challenges during the projects of education export, caused by cultural differences. However, these differences didn’t appear as an obstacle for education export. Strong pedagogical expertise, good quality teacher education and honesty are the factors that teachers consider as strength of Finnish education export. Weaknesses are weak sales management, weak collaboration between Finnish operatives and organizations and Finland’s conditions. Teachers don’t consider education commercialization problematic. Results show that education export is considered strongly as a business yet its ideological side appears in teachers' point of views.