Browsing by Author "Kaartinen, Ella"

The enactment of Finland's first Compulsory Education Act in 1920 was significantly influenced by educational scientist and Member of Parliament Mikael Soininen. Previous studies have underlined his significance in passing the law, but there is no detailed analysis of how his speech influenced the passage of the law. The aim of this study is to find out what kind of discourses about compulsory education appeared in Soininen's speeches during the three discussions of the law in parliament in 1920. In addition, it will be also examined what kind of discourse order they form and how the discourses appeared in Soininen's speeches. The premise of the thesis was that Soininen's discourses on compulsory education played an essential part in the fact that the law passed despite the inflamed social situation. The thesis committed itself to the tradition of critical discourse analysis. In the implementation of the analysis, Pynnönen's (2013) three-phase discourse analysis process model was used. The examined material consisted of Soininen's plenary speeches during the debates on the Compulsory Education Act in 1920. In the analysis, four discourses were found: the discourse of protection, the discourse of progress, the discourse of inevitability and the discourse of patronage. Compulsory education appeared in the light of the discourses as a protection against social threats, as a promotion of Finland's status, as something that happens unstoppably like a natural phenomenon, and as a duty of the elite towards the common people. The discourse order formed by the discourses is the same as their order of presentation above. Apart from the patronage discourse, the discourses were strong which was evident for example in how they effectively suppressed opposition to compulsory education and the discussion of alternative ways of implementing compulsory education. The appearance of the discourses was focused on the speeches in the first and second parliament discussions on the Act. Discourses also escalated the further the handling of the law progressed. In terms of the passing of the law, the two opposite representations of the future of Finland appeared to be significant in the light of this study. The representations were created by the discourses of protection and progress. By presenting compulsory education as a feature of vitality, development, civilization and Western culture, passing the law gained more importance.