Browsing by Subject "education policy"
Now showing items 1-3 of 3
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(2014)The Finnish national core curriculum for basic education is currently being renewed at the National Board of Education and the new curriculum will be implemented in August 2016. A curriculum defines the value basis and aims of teaching as well as the core contents to be taught. A curriculum is closely bound to its surrounding society reflecting its prevailing values, customs and traditions. Therefore, in order to renew the curriculum, it is essential to understand the societal changes and values recognized as important in the society. The drafts of the new curriculum were posted for the first time on the website of the National Board of Education for public commentary. This research examined what the feedback of the new curriculum draft was like; what themes did the commentators hold important concerning the curriculum and education in present and in the future? The research data consisted of 963 comments that were posted on the webpage of the National Board of Education regarding the draft of the general part of the new curriculum. The feedback form was open for 17 days in November and December 2012. The qualitative data analysis was done by coding with the help of Atlas.ti software. The comments discussed several issues regarding the Finnish school, its mission and the appreciations of the commentators. As a result, four major themes were found: 1) equality in education; 2) the use of authentic learning environments and multi-professional collaboration with surrounding community; 3) the role of Finnish cultural heritage and religious education and 4) sustainable development and global citizenship. These results reflect the values and topics the commentators held important for the future in terms of developing the Finnish school and society.
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(2015)The aim of the study was to look at who was involved in the Helsingin Sanomat's debate on the segregation process in Finnish comprehensive schools and what kind of institutional positions they were talking from. In addition, this study explores the main themes and views of the debate. Previously, there has been limited research in this area, which should be considered as an important topic for Finnish education and needs to be understood. The theoretical basis of this study contains the examination of the development of Finnish school policy and how the Finnish school system has formed during the past decades. The existing research data related to the school segregation has also been taken into account. The data consisted of 52 articles from Helsingin Sanomat newspaper. The articles were published during the period 2005-2014 and all of them were dealing with the School segregation process. The research method was qualitative content analysis, which was supported by calculating essential factors from the research data. The research showed that the debate on the segregation process in Finnish comprehensive schools was divided into eight different themes: reasons for the segregation process of schools, free school choice, where school segregation is reflected, proponents of neighbourhood school principle, perspective of educational equality, what has already been done to prevent the segregation process, what should be done to prevent the segregation process and where schools inequality leads to if nothing is done. The most common theme was what should be done to prevent the school segregation process and it was mainly the researchers and the officials of the school administration that participated in the discussion. Politicians, headmasters and teachers were also involved in the debate, however, ordinary citizens and parents were conspicuous by their absence. Helsingin Sanomat appeared to take a fairly active part in the debate but the primary aim of the newspaper seemed to have been to offer a discussion forum to third parties.
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(2020)Based on previous studies, neoliberal features have been observed in Finnish education policy. The government has made education-related reforms in recent years. My research examines the recent public debate surrounding education reforms in a neoliberal framework. I examine what themes, goals, rationales, and attitudes toward education reform are given in the public debate. I will try to find out how neoliberalism manifests itself in these debates. The aim of my dissertation is to bring out the public debate around education reforms and education policy. The study of the debate is intended to bring out different perspectives and voices, from education policy experts, academics, students, and individual citizens. I examine the manifestations of neoliberal education policy in the light of these debates. My research is a qualitative study. I search answers to two research questions. My data consists of articles. As a research method, I used content analysis. The data of my research consists of 51 articles by Helsingin Sanomat published in 2015–2019. Articles were analyzed by content analysis. Through content analysis, I found four different themes. I looked at the results in a neoliberal framework. The education reform debate revolved around student selection, industry changers, education cuts, and education policy. The debate around education reforms was controversial. On the one hand, education reforms were justified as profitable and good ideas, but on the other hand, they were criticized and questioned. Educational reforms raised concerns and appeared to pose threats to education and the scientific community, as well as to society. Based on the discussion, neoliberal features emerge in education reforms.
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