Browsing by Subject "education policy"

As in many countries, education in Chile has been a huge problem for authorities and researchers. Over time, there have been many attempts to improve quality, but with little to no success. It is difficult to find the main reason why Chilean education faces many problems. One reason could be the way teachers understand the policy instruments; the national curriculum, and how clear it is. However, it also could be related to the way of using skills related to communication in general, and teacher-student interaction in particular. My assumption is they have been ignored or under considered as part of the teaching process. Some experts have recognized the relevance of communication and teacher- student interaction, because of the significance of reciprocity. It has a very crucial role for effective teaching and learning to take place (Arthur, Gordon, & Butterfield, 2003). This is an in-depth research into both systems of education, a comparative and qualitative investigation that aim to analyse guidelines for teachers and principals. This research will collect data through the analysis of both national curriculums, to see how these terms are mentioned and described in them as part of the guidelines of every taught subject, and how many of these teaching methods include teacher-student interaction. For this reason, the purpose of my thesis is to analyse how the elements of communication and teacher-student interaction are presented in the official curriculums of Chile and Finland. Although the analysis of documents is the main source of data, this investigation considers also the observation to understand the dynamics in the classroom, despite being only an illustration.

This thesis aims to examine the representation of the policy problem behind inclusion in education at the compulsory education level. The other purpose is to analyze how the inclusive education policies differ from the others at different levels: global, European, national, local and new philanthropy. The thesis examines policy papers by the actors at three highest-level actors: global-level the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European-level the European Union (EU), and national-level Finland. The perspective is to respect children’s rights and interests. The thesis theorizes inclusion in education historically, conceptually, and linguistically in Europe and in Finland. The thesis argues that inclusion in education is a value-based ideology and can be defined as a continuous process. Policies of inclusion in education are part of the broader global ideological objective of inclusive societies, which are against social exclusion. Along with globalization and Europeanisation, education policy as well has been globalized. As a result, the education policy can be seen as multilevel network governance where all actors cooperate. However, the OECD is at the of the network as an umbrella in global education policy and monitors the education policy of all actors. The thesis applies the post-structural What’s the problem represented? (WPR) approach by Carol Bacchi (2009) in order to examine the problem representation and conceptual logics behind social exclusion. Additionally, the WPR approach provided to problematize differences between the policies of the actors. According to Foucauldian post-structuralism, governed changes towards more inclusive education systems are slow because of different languages, cultures and welfare states. Inclusion in education as a value-based ideology is based on economic integration in order to provide quality competence-based education and lifelong learning in order to maintain employability which is a primary factor to involve all citizens in fast-growing diverse societies. Regarding the findings, inclusive education policies by all actors are against social exclusion, but the principles of subsidiarity define the effectiveness of the policies. In conclusion, the conceptual logics of the prevention of social exclusion are an accumulation of risks such as unemployment, lower socio- economic status and immigration. The main objective of the policies is to maintain employability. The most fundamental difference between the actors is linguistic or terminological. In conclusion, problematisation questions why Finland uses the term “equality”, whereas the other actors admit the current use of the term “equitable”, which provides diverse comprehension of non-binary individuals instead logics of binary gender. This problematisation, as a significant finding, emphasizes that there is a demand for broader research in gender studies in education policy. The thesis argues that underachieved “boys” in Finland might be something other than binary-defined boys who are at risk of social exclusion in adulthood.