Background: International achievement studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have an increasing influence on education policy worldwide. The use of such data can provide a basis for evidence-based policy-making to initiate educational reform. Finland, a high performer in PISA, is often cited as an example of both…

In Finland, teachers' have extensive autonomy, that is freedom from control by others over their professional actions in the classroom, and it is considered a strength of Finnish education. At the same time, national assessment of learning outcomes has been constructed to examine the learner's progress and achievements in relation to the criteria…

This case study examines a Nordic on-line course on gender equality promotion in education, in which principals, teachers, school staff and gender equality activists engaged in dialogue regarding contents and practices. The on-line course was designed with reference to promising practices identified in a previous Nordic network project. The…

Nowadays, women outperform men in educational attainment in many countries. Still, large variation between countries remains. Emancipatory contexts in which individuals are raised might explain these differences in male-female educational attainment, both over time and across countries. This study examines individual and contextual factors that…

This article is based on a meta-ethnographic analysis of educational research from rural and urban areas in Finland, Norway and Sweden following the reorganisation of educational supply there in line with market policies. Edward Soja's concept of spatial justice shapes the analysis. Using meta-ethnography, we try to present a contextualising…

The purpose of this article is analysis of discursive marginalisation through education in Nordic welfare states. What knowledge do Nordic research discourses produce about marginalisation through education in Nordic welfare states? What are the Nordic contributions to research discourses on marginalisation through education? We apply a discourse…

This paper examines the main rationales for and possible implications of the policy of increasing international student numbers in higher education (HE). Drawing on critical discourse analysis, we map key themes emerging from two sets of data--university strategy documents and interviews with staff--collected at eight universities in four national…

The Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for children to be treated as human beings with a distinct set of rights, instead of as passive objects of care. They can and should be agents in their own lives. Child-initiated pedagogy recognizes this by respecting children's individual and collective views, interests, and motivations.…

Measuring the distance between countries and the goal of equality of opportunity in education has been the focus of recent contributions in the economic literature, which have concentrated either on intergroup gaps in access to a given level of studies or on intergroup gaps in educational achievement. We argue that both aspects are important and…

This article deals with challenging the gender inequalities that exist in education and working life. It contemplates the kinds of discursive power relations that have led to gender equality work in Finland. In today's conditions where equality issues are being harnessed more strongly to serve the aims of economic efficiency and productivity, it…

Neoliberal education policies have altered the operational environments of schools and affected school principals' job descriptions and requirements. As a result of managerialism, decentralisation and marketisation of education, principals are increasingly responsible for profitability, marketing and striving in competition, in addition to their…

This article compares recent governance reforms in Finnish and Portuguese higher education (HE) systems and institutions (HEIs). Although Portugal and Finland differ significantly, both the countries have recently undertaken similar HE legislative reforms. This article analyses the contexts and implementation processes of these legal frameworks:…

"Education at a Glance" is the authoritative source for information on the state of education around the world. It provides data on the structure, finances and performance of education systems across OECD countries and a number of partner economies. More than 100 charts and tables in this publication -- as well as links to much more…

Divisive rhetoric and heated political discourse surround the identification and education of gifted students and lead to opposing philosophical issues of egalitarianism versus elitism. Researchers have long chronicled the ambivalence in the United States over the concepts of giftedness and intellectual talent (Benbow & Stanley, 1996; see also…

The objectives of this dissertation include describing and analyzing the patterns of inequality in ALE participation at both the micro and macro levels. Special attention is paid to social origins of individual adults and their association with two groups of macro-level factors, social inequality (income, education, and skill inequality) and…