In the present study we examine how Finnish vocational education and training (VET) experts reflect on multiculturalism in the aftermath of a major reform. The research material consists of interviews with educational policy experts in Finnish VET, namely: principals, government officials and lobbyists (N = 11). A qualitative thematic analysis…

The importance of experienced teachers cannot be underestimated. They can help raise the performance of students and improve the overall quality of schooling by supporting less-experienced colleagues. This "Teaching in Focus: Where to find experienced teachers?" analyses the distribution of teachers across schools from two different but…

Equity-centred teacher education recognises the dual challenge of preparing teachers to support the learning of all students while encouraging future teachers to recognise and challenge societal systems reproducing inequity. The paper focuses on analysing Finnish student teachers' perceptions of teachers' skills related to diversity and equity.…

Despite growing attention on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in education settings (Jones, S. M., McGarrah, M. W., & Kahn, J. (2019). Social and emotional learning: A principled science of human development in context. "Educational Psychologist," 54(3), 129-143. https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2102/10.1080/00461520.2019.1625776), there also has been…

The aim of the article is to offer a base for discussions on educational equality from the viewpoint of changes in the world causing widening disparities between pupils and students. The essence and possibilities of educational equity and equality in the Nordic educational realm are discussed from six viewpoints. The outcome is that all children…

This article carries out a cross-European comparison of stakeholder perspectives on catering to diversity within CLIL programs. It reports on a cross-sectional concurrent triangulation mixed methods study with 2,526 teachers, students, and parents in 59 Secondary schools in six European countries: Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the…

Educational reforms come and go; teachers transcend. Teachers shape lives in whatever context they live. The teacher is the one constant, necessary but not sufficient element in the educational process. For teachers to deliver excellent performance, with equity, in the classroom, they must receive sufficient, excellent treatment with equity in…

Childhood marginalization is the result of complicated processes that appears difficult to address for policymakers worldwide. Neo-institutional theory enables studies of the complexity of educational organizations, showing how they evolve in responses to their contradictory surroundings and generate unintended social inequality. Three Nordic…

This study seeks to explore the effect of tools of school governance advanced by the global reform agenda (1) on student performance and (2) on reducing the effect of sociodemographic variables on this performance. To do so, we compare two Nordic welfare states with an egalitarian tradition: Sweden and Finland. The Swedish school system has…

Self-regulation in the governance of higher education systems is often assumed to improve institutional performance, accountability, and responsiveness. Although studies of higher education governance have addressed the extent of self-regulation across national systems, there has been less investigation of the links between self-regulation and…

Children with disabilities remain among the most excluded from education in Global Partnership for Education (GPE) partner countries and other lower-income countries. Despite considerable activity funded both through GPE and by other donors, as well as by partner countries themselves, the level of international support to inclusive education…

In this article, we examine how policymakers from three Nordic countries, Finland, Iceland and Sweden, reflect on the future at 2 different points in time: just before the first PISA study (1998-1999) and more than 15 years later (2015-2017). The empirical data consist of interviews (N = 37) with national policymakers, collected in two comparative…

This article draws on case studies from abroad to illustrate what to avoid and what to promote in the quest for a socially just educational system. It first looks at the range of goals different countries have pursued in relation to education. It then focuses more closely on policies in a range of European countries, that have inhibited or enabled…

This study explores the effects of gendered inquiry-based learning (IBL) practices on other science learning experiences and motivations including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) career aspirations. For this, PISA 2015 data representing the Finnish 15-year-old student population has been selected and analyzed by multiple…

Previous research has shown that the importance of education for sustainability is acknowledged in Finnish early childhood education and care but not systematically put into practice. At present, curricula require considering social, cultural, economic and ecological sustainability in all activities. In this research, discourse analysis was used…