Background: In educational policies, two discourses on gender have existed since the 1980s. I call them the "gender equality discourse" and the "boy discourse". The gender equality discourse in education is based on international and national declarations and plans, and is focused predominantly on the position of girls and…

This essay is a critique of the scientific and policy rationales for transnational standardization. It analyzes two examples of policy export: early childhood standards in one of North America's oldest Indigenous communities and the ongoing development of international standards for university teaching. It examines calls for American education to…

In our knowledge-based world, the societies that prosper are the ones that generate knowledge--through research, through the interwoven relationship between the academe and funded research bodies and with industry. They are the new "centre". It is strange indeed to think of the countries of the Arab Gulf States as the…

This article argues that system-wide excellence in student learning is attainable at reasonable cost, using education policies differing from conventional market-oriented reform strategies prevalent in many other countries. In this respect, Finland is an example of a nation that has developed from a remote agrarian/industrial state in the 1950s to…

The author analyzes the stages of development of adult educators in Finland in the context of educational reform. To do so, he provides a sketch of the Finnish economy, 1960-1979, and discusses reforms in the educational system, 1960-1980, and government efforts to improve adult education nationally. (SK)

Discusses the connection of the arts and art education with politics, advocating that art educators can improve the status of arts in U.S. schools by applying political leverage and the insights of political science. Examines the Finnish system of arts education as a possible model for the United States. (GEA)

This article examines the Finnish recession and its impacts including changing demand for qualifications in the labor market and the need for new strategies, for both individuals and organizations, for the transition from education to work. (JB)

Representatives from five West European countries and the U.S. present overviews of their respective countries' education systems and approach to vocational education. The introduction notes that both money spent on and student enrollments in vocational education are increasing in Europe as in the U.S. and that educational reform appears to take…

Discusses the Finnish government's decision of principles concerning the development of adult education in terms of "free cultural and educational work": adult education centers or civic and workers' institutes, folk high schools, and study circles and cultural work of national civic organizations. (MF)

This volume contains a series of papers written for a symposium entitled "Adult Education and Allocation Policy in Sweden." Intended to provide a broader framework for analyzing allocation policy in adult education, the first paper is organized around the assumption that the effects of allocation policy both on participants and society…

Recent trends in Finnish higher education are examined, from the formulation of national policy since the 1980s to recent experiments in financing and accountability, efforts at promoting efficiency, and the conflict between traditional academic collegiality and imposition of government decision making. (MSE)

The education system of Finland is appraised by the Educational Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The problems of each educational sector and the relationships between sectors are examined and the contribution of the education system to the economic, cultural, and social life of the nation is assessed.…

This paper examines the history of Finnish didactics and the professionalization of teacher education. In Finland, didactics is an emerging academic discipline--the science of teaching or educational science for teacher education--and includes both the subject and contextual knowledge of teaching. At the same time, the context of teaching and…

These 17 articles on different subjects of the broader theme "lifelong learning" represent the latest results of the discussions of the Vocational Education and Culture Research Network. An introduction (Klaus Harney et al.) provides summaries of the contents. The articles are "The Global and International Discourse of Lifelong…

The increasing emphasis on entrepreneurship and self-employment training in vocational education and training (VET) worldwide was examined. Special attention was paid to the following themes: (1) the content and various concepts of entrepreneurship, including the distinction between external and internal entrepreneurship; (2) trends in…