UNESCO has indicated the need for more research to test the effectiveness of education for sustainable development (ESD). This study analyzes how ESD is included in the Finnish national core curriculum and examines four environmental indicators to determine if a correlation exists between ESD and a cleaner physical environment in Finland. The…

In the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Compulsory Education (2014), the conception of language is based on the communal and functional linguistics model of language. From the perspectives of teaching and learning, this requires that learning contexts and pedagogies enable learning in such learning environments, roles, and processes where the…

This paper discusses the relationship between knowledge and society in social studies by analysing how society is presented in four Finnish social studies textbooks currently in use in comprehensive education. Besides its empirical contribution, the paper examines the possibilities of applying Michael Young's understanding of powerful knowledge in…

In this article we examine the profiling of human rights and children's rights in religious education (RE) and its secular alternative in Finland. We use the term 'worldview education' to describe the combination of these subjects. We analyse what kinds of human rights and ethical issues are raised in Finnish worldview education. One specific…

This article reviews possibilities of raising learners' language and culture awareness or that of multilingualism as subjectively experienced, based on a review of two collections of studies that have made use of arts-based methodologies. This kind of data makes it possible to recollect past experiences, envision future events and reflect on…

The subject of computer science (CS) and computer science education (CSE) has relatively recently arisen as a subject for inclusion within the compulsory school curriculum. Up to this present time, a major focus of technologies in the school curriculum has in many countries been on applications of existing technologies into subject practice (both…

The primary objective of this paper is to discuss the implications of applying Habermas's concept of self-critical appropriation for rethinking the structure of the modernist curriculum, specifically the organization of school subjects and instruction time devoted to each of them. To this end, the paper examines Habermas's differentiation between…

This article examines how three national curricula for basic education in Finland reflect transnational policy perspectives from 1994 to the present. By developing a conceptual apparatus for curriculum analysis, we examine how national curricula in Finland can be interpreted as modifications of transnational policy transfers shaped by…

This paper introduces the questions and approaches of a five-nation cross-cultural study of state-based curriculum-making discussed in this issue of "JCS." The paper reviews the two decade-long interest of many nations in state-based curriculum-making and presents a framework for thinking about state-based curriculum-making as a tool of…

Due to European agreements and policy expectations, national authorities are revising their formal curricula in line with an evidence-oriented policy. The article explores how new trends in formulating curricula can be regarded as an outcome of experts' semantics and impact on education policy. The article reanalyses documentation from a project,…

Jean-Paul Sartre claims in his 1945 lecture "Existentialism is a Humanism" that there are two kinds of existentialism: that of Christians like Karl Jaspers, and atheistic like Martin Heidegger. Sartre's "spiritual master" Heidegger had no problem with Sartre defining him as an atheist, but he had serious problems with Sartre's…

This article focuses on the learning affordances of different language and communication curricula in the world. For reasons of space, only two national education systems (Finland and Singapore) and their language and communication curricula are referred to. The accounts of national education systems consist of the identification of mechanisms…

Finland's high test scores have prompted international comparisons of educational policy. This article explores the use of assessment in Finland, particularly the intended use of student assessment and evaluation of schools as described in the National Curriculum. This article explores Finnish educational policy through the lens of formative and…

The main goal of this article is to discuss the possibility of adapting the suggestions by Hargreaves and Shirley (2009) in their book "The Fourth Way." This paper will discuss the topic of educational change and reform through three main points. First, it will review the most important advantages and disadvantages that characterize the…

The article investigates the status of geography education in the Finnish national curricula from the 1970s until today. Conceptions of teaching, learning and change in society are traced through curriculum texts; in addition, the ways in which these are applied in the subject-specified aims and content of the geography curriculum are explored.…