Futures at Stake: Educational Dreams and Fears in the Narratives of Nordic Policy Makers

• In Event: Systems Thinking as a Solution to Failed Educational Reform Efforts

Abstract

Since the birth of the modern conception of the future, education has been pursuing a better future for individuals and societies. On the one hand future expectations are imprinted in educational semantics and structures e.g. in the ideas of perfectibility of individuals and societies as well as in education systems capability to manage different expectations on the base of measurable learning outcomes. On the other hand future has also become the external reference point for the education system itself: something that is yet unknown but still putting pressure for educational reforms. In this presentation I approach the future of basic education as it is presented in the stories of top-level educational policy makers in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Author

• Petteri Hansen, University of Helsinki