"I Believe in the Finnish Teacher!" Foreclosing Critique Within the "Finnish Model" of Education

• In Event: 43.077 - MTCC Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: 43.077-1 - Critical Inquiry on Education Beyond U.S. Borders

Abstract

This paper discusses some significant effects produced in Finnish education by the idea of ‘Finnish excellence’. Drawing on ethnographic materials collected in 2007-2016 by Finnish researchers working within the system, we illuminate through six vignettes how the ideas of excellence and exceptionalism foreclose critique. The paper shows the un/intended effects that international assessments (such as PISA) may have of on national educational systems successful in such assessments. Namely, the paper shows how Finnish teachers’ professional autonomy, authority and integrity come to be produced and sustained through particular binaries: “believer/non-believer,” “insider/outsider,” and “with us/against us.” This analysis serves to provide an international audience with insight into effects not usually addressed in the promotion of the ‘Finnish model’.

Authors

• Maija-Liisa Lanas, University of Oulu

• Eva Bendix Petersen, Roskilde University

• Johanna Sitomaniemi-San, University of Oulu