The ‘spirit of the times’: Fast policy for educational reform in Finland
This article examines the nature of neoliberal influences upon educational policy making in the Finnish education system in recent times. The article draws upon key policy documents, government reports, journal articles and media articles about reforms in the early childhood, basic/compulsory school and vocational education and training sectors to evidence these processes. Analytically, these reforms are understood as instances of what has been referred to as ‘fast policy’. Methodologically, we draw upon principles of zeitgeist analysis to reveal the features and effects of these fast policy influences as they relate to educational provision in Finland. These features and effects include i…
Measuring, monitoring, and managing for productive learning? Australian insights into the enumeration of education
This article reflects upon how teacher learning is currently construed under conditions of increased measurement of student learning outcomes, and the effects of advocacy for such enumeration processes. It draws upon a broad range of literature on the practice of education, measuring learning, and its effects on teachers? learning. To help ground the analysis, the paper analyses the meeting transcripts of an ongoing, long-term teacher learning initiative in a school in northern Queensland, Australia, and how processes of measurement influenced such learning. These reflections reveal teachers? practices as deeply influenced by the ways in which schooling is construed under conditions of inc…
Conceptualising and contesting ‘fast policy’ in teacher learning: a comparative analysis of Sweden, Finland and Australia
In this article, the authors refer to key national policies, and associated politics, in the Swedish, Finnish and Australian contexts, to reveal the key discourses that characterise how ongoing tea...