Work

Taking steps towards institutionalising multicultural education – The national curriculum of Finland

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: Internationally multicultural education research has pointed to the need to move from superficial to social justice-oriented multicultural education. However, realising this goal in policy and practice is a challenge. This study takes Finland as a case and examines the discursive developments of multicultural education in its national curriculum 1994–2014. Despite being a country which is known for emphasising equity and equality in education, superficial forms of multicultural education have prevailed. However, the results of this study show that the curricular discourse is clearly moving towards social justice education where multicultural perspectives are an integrated part of the curriculum. The 2014 curriculum, which came into effect 2016, emerges as a policy which aims to foster ethical and respectful students with a sense of fairness and an open attitude towards all kinds of diversity. The challenge for Finland is to ensure implementation and advance transformativeness in future curriculum reforms.

Source: Multicultural Education Review

DOI: 10.1080/2005615x.2017.1383810

Authors: Harriet Zilliacus, Gunilla Holm, Fritjof Sahlström

Institutions: University of Helsinki, Åbo Akademi University

Language: English

Topic: Global Education and Multiculturalism

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Helsingin Yliopisto