Mirror for the People: Disruptions and Aporias in Finnish National Curriculum Documents

  • Antti Saari
    Universidad de Tempera (Finlandia)
  • Tuomas Tervasmäki
    Universidad de Tempere (Finlandia)

Abstract

National curriculum texts are prime examples of the difficulties inherent in representing and constructing notions of citizenship in a democratic society. Whereas pre-democratic sovereigns were given Machiavellian advice in the genre of ‘mirrors for princes’, the modern school curriculum embodies a ‘specular logic’ of political discourse, providing the people with an image of themselves as ‘unity in difference’. This image is then implemented and reinforced in the education system.Using post-foundationalist political theory, we analyze how representations of citizenship are fabricated in national curriculum discourses in an age of perceived dislocation – when continuity in the political order is seen threatened. As a case example, we use Finnish curriculum discourses – national curricula as well as academic texts for the planning, implementation and evaluation of curricula – from the 1950s to the 1970s. These discourses construct a cultural thesis of a nation where formersymbols of national unity – based on romantic notions of country, language, and faith – are swiftly evaporating. Profound political, technological, and industrial changes were seen to require more general adaptation and cooperation skills thanbefore, amounting to a new temporal orientation or ‘future shock’ – the aim of which was to respond to unknown future demands rather than to simply secure a sense of historical continuity.
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(Traducción de Domingo Barroso, Universidad de Granada)
Saari, A., & Tervasmäki, T. (2022). Mirror for the People: Disruptions and Aporias in Finnish National Curriculum Documents. Historia De La Educación, 40(1), 103–120. https://doi.org/10.14201/hedu202140103120

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