Democracy and Human Rights: A Critical Look at the Concept of Western Values in Finnish School Textbooks

Peer reviewe

Racism in Finnish School Textbooks: Developments and Discussions

While the Finnish education system has been celebrated for promoting equality, recent reports point to problems concerning racism within Finnish schools. Kristín Loftsdóttir suggests looking at racism from three angles: everyday racism, prior immobility, and structural racism. This chapter draws on this idea, showing how racism is present in Finnish school textbooks in history, social science and geography. Many textbooks seem to deviate from the curricular core values of equality by portraying the West as superior to the rest of the world. This is visible in different ways. While old racist or colonial words are removed from textbooks, the perspective may still only promote a Western worldview. Changes in textbooks might stay on a superficial level, rather than reaching the epistemological perspective. History textbook passages about colonial times might include images of racist caricatures to express the explicit racism of this era. Similar caricatures are being removed from consumer products, and we might ask whether they belong to history teaching, particularly if they do not encourage a discussion about continued racism. Using textbooks with racist content requires that teachers are aware of racism. The teacher needs to know how to lead critical reflection, while keeping the classroom safe from racist remarks. During a pandemic, when students are alone with textbooks, there is a particular concern about the democratic task of educating for anti-racism. This is especially important in a world largely influenced by a media discourse that makes certain racist opinions unremarked or seen as a matter of common sense.Peer reviewe

Constructing threats and a need for control: textbook descriptions of a growing, moving world population

Peer reviewe

A postcolonial discourse analysis of Finnish school textbooks: learning about the world from a tourist perspective

In this article, we ask how Finnish basic education school textbooks in social science portray tourism and countries with a big tourism sector. We have analyzed the textbook quotes from a postcolonial perspective, using discourse theory analysis. The idea is to challenge what is considered objective information about tourist locations in school textbooks. The results show that even if some ethical questions are at times debated openly, particularly environmental problems at tourist sites, tourism is considered as something predominantly positive. The textbook reader is assumed to be a potential tourist. Some textbook quotes resemble tourist brochures, while people living in tourist locations are given marginal importance. A key argument is that the unequal global power relations between tourists and those living in tourist locations are not challenged. Considering tourism from a postcolonial point of view brings a vital perspective to social science education. There is a need to challenge the positions that are appointed to textbook readers

Intercultural education in transition : Nordic perspectives

Over the last several decades intercultural education has played a key role in many educational policies and practices, both across the Nordic countries and internationally. In this article we examine current conceptual discourses on intercultural education with an emphasis on developments in the Nordic research context. The analysis shows how the concept of intercultural education and its focus on “culture” has been criticised in the Nordic countries and internationally for the pitfalls of essentialism and relativism. This criticism is linked to a perceived lack of focus on power issues in education, which undermines the development of a social justice-orientated intercultural education. However, the analysis within the Nordic research context shows signs of re-conceptualisations, which includes a widening of the field and the emergence of new and more critically-orientated approaches.Peer reviewe

Westerners and others in Finnish school textbooks

This study focuses on the worldview constructed in Finnish and Swedish history, social studies and geography textbooks in Finland. I have approached the textbooks from a postcolonial perspective. This means a focus on the descriptions of global power relations, more explicitly the descriptions of Westerners and others. Postcolonial scholars have shown that education has long been Eurocentric, particularly in school subjects such as history and geography. They have also pointed out that the outcomes of colonialism have both epistemological and material aspects. Learning about the world, as consisting of superior Westerners and inferior others, has gone hand in hand with aspiring for its domination. Today, the world no longer consists of colonial powers and colonies; however, researchers have suggested that globalization can be seen as ongoing colonialism. This has implications for education. School textbooks reflect the dominant values of a society. Studying them is a way of clarifying how society constructs what is normal, suitable and ideal. The textbooks researched for this study include the history, social studies and geography textbooks (basic education, years 5-9) printed between 2005 and 2010 by all major Finnish textbook publishers. They were based on the 2004 curriculum, which states that the underlying values of basic education include human rights, equality and democracy. Meanwhile, research shows that prejudiced and racist attitudes are prevalent and increasing among young people in schools in Finland. This suggests that there is a particular need to study the descriptions of Westerners and non-Westerners in the textbooks. The purpose of this research is to explore discourses in history, social studies and geography textbooks, particularly concerning the construction of the concept of the West and its relation to the rest of the world. Research question: How do the textbooks construct an understanding of the West and Western people as superior to others? Some relevant analytical concepts from Laclau and Mouffe s discourse theory analysis have been used in the research. Based on these concepts, the textbook texts were organized in order to find central themes and to explore discourses. Laclau s and Mouffe s ontological assumptions, including the idea that what is considered objective can be seen as ideological, have also been important for the analysis. The articles included in the thesis show how the hegemony of a superior West is depicted in different ways. This includes descriptions of historical events as well as current global relations. While most of the old stereotypes about non-Westerners have begun to vanish from the textbooks, there are other statements that work to strengthen the image of the West as superior to others. Western violence is hidden or justified in past as well as current conflicts. Values such as democracy and human rights are considered essentially Western. The articles also show how hegemony can work to make ideological claims into common sense. This includes subtle descriptions of ideological choices presented as neutral, even though they involve assumptions that clash with the principles of human rights and democracy. Examples of phenomena that are portrayed as neutral include the control of non-Westerners migration, non-Western populations and a non-challenging attitude towards the structures of global inequality.Studien fokuserar på den världsbild som konstrueras i finländska (finska och svenska) läroböcker i historia, samhällslära och geografi. Läroböckerna synas ur ett postkolonialt perspektiv. Fokus ligger på hur globala maktrelationer, särskilt gällande "västerlänningar" och "andra" beskrivs. Postkoloniala forskare har visat att skolundervisningen länge varit eurocentrisk, särskilt i skolämnen som historia och geografi. De har också konstaterat att resultaten av kolonialismen har både epistemologiska och materiella aspekter. Att lära sig om världen som bestående av över- och underlägsna människor har gått hand i hand med strävanden efter dess dominans. Idag består världen inte längre av kolonialmakter och kolonier, däremot finns det röster som talar för att globaliseringen kan ses som en fortsättning på kolonialismen. Detta kan anses få konsekvenser för utbildningen. Läroböcker återspeglar de dominerande värderingarna i ett sam-hälle. Att studera dem är ett sätt att tydliggöra hur samhället kon-struerar vad som är normalt, lämpligt och idealiskt. Forskningsmaterialet i denna studie består av de sex största finländska läro-boksförlagens läroböcker i historia, samhällslära och geografi (årskurs 5-9) som är tryckta mellan 2005 och 2010. Böckerna är baserade på läroplanen från år 2004, som betonar mänskliga rättigheter, jäm-ställdhet och demokrati i sin värdegrund. Trots den tydliga värdegrunden visar forskning att fördomar och rasistiska attityder är vanliga och tilltagande bland ungdomar i skolor i Finland. Det visar att det finns ett särskilt behov av att studera beskrivningar av västerlän-ningar och icke-västerlänningar i läroböckerna. Syftet med denna forskning är att undersöka diskurser i läroböcker i historia, samhällslära och geografi, med särskild betoning på hur väst och västerlänningar samt dessas förhållande till resten av världen konstrueras. Forskningsfråga: Hur konstruerar läroböckerna uppfattningar om väst och västerlänningar som överlägsna andra? Avhandlingen använder sig av begrepp från Laclau och Mouffes dis-kursteoretiska analys. Baserat på dessa begrepp har lärobokstexterna organiserats för att få syn på centrala teman och diskurser att belysa. Uppfattningen om att det som anses objektivt kan ses som ideologiskt är en del av den ontologiska utgångspunkten för avhandlingens ana-lys. Avhandlingens artiklar visar hur hegemonin om västerlänningar som överlägsna avbildas på olika sätt. Som exempel används be-skrivningar av historiska händelser såväl som nuvarande globala re-lationer. Medan de flesta gamla stereotyper om icke-västerlänningar har börjat försvinna från läroböcker, finns det andra uttryck som stär-ker bilden av västvärlden som överlägsen andra. Västerländskt våld är dolt eller rättfärdigat i beskrivningar av både historiska och nutida konflikter. Värden som demokrati och mänskliga rättigheter beskrivs som typiskt västerländska. Artiklarna visar också hur hegemonibe-greppet fungerar genom att få ideologiska påståenden att låta icke-ideologiska, som "sunt förnuft". Med detta menas subtila beskriv-ningar av ideologiska val som presenteras som neutrala, trots att de innebär åtgärder som strider mot principerna om mänskliga rättig-heter och demokrati. Beskrivningar av behovet av att kontrollera icke-västerlänningars migration och befolkningar men också en icke-utmanande attityd gentemot strukturella globala orättvisor är exem-pel på fenomen som porträtteras som neutrala

Globalization as Continuing Colonialism – Critical Global Citizenship Education in an Unequal World

In an unequal world, education about global inequality can be seen as a controversial but necessary topic for social science to deal with. Even though the world no longer consists of colonies and colonial powers, many aspects of the global economy follow the same patterns as during colonial times, with widening gaps between the world’s richest and the world’s poorest. An analysis of Finnish textbook texts includes practical examples of how globalization is portrayed within basic education. It reveals that the textbooks vary in their interpretations of the relationship between colonialism and globalization. The people of the North are rarely portrayed as responsible for the poverty in the South. Globalization is not described as a politically implicated phenomenon. The article also presents the critical global citizenship education initiative as an approach to the topic. It suggests that students can learn to challenge common assumptions that conceal the historical and structural roots of power relations. Teaching about privilege can be seen as another supplementary method to help students understand their position in the world

Demokrati i skolundervisningen i Finland och Sverige

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.I denna avhandling undersöks hur man lär ut demokrati i grundskolan i Finland och Sverige både i teorin och i praktiken. I inledningen klargörs skillnader mellan demokratidebatten i de två länderna. Det konstateras redan inledningsvis att man i Sverige har satsat mera på utredningar om demokrati. Därefter behandlas bakgrunden till demokrati i skolan. Den teoretiska referensramen består av de tre demokratimodellerna representativ, deltagande och deliberativ demokrati samt hur dessa kan tillämpas på avhandlingen. Förekomsten av demokratimodellerna samt andra intressanta drag påpekas i empiridelen, som består av tre delar. I den första granskas de dokument som styr demokratin i undervisningen, från regeringsnivå och hela vägen ner till detaljerade läroplaner. Det konstateras att Sverige överlag har utrett frågan i större utsträckning än vad man har gjort i Finland. Följande kapitel behandlar en internationell studie om elevers kunskaper i och attityder till samhällslära. I det sista empiriska kapitlet redogörs för en mera detaljerad undersökning av fyra utvalda skolor. Det kan konstateras att den svenska skolundervisningen i demokrati har drag av deltagande och deliberativ demokrati medan den representativa synen är den mest framträdande i Finland. Denna tendens visar sig förutom i genomgången av styrdokumenten också i resultaten från undersökningarna. Den internationella studien visar att de finländska eleverna är i toppklass vad gäller kunskapsfrågor medan de svenska eleverna klarar tolkningsfrågor bättre. Undersökningen visar dessutom att eleverna i de finländska skolorna lägger mindre vikt än de svenska vid socialt ansvar, både i skolan och i samhället. I undersökningen av de fyra skolorna stärks vissa av de resultat som redan kommit fram, och de finländska elevernas representativa och de svenska elevernas mera deltagande demokratisyn kommer ytterligare fram. Både i den internationella studien och i den mindre undersökningen av de fyra skolorna beaktas också lärarnas syn på demokrati i skolundervisningen

Nykyiset puhetavat ja käytännöt vaikeuttavat rasismin haastamista

Non peer reviewe

Learning together and value reflection in teacher education

This article describes a study about a phenomenon-based learning project that involved a group of first year student teachers and their lecturers. The project was carried out on the Suomenlinna World Heritage Site. We explore the learning opportunities the project provides to the students, and how core values are dis- cussed during the process. The data are the students’ reflective texts and video- recorded interactions that we analysed using content analysis and conversation analysis. The results show that learning is manifested as a set of emotional and practical experiences, problem solving, reflections and collaboration, and the ex- periences derive from working together. The conversation analysis sheds light on the process: it shows how the students move from disagreement to consensus when planning a task. At the beginning of the phenomenon-based learning pro- cess, the students expressed uncertainty and dissatisfaction. However, during the assignment, the uncertainty gradually disappeared and was replaced by creativi- ty, wonder and cooperation, and the joy of working together. During the process, the students also reflected on what is valuable in life and what pupils should learn at school. An awareness of values also emerged more generally as the students reflected on identity, belonging to a group, and social inequality in the past and today.Peer reviewe