A distributed leadership perspective on the Finnish curriculum reform 2014

Tian, Meng; Risku, Mika

doi:10.1080/00220272.2018.1499806

Cited by 28 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The FNBE, an independent governmental agency, is responsible for orchestrating reform of the national core curriculum approximately every ten years (Vitikka, Krokfors, & Rikabi, 2016), and the core curriculum provides the grounding for the district-level curriculum development work (see also Mølstad, 2015). The Finnish top-down-bottom-up approach to school development (Pietarinen, Pyhältö, & Soini, 2017) sees the local education providers as important stakeholders who are involved and engaged in the school development process (Tian & Risku, 2019;Vitikka et al, 2016). Accordingly, local curricula are constructed within the framework of the national core curriculum by the education providers, generally as a joint curriculum for a municipality or district.…”

Section: Core Curriculum Reform In Finlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The organisation of the district-level curriculum work ranged from carrying out the reform work within one municipality to working groups consisting of representatives from several neighbouring municipalities. The size of the working groups also varied, as well as the extent of involvement of school leaders, teachers and other stakeholders in the working groups (see alsoTian & Risku, 2019). However, the processes of orchestrating the district-level reform work were rather similar between districts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Curriculum coherence as perceived by district‐level stakeholders in large‐scale national curriculum reform in Finland

Sullanmaa

Pyhältö

Pietarinen

et al. 2019

The Curriculum Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It has been suggested that curriculum coherence is crucial in successful educational reform. However, empirical research on the topic is still scarce. This study explores how the stakeholders involved in curriculum development at the district level perceived curriculum coherence. Survey data (n=550) were analysed using structural equation modelling. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that curriculum coherence consists of three complementary components: consistency of the intended direction; an integrative approach to teaching and learning; and alignment between objectives, content and assessments. Moreover, the results showed that curriculum coherence contributes to the expected impact of the reform on the school level development. The study adds to the research on curriculum reform by showing that curriculum coherence is a central determinant of the reform taking root at the school level, and by introducing a scale for measuring perceptions of curriculum coherence within the context of large-scale national curriculum reform.

show abstract

Section: Core Curriculum Reform In Finlandmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Curriculum coherence as perceived by district‐level stakeholders in large‐scale national curriculum reform in Finland

Sullanmaa

Pyhältö

Pietarinen

et al. 2019

The Curriculum Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A societal perspective is as important as the organizational one" (p. 381). Another indication of a redefinition of Nordic educational leadership research is visible when Tian & Risku (2018) argue that "Even though enacting curriculum reforms inherently incorporates leadership elements, very few studies have so far connected these two types of research." Their contribution is to adopt a non-affirmative education theory combined with distributed leadership, to study such curriculum enactment.…”

Section: The Globalized Neoliberal Policy Context As a Challenge For mentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Educational Leadership and Curriculum Reform

Uljens

2018

NJCIE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

On a state level both curriculum policy work and educational leadership are increasingly challenged by new transnational phenomena in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas alike: expanding cultural neo-national-ism, more populist politics, economic protectionism, new forms of self-centered identity formation, reli-gious fundamentalism, mistrust in democratic political participation, and decreasing respect for knowledge institutions and established media. These developments have many roots but appear partly as consequences of neoliberally driven policy initiatives and globalization. Consequently, there is increasing mistrust as to whether curriculum, leadership, and evaluation initiatives driven by a global neoliberal policy may provide sustainable solutions for guiding reforms in the public sector, including education. Not surprisingly, also the existing curriculum and educational leadership theory are under scrutiny. This article provides openings pointing to a hermeneutic and systems-oriented, multilevel and professional approach for reorienting na-tional systems with respect to collaborative work on curriculum, leadership, and evaluation. Such a Bild-ung-centered view on human identity, growth, and citizenship is congruent with a non-affirmative educa-tion theory (NAT). It provides a conceptualization that is able to deal with curriculum and leadership gen-uinely based on an idea of education. Such a position grounds educational leadership, curriculum, and pol-icy work, as well as evaluation and school reform, in education theory. As a general education theory the non-affirmative position is able to bring together an analysis of educational aims, contents, and methods of schooling, teacher professionalism, and leadership. In addition, NAT frames an understanding of how cur-riculum work at different levels is initiated, implemented, and enacted. In bridging these perspectives, it is argued that critical and hermeneutic NAT provides a theoretically productive approach to present-day local, national, and global education problems. As a foundational frame of reference, NAT allows us to perceive curriculum discourses as different forms of mediating, hermeneutic invitations, and summoning to self-activity and self-formation (Bildung), within and for a democratic polity.

show abstract

“…Aiempi tutkimus suomalaisista opetussuunnitelmauudistuksista on osoittanut, että paikallisten opetussuunnitel maprosessien organisoinnissa on vaihtelua (esim. Holappa 2007;Tian & Risku 2019) ja esimerkiksi opettajien näkemykset opetussuunnitelmasta ja sen kehittämisestä eroavat (esim. Atjonen 1993;Salminen 2018).…”

Section: Johdantounclassified

“…Atjonen 1993;Salminen 2018). Yhteistyön rooli on nähty uudistustyössä yhä enemmän keskeisenä (Holappa 2007;Tian & Risku 2019). Kuitenkin empiirinen näyttö siitä, miten paikallisten opetussuunnitelmaprosessien osallistujat kokevat uudistustyön ja vastavuoroisen kehittämisstrategian on niukkaa.…”

Section: Johdantounclassified

Kohti uutta perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelmaa – opetussuunnitelmatyö paikallisten toimijoiden kokemana

Siurua¹,

Pyhältö

Pietarinen

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Local educational stakeholders have a central role in organizing districtlevel curriculum development in Finland. Earlier research has shown that the implementation strategy affects the effectiveness of the reform. In Finland, an interactive topdownbottomup strategy requires local implementers to organize and manage districtlevel curriculum work. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the local curriculum process as experienced by the districtlevel stakeholders. Survey data (N = 550) were analyzed using mixed methods. The results showed that the topdownbottomup implementation strategy, including change management and knowledge sharing, was related to the perceived success of the reform. In addition, perceptions about the implementation strategy were related to the various ways of organizing the local curriculum process. Teachers’ professional development and engagement in the process, facilitation of participation, management of the process and coherence making were identified as the key factors in the curriculum process by the stakeholders.

show abstract

A distributed leadership perspective on the Finnish curriculum reform 2014

Cited by 28 publications

References 24 publications

Curriculum coherence as perceived by district‐level stakeholders in large‐scale national curriculum reform in Finland

Curriculum coherence as perceived by district‐level stakeholders in large‐scale national curriculum reform in Finland

Understanding Educational Leadership and Curriculum Reform

Kohti uutta perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelmaa – opetussuunnitelmatyö paikallisten toimijoiden kokemana

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About