Short individual presentations and discussions (75 minutes) would be followed by a discussion with the audience for (45 minutes). 

Hannele Cantell on Maybe the PISA results are not enough. Ecosocial Sivistys (Bildung): the goal of Finnish education and civic society 

In Finland, the word ​‘sivistys’ is often linked to discussions about good quality education and active participation in civic society. In German, the translation is Bildung. In education, it alludes to a lifelong process of developing values along with knowledge and understanding, rather than mere training in skills. Sivistys / Bildung has been a goal of Finnish education for more than a hundred years. The talk will discuss ecosocial sivistys and the Utopia research project about young people’s dreams, visions and practices for sustainable futures.

Heidi Layne on Myths and realities of equity in Finnish education

The Nordic welfare model is characterised by a safety net for its citizens including equal and free education. Increasing ethnic diversity brought about the need for multicultural education and research on teaching students with diverse cultural and language backgrounds in Finland. However, there has always been diversity in Finnish society in relation to religion, language, family and social backgrounds. The talk will discuss the current challenges and existing strengths of the Finnish education system in tackling this diversity.

Tuomo Virtanen on Supporting student diversity to strengthen school engagement and learning

The talk will engage with strengths and challenges in the current Finnish education system in supporting students’ learning, school attendance and participation. It will provide suggestions to modify the current support structures to enable improved student engagement at school.

Riikka Johanna Suhonen on ​‘Vocational education can build global citizens and sustainable futures, but who would care?’

The importance of vocational education within the current societal and ecological intersecting global crises, as well as within educational equity and social inclusion objectives nationally, is not sufficiently understood. Also, research on vocational education in Finnish universities remains in the margins. This presentation will explore whether and how vocational education in Finland could support vocational learners to develop their critical sociopolitical awareness and action to build more sustainable futures. 

About the Speakers

Hannele Cantell is a Senior University Lecturer of geography education in the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. Her teaching and research interests are in sustainability issues, like global education, climate education, sustainability education and geography education. She has contributed to Finnish basic and upper secondary education curriculum reforms. She has produced several schoolbooks, other teaching and learning materials, non-fiction scientific books, and novels. Hannele has been a long-time collaborator with the Azim Premji Foundation (since 2011).

Heidi Layne is a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable and Global Education at the University of Jyväskylä and she holds an Adjunct Professorship in Sociology of Education at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her research interests are on social and cultural sustainability, social and eco injustices, interculturality and antiracism pedagogy, teacher education and developing innovative qualitative research methods.  She leads the GINTL-funded Education for Emergencies research project and is a Chair for an SDG4 seminar and the Cultivating Change through Global and Sustainable Education network.

Tuomo Virtanen is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and an Associate Professor II at the University of Stavanger, Norway. He applies advanced structural equation modeling techniques in his research. His interests include student engagement in school and lessons, integration of immigrant background students into Finnish basic education, school absenteeism, and classroom interactions. 

Riikka Johanna Suhonen is a doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on understanding and applying global citizenship education in upper secondary vocational education especially in Finland. These interests draw upon her earlier studies in humanistic and social sciences (African Studies and Global Development Studies) and work experience within development cooperation, global education, and internationalisation in vocational education.