Search

The paper contrasts two different approaches to the educational challenges of the ubiquitous, rapidly developing information and communication technologies (ICT). The first is the constructivist "knowledge building" theory spearheaded by Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia and recently further developed by Kai Hakkarainen and Sami Paavola; the second is a pragmatist standpoint drawing in particular from John Dewey's ideas about learning as a natural part of human social actions and transactions. The knowledge builders have set their approach out as a suitable answer to the challenges of the present-day, ICT-characterised "Knowledge Age". But here it is argued that a pragmatist approach can be advanced that avoids the over-intellectualisation of education characteristic of knowledge builders and thereby offers a viable alternative for improving present-day educational practices in ways that promote appropriate utilisation of ICT in schools in particular.

In accordance with the education policy which puts human capital at its heart, higher education is expected to produce marketable competent professionals in response to the needs of an expansive knowledge-based economy. In one reading, to support competitive knowledge-based economy, higher education students should graduate as young and fast as possible. The article asks whether it is credible that the "young & fast" principle as an objective for university education would provide a feasible way of enhancing professional labour force to serve knowledge economies. The analysis of study careers of 17,000 European second cycle university graduates shows that transitions from school to higher education to professional employment vary considerably in the 12 countries. The key finding is that countries with rather slow progression in the initial part of the transition tend to do better in the end, and vice versa. Belgium (Flanders) is the most obvious example of young and fast-graduating students that need a relatively long period after graduation to start their professional careers. In Finland, Austria, and Norway, relatively old and experienced graduates are employed rapidly. The time before professional employment after graduation is short for students who have acquired relevant work experience and acquainted themselves with professional fields. The youngest professionals are found in France where they tend to have access to opportunities for professionally relevant training. However, professional employment cannot be fostered by simply trying to recruit student populations as young as possible, but rather by enriching the labour market relevance of their student careers.

This paper applies methodological relationalism, leaning on a pragmatist theory of action of classical Deweyan origin, supplemented among other things with Alva Noë's enactivism, to analyze the development of communication technologies as a part of human cultural evolution. Tool‐use and technologies are understood as skillful human activities that form hubs of organized activity in developed human communities. Appreciating the quite slow pace of evolution, the article adopts, all told, a two million year time frame. Six epochs of cultural evolution are distinguished, linked to the introduction of communication tools and technologies as skillful human activities that serve the members of growing communities in the ecological niche at hand. The first two epochs arose from forms of communication serving local, small‐sized hunter‐gatherer bands; the second couple arose with technologies apt for building nation‐wide communities and culture; and the latest two have been propelled by global communication networks, having an impact on billions of people. Finally, certain peculiarities of the presently unfolding World Wide Web epoch, connected in particular to this era's exceptionally efficient behavior modification, are compared with earlier epochs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In higher education dual systems, graduates are qualified to apply for jobs in same professional fields along two separated educational routes. The research problem is whether the rival applicants for professional positions are treated equally in the labour market despite their different qualifications. From the graduates point of view, to be equal means to have an opportunity to be employed in accordance with one's professional skill. Applying European survey data, the article tests to what extent the "distribution of work" between university and non-university graduates seems to be based on educational qualifications or actual competence. Among 4,000 German, Dutch, Finnish, and Swiss graduates primarily in business and administration and engineering, only slight and occasional evidence of "status-based recruitment" was found. All in all, the research suggests that from the view of graduate employment, the European dual HE systems work very much following the principle of "different but equal".

Analysing foundation charters, this article explores the various purposes universities have been said to serve at different periods of time, how the distinction between universities and other educational establishments has been made, and how the actions of the academic community have been justified. The data consist of 225 charters of foundation from the year 1224 to 1999. Granted by rulers, the charters depict universities as being suited to serve widely differing purposes, such as furthering the material and spiritual prosperity of the nation and the local community, strengthening the right faith and training public servants. Charters granted universities privileges such as the status of "studium generale" and "ius ubique docendi," a universal teaching license. These privileges created a foundation for all later principles generally applicable to the academic world. The universities originating in academic guilds founded for the protection of scholars have always been answerable to societal demands. A certain degree of loyalty by academic people to those in power has, in turn, secured the universities and the academic community their vital integrity and freedom of opinion, publication and research.

Data on 25,000 university graduates in 10 European countries reveal national similarities and differences in the education-work relationship, degree structures, actual study duration, quality of education, and student mobility. European Union policy aimed at creating a common European Higher Education Area must consider both the constant functional and institutional diversification of "mass higher education" and persistent cultural differences and regional inequality. (Author/SV)

Examines the educational system in Nordic countries as it regulates passage of age cohorts from home through school to the labor market. States that formal education is failing to close the skills gap. Advocates delinking vocational training from formal schooling and reorganizing working life in terms of production of practical know-how through workplace learning. (SK)

Explores the postmodern critique of higher education, which presents a challenge to discard the contemplative conception of knowledge and promotes a pragmatic conception of inquiry. Discusses how higher education curricula, particularly scientific inquiry, can be renewed, taking into account this understanding of knowledge but also acknowledging the importance of practical measures. (EV)

Examines the attitudes of Finnish employers, employees, and the government over the last three centuries toward methods of acquiring vocational competencies needed in working life. Focuses on the apprenticeship/journeyman/master model and the vocational classroom model. (JOW)

Examines methodological presuppositions underlying comparative research into higher education, criticizing external approaches to comparing nationally differentiated higher education systems, arguing for a power-source analysis of social dynamics, and stressing the importance of a historical approach. A modified general model of social dynamics that provides better insight into the methodologically critical areas of comparative educational research is offered. (SM)

Interrogates the prevailing concept of the state as a regulative idea. Introduces Michel Foucault's notion of "governmentality" and investigates how it has historically been linked to education and to the Scandinavian "Caring State." Explores changing tasks of education and the nature of social contracts that could correspond to the new social conditions. (CMK)

Analyzes the changing links between higher education and the labor market, including conceptions of higher education's capacity to reduce social inequities and channel graduates into more prestigious forms of employment. Suggests that in general, higher education does not reduce inequities but may reinforce them, and it no longer guarantees more prestigious employment. However, it provides some social insurance. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the kind of symbolic and strategic value that science-legitimized pedagogical knowledge has in the professionalization of teacher education, studying the history of the science of teaching and the professionalization of teacher education in Finland and suggesting that the teaching profession is better understood when viewed in relation to the professionalization of teacher educators. (Author/SM)

Provides a brief overview of the Finnish educational system and examines the effects of family educational and socioeconomic background on access to and success in higher education. Data on 1985 and 1990 secondary school graduates and young adults indicated that children tended to aim at the same sort of education and jobs as their parents. (MDM)

This article proposes that efforts to coordinate higher education and employment of graduates depends on both the educational structure of the population and the structure of employment opportunities, making comparison across countries difficult. The situation in Europe, and particularly in Finland in relation to other countries, is examined. Attention is also given to public versus private employment. (MSE)

This article traces the shifting profile of the elementary school teaching profession in Finland over 130 years in relation to changes in the model of citizenship, acknowledging the role of the Scandinavian welfare state. Mass education has assigned teachers a crucial role in the initiation into adulthood. (SLD)

Adult education in Finland is examined as a second chance for those held back through inadequate education. Interviews with 3,990 adults make it clear that the ideal is not being fully realized. The probability of participation in adult education is heavily influenced by social status, cultural capital, and other factors. (SLD)

Finland's traditionally closed system of higher education, in which continuing education has been segregated into special centers, must address the reality of reduced resources and consider incorporating continuing education into the university. Establishment of a separate vocational higher education institution could further diversify the system. (MSE)

It is proposed that, although Finland has tightened the national role in the governance of higher education institutions in recent decades, a shift toward competition has meant a shift toward control by market forces. The effect of this policy on the roles and stratification of institutions is examined. (Author/MSE)

At a time when many countries are slowing expansion, Finland continues to provide for growth in funding, particularly research, until 1991. Pressures for reform include the growing number of students seeking higher education, the need for highly educated manpower, and pressure for international comparability of degrees. (MSE)