Anneli Sarja

Pedagogical perspectives on the relationships between higher education and working life

The relationship between higher educationinstitutions and their environment has changedmarkedly during the last two decades.Massification and diversification of the highereducation system, economic globalisation, novelmodes of knowledge production, new professionalrequirements and the establishment of newvocational higher education systems in manycountries have challenged higher educationinstitutions to develop new forms ofcollaboration with working life. The newsituation also challenges higher education todevelop pedagogical and educational thinkingand practices. The purpose of this article isto examine the pedagogical aspects of theincreasing interaction and collaboration thatis taking place between higher education andworking life and to outline what kind ofchallenges it poses for research on highereducation. It is emphasised that from thepedagogical viewpoint integration betweentheory and practice in work-based learning isessential. Our general conclusion is that therelationship between higher education andworking life should be examined at least fromfour different perspectives: (1) from theviewpoint of student learning and thedevelopment of expertise, (2) from the viewpointof educational institutions and staff, (3) fromthe viewpoint of working life organisations andemployers, and (4) from the viewpoint of societyand the system of education.

Professional learning communities and teacher well‐being? A comparative analysis of primary schools in England and Finland

The article is a comparative analysis of the policy and practice of professional learning communities (PLCs) in primary schools in England and Finland. The concept of PLC has become a globally fashionable one and has been explicitly advocated in policy documents in both countries. Drawing from a database of qualitative semi‐structured interviews with primary teachers, four key themes affecting their work and well‐being are identified: the primary school community; collaborative working; continuing professional development and trust and accountability. The realities of PLCs as experienced by primary teachers in each country are contrasted. Similarities in teachers’ responses were found, especially in examples of education policy borrowing. However, the different cultural contexts in each country resulted in some fundamental differences that strongly influenced the nature of, and possibilities for, school PLCs. While ideal notions of PLCs may be difficult to realise, it is argued that it is an important concept worth developing for its potential contribution to teacher well‐being.

Globalization and leadership and management: a comparative analysis of primary schools in England and Finland

This article analyses the impact of processes of globalization on both policy and practice in relation to primary school leadership and management in England and Finland. Data are drawn from case study research carried out from 1994–1996 in six schools in Finland and six schools in England and a follow‐up study on teacher professionalism (2001–2002) that involved 37 of the original participants being re‐interviewed. The article contributes to the ongoing debate concerning the extent to which global trends lead to homogeneity in educational systems or a ‘glocalized’ response. Such a glocalized response is derived not only from different cultural mediations at the national policy level but also from the various innovation biographies of different schools and the values of particular head teachers/principals. It is argued that, on the one hand, as a result of globalization there is growing uniformity, particularly in relation to the consequences of marketization and managerialism. Owing to the latter, principals in Finland like their English counterparts were found to be experiencing work intensification and role diversification that negatively impacted on their educative leadership. On the other hand, there is evidence also of processes of glocalization in terms of differential national educational policy changes (as, for example, in relation to testing and inspection). Global recommendations for the management of educational reform through collegial working relationships, distributed leadership and schools as learning organizations were promoted in both countries. However, the processes involved in these recommendations illustrate the manner in which national cultural influences and school factors lead both to some similarities and striking differences in their implementation.

From university to working life: mentoring as a pedagogical challenge

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the transition from university to working life through different theoretical approaches. Inspired by Barnett the paper also asks: What is it to learn for an unknown future? According to Bartlett neither knowledge nor skills are sufficient to enable success in the contemporary world. What is needed are certain kinds of human qualities and dispositions. The paper seeks to introduce two examples that help us to analyse the phenomenon from the perspectives of higher education and working life.Design/methodology/approach – The data consists of an interview on pedagogical practices in actor training and of group mentoring discussions in a teacher community.Findings – Based on the observations, the educational process itself with its disturbing factors, the transition to working life, and finding ones place in it are all sites that provide their own challenges for an unknown future. The contradiction between security and the unknown inscribed in them produces...

Methodological Reflections: Supervisory Discourses and Practice-Based Learning.

The concept of dialogue is often examined apart from the social and historical context in which it is embedded. This paper identifies how dialogue between a superior and a subordinate generates a reorganisation of situated knowledge in the education and training of nurse teachers. We created an analytic method of supervisory discourse founded on differences between discourse-based and practice-based theories. The findings elicit two forms of dialogues: transformative and exploratory. Through the former, supervisors try to make their students reformulate their understanding by facilitating learning through questions and hints or to support their self-reflections in local contexts. Conversely, exploratory dialogue involves the participants’ willingness to raise and share their tacit knowledge, including an orientation towards current practices and relational change, and go beyond the local contexts. We suggest that our findings create ways of understanding the meaning of generative discourse in higher education.

Rewards, changes and challenges in the role of primary headteachers/principals in England and Finland

Drawing on an analysis of education policies and qualitative research data, the impact of education reform on the roles of English primary headteachers and their Finnish counterparts is examined and compared. Global forces have resulted in similar policy trends in both countries but owing to contrasting cultural values and education traditions there are marked differences in the mechanisms for change at both national and local levels. However, irrespective of globalisation and differing national contexts, there were considerable similarities in the perspectives of headteachers and principals on the rewards and constraints of their role and the realities of leadership and management.

Towards practical reflexivity in online discussion groups

ABSTRACT This paper continues the discussion about student-driven, interactive learning activities in higher education. Using object-oriented activity theory, the article explores the relational aspects of reflexive practice as demonstrated in five online discussions groups to develop students’ conceptual understanding. The purpose of the research is to describe both the process of reflection during online interaction and how practical engagement with the discipline is supported through pedagogical guidance. The students wrote short texts on the practice of health promotion ethics and discussed their perspectives in relation to theory and research. The analysis proved the importance of structural design in learning assignments to enable the cohesive and dialogic nature of interaction. Practical reflexivity is a necessary condition for enhancing the ability of professionals to question and justify critical aspects of their organisational relationships.

The foreign language teaching profession in Finnish and Japanese society: a sociocultural comparison

Abstract The social basis of a teaching profession is created through behavioural and cultural patterns, specific artefacts, and their connection to certain institutional practices. The purpose of this study is to discover the conditions that structure the teaching profession in a cultural context and to find out what it is to be a foreign language (FL) teacher in Finland and Japan. Both countries have high educational equality but with contrasting patterns of management policies that are manifested in their teacher education curricula. Educational policy documents as well as teacher interviews and classroom observations were conducted in both countries and the findings compared by one Japanese and three Finnish researchers. The research themes are as follows: the FL teaching profession, teacher education paradigms, teachers’ professional development, and pedagogical orientation in teaching. The results show that the cultural context and its strong implications for the teaching profession are prominent in both cultures.