Differential inclusion through education: Reforms and spatial justice in Finnish education policy

Abstract

The paper studies the changing spatial rationalizations of Finnish education policy with a particular focus on upper secondary education, which has gone through significant reforms in recent decades. The fostering of social and spatial equality has long represented the cornerstone of Finland’s Nordic welfare state education system. The establishment of a widespread network of educational institutions also formed an important means of building social and territorial cohesion in the country. Since the late 1980s, Finnish education policies have turned towards neoliberal ideals, underlining economic rationalizations, individualization and flexibility. Also, education policy has come to play an increasingly important role in the constitution of the knowledge-based economy and embedded spatial restructuring. The paper scrutinizes recent state upper secondary education reforms from the perspective of spatial justice and its scalar dimensions, underlining the consequential juncture of choosing between upper secondary education paths. It is shown how the rationalization of Finnish education policy differentiates places, favouring urban over rural, and produces particular citizen-subjects: while general upper secondary education forms a site for producing skilled and globally minded citizens, vocational education prioritizes the availability of regional workforce and the prevention of youth marginalization. Rather than providing equal opportunities, it is argued that the dual-path Finnish education policy reinforces spatial differentiation and the differential inclusion of citizen-subjects in the knowledge-based economy.

Negotiating Multiple Spatialities: Geographies of Youth Educational Subjectivity

“…The analysis conveys how young people's spatial practices complicate, blend, and challenge the dominant educational and spatial discourses. First, although the educational policies foster straightforward educational transitions and foster highly educated subjects (Kettunen & Prokkola, 2022), the young people's educational negotiations were inherently linked with the local opportunities and imaginaries of life and education in different places that do not necessarily match with the policy ideal. Second, spatial discourses regarding north and south and rural and urban were negotiated as well: for instance, northern urban was not considered the same as southern urban,so negotiating these imaginaries further complicates educational negotiations.…”

“…From a regional perspective, the restructuring of the educational network, economy, and population has led to considerably higher educational attainment levels in the bigger cities that are more concentrated in southern Finland, which is where the higher education institutions and labor markets for the highly educated are also located (Kettunen & Prokkola, 2022). Also, the Finnish population is heavily concentrated in the southern centres and city regions.…”

“…In the interview, Salli described how the rural represented something where she did not want to stay (also Kettunen, 2022). For her, continuing studies elsewhere represented a way to move out as well: Salli had been waiting for the comprehensive school to end so that she could finally move out of her hometown.…”

“…Supported by policies and structural mechanisms such as student allowances and youth housing, Finnish youth tend to move out of their parental homes 10-12 years earlier than the youth in Southern Europe, at the age of 22 on average (Karlsdóttir et al, 2020, p. 34). From a regional perspective, the restructuring of the educational network, economy, and population has led to considerably higher educational attainment levels in the bigger cities that are more concentrated in southern Finland, which is where the higher education institutions and labor markets for the highly educated are also located (Kettunen & Prokkola, 2022). Also, the Finnish population is heavily concentrated in the southern centres and city regions.…”

Young people as agents in regional shrinkage – commentary to Syssner

“…Hence, besides contributing to a vicious cycle of shrinkage in rural areas, the centralization of schooling also heightens the structural inequalities that frame young people's lives and possibilities. This is especially the case in an era when acquiring formal education is regarded as increasingly important (Kettunen & Prokkola 2022).…”