Examines changes in official Finnish school-reform discourse over the past 30 years, noting four discursive changes from the 1860s to the 1990s (individualization of students, disciplinization of teaching knowledge, goal rationalization, and decontextualization). Interprets these shifts as the result of a blend of utopianism and rationalism which…

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…

This paper examines the history of Finnish didactics and the professionalization of teacher education. In Finland, didactics is an emerging academic discipline--the science of teaching or educational science for teacher education--and includes both the subject and contextual knowledge of teaching. At the same time, the context of teaching and…