Implementing the Finnish Literacy Curriculum in a First-Grade Classroom

Abstract

This study investigated the first author’s process of implementing new literacy practices as a teacher in a Finnish first-grade classroom from a poststructuralist perspective by using nexus analysis (NA). We concentrated on two essential concepts in NA, Bourdieu’s habitus and Goffman’s interaction order, which we linked to Grundy’s curriculum theory. This set of concepts gave us the tools with which to understand how and what kinds of teacher’s actions play a role in curriculum implementation, and offered us a perspective on the complex development of interaction order in the classroom community. The first-grade teacher’s one-year-long curriculum implementation was structured by reproduction of the teacher’s habitus. In this reproduction, the development of the interaction order of the teacher and her pupils played a central role. The move from traditional practices into new ones required the teacher’s constant attention and a reflective attitude. During the school year, implementation of the literacy curriculum formed a cyclical process in which the curriculum interests alternated. Although this study was limited to Finnish school culture and the cultural heritage of learning and teaching literacy in Finland, the study offers also an internationally valid example for developing and researching the processes of literacy curriculum implementation.