Into the Single Market for Education: Europeanisation of Finnish Education Policy Discourses

Abstract

The article concerns the Europeanisation of Finnish education policy argumentation. In this process, concepts, objectives and argumentation patterns devised on the European level tacitly become incorporated in national policy discourses. The European Union changes the operating environment in which national policies are shaped and executed. Over the late 1980s and the 1990s, Finnish thinking on education policy was effectively permeated by a discussion on European integration. Integration has called for active utilisation of EU education programmes and has also contributed to profound transformations in the structure of education and degrees. A consensus concerning the benefits of European co-operation has prevailed. The general objectives of European policies have matched those of Finnish education policy. Participation in EU programmes has proven lucrative both in financial terms and as concerns the international visibility of Finnish education. It has also created a new field of international and national competition among institutions of education. The article concludes with a model of the Europeanisation of national education policy. It is suggested that Europeanisation is determined both by the integration policy chosen by a national government, and by conditions and strategies prevailing in a given system of education.