Bildung, Economy and Reform of Vocational Education

Authors

• Kimmo Kontio Oulun yliopisto
• Eetu Pikkarainen Oulun yliopisto
• Veli-Matti Mathlin Oulun yliopisto

Keywords:

reform of vocational education, economics of education, competence-based learning, pedagogic tehory, Bildung

Abstract

The reform of the vocational education that has been carried out during the last few years in Finland is examined in this article. The reform is analyzed from the following points of view: economics of education as well as educational theoretical tradition and concepts. First, we propose that to under¬stand and evaluate the reform it is import¬ant to perceive the economic definitions of policy which direct the reform. These crys¬tallize in the doctrine of the expansionary economics of austerity due to which the reform of the vocational education can be characterized as finance-driven and pro¬ductivity-centered. The general objective of the reform is to increase the productivi¬ty of vocational education and of labor and, furthermore or above all, reduce the costs of vocational education. Thus, the princi¬ple which emphatically directs the reform is effectiveness. Furthermore, we propose that the finance-driven motivation of the reform has inevitable effects on the peda¬gogical practices as well as the objectives of the vocational education. Practices and ob¬jectives are analyzed through the concept of competence-based learning in relation to pedagogic concepts and theory. From the viewpoint of pedagogical practices, the change can be described as a shift towards the self-regulative models of learning, and from the viewpoint of the objectives of ed¬ucation as an emphasis to the shortsighted labor market perspective. We aim to show that in both relations possible and proba¬ble consequences of the reform are reverse with respect to their objectives.