Un espejo para las personas: Disrupciones y aporías en documentos curriculares nacionales en Finlandia

National curriculum texts are prime examples of the difficulties inherent in representing and constructing notions of citizenship in a democratic society. Whereas pre-democratic sovereigns were given Machiavellian advice in the genre of ‘mirrors for princes’, the modern school curriculum embodies a ‘specular logic’ of political discourse, providing the people with an image of themselves as ‘unity in difference’. This image is then implemented and reinforced in the education system.

Using post-foundationalist political theory, we analyze how representations of citizenship are fabricated in national curriculum discourses in an age of perceived dislocation – when continuity in the political order is seen threatened. As a case example, we use Finnish curriculum discourses - national curricula as well as academic texts for the planning, implementation and evaluation of curricula - from the 1950s to the 1970s. These discourses construct a cultural thesis of a nation where former symbols of national unity – based on romantic notions of country, language, and faith – are swiftly evaporating. Profound political, technological, and industrial changes were seen to require more general adaptation and cooperation skills than before, amounting to a new temporal orientation or ‘future shock’ – the aim of which was to respond to unknown future demands rather than to simply secure a sense of historical continuity.