An Examination of Finland's Educational and Mathematics Equity through Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This investigation focuses upon the nation of Finland. Described by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs (“This is Finland”, n.d.) as a parliamentary democracy, Finland is a free-market economy with a young but progressive history. While the nation’s scores on the 2015 triennial PISA continue to indicate above average performance on all three domains, science, reading, and mathematics, inconsistencies were disclosed with regard to equity. Scoring above average on equitable achievement related to social background, which includes factors such as parents’ education and employment, Finland fell short regarding equitable achievement as it pertains to gender and immigrant students (“Compare Your Country, n.d.). This investigation will survey Finnish policy-related texts, education and mathematics curriculum, and Finnish artifacts; through the analysis of these texts, the intent is to determine how inequities and power dynamics are decipherable within these documents and potentially jeopardized students’ accessibility to mathematics endeavors. Fairclough’s interpretations and applications of critical discourse analysis will provide the foundation for analyses of Bourdieu’s notions of field, doxa, and habitus as they relate to Finnish equity and mathematics education and performance.