Drawing on the conceptual work of externalisation in comparative education and multi-accentual signs in cultural studies, this article examines how the print news media accentuate ‘Finnish education’ in the process of inserting this external reference into the domestic political discourses around education reform in Australia, Germany and South Korea. The study identifies all articles referencing ‘Finnish education’ that were published from 2000 to 2011 in two widely circulated newspapers with different political orientations in each country. Discourse analysis of the articles shows various ways in which ‘Finnish education’ is accentuated by the newspapers, serving to legitimise different political agendas in education policy debates. It is argued that ‘Finnish education’ has become a ‘projection screen’ for competing conceptions of ‘good education’ and the associated visions of ‘good society’. The authors situate the findings within the ongoing discussion of externalisation, calling for a careful conceptualisation of the role of the media in this line of comparative education scholarship.
AhonenS. (2002) From an Industrial to a Post-Industrial Society: changing conceptions of equality in education, Educational Review, 54(2), 173–181. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131910220133257
FerrariJ. (2006) School System Failing the Poor, The Australian, 23 March, 4.
17.
FerrariJ. (2007) Our Brightest Students Falling Behind the World, The Australian, 5 December, 1.
18.
FerrariJ. (2009) Poor Marks for Education Revolution, The Australian, 2 November, 6.
19.
FerrariJ. (2012) Lessons from Asia Show Way Forward for Schools, The Australian, 17 February, 1.
20.
FiskeJ. (1986) Understanding Popular Culture. New York: Routledge.
21.
FogartyM. (2011) Why is Finnish Education Getting So Much Attention?Education, 29 August, 20.
22.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (2005) Erhebliche Leistungsfortschritte, 15 July, p. 1.
23.
FranklinM. (2012) We Risk Losing Education Race, PM Warns, The Australian, 24 January, 1.
24.
HaB. & SungY. (2011) Teacher Reactions to the Performance-based Bonus Program: how the expectancy theory works in the South Korean school culture, Asia Pacific Education Review, 12(1), 129–141. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12564-010-9131-z
25.
HallS. (1996) For Allon White: metaphors of transformation, in MorleyD. & ChenK. (Eds) Stuart Hall: critical dialogues in cultural studies. New York: Routledge.
KangY. (2007) Reforms of Public Education and Practices of Operating Comprehensive Schools in Finland. Seoul: Korean Educational Development Institute (n Korean).
33.
KaubeJ. (2002) Ein Jahr nach PISA, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 8 December, 64.
LeeY. (2010) Views on Education and Achievement: Finland's story of success and South Korea's story of decline, KEDI Journal of Educational Policy, 7(2), 379–401.
44.
LeibfriedS. & MartensK. (2008) PISA – Internationalisierung von Bildungspolitik. Oder: Wie kommt die Landespolitik zur OECD?Leviathan, 36(1), 14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11578-008-0001-6
45.
LingardB. (2010) Policy Borrowing, Policy Learning: testing times in Australian schooling, Critical Studies in Education, 51(2), 129–147. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17508481003731026
46.
MarginsonS. (2011) Scholars Rise in the East, The Australian, 6 April, 12.
McGawB. (2007) Resourced for a World of Difference, The Australian, 1 August, 25.
49.
MeyerJ.W. & RamirezF.O. (2000) The World Institutionalization of Education, in SchriewerJ. (Ed.) Discourse Formation in Comparative Education. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
50.
Ministry of Education and Culture (2010) Finnish Students High Performers in PISA. Press release, 7 December.
MurphyD. (2008a) Talking Tough on Testing, Australian Educator, 60, 22–23.
53.
MurphyD. (2008b) Late Start, Strong Finnish, Australian Educator, 58, 32–33.
54.
NiemannD. (2010) Deutschland – Im Zentrum des PISA-Sturms, in KnodelP.MartensK.de OlanoD. & PoppM. (Eds) Das PISA-Echo. Frankfurt am Main: Campus.
55.
NilssonI. (1987) En spjutspets mot framtiden: En analys av de svenska enhets- och grundskolereformerna i utländsk vetenskaplig litteratur 1950–1980. Lund: Universitet.
56.
NoonanG. (2008) Avoid School League Tables, Says Expert, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 October, 3.
57.
OelkersJ. (2006) Gesamtschule in Deutschland: Eine historische Analyse und ein Ausweg aus dem Dilemma. Weinheim: Beltz.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2011) Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: lessons from PISA for the United States. Paris: OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264096660-en
RizviF. & LingardB. (2006) Globalisation and the Changing Nature of the OECD's Educational Work, in LauderH.BrownP.DillaboughJ. & HalseyA.H. (Eds) Education, Globalisation and Social Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
67.
RubnerJ. (2002) Vielfalt der Unbildung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 24 June, 4.
68.
SahlbergP. (2007) Education Policies for Raising Student Learning: the Finnish approach, Journal of Education Policy, 22(2), 147–172. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02680930601158919
ScheufeleD.A. & TewksburyD. (2007) Framing, Agenda Setting, and Priming: the evolution of three media effects models, Journal of Communication, 57(1), 9–20.
SchmollH. (2004) Die Einheitsschule bis Klasse 7 hilft leistungsschwachen Kindern nicht, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 10 December, 4.
73.
SchriewerJ. (1988) The Method of Comparison and the Need for Externalization, in SchriewerJ. & HolmesB. (Eds) Theories and Methods in Comparative Education. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
SlametD. (2008) New York, State of Mind, Australian Educator, 60, 24–26.
77.
Steiner-KhamsiG. (2000) Transferring Education, Displacing Reforms, in SchriewerJ. (Ed.) Discourse Formation in Comparative Education. New York: Peter Lang.
78.
Steiner-KhamsiG. (2002) Reterritorializing Educational Import: explorations into the politics of educational borrowing, in NovoaA. & LawnM. (Eds) Fabricating Europe: the formation of an education space. Boston: Kluwer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47561-8_7
Steiner-KhamsiG. (2004) Blazing a Trail for Policy Theory and Practice, in Steiner-KhamsiG. (Ed.) The Global Politics of Educational Borrowing and Lending. New York: Teachers College Press.
81.
StevensonA. (2012) Garrett Takes Up Gonski Challenge with Focus on Quality Teaching, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 February, 5.
82.
SungY. (2011) Cultivating Borrowed Futures: the politics of neoliberal loanwords in South Korean cross-national policy borrowing, Comparative Education, 47(4), 523–538. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2011.555118
83.
SungY. & KangM. (2012) The Cultural Politics of National Testing and Test Result Release Policy in South Korea: a critical discourse analysis, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 32(1), 53–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2011.621691
84.
SutherlandT. (2000) Crossing the Finnish Line, The Australian, 30 October, 122.
85.
TaffertshoferB. & HerrmannG. (2007) Das Paradies im Norden: Mehr Lehrer, kein Notendruck, kein Sitzenbleiben: Warum Finnlands Schulen Weltspitze sind – und was Bayern daraus lernen kann, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 18 June, 49.
86.
TakayamaK. (2007) A Nation at Risk Crosses the Pacific: transnational borrowing of the US crisis discourse in the debate on education reform in Japan, Comparative Education Review, 51(4), 423–446. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/520864
87.
TakayamaK. (2008) The Politics of International League Tables: PISA in Japan's achievement crisis debate, Comparative Education, 44(4), 387–407. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03050060802481413
88.
TakayamaK. (2010) Politics of Externalization in Reflexive Times: reinventing Japanese education reform discourses through ‘Finnish success’, Comparative Education Review, 54(1), 51–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/644838
89.
The Australian (2002) Wanted: a sense of mission – the knowledge economy: a special advertising report, 13 November, p. 17.
90.
TillmannK.-J.DederingK.KneuperD.KuhlmannC. & NesselI. (2008) PISA als bildungspolitisches Ereignis: Fallstudien in vier Bundesländern. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91127-4
VoloshinovV.N. (1973) Marxism and the Philosophy of Language, trans. MatejkaL. & TitunikI. R.New York: Seminar Press.
93.
WaldowF. (2009) Undeclared Imports: silent borrowing in educational policy-making and research in Sweden, Comparative Education, 45(4), 477–494. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03050060903391628
94.
WaldowF. (2010) Der Traum vom ‘skandinavisch schlau Werden’, Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 54(4), 497–511.
95.
WaldowF. (2012) Standardisation and Legitimacy, in Steiner-KhamsiG. & WaldowF. (Eds) World Yearbook of Education: policy borrowing and lending in education. New York: Routledge.
