A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
Edu-business in Finnish schooling
Authors: Piia Seppänen, Martin Thrupp, Sonia Lempinen
Editors: Anna Hogan, Greg Thompson
Edition: 1st Edition
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication year: 2020
Book title : Privatisation and Commercialisation in Public Education: How the Public Nature of Schooling is Changing
Journal name in source: Privatisation and Commercialisation in Public Education: How the Public Nature of Schooling is Changing
First page : 101
Last page: 118
ISBN: 978-0-367-35145-8
eISBN: 978-0-429-33002-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429330025-9
This chapter draws on research to identify the actors and interests involved in the commercialisation of schooling in Finland. It argues that edu-business in Finnish compulsory education is significant and growing, despite Finland's historical and continuing commitments towards public provision of education. The fourth group of actors affecting edu-business in Finland are consultancy businesses that are medium or large IT service companies. The actors in edu-business we identified in this study are linked to each other and also to state actors in various ways that could be regarded as a business ecosystem. Central to edu-business in Finland is the development of new products, scaling them to wider set of customers, testing them in PISA-branded Finnish schools and at the same time passing this off as part and parcel of everyday school life. The rhetoric of partnerships with schools in the logics of business-making can benefit corporate expansion and profit-seeking.