Educating Worker-Citizens: Visions and Divisions in Curriculum Texts

Autor/inn/en	Isopahkala-Bouret, Ulpukka; Lappalainen, Sirpa; Lahelma, Elina
Titel	Educating Worker-Citizens: Visions and Divisions in Curriculum Texts
Quelle	In: Journal of Education and Work, 27 (2014) 1, S.92-109 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1363-9080
DOI	10.1080/13639080.2012.718745
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Employment; Employment Potential; Citizenship; Secondary School Curriculum; Vocational Education; National Curriculum; Discourse Analysis; Neoliberalism; Entrepreneurship; Lifelong Learning; Competence; Health; Values; Labor Needs; Global Approach; Nationalism; Social Behavior; Compliance (Psychology); Finland + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Dienstverhältnis; Arbeitsmarktbezogene Qualifikation; Beschäftigungsfähigkeit; Staatsbürgerschaft; Ausbildung; Berufsbildung; Diskursanalyse; Neo-liberalism; Neoliberalismus; Unternehmungsgeist; Life-long learning; Lebenslanges Lernen; Kompetenz; Gesundheit; Wertbegriff; Labour needs; Arbeitskräftebedarf; Globales Denken; Nationalismus; Social behaviour; Soziales Verhalten; Finnland
Abstract	In this article, we are interested in how employment--or employability--is connected to citizenship, and how the ideal subjectivity of worker-citizens is discursively constructed in curriculum texts. The "worker-citizen" is a social construction that connects closely the notion of worker and the notion of citizen. Our analysis is based on Finnish national curricula for upper secondary vocational education. We consider upper secondary vocational education as a field in which individuals learn the new orders of the labour market. Curriculum texts define desirable goals and ideals for what future citizens and future employees should be like. As a result, we argue that flexibility characterises the ideal subjectivity that is discursively attributed to worker-citizens in accordance with neo-liberal reasoning: they have internalised the ethos of entrepreneurship and lifelong learning, and are capable of accepting changes and crossing national borders in order to follow the needs of the labour market. Worker-citizens are willing to accept a minimal level of social security provided by the state, and to look after their own health and employment. However, as consumers they express national loyalty. Personal objectives of worker-citizens are congruent with the objectives of industry and the workplace. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10