Diversity in Civic Education : Finland in Historical and Comparative Perspective

Education systems originally emerged alongside the creation of the nation-state system with the goal of constructing a loyal, unified national citizenry. But at least since the middle of the twentieth century, schools also increasingly aim to promote and support diversity. This shift in the purpose of schooling, however, remains poorly explained. Examining a unique dataset of civic education textbooks, we conduct both a longitudinal analysis of Finland, which has an extremely ethnically homogeneous population, and a contemporary cross-national comparison of 33 countries. We highlight that contemporary levels of emphasis on diversity in Finland outpace many countries that have greater ethno-linguistic diversity. We argue that increasing attention to the rights of diverse groups reflects an underlying social and cultural shift at the global level in the conception of ideal civic behavior, moving from the goal of constructing unquestioningly loyal national citizens to the creation of active, empowered, and globally aware individuals.