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ERIC Number: EJ1027484
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1363-9080
EISSN: N/A
Educating Worker-Citizens: Visions and Divisions in Curriculum Texts
Isopahkala-Bouret, Ulpukka; Lappalainen, Sirpa; Lahelma, Elina
Journal of Education and Work, v27 n1 p92-109 2014
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.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Finland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A