Gaming the Data. How the Finnish School Audit Saved the Profession from New Public Management

Dynamics connected to professionalization are often analysed from an individual perspective highlighting individual professionals’ struggle for recognition as a professional. This paper looks at the organizational context and its effects on teachers’ professional status in the wake of NPM inspired r...

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Main Author: Turunen Jaakko
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2024-05-01
Series:Journal of Organizational Sociology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/joso-2023-0028
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author Turunen Jaakko
author_facet Turunen Jaakko
author_sort Turunen Jaakko
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description Dynamics connected to professionalization are often analysed from an individual perspective highlighting individual professionals’ struggle for recognition as a professional. This paper looks at the organizational context and its effects on teachers’ professional status in the wake of NPM inspired reforms in Finland. Despite the quantitative nature of the Finnish school audit, the design of the evaluation presents a critical translation of the knowledge claims often made in New Public Management audits. By looking at the original research reports and discussions on the audit system, this paper shows how the Finnish school audit conceptualised education as a societal subsystem and school audit as a tool for linking education with other subsystems. The Finnish school audit produces data for educational policy development and the teachers’ own use. The article suggests that maintaining occupational professionalism requires both the presence of knowledge for professional application and the absence of knowledge yielding to market or managerial interference.
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spelling doaj-art-eeed3a3f4cdc4a2fa2e11aef83cd8c732025-08-20T03:20:14ZengDe GruyterJournal of Organizational Sociology2752-29972024-05-012213716010.1515/joso-2023-0028Gaming the Data. How the Finnish School Audit Saved the Profession from New Public ManagementTurunen Jaakko0Department of Public Administration, 7671Södertörn University, Huddinge, SwedenDynamics connected to professionalization are often analysed from an individual perspective highlighting individual professionals’ struggle for recognition as a professional. This paper looks at the organizational context and its effects on teachers’ professional status in the wake of NPM inspired reforms in Finland. Despite the quantitative nature of the Finnish school audit, the design of the evaluation presents a critical translation of the knowledge claims often made in New Public Management audits. By looking at the original research reports and discussions on the audit system, this paper shows how the Finnish school audit conceptualised education as a societal subsystem and school audit as a tool for linking education with other subsystems. The Finnish school audit produces data for educational policy development and the teachers’ own use. The article suggests that maintaining occupational professionalism requires both the presence of knowledge for professional application and the absence of knowledge yielding to market or managerial interference.https://doi.org/10.1515/joso-2023-0028professionalismschool auditnew public managementknowledge
spellingShingle Turunen Jaakko
Gaming the Data. How the Finnish School Audit Saved the Profession from New Public Management
Journal of Organizational Sociology
professionalism
school audit
new public management
knowledge
title Gaming the Data. How the Finnish School Audit Saved the Profession from New Public Management
title_full Gaming the Data. How the Finnish School Audit Saved the Profession from New Public Management
title_fullStr Gaming the Data. How the Finnish School Audit Saved the Profession from New Public Management
title_full_unstemmed Gaming the Data. How the Finnish School Audit Saved the Profession from New Public Management
title_short Gaming the Data. How the Finnish School Audit Saved the Profession from New Public Management
title_sort gaming the data how the finnish school audit saved the profession from new public management
topic professionalism
school audit
new public management
knowledge
url https://doi.org/10.1515/joso-2023-0028
work_keys_str_mv AT turunenjaakko gamingthedatahowthefinnishschoolauditsavedtheprofessionfromnewpublicmanagement