Current
Teaching: Curriculum Theory: Understanding Curriculum and Education Policy, University of Helsinki
I work as a lecturer in the Advanced Studies in Educational Sciences course in the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Helsinki, in the Master's programme in Changing Education (5 cr), 10.3.-7.5.2025
Course contents
- Historical and contemporary (western and non-western) curriculum (educational) traditions
- Contemporary education policy: At the crossroad of global, Nordic and Finnish education policy
After completing the course the students
- understand the significance of epistemological pluralism for cognitive (and social) justice in education
- have in-depth knowledge of two main lines of western curriculum (educational) traditions, Bildung-Didaktik and Curriculum (their differing presumptions and implications for education policy and practice), and curriculum ideologies
- understand education as a complex system consisting of networked actors, institutions and social structures operating in socio-historical contexts.
- analyse educational policies and practices and their effects on education, the educated subject, social relations and society
- make informed choices, negotiate with others and justify their decisions in complex educational environments where a multiple variables and perspectives need to be considered
Talk: The world in dialogue with us: About the importance of artistic and practical subjects for children
Artistic and practical subjects often offer children and young people opportunities to express their own, unique identity, try different ways of expression and discover their strengths and dormant artistic talent. At the same time, artistic and practical subjects
are a counterweight to the education system, where testing and competition stifle the creativity of many and prevent bringing out one's own voice. On the other hand, art education, whose aim is only to enable self-expression, forgets the meaning of the actual education. In my speech, I discuss what kind of expression is truthful and authentic, what artistic expression can lead to and why this expression should be supported by educators, so that it would guide the growth of the child and the young person into themselves, adults and citizens of a democratic society.
Ph.D. Oona Myllyntaus is an educational scientist and public art researcher from the University of Helsinki. The topic of her dissertation is public art in the learning environments of schools and educational institutions in the 2010s. Oona has also studied solutions for the integration of art into construction projects, the equality of children and young people and their knowledge, skills and capabilities related to safety, as well as young people's routes to working life. She is interested in the social dimensions of art and the interaction between learning and the environment.
Free entrance, warmly welcome! More info
Photo: Himmeli (2024), Georgi Eremenko, Nilonkankaan koulu. Georgi Eremenko
Teaching: Course Visual Research Methodology in Educational Sciences
I co-teach the optional methodology course (5 cr) in English in the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Helsinki, 30.10.-9.12.2024.
Course contents: The aim of this course is to provide an introduction to visual methods in order to acquire a deeper understanding for the use and analysis of visual materials in educational sciences. The methods include content analysis and cultural analytics, discourse analysis, semiology, audience studies, ethnographic research, and digital methods. The course presents students with the four sites of a Critical Visual Methodology initially introduced by professor Gillian Rose. The course is well-suited for master's students especially in the data collection and analysis phase of the master's thesis.
Online teaching: Youth transitions to work in the Middle East and North Africa
I co-teach the third time the course for YUNET – Finnish University Network for Youth Studies (5 cr), 21.1.-17.3.2025
Course contents: The 2010s and early 2020s have witnessed turbulent changes in Arab Mediterranean countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The notion of youth has garnered high levels of interest, aspirations, and concerns with regard to young people's roles in social change. In this context, their transitions and particularly transitions from education to work, are framed as a challenge, but also as an opportunity.
This course explores the issue of youth employment and school-to-work transitions in the Middle East and North Africa. The students familiarize themselves with the main social, political, economic, and cultural trends affecting the young people's transitions from education to employment in the region today.
Talk: Exhibition School + Art – Education of the Sense of Beauty, Järvenpää art museum
Researcher Oona Myllyntaus: Art in Schools and Education
October 13th, 2024, 1 pm.
Who makes art for and within schools in Finland and what is civic education through art like? To what extent does the Taidetta kouluihin association's idea of cultivating a sense of beauty still live on? In her talk, PhD Oona Myllyntaus, who has made research on art in schools, reflects on how art in schools has changed when our culture has become strongly multicultural and visual.
The duration of the lecture is 45 minutes, places are limited. Participation with the price of a museum admission ticket (€9 / €8 / €4 / Museum card or Kaikukortti / Under 18 years free)
The talk is part of the side program of the art museum's School + Art - Education of the Sense of Beauty exhibition.
Art exhibition of art in schools from the early 20th century to the present day at Järvenpää Art Museum, 6.10.2024-23.2.2025
Press release by City of Järvenpää, October 1st 2024.
Online teaching: Youth transitions to work in the Middle East and North Africa
I co-teach the second time the course for YUNET – Finnish University Network for Youth Studies (5 cr), 28.10.-18.12.2024
Course contents: The 2010s and early 2020s have witnessed turbulent changes in Arab Mediterranean countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The notion of youth has garnered high levels of interest, aspirations, and concerns with regard to young people's roles in social change. In this context, their transitions and particularly transitions from education to work, are framed as a challenge, but also as an opportunity.
This course explores the issue of youth employment and school-to-work transitions in the Middle East and North Africa. The students familiarize themselves with the main social, political, economic, and cultural trends affecting the young people's transitions from education to employment in the region today.