“He who lives without discipline, dies without honour” “He who spares the rod, hates his child”

The Finnish educational landscape is full of flying phrases that rise up in the debate, especially when bad news about schools or the activities of children and young people emerge. What lies behind these phrases – rhetoric, wisdom or the harsh reality of the Finnish mental landscape? Is education in need of discipline or a more empathetic approach? The question is relevant as the answer reflects how we see our fellow human beings and the kind of society we want to build.

• Mikko Hiljanen

  Mikko Hiljanen is a researcher, democracy educator and teacher trainer at the University of Jyväskylä Teacher Training Institute.

  “PISA results and their decline are just a background noise if we do not have a democratic society or a viable planet. The goal of education and training should be to strengthen and maintain these.”

• Riitta Tallavaara

  Riitta Tallavaara is a teacher trainer, democracy educator and researcher.

• Anni Piironen

  Anni Piironen is working on her doctoral thesis at the University of Jyväskylä on the subject of teachers’ feelings of anger in a pedagogical relationship. She is interested not only in emotions but also in embodiment, different power structures and all kinds of rebellion.

  “It is the lazy adult who disciplines the child.”

• Eveliina Stolp

  Eveliina Stolp is a university lecturer at the Department of Music, Art and Culture studies at the University of Jyväskylä. She completed her PhD in Education on student agency in collaborative music-making.

  “Is the human connection to each other being forgotten under the spoken world?”

• Minni Matikainen

  Minni Matikainen has a PhD in Education and is a postdoc at the University of Jyväskylä. She is interested in learning to be a teacher and hosts the educational podcast Grow Me Up.

  “The starting point is wrong if indiscipline in the school world is seen as a disturbance or an exception to a state of stability: rather, it is the school system itself that produces indiscipline.”

• Samuli Laitinen

  Samuli Laitinen is the Head of the Gradia Secondary Schools, a teacher of Finnish Language and Literature and a principal. More than 20 years in education have shown Samuli the drop in standards and the changes in teaching. He is not interested in finding the culprits, but rather the solutions.

  “The one who raises you to be incapable of empathy, shall die without honour.”