Centralizing queer in Finnish art education

The article examines if and how gender diversity and queer are present in the policies guiding Finnish art education and how these documents might influence praxis. The authors explore relations between policy and practice through a close study and analysis of the Finnish national core curriculum for basic education as it relates to the broader Finnish culture of power and politics. The authors approach the topic using epistemic injustice as the framework, and suggest that current international and national policy and guidelines that define human rights, gender equality, the rights of gender and sexual minorities, and education have created a broad and deeply seated normative, binary mindset that not only impairs the actualization of equity in education but also makes it a paradox. To unpack the suggested epistemic injustice, the authors contextualize their arguments through a critical study of policies and guidelines for human rights and Finnish compulsory education and frame this with particular theories, the capability approach and feminist and critical pedagogy.