Classes with selective intake in Finnish Comprehensive School: A Problem of Societally Equal Opportunity for Schooling or a Boost for Learning and Equity in Pedagogical arrangements?

Abstract This article discusses the political programs of welfare state and neoliberalism in the context of Finnish basic education. It unfolds developments in the welfare-state inspired comprehensive model by focusing on in/equity as a decisional dilemma in learning-group formation. Niklas Luhmann's societal theory and reappraisal of Ralf Dahrendorf's notion of “life chances” allow theoretical clarification between societally in/equal opportunities for schooling and organizational in/equity-concerns in pedagogical arrangements. Based on nationally representative data, we found that the modest diversification in the form of ‘selective classes’ cater to better achieving students from families with higher educational status. We see this to signal resilience of the comprehensive model rather than its claimed erosion backed by policy analysts’ reference to a neoliberalist turn toward market-modelled policy premises for public education. The selective classes, based on an emphasis of a curricular subject and primarily attending to interest and motivation, are claimed to supplement the Finnish focus on special education, characteristic for the comprehensive school since its adoption in the 1970s.