Cultural diversity in Finnish arts education research

In this chapter we discuss the conceptualisation of cultural diversity in arts education research in three Finnish universities Aalto University, University of Lapland and University of the Arts, Helsinki. We articulate how the changing societal and environmental conditions need to be taken into account in both the research and practice of arts education in Finland. We present three different approaches to arts education research aiming to reflect the different frameworks and contexts of researching in each institution. In the Department of Art at Aalto, selected ongoing work of professors, researching lecturers, postdoctoral researchers and doctoral students of arts education is analysed, categorised and reflected. The perspective of the Faculty of Art and Design at UoL focuses on selected research group work (NACER) and on three multidisciplinary research projects, which introduces the research method developed in the North: arts-based action research (ABAR). The Uniarts section introduces the work of the Centre for Educational Research and Academic Development (CERADA), and more specifically the research initiative ArtsEqual, in the context of research-based arts pedagogy.