THE LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE CREATING SCHOOL: CASE OF THE FINNISH NATIONAL DEFENCE COLLEGE

摘要

This research focuses on the Finnish National Defence College at the time when the claimed "learning organization-likeness" has been located in the social landscape of the Finnish knowledge society. Having an aim to develop the teaching practices of the Finnish National Defence College, the researcher took a double-hermeneutic stance towards the current teaching practices at the College. In the progressive double-hermeneutic inquiry process five Development Laboratory meetings were arranged at the College in 2004 and 2005, followed by thematic interviews of the current managers of the College. Consequently, prevalent cultural basic assumptions, challenges, problems and key educational principles were identified, offering a fruitful starting point for forthcoming extensive analyses and organizational learning. The results severely challenge the identified "impossibility assumption" of societal guidance by offering some appropriate means for reconsiderations and developmental actions, potentially applicable also in other kinds of institutions and organizations.