Jaakko Kauko
About me
I am Professor of Education Policy at Faculty of Education and Culture. Together with Nelli Piattoeva, we lead the reserch group focusing on the Knowledge, Power, and Politics in Education (EduKnow).
My core idea for research is to analyse dynamics in politics, the ways in which political action is always tied to longer term socio-historical developments, constrained or enabled through institutional rearrangements, and actors are both entangled in and empowered by the dynamics that develop in these conditions.
Thematically I have focused on quality and evaluation in education and the use of knowledge and power in policymaking and its networks.
The research contexts for these phenomena have varied: Brazil, Chile, China, England, Finland, the Nordic countries, and Portugal.
Project links
Selected publications
Recent open access publications:
Kauko, J. (2019). The Finnish Comprehensive School: Conflicts, Compromises, and Institutional Robustness. In Paul t’ Hart & Mallory E. Compton (Eds.) Great Policy Successes: How Governments Get it Right in a Big Way at Least Some of the Time. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 122-142.
Kauko, J., Rinne R. & Takala, T. (Eds.) (2018) Politics of Quality in Education: A Comparative Study of Brazil, China, and Russia . London: Routledge.
Dovemark, M., Kosunen, S., Kauko, J., Magnúsdóttir, B., Hansen, P. & Rasmussen, P. (2018). Deregulation, privatisation and marketisation of Nordic comprehensive education: social changes reflected in schooling . Education Inquiry 9(1), 122-141.
Kauko, J. & Wermke, W. (2018). The contingent sense-making of contingency: epistemologies of change in comparative education . Comparative Education Review, 62(2), 157–177.
Complete list of publications from 2016 onwards is stored in Research portal of Tampere University, and publications before 2016 are listed onthe University of Helsinki webpage.
Latest publications
Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking: Uncovering the Power of Networks in the Finland–EU Context
Eeva, K. (Editor) & Kauko, J. (Editor), 22 Oct 2025, London: Routledge. 188 p. (Routledge Research in Higher Education)Research output: Book/Report › Anthology › Scientific › peer-review
Conclusion
Kauko, J. & Eeva, K., 2025, Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking: Uncovering the Power of Networks in the Finland–EU Context. Eeva, K. & Kauko, J. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 157-164 8 p. (Routledge Research in Higher Education).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
Education policymaking at the national level
Kallunki, J., Forsell, J., Silvén, P., Eeva, K. & Kauko, J., 15 Jul 2025, Handbook of Social Network Analysis and Education. Kolleck, N. (ed.). Edward Elgar, p. 521-536 (Research Handbooks on Social Networks series).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
Knowledge, power, and networks in higher education policymaking
Eeva, K. & Kauko, J., 2025, Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking: Uncovering the Power of Networks in the Finland–EU Context. Eeva, K. & Kauko, J. (eds.). London: Routledge, 19 p. (Routledge Research in Higher Education).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
National and European systems intertwined: Higher education policymaking in the EU context
Eeva, K. & Kauko, J., 2025, Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking: Uncovering the Power of Networks in the Finland–EU Context . Eeva, K. & Kauko, J. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 56-81 26 p. (Routledge Research in Higher Education).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
Navigating higher education policymaking in the European Parliament
Eeva, K., Kauko, J., Forsell, J. & Miller, C., 2025, Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking: Uncovering the Power of Networks in the Finland–EU Context . Eeva, K. & Kauko, J. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 137-156 20 p. (Routledge Research in Higher Education).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
Organisational knowledge network
Kallunki, J., Eeva, K. & Kauko, J., 2025, Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking: Uncovering the Power of Networks in the Finland–EU Context . Eeva, K. & Kauko, J. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 102-118 17 p. (Routledge Research in Higher Education).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
Policymakers' norms on knowledge: Credibility, reliability, and holism
Forsell, J. & Kauko, J., 2025, Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking: Uncovering the Power of Networks in the Finland–EU Context . Eeva, K. & Kauko, J. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 119-136 18 p. (Routledge Research in Higher Education).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
Studying knowledge networks in higher education policymaking
Kauko, J., Eeva, K., Kallunki, J., Forsell, J. & Silvén, P., 2025, Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking: Uncovering the Power of Networks in the Finland–EU Context . Eeva, K. & Kauko, J. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 20-37 18 p. (Routledge Research in Higher Education).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
The case of university foundations in Finland: evaluating success
Kauko, J. & Silvén, P., 22 Jul 2025, Reform and Change in Higher Education: Challenges and Innovations. Amaral, A., Tavares, O. & Sin, C. (eds.). Edward Elgar, p. 217-241Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review