Abstract
This article examines how three national curricula for basic education in Finland reflect transnational policy perspectives from 1994 to the present. By developing a conceptual apparatus for curriculum analysis, we examine how national curricula in Finland can be interpreted as modifications of transnational policy transfers shaped by international comparisons in today’s society. Transnational policy has been the subject of numerous studies, but ongoing curriculum modifications of policy transfers across reform periods have rarely been examined. Using a systems theory approach, we seek to understand how curriculum revisions are designed as combinations of conditional and purposive orientations. The most important contributions of this paper lie in its use of a mixture of these orientations, and its demonstration of the particular functions that these orientations play in both facilitating and constricting transnational policy transfer as evidenced by our analytical apparatus.