Position:Head of National Curriculum Development Unit in the Finnish National Board of Education.

Short CV:Ms. Halinen has worked in several national evaluation and development projects since the 1970’s. She is a former teacher, and a school principal as well as the Head of School Improvement Unit in the Helsinki City Education Department. During 2005 – 2011 she was a member of the Finnish Education Evaluation Council, responsible for all thematic evaluations of the Finnish education system. She is a member of the advisory board of The Niilo Mäki Foundation (a research and development centre for learning difficulties), and a permanent expert member of the Advisory Board of The Ombudsman for Children in Finland.

Ms. Halinen is a member of the Finnish National Commission for UNESCO. Since 2006 Ms. Halinen is the Focal Point of Nordic and Baltic Community of Practice for International Bureau of Education (IBE) of UNESCO, coordinating the curriculum co-operation. She has worked as a curriculum expert for UNESCO and for the Finnish Ministries of Education and of Foreign Affairs in many occasions, for instance in China-Europe cooperation project for Curriculum Development, in different European countries, with Arab, Latin American and Caribbean countries, and in Nepal Curriculum Development Project. She has written several articles, published in Finland and in other countries and also been an active lecturer both in Finland and abroad. In 2010 she was awarded with a badge of honour by the president of Finland.

Area of interest：Curriculum development, school leadership