1st Edition
Scrutinising the Nordic Dimension in Education Myths, Realities, and Integration Efforts in Europe’s Nordic Region
This edited volume scrutinises the Nordic dimension within education and how this notion affects, frames and sets direction for school and education in policy, practice and educational research.
The book interrogates what unites and divides Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, and analyses how the notion of the Nordic dimension has become conceptualized and institutionalized in different educational settings. Comparative studies of national education policies and practice across these five small North European countries - and Scotland as a case beyond - explore how the Nordic dimension relates to national, regional and transnational collaborations. Further, the book queries the degree to which what are typically considered Nordic approaches to social welfare, gender equality, diversity and international outlook have, in actual fact, affected education. Ultimately, the book explores the realities and myths associated with the idea of the Nordic dimension, and in relation to the wider context of integration within the European region.
The book will be of interest to researchers, scholars, and postgraduate students working in international and comparative education; education policy and politics; teaching and learning; and in European Cultural Studies.
Foreword: “’We Are All Equal’: Education and the Nordic struggles for equality and democracy”, Herner Saeverot
Foreword: “Interrogating the Nordic Dimension in Education as a Metaspace”, Bob Lingard
INTRODUCTION:
Chapter 1: “The Nordic dimension in education – emerging from myths and realities”, John Benedicto Krejsler
PART 1: Reflections upon the Nordic as a dimension
Chapter 2: “Metaspace – a conceptual tool to capture the Nordic”, John Benedicto Krejsler
Chapter 3: “The Nordic interactive and comparative spaces within the arena of education”, Jón Torfi Jónasson and Valgerður S. Bjarnadóttir
Chapter 4: “Between ‘Down-South’ and Norden: the case for Scottish Education”, Paul Adams
Chapter 5: “Educational Action Research for Being – Nordic vs Anglo-Saxon approaches”, Petri Salo and Karin Rönnerman
PART 2: Comparative cases in Nordic education policies and practice
Chapter 6: “Policy Borrowing and Path Dependency in the Evolution of Extended Comprehensive Schooling in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark”, Eyvind Elstad
Chapter 7: “Governance and Goals in Early Childhood Education and Care: Does a Nordic welfare dimension prevail?”, Håkon Solbu Trætteberg, Karl Henrik Sivesind, Maiju Paananen and Steinunn Hrafnsdóttir.
Chapter 8: “The paradox of documentation in early childhood special education in Finland and Norway: Debating national documentation policies within a Nordic framework”, Noora Heiskanen and Karianne Franck
Chapter 9: “Commercialising the 'Nordic Model': Education export rhetoric in Finland and Sweden”, Linda Rönnberg and Helena Hinke Dobrochinski Candido
Chapter 10: “Positions of newly arrived students in Nordic education policies and practices”, Annette Rasmussen, Marianne Dovemark, Gunilla Holm and Jenni Helakorpi
Chapter 11: “Second language and mother tongue education for immigrant children in Nordic educational policies: Search for a common Nordic dimension”, Renata Emilsson Pesková, Anna Lindholm, Maria Ahlholm, Eva Thue Vold, Hermína Gunnþórsdóttir, Anna Slotte and Sofia Esmann Busch
Chapter 12: “Rural education and professional learning in relation to the Nordic model - progress and pitfalls?”, Sandra Lund and Gunilla Karlberg-Granlund
DISCUSSION:
Chapter 13: “The Nordic Dimension: A resource for education between lived realities and myth”, John Benedicto Krejsler
Biography
John Benedicto Krejsler is Professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark.
