NORDIC MODES OF BILDUNG, SCHOOLING, AND UPBRINGING - THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN INDIVIDUALISM, COLLECTIVISM, AND INSTITUTIONALIZED LIVES - UIO
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Nordic Modes of Bildung, Schooling,
and Upbringing
The interplay between individualism, collectivism,
and institutionalized lives
Digital Conference April 22nd and 23rd 2021
Conference program and abstract book
1
Welcome to the conference Nordic Modes of Bildung, Schooling, and Upbringing
The interplay between individualism, collectivism, and institutionalized lives!
Images of the modern Nordic societies are often paradoxical: Strongly socially cohesive but
renowned for their liberal social values; Equal rights and opportunities for all blended with collective
demands and duties; Strong trust and solidarity but less responsibility for helping your neighbor.
The Nordic countries have historically shown both strong collectivist traits epitomized in social
democratic concepts like “folkhemmet” (S) or expressions like “raising a building together” (DK) as
well as strong individualist traits of universalized individual rights to social goods and services. In the
Nordic model of education ideals of a common “folkskola” and of “folkeoplysning/folkbildning” have
included both more communitarian as well as more individualistic conceptualizations of “dannelse”
(Bildung).
In the field of education individuals are currently urged to optimize their contribution to society.
Lifelong learning under the banner of employability is no longer just a possibility but has almost
turned into a duty. The strong “welfare states” make equality more possible – but does the turn to
strong “competition states” also indicate a new more coercive collectivism?
In the light of these tensions, we aim in this conference at examining historical and current ideals,
practices, and institutions related to the formative aspects of Nordic citizens’ lives—their childhoods,
parenting values, schooling, education, and lifelong learning. We invite researchers that are engaged
in the study of the institutions and arenas in which children and youth are brought up and educated.
How have aims and expectations changed over time both in the Nordic settings and worldwide? Are
there specific Nordic traditions in Bildung, education, and upbringing? Are they more rooted in
common ideals of equality and communitarianism than in other Western and global societies? How
are these ideals expressed, justified, and institutionalized in a more globalized era?
The conference is held digitally in Zoom.
Join here: https://uio.zoom.us/j/69831291152?pwd=MURBWm9OMGF2cHNuY3A5T3B0NjZxQT09
Meeting ID: 698 3129 1152
Password: Nordic
This document includes the program overview, parallel session program, practical information about
the use of Zoom and all abstracts.
2
Table of content
PROGRAM OVERVIEW.....................................................................................................................................5
THURSDAY, 22ND OF APRIL 2021 ................................................................................................................................ 5
FRIDAY, 23RD APRIL 2021.......................................................................................................................................... 6
PARALLEL SESSION PROGRAMME: ..................................................................................................................7
THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30 – PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 ................................................................................................ 7
THURSDAY 14.45 – 16.15 – PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 ................................................................................................ 8
FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00 – PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 ................................................................................................... 10
PARALLEL SESSIONS OVERVIEW OF CONTRIBUTORS...................................................................................... 12
PRACTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT ZOOM ..................................................................................................... 13
SELF-SELECTING A BREAKOUT ROOM .......................................................................................................................... 13
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS DURING THE CONFERENCE ................................................................................................... 13
ABSTRACT BOOK ........................................................................................................................................... 14
KEYNOTES ............................................................................................................................................................. 14
Mette Buchardt ............................................................................................................................................. 14
Andy Green ................................................................................................................................................... 15
INVITED PANELS AND LECTURES ABSTRACTS.................................................................................................................. 17
Pillar 1: Mariann Solberg .............................................................................................................................. 17
Pillar 2: Magnus Hultén ................................................................................................................................ 18
Pillar 3: Book presentation with discussant .................................................................................................. 19
Pillar 4: Invited panel chaired by Berit Karseth ............................................................................................. 22
Pillar 5: Eva Gulløv ........................................................................................................................................ 25
PARALLEL SESSION ABSTRACTS ..................................................................................................................... 26
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 – PILLAR 1 (THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30) ............................................................................... 26
Elin Rødahl Lie (University of Oslo) ............................................................................................................... 26
HILDE BONDEVIK & INGA BOSTAD (UNIVERSITY OF OSLO) ............................................................................................. 27
Ilmi Willbergh & Turid Skarre Aasebø (University of Agder) ......................................................................... 29
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 – PILLAR 2 (THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30) ............................................................................... 31
Bjørn Smestad (OsloMet) and Hilde Opsal (Volda University College).......................................................... 31
Brit Marie Hovland (NLA University College) ................................................................................................ 32
Beatrice Partouche (University of Roma Tre) ................................................................................................ 34
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 – PILLAR 3 (THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30) ............................................................................... 36
Fredrik W. Thue (OsloMet) ............................................................................................................................ 36
Sølvi Mausethagen (OsloMet)....................................................................................................................... 36
Åsa Melander (University of Roehampton) ................................................................................................... 37
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 – PILLAR 4 (THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30) ............................................................................... 38
Hilde Marie Madsø-Jacobsen (University of Oslo) ........................................................................................ 38
Gørill Warvik Vedeler (The Arctic University of Norway) .............................................................................. 38
Petteri Hansen (University of Helsinki).......................................................................................................... 40
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 – PILLAR 5 (THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30) ............................................................................... 42
Teresa Aslanian (University of South-Eastern Norway) ................................................................................ 42
Tuva Skjelbred Nodeland (Uppsala University) ............................................................................................. 43
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 – PILLAR 1 (THURSDAY 14:45 – 16.15) ............................................................................... 44
Ingerid Straume (University of Oslo) ............................................................................................................. 44
Ingrid Smette (University of Oslo) and Jake Murdoch (University of Bourgogne) ......................................... 45
Thale K. Stalenget (University of Oslo) .......................................................................................................... 46
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 – PILLAR 2 (THURSDAY 14:45 – 16.15) ............................................................................... 48
Harald Jarning (University of Oslo) ............................................................................................................... 48
Åsa Melin (Karlstad University) ..................................................................................................................... 49
Josefine Jarheie (OsloMet) ............................................................................................................................ 50
3PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 – PILLAR 3 (THURSDAY 14:45 – 16.15) ............................................................................... 52
Birgit Schaffar & Niklas Rosenblad (University of Helsinki)........................................................................... 52
Turid Løyte Harboe (NLA University College) ................................................................................................ 53
Afshan Bibi (Univeristy of Oslo)..................................................................................................................... 54
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 – PILLAR 4 (THURSDAY 14:45 – 16.15) ............................................................................... 55
Symposium chaired by Bernadette Hörmann (University of Oslo) ................................................................ 55
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 – PILLAR 5 (THURSDAY 14:45 – 16.15) ............................................................................... 58
Victoria de Leon Born, Kristinn Hegna og Kristin Beate Vasbø (University of Oslo) ...................................... 58
Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen (University of Oslo) ................................................................................................. 59
Fengshu Liu (University of Oslo) .................................................................................................................... 60
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 – PILLAR 1 (FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00) .................................................................................... 61
Joakim Berg Larsen (The Arctic University of Norway) ................................................................................. 61
Pål Anders Opdal (The Arctic University of Norway) ..................................................................................... 61
Sølvi Mausethagen, Cecilie Dalland & Hege Knudsmoen (OsloMet)............................................................. 62
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 – PILLAR 2 (FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00) .................................................................................... 64
Symposium chaired by Harald Jarning and Sverre Tveit (University of Oslo) ................................................ 64
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 – PILLAR 3 (FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00) .................................................................................... 66
Beatrice Cucco (Università degli Studi di Torino) .......................................................................................... 66
Jesper Eckhardt Larsen (University of Oslo) .................................................................................................. 67
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 – PILLAR 4 (FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00) .................................................................................... 68
Maike Luimes (Kristiania University College) ................................................................................................ 68
Anniken Hotvedt Sundby & Berit Karseth (University of Oslo) ...................................................................... 69
Ole Andreas Kvamme (University of Oslo) .................................................................................................... 71
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 – PILLAR 5 (FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00) .................................................................................... 72
Symposium chaired by Jin Hui Li (Aalborg university) ................................................................................... 72
4Program overview
Thursday, 22nd of April 2021
Time Activity
08.30 Practical information
09.00 Opening – by Tore Rem, Director UiO Nordic and Inga Bostad, project leader NordEd,
University of Oslo (UiO)
09.30 The Nordic Model and The Educational Welfare State in a European Light – Between
Social Problem Solving and Hidden Spiritual Ambitions – Keynote by Professor Mette
Buchardt, Centre for Education Policy Research, Aalborg University
10.30 Break
10.45 Invited panels and lectures:
Breakout room Pillar 1:
What is knowledge in Education? Changing ideals in Norwegian education policy –
Lecture by Professor Mariann Solberg, University of Tromsø
Comments by Lars Løvlie and Inga Bostad, UiO
Breakout room Pillar 2:
Science wars? How conceptualisation of knowledge in education has become the
centre of the debate over Sweden's poor Pisa-scores – Lecture by Magnus Hultén,
Linköping University.
Comments from panel led by Harald Jarning, UiO
Participants: Magnus Hultén, Linköping University, Jesper Eckhardt Larsen, UiO
12.00 Lunch break
Parallel paper session 1
13.00 Breakout rooms Pillar 1, Pillar 2, Pillar 3, Pillar 4 and Pillar 5
14.30 Break
14.45- Parallel paper session 2
16:15
Breakout rooms Pillar 1, Pillar 2, Pillar 3, Pillar 4 and Pillar 5
5Friday, 23rd April 2021
Time Activity
09.00 Invited panels and lectures:
Breakout room Pillar 3
Schoolteachers and the Nordic Model – book presentation with discussant
Panel led by Jesper Eckhardt Larsen, UiO
Participants: Kim Helsvig, Oslo Metropolitan University, Fredrik Thue, Oslo
Metropolitan University, Barbara Schulte, University of Vienna
Breakout room Pillar 4
The Limits of Schools Reforms and their De-limiting power – Panel led by Berit Karseth,
UiO
Participants: Kirsten Sivesind, UiO, Christian Ydesen, University of Aalborg, Daniel
Petterson, University of Gävle,
Breakout room Pillar 5
Ideals of the Nordic childhood: Civilising missions in changing times – Lecture by Eva
Gulløv, University of Aarhus
10.15 Break
10.30 Models of Lifelong Learning and their Social and Economic Outcomes. How Distinctive
is the ‘Nordic Model’ Now? – Keynote by Professor Andy Green, Institute of Education,
University College London
11.30 Lunch break
12.30 Parallel paper session 3
Breakout rooms Pillar 1, Pillar 2, Pillar 3, Pillar 4 and Pillar 5
14:00 Break
14.15 Closing reflections by Professor Daniel Tröhler, University of Vienna/University of Oslo
-15:00
6Parallel session programme:
Thursday 13.00 – 14.30 – Parallel paper session 1
Pillar 1
Elin Rødahl Lie (University of Oslo)
Gender Equality, third, fourth or fifth act? A critical analysis of Nordic educational discourses on
gender equality
Hilde Bondevik & Inga Bostad (University of Oslo)
Being at home – being at school: Ideals of education for children with special needs at two
institutions in Norway
Ilmi Willbergh & Turid Skarre Aasebø (University of Agder)
The Bildung of students by cultural references in teaching
Pillar 2
Bjørn Smestad (OsloMet) and Hilde Opsal (Volda University College)
(Research on) New Maths in the Nordic countries – a systematic review
Brit Marie Hovland (NLA University College)
Textbook revisions, revised narratives and international networking - Inter war and inter play
Beatrice Partouche (University of Roma Tre)
The revision of school texts in the 20s and 30s of the twentieth century: the international movements
and the Norwegian and Italian case.
Pillar 3
Fredrik W. Thue (OsloMet)
Preaching and teaching: The religious origins of Nordic teacher cultures
Sølvi Mausethagen (OsloMet)
The Discourse on Professionalism in Teacher Education
Åsa Melander (University of Roehampton)
The Comprehensive Teacher and Social Cohesion. Scandinavian teacher roles 1960-1990
7Pillar 4
Hilde Marie Madsø-Jacobsen (University of Oslo)
Mentoring of Newly Qualified Teachers: Norwegian policy intentions and implications for school
leadership
Gørill Warvik Vedeler (The Arctic University of Norway)
Collaborative Autonomy-Support – A Pivotal Approach in School–Home Collaboration in Norwegian
Upper Secondary Schools
Petteri Hansen (University of Helsinki)
Looking in the same direction (once again)? Contrasting policy futures in Swedish and Finnish basic
education before and after the PISA-boom
Pillar 5
Teresa Aslanian (University of South-Eastern Norway)
Ideals of the Nordic childhoods: Schoolchildren’s memories of kindergarten: embedded values in the
unique learning environment of Norwegian kindergartens
Tuva Skjelbred Nodeland (Uppsala University)
Children of the revolution: socialist upbringing in the Norwegian labour movement, 1910-1940.
Thursday 14.45 – 16.15 – Parallel paper session 2
Pillar 1
Ingerid Straume (University of Oslo)
Privileged and Peripheral: Doing educational theory in the Nordic region
Ingrid Smette (University of Oslo) and Jake Murdoch (University of Bourgogne)
Integration of migrant children in schools: A comparative analysis of French and Norwegian
approaches and notions of equality
Thale K. Stalenget (University of Oslo)
Theories of ethical and political "Bildung" in the history of Nordic common schooling. How can
education prevent or reduce extremism?
8Pillar 2
Harald Jarning (University of Oslo)
Curriculum changes and schooling for all. National Curriculum Packages across the divide between
compulsory and post-compulsory schooling: 1960 – 1985 – 2010. Norwegian examples and search
for commonplaces for Nordic comparisons.
Åsa Melin (Karlstad University)
From the parallel school system to a primary school in Sweden: How School reforms were handled at
municipal level 1950-1968: Theories of ethical and political "Bildung" in the history of Nordic common
schooling
Josefine Jarheie (OsloMet)
The Standard “School Ready” Child – What Danish ECEC Teachers’ Work of Assessing and Preparing
Minority Language Children for School Can Tell Us About Perceptions of “School Readiness”
Pillar 3
Birgit Schaffar & Niklas Rosenblad (University of Helsinki)
“You can go when you are ready!” – Reflections on what it is to accomplish education
Turid Løyte Harboe (NLA University College)
Nordic reformulation of Bildung: impact from and on teachers
Afshan Bibi (Univeristy of Oslo)
Nordic paths and international entanglements: Scandinavian teachers’ involvement in the New
Education Fellowship from 1920 to 1940
Pillar 4
Symposium chaired by Bernadette Hörmann
Did the Nordic Model Survive? A comparative-historical analysis of school reform policy
Participants:
- Christian Ydesen
- Andreas Nordin
- Bernadette Hörmann & Kirsten Sivesind
- Chanwoong Baek
Pillar 5
Victoria de Leon Born, Kristinn Hegna og Kristin Beate Vasbø (University of Oslo)
Authority and closeness. New power relations between youth and their parents?
9Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen (University of Oslo)
Gender play in time and space
Fengshu Liu (University of Oslo)
Modernization as maximization: Three generations of young men and women in China
Friday 12.30 – 14.00 – Parallel paper session 3
Pillar 1
Joakim Berg Larsen (The Arctic University of Norway)
A Relevant Concept Bildung
Pål Anders Opdal (The Arctic University of Norway)
Learning
Sølvi Mausethagen, Cecilie Dalland & Hege Knudsmoen (OsloMet)
Municipal approaches towards inclusive education
Pillar 2
Symposium chaired by Harald Jarning and Sverre Tveit (University of Oslo)
Nordic models of grading, testing and examination – towards a research overview
Participants:
- Harald Jarning & Sverre Tveit
- Christian Lundahl
- Christian Ydesen
- Petteri Hansen
- Daniel Tröhler
Pillar 3
Beatrice Cucco (Università degli Studi di Torino)
The Impact of the Nordic Education Model on Teacher Professionalism and Training
Jesper Eckhardt Larsen (University of Oslo)
The Era of “Folk” Teachers in Norway and Denmark: Building a National Knowledge Culture from
Below, 1880-1920.
Pillar 4
Maike Luimes (Kristiania University College)
The enactment of curriculum change in Norwegian lower secondary school: Pupils, teachers and
heads of schools’ experiences with pre-vocational education
Anniken Hotvedt Sundby & Berit Karseth (University of Oslo)
10The `knowledge question` in the revised curriculum in Norway
Ole Andreas Kvamme (University of Oslo)
Nordic environmental education in the 1990s: the muvin project
Pillar 5
Symposium chaired by Jin Hui Li
Changing modes of Danish governance and practice of education and upbringing for migrant children
and families since the 1970s
Participants:
- Jin Hui Li
- Birthe Lund
- Nanna Ramsing Enemark
11Parallel sessions overview of contributors
Room and chair Pillar 1 (Inga Pillar 2 (Harald Pillar 3 (Jesper Pillar 4 Pillar 5 (Kristinn
Bostad) Jarning & Eckhard- (Bernadette Hegna)
Sverre Tveit) Larsen) Hörmann)
Parallel 13:00 Bjørn Smestad Sølvi Hilde Marie Teresa Aslanian
session 1 13:30 Elin Rødahl Lie & Hilde Opsal Mausethagen Madsø-Jacobsen
13:30 Hilde Bondevik Brit Marie Åsa Melander Gørill Warvik Tuva Skjelbred
Thursday 14:00 & Inga Bostad Hovland Vedeler Nodeland
13.00 – 14:00 Ilmi Willbergh Beatrice Petteri Hansen
14.30 14:30 & Turid Skarre Partouche
Aasebø
Room and chair Pillar 1 (Inga Pillar 2 (Harald Pillar 3 (Jesper Pillar 4 Pillar 5 (Kristinn
Bostad) Jarning & Eckhard- (Bernadette Hegna)
Sverre Tveit) Larsen) Hörmann)
Parallel 14:45 Ingerid Harald Jarning Birgit Schaffar Symposium Victoria de Leon
session 2 15:15 Straume & Niklas chaired by Born,
Rosenblad Bernadette & Kristinn Hegna
Hörmann
Thursday Participants:
14.45 – 15:15 Ingrid Smette Åsa Melin Turid Løyte - Christian Harriet Bjerrum
16.15 – 15:45 and Jake Harboe Ydesen Nielsen
Murdoch - Andreas
Nordin
15:45 Thale K. Josefine Jarheie Afshan Bibi - Bernadette Fengshu Liu
16:15 Stalenget Hörmann &
Kirsten
Sivesind
- Chanwoong
Baek
Room and chair Pillar 1 (Inga Pillar 2 (Harald Pillar 3 (Jesper Pillar 4 Pillar 5 (Jin Hui
Bostad) Jarning & Eckhard- (Bernadette Li)
Sverre Tveit) Larsen) Hörmann)
Parallel 12:30 Joakim Berg Symposium Beatrice Cucco Maike Luimes Symposium
session 3 13:00 Larsen chaired by chaired by Jin
Harald Jarning Hui Li
Friday & Sverre Tveit Participants:
12.30 – Participants: - Jin Hui Li
14.00 – 13:00 Pål Anders - Christian Jesper Anniken Hotvedt - Birthe Lund
13:30 Opdal Lundahl Eckhardt Sundby & Berit - Nanna
- Christian Larsen Karseth Ramsing
Ydesen Enemark
13:30 Sølvi - Petteri Ole Andreas
14:00 Mausethagen, Hansen Kvamme
Cecilie Dalland - Daniel
& Hege Tröhler
Knudsmoen
12Practical information about Zoom
All key notes will be presented in The Main session
Invited lectures and parallel sessions will be held in separate breakout rooms:
• Pillar I: Theories of ethical and political "Bildung" in the history of Nordic
common schooling
• Pillar II: National curricula and school subjects in the transition from folk
schools (folkskola) to long comprehensive schooling.
• Pillar III: Nordic teacher ideal-types
• Pillar IV: Nordic school reforms and beyond: Knowledge, governance and
areas of tension
• Pillar V: Ideals of the Nordic childhoods
You will Self-select a breakout room
Self-selecting a breakout room
Participants will be able to view and select from a list of breakout rooms (Pillar 1, 2, 3,
4 or 5) that the conference has created. You will be able to enter and leave breakout
rooms freely.
1. Click Breakout Rooms in your meeting controls.
This will display the list of open breakout rooms created by the conference.
2. Hover your pointer over the number to the right of breakout room you wish to
join, click Join, then confirm by clicking Join
3. Repeat as necessary to join other breakout rooms, or click Leave Room to
return to the main session.
Questions or comments during the conference
• To ask a question, write «Q» in the chat. You will then be added to the
speakerlist by the session chair.
• You will be asked to speak by the sessions chair when its your turn
13Abstract book
Throughout rest of the document, you will find the presentation of keynotes, the abstracts for the
invited talks and panels and for the papers and symposia of the parallel sessions.
Keynotes
Mette Buchardt
Professor Mette Buchardt, Centre for Education Policy Research, Aalborg University, will speak on
the topic:
The Nordic Model and The Educational Welfare State in a European Light –
Between Social Problem Solving and Hidden Spiritual Ambitions
The state education systems across Europe have since the late 19th century been central political
tools in not only state crafting but also in the solving of social problems. This is not least the case
with regard to the Nordic states, where an education system, allegedly ‘for all’ evolved along with
the modernization and consolidation of the five Nordic nation state at present and with the
development of what was since the mid-20th century often labelled as ‘the Nordic welfare state
model’.
In the wording of welfare state historian Mary Hilson the Nordic model is however historically to be
understood as a model with five exceptions, each of the state in question being an exception. Also it
can be questioned to which degree the Nordic model of e.g. education is exceptional and to which
degree the Nordic education reforms from late 19thcentury and during the 20th century are either
following same traces or at least sought to develop answers to the same questions and challenges as
was the case in other parts of Europe.
In late 19th century and early 20th century, a groundbreaking period for Nordic education reforms, not
least the so-called social question – how to handle poverty while still retaining class society and
difference in social status and income – was a key political question cutting across the nation-states
and (declining) empires of Europe. Education politics, often overlapping with social politics, was seen
as a main tool to find new strategies to solve this political challenge. However, the political efforts
concerning the social question did not only address social difference, but also e.g. religious
difference, something which was increasingly seen as a cultural question. Also here the education
systems were considered a means of creating social and cultural cohesion which in different ways
was aiming at shifting religion from a churchly matter into a cultural and social glue of the state, and
across the Nordic states young modern so-called Cultural Protestant public intellectuals was,
together with not least Social Democratic state crafters, central actors in developing such new
approaches and strategies.
Through the examination of late 19th- and early 20th-century education reforms in the Nordic states
and comparing them with reform efforts from other parts of Europe, the lecture will deal with how
we can understand the demands put on and the role of the welfare state education systems as
educator of welfare state mentalities as a corner stone in schooling into citizenship, including how
welfare state education also aims at educating into and thus simultaneously co-produce social
imaginaries of religious, cultural and social difference and cohesion in present-day Europe. On this
basis, the lecture will also address the question of weather, and if so, how to define an exceptional
Nordic model for educating citizens in a democratic and allegedly secular society.
14Mette Buchardt is full Professor and Head
of Centre for Education Policy Research,
Dept. of Culture & Learning, Aalborg
University (Aalborg & Copenhagen) as
well as visiting professor, at the
Department of Historical, Philosophical
and Religious studies, Umeå University.
Mette Buchardt is currently working on
the interdisciplinary research project “The
Child and Curriculum” on life philosophy
in the Swedish Curriculum 1960s to the
present and is head of the historical research dimension of this project. She is also currently engaged
in the project “FLOW, Global flows of migrants and their impact on Northern European welfare
states” with a special focus on policies on education and labour market.
Recent book publications include: ”Kulturforklaring: Uddannelseshistorier om muslimskhed”
(2016), ”Pedagogized Muslimness: Religion and Culture as Identity Politics in the Classroom”(2014),
and ”Education, state and citizenship” with co-editors: Pirjo Markkola and Heli Valtonen (2013).
Andy Green
Professor Andy Green, Institute of Education, University College London, will speak on the topic:
Models of Lifelong Learning and their Social and Economic Outcomes. How
Distinctive is the ‘Nordic Model’ Now?
Comparative political economy has traditionally identified different regimes of capitalist economy
and welfare systems in groups of countries distinguished by different histories and forms of socio-
economic organisation. Theories generally characterise the most distinctive regimes as: ‘Social
Market’ (typically German-speaking countries); ‘Social Democratic’ (Nordics); and ‘Liberal’ (English-
speaking countries), with East Asian and Mediterranean countries considered to have different
(although less distinctive) types of regime. Literature on education systems and their educational and
socio-economic outcomes have also identified distinctive models of lifelong learning, broadly
corresponding to these different regime types. Regimes types are generally seen as subject to a
degree of ‘path dependency’, which accounts for their reproduction over time, but they are also
subject to changes at key conjunctures. Are we now at one of these transitional moments and how
far can we still talk about a distinctive ‘Nordic model’?
This presentation re-examines the traditional models of lifelong learning systems and their socio-
economic effects, asking how these are changing and what new models are emerging. The analysis
draws primarily on the data on skills levels, qualifications, training, employment and values for the 34
countries and country regions in the first and second rounds of the Survey of Adult Skills. Repeated
cross-sectional data from PISA and other sources are used to identify the key characteristics of
primary and secondary educational systems and to track changes in aggregate skills outcomes over
time; whilst the data from SAS are used to identify characteristics of upper secondary and adult
education and training systems. The SAS data is used to compare skills levels and distributions at
different ages across countries and, in conjunction with comparable data on Literacy from the
Internal Adult Literacy Survey, to disaggregate life course and period effects on skills.
The analysis of the international survey data, alongside the findings from the comparative political
economy research, suggest both continuity and change in models of lifelong learning. Education
15systems are having to adapt to major shifts in demographics, technology and work organisation in
societies which are becoming increasingly unequal in wealth and incomes. However, their education
systems respond in different ways to these common global socio-economic forces. Different models
of lifelong learning, with distinctive educational and societal effects, can still be identified, although
in each case with significant internal variation amongst countries associated with each model, and
increasing evidence of hybridization. A distinctive ‘Nordic’ model of lifelong learning can still be
identified in Norway, Sweden and Finland, with Denmark suggesting the emergence of a new hybrid
model sharing features of the social market model and the Nordic model. Analysis of recent
interviews with policymakers in Singapore will explore a further example of hybridisation, suggesting
the need to refine the traditional typologies of lifelong learning.
Andy Green is Professor of Comparative
Social science at the UCL Institute of
Education, and Director, since 2008, of the
ERSC Research Centre on Learning and
Life Chances (LLAKES). He was formerly
co-founder and co-director of the UK
Government-funded Wider Benefits of
Learning Centre (1999-2004) and has
directed and co-directed a number of
major comparative research projects
addressing both economic and social
impacts of education and training,
including Education and Training for a
High Skills Economy (ESRC, 1997-2000);
Globalisation, Education and Development (DFID, 2004-6); Convergence and Divergence in Education
Systems in Europe (EC, 1996-7). He has frequently acted as consultant both to international bodies,
such as CEDEFOP, the European Commission, OECD and UNESCO, and to UK Government bodies,
including the DFES National Skills Task Force (1999-2000) and Skills Task Force Research Group
(2002), the Ministerial Skills Strategy Steering Group (2003) and the House of Lords Select Committee
on Social Mobility (2015).
Andy Green has published widely on a range of social and education issues, with major works
translated into Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. His major books include: Regimes of
Social Cohesion: Societies and the Crisis of Globalisation, Palgrave 2011; Education and Development
in a Global Era: Strategies for ‘Successful’ Globalisation, DFID, 2007; Education, Equality and Social
Cohesion, Palgrave 2006; Education, Globalisation and the Nation State, Palgrave, 1997. A new and
extended edition of his prize-winning 1990 book was published in 2013 as Education and State
Formation: Europe, East Asian and the USA. His latest book, published on open access by Palgrave in
2017, is entitled: The Crisis for Young People: Generational Inequality in Education, Work, Housing
and Welfare.
16Invited panels and lectures abstracts
Pillar 1: Mariann Solberg
What is knowledge in Education? Changing ideals in Norwegian education policy
Lecture by Professor Mariann Solberg, University of Tromsø
Comments by Lars Løvlie and Inga Bostad, UiO
The school is supposed to bring knowledge to the new generation. Is knowledge an absolute value of
education? Is it a goal in itself? If not, who and what is knowledge in education for?
In the lecture I discuss the epistemic status and societal value of different forms of knowledge in
education. I first go into the question of what we are referring to when talking about knowledge in
education. What concepts of knowledge, what forms of knowledge, and what views on knowledge
are involved? I lay out conceptions of knowledge that I find essential for understanding what we
mean by knowledge in education. When forming a grid that can help us understand developments in
views on knowledge in education, I mainly turn to epistemology and philosophical contributions, but
also to the sociology of knowledge. I ask how the ideals of knowledge in education have changed
over time in Norwegian education policy, sketch some basic lines in the development, and discuss
some possible consequences.
Mariann Solberg is professor of pedagogy at Department of Education, UiT The Arctic University of
Norway and head of the research group Philosophy of Education. She gained her Dr. Art. in
philosophy. Mariann Solberg is editor-in-chief of Uniped, the Norwegian journal for university
pedagogy. Her research interests currently center on knowledge and Bildung. She has published on
philosophy of education, teaching and learning in higher education, information literacy, academic
development, philosophy of social science, epistemology, and philosophy in the working life.
17Pillar 2: Magnus Hultén
Science wars? How conceptualisation of knowledge in education has become the centre of the
debate over Sweden's poor Pisa-scores
Lecture by Magnus Hultén, Linköping University.
Comments from Jesper Eckhardt Larsen, and Harald Jarning, UiO.
This talk deals with the politicization of the concept of knowledge within the field of education in
Sweden. Starting in the mid 1970s, educational debate using the concept of knowledge started
surfacing. This was the time of the great comprehensive educational reforms in Sweden, creating the
compulsory, unified and state controlled primary and secondary school system. Implementing this
new school system created tensions and fierce debate. It was in this context that a group of
intellectuals and scholars started to address educational problems through the use of the concept of
knowledge.
The increased importance of the concept of knowledge was seen in political debate in the early
1980s, but never translated into policy. Instead, other aspects became important, primarily questions
concerning the efficiency of the public sector, competition as means for improvement and freedom
of choice - often summed up by the influence of new public management. But in the succeeding
restructuring the Swedish educational system in the 1990s, the concept on knowledge surfaced again
and came to play a key role in forming curriculum and policy.
What we see, starting in the late 1970s, is the political potential in the concept of knowledge being
developed. The power of it to recontextualize both the curriculum as well as old controversies and
positions in the educational debate. The rise and influence of international large scale assessment
systems on educational policy in the last decades has resulted in an even accentuated debate over
the conceptualization of knowledge in Swedish curriculum and policy, turning into a metadebate or a
science war, where different conceptions of knowledge are are seen as either crucial to or
devastating for the future and success of the Swedish school system. The talk will try to answer why
"knowledge" has come to be given such a pivotal role, and what this does to our understanding of
the educational enterprise.
Magnus Hultén (1970) is professor of science education at Linköping University. His research interest
lies in the history of schooling, with a focus on educational policy and the history of science and
technology in public education. He has recently published a book on the 1990s educational reforms
in Sweden, emphasizing a knowledge turn in Swedish educational policy. He is the editor of Skola och
samhälle, an online education opinion magazine.
18Pillar 3: Book presentation with discussant
Book presentation with discussant:
Schoolteachers and the Nordic Model: Comparative and historical perspectives, Oxford Studies in
Comparative Education, Routledge, due summer 2021, Open Access
With the editors: Jesper Eckhardt Larsen, Barbara Schulte, and Fredrik W. Thue
Discussant: Kim Helsvig
Schoolteachers and the Nordic Model:
The Nordic model has often figured as a promise: as the living proof that there can be a
“quintessentially middle way between socialism and capitalism, a rationalist culture of social reform
and democratic institutions” (Andersson 2009:231). Already early on, the model – at that time,
mainly embodied by Sweden – attracted international attention (Childs 1936), until Esping-Andersen
in 1990 honoured and consolidated the idea of a ‘Nordic model’ further by awarding the region their
own (‘social democratic’) regime type (Esping-Andersen 1990). The countries most closely associated
with the Nordic model have not been constant over time: while for decades Sweden was the
synecdoche for the Nordic model, the 1990s economic debt crisis in Sweden and ensuing economic,
political, and social struggles destabilized this position. Particularly in education, the long-celebrated
supremacy of the Swedish system, not last due to Sweden’s deteriorating PISA results, began to
crumble, giving way to a hitherto little acknowledged country to become the rising star: Finland
(Dervin 2016).
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden have of course their own, distinct educational
systems. In the strict sense, one would have to stretch the model considerably to accommodate all
five systems. However, in less strict terms, one could see these five countries as being characterized
by “a specific political culture built around workers education, a rationalist and pragmatic reformism
and not superstition, and long legacies of institutions for spreading knowledge – study circles, public
libraries, [some] of the world’s oldest systems for public education” (Andersson 2009:240), as well as
by their strong emphasis on what Brunila and Edström (2013:301) term “gender equality work” in
education (see also Warin and Adriany 2017).
Schoolteachers were, and continue to be, central agents in keeping this “specific political culture”
alive and enacting the Nordic model in such a way that it makes sense to students, parents, and the
teachers themselves as a professional group. Historically one may argue that it was less the teachers
who followed suit to the model, through e.g. top-down teacher education programs; but rather, that
teachers created the conditions for the model (or parts of the model) to emerge. One important
building block of what was later to become distinctly ‘Nordic’ was the ‘organic’ teacher type of the
late nineteenth century. Possessing democratizing potential, it was developed in contrast to the
‘colonial’ or ‘civilizing’ teacher type. This characteristic was noted as far away as in China: in the
1920s, reform-minded Chinese educators noted the non-hierarchical relationship between Nordic (in
this case, Danish) teachers and the rural population, and were particularly enthusiastic about the
integration of agrarian knowledge into the curriculum (Zhu 1923). At the time, a very popular book
for these reformers was Haggard’s Rural Denmark and its Lessons (1911) (Schulte 2015).
Currently Nordic teachers, like their colleagues in many other countries, find themselves in a
paradoxical situation. Their credibility and legitimacy as a profession is constantly questioned, and
teachers are increasingly held accountable for their performance. At the same time, teachers are
celebrated as the single most critical precondition of children’s learning, and education is seen as the
preeminent determinant of national competitiveness in a globalized economy as well as a catch-all
solution to all kinds of political, social, and cultural problems in modern societies. In central issues of
19inclusion, integration, sustainability, gender and social equality, religious and political extremism etc.
teachers are seen as the frontline professionals performing pre-emptive strikes in societies in a state
of crisis.
Ambivalences in the teachers’ roles and role expectations are not new, however. New expectations
are often superimposed on older ones. A recent Norwegian government report on the teacher’s role
phrases this as the historical sedimentation of “layer upon layer”, which exposes teachers to complex
and contradictory demands: democratic and elitist, collective and individualistic, socio-ethical and
performance-oriented (Askling et al. 2016). Such attempts at combining social-democratic and
liberal-competitive norms and values in primary and secondary education may be particularly
pronounced in the Nordic countries. These attempts at bridging opposing ideals are, we find, also
connected to a shift that may be observed in all the Nordic countries: from originally referring to
German inspiration, often referred to as the Didaktik tradition, we now see a strong Anglo-Saxon
influence referred to as the curriculum tradition (Westbury 2012). The words above – e.g.
accountability, liberal, competitive, performance-oriented – already bear witness to the current
primary countries of reference: the USA and other examples of Anglo-Saxon liberal welfare regimes.
Against this background, we find it may be timely to consider other models as relevant global
benchmarks. However, this volume should not be considered a plaidoyer for the promotion of a
Nordic model, but rather a critical scrutinising of previous die-hard myths about it, and about its
schoolteachers.
The objects of study in this edited volume are teachers in primary and secondary education in the
Nordic countries. While some studies engage in direct comparisons (e.g. with select examples from
Europe and America), others place Nordic education and teachers in a global perspective in different
ways (e.g. presenting Nordic education as a projection surface from a Chinese perspective). Both
comparative education and historical studies of education have been engaged in debates of how
processes of globalization have, or have not, resulted in a worldwide convergence of educational
systems (Schriewer 2012). This book’s shared comparative and historical approach will add new
knowledge to the analysis of global and regional convergence/divergence in educational systems
with a special focus on teachers. At the same time, the book can also serve to inform professional
practice and policy work within the field.
Editors:
Barbara Schulte
Professor in Comparative and International Education, University of Vienna, Austria. Her research
focuses on the global diffusion and local appropriation of educational models and programmes, both
from a historical and contemporary perspective. In her over 30 peer-reviewed publications, she has
addressed topics such as education, privatisation, and consumerism; new technologies/ICT,
education, and techno-determinism; as well as education, aid and development, with particular focus
on China. Ongoing research projects include a study of ethnic minority education in Southwest China,
and the role of ‘innovation’ in education in authoritarian regimes. Schulte’s most recent monograph
is an introduction to comparative and international education in Swedish (with Wieland Wermke:
Internationellt jämförande pedagogik, Stockholm, 2019).
Jesper Eckhardt Larsen
Research Assistant at the Department of Communication, Copenhagen University and Associate
Professor of Education at the Department of Education, University of Oslo. He served as the
President of the History of Education Society in Denmark and as is co-editor of the Danish Yearbook
of the History of Education. His research interests combine historical and comparative approaches in
educational studies with a special interest in the history of pedagogy, concepts of Bildung, and
20approaches to the legitimation of knowledge. Contributions include the academisation of teacher
education, humanities in society, and colonial school history. He edited the volume Knowledge,
Politics and the History of Education (LIT-Verlag, 2012).
Fredrik W. Thue
Professor in the history and theory of professions at Oslo Metropolitan University. He is
currently engaged in a research project on Protestantism, Professionalism and the
Welfare State, comparing the religious origins of modern professionalism in Scandinavia,
Germany and the United States with special emphasis on the "caring professions"
(teachers, nurses, social workers, etc.). He has previously studied the history of
universities, the history of the Norwegian humanities, the transatlantic integration of
the social sciences after the Second World War, and the history and theory of
Scandinavian historiography. Thue is editor-in-chief of Scandinavian
Journal of History and co-editor of Professions & Professionalism.
Discussant:
Kim Helsvig
Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University is historian (dr. art, from the University of Oslo, 2003) who
primarily have worked and published on modern intellectual and educational history. The works
include a thesis about Opus Dei and the so-called Spanish technocracy under the last part of the
Franco regime and books about the history of the University of Oslo, The Norwegian Academy of
Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, the editorial Pax Forlag as
well as the Norwegian Workers' Union (forthcoming on Pax Forlag in 2021).
21Pillar 4: Invited panel chaired by Berit Karseth
The Limits of Nordic School Reforms and their De-limiting power
Invited panel chaired by Berit Karseth. Contributions by: Kirsten Sivesind (University of Oslo),
Christian Ydesen (Aalborg univeristy) and Daniel Pettersson (University of Gävle & University of
Uppsala)
The school can be considered in classical terms as a “source of ‘free time’” – which is the most
common translation of the Greek word scholè – that is, free time for studying” (Masschelein and
Simons, 2013, p. 9). Bildung is from this point of view facilitated within the boundaries of the local
school where teaching belongs to the practical sphere of teachers, implying a power- from the
bottom-up (Sivesind, 2008). Paradoxically, institutional arrangements such as school reforms were
during the 19th and 20th century, essential to promote this pre-condition of schooling as connected,
yet differentiated from the surrounding society. As a result, schooling assumed both cultivation and
formation as an outcome, however, only indirectly through teaching and by not under any
circumstances, predicted (Hopmann & Riquarts, 2000; Westbury, 2000).
Recent school reforms in the Nordic countries have transformed this precondition of schooling into a
boundary-less space where objectives specifies learning outcomes. By a global language of reform,
focusing one what students are going to learn in a life-long perspective, state agencies define
learning outcomes in terms of competence aims, skills and capacities (Karseth & Solbrekke, 2010).
Governments address what the younger generation is going to achieve, without necessarily
defending the boundaries of schooling and Bildung. This concern has in recent decades, emerged as a
global phenomenon with no apparent alternative (Tröhler 2011).
International organizations such as OECD and UNESCO have made literacy and learning into the core
purpose of education, and reformers have, as Gita Steiner-Khamsi (2009) puts it, ‘come to accept the
existence of transnational regimes in education’ with implications for national school systems (p. 67).
These global regimes promote standard-based reforms and evidence-based policy as a solution to
political and administrative problems. The power of transnational actors and their comparative data
is today a source of authority for assessing national educational reforms as well as improving
teaching and learning in schools. Furthermore, there is wide consensus that globalization and
knowledge-based regulation in the public sector has raised expectations, created new demands,
and put pressure on individuals and well as organizations.
The research panel will present ongoing comparative research projects that investigate how
different societal discourses legitimize school reform by referring to certain knowledge areas and
ideas and values mediated by experts and others. The area of empirical interest seeks to unravel
how international policy makers and policy analysists operate as knowledge- brokers, potentially
transforming the educational sphere of schooling as well as the political sphere of bureaucracies.
A particular interest is how international policy actors within the Nordic countries have
referenced and “translated” OECD studies and/or PISA results within a national reform context.
On this background, the panel will raise questions about Nordic school reforms; whether they
converge and adjust to international or global trends or de-limit their own decision-power by
reflecting a Nordic education model. Key questions are: How do policy experts translate regional
and international policy knowledge into their own school reforms within the Nordic countries
and to what extent can certain knowledge or ideas develop the capability of schools to
guarantee ‘free time’ for teaching and learning?
22Discourses of “the Nordic” within a transnational context: the Salience of Educational Issues for
Policy-makers and Experts in Norway (1988-2020)
Kirsten Sivesind, Associate Professor, Department of Education, University of Oslo
Today, new forms of political authority evolve through global networks, various types of partnerships
and multilateral initiatives. Together with political interests for developing civic engagement in a
range of policy realms, national governments provide public schooling for ensuring individual and
social rights. Nordic cooperation on school reform is located in-between various poles: global
expectations for developing a world polity that is transnational in character and national needs for
developing a welfare policy which promotes schooling as a public and common good. Within this
context, policy makers and experts build knowledge networks and alliances with governments and
international associations that shape messages and discourses about Nordic education. Based on a
semantical analysis of a large corpus of white papers and public enquiry reports written between
1988 and 2020 in Norway, the study identifies the salience of issues for policy-makers and experts
related to Nordic education and how discourses of “the Nordic” are changing along with reform
trajectories. It looks into how communication among knowledge providers is shaped as well as
reshaping reform agendas and how these are characterised by inter-frame connection patterns, that
is, how patterns of closely interconnected concepts about education are associated with each other
to sustain or re-negotiate what is conceptualised as Nordic.
Global Framings of Danish Education Reform – The Paradoxes of Assessment and Inclusion
Christian Ydesen, University of Aalborg
This presentation will report from an international comparative project on the paradoxes arising
in the intersections between the assessment and inclusion agendas. The agendas of assessment
and inclusion point to a dilemma between, on the one hand, ideals about accountability and
measurable levels of success and, on the other hand, ambitions to create a school system that can
support possibilities of participation and learning for all students, that is, universal education
access, regardless of special needs, social background, gender, ethnicity, religion, or other defining
labels.
The Danish public school has a long tradition of dealing with both the assessment and inclusion
agendas. In this presentation, I will provide an overview of the underlying understandings and
approaches to assessment and inclusion of the OECD and UNESCO. The aim is to provide insight
into how global frameworks of assessment and inclusion in education can be characterized and
how these frameworks can have paradoxical knock-on effects on education reform in Denmark.
International Comparisons and Re-Modelling of Welfare State Education
Daniel Pettersson, Associate Professor, University of Gävle & University of Uppsala
The reawakening of international comparative education research programs and the creation of
international large-scale assessments in the post-World War Two years implied something new on
the educational agora (cf. Nowotny, et al. 2001), forming a somewhat new educational reasoning (cf.
Hacking, 1990) with an authority based on ‘numbers’ and comparisons on how to make education
intelligible. The centers of calculations that emerges produces new phenomena as the objects of
change which acts and are acted on by nations in the governing of social life. The object of the
phenomena generated as ‘data points’ in the measuring of change is anticipatory; the phenomena
embody inscriptions of philosophical ideals about an utopic future and a global kind of society and
people that are not empirical, but instead ‘made’ out of measures that are then compared and out of
23You can also read
