Scrutinising the Nordic Dimension in Education: Myths, Realities, and Integration Efforts in Europe's Nordic Region

by John Benedicto Krejsler (Editor)

Overview

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 conceptualised and institutionalised 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032694245
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/26/2025
Series:	Routledge Research in International and Comparative Education
Pages:	274
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Benedicto Krejsler is Professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark.

Table of Contents

Foreword: “’We Are All Equal’: Education and the Nordic struggles for equality and democracy”

Foreword: “Interrogating the Nordic Dimension in Education as a Metaspace”

 

INTRODUCTION:

Chapter 1: “Metaspace – a conceptual tool to capture the Nordic”

 

PART 1: Reflections upon the Nordic as a dimension

 

Chapter 2: “The Nordic Dimension as a Metaspace for Educational Research”

Chapter 3: “The Nordic interactive and comparative spaces within the arena of education”

Chapter 4: “Between ‘Down-South’ and Norden: the case for Scottish Education”

Chapter 5: “Educational Action Research for Being – Nordic vs Anglo-Saxon approaches”

 

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”

Chapter 7: “Governance and Goals in Early Childhood Education and Care: Does a Nordic welfare dimension prevail?”

Chapter 8: “The paradox of documentation in early childhood special education in Finland and Norway: Debating national documentation policies within a Nordic framework”

Chapter 9: “Commercialising the 'Nordic Model': Education export rhetoric in Finland and Sweden”

Chapter 10: “Newly arrived students in Nordic education policies and practices”

Chapter 11: “Second language and mother tongue education for immigrant children in Nordic educational policies: Search for a common Nordic dimension”

Chapter 12: “Rural education and professional learning in relation to the Nordic model - progress and pitfalls?”

 

DISCUSSION:

Chapter 13: “The Nordic Dimension: A resource for education between lived realities and myth”