In Search of the Nordic Model in Education

Abstract

The Nordic model of education is defined in this article as an attempt to construct a national education system on the foundation of specific local values and practices, but at the same time subject to international influences. According to the author, equity, participation, and welfare are the major goals and the publicly funded comprehensive school system is the major form of the ideal Nordic model. The actual and nationally varying transformation of the model or pattern from the Golden Years of the welfare state in the 1960s and 1970s until the age of restructuring from the 1990s has been described in more detail. The conditions and prospects of the Nordic model are tentatively discussed.

Keywords:

• Global‐local
• Nordic model
• Welfare state
• Comprehensive school system

Notes

1. I have used the words “Scandinavian” and “Nordic” as synonyms, unless specifically indicated otherwise. I make the assumption that in addition to geography, the Nordic countries are united by natural conditions and culture. Naturally, culture and language vary. Finnish does not belong to the European family of languages, and the Sami culture differs most distinctly from the other national cultures.

2. As Torres and Antikainen (2003, pp. 3–4) point out, even in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, the expansion and differentiation of education took place in states aspiring to resemble welfare states.