This symposium, presenting research from the anthology “Rethinking Education in Light of Global Challenges” (Routledge, 2022) will address and discuss Scandinavian perspectives on the educational implications of and responses to global issues: Migration flows and (post)nationalism, and erosion of welfare states and the global rise of neoliberalism. The symposium addresses how global trends influence education, education policy and discussions regarding the purpose(s) of education in the Scandinavian countries. These countries provide an interesting framework for comparison because they are geographically similar, all being quite small – regarding population - nation states on the northern outskirts of Europe with many similarities in terms of history and social structures, and with strong cultural, religious, and linguistic ties.

The educational systems in the three Scandinavian countries likewise have many similarities. Educational policy was developed at the national level and the curriculum consisted of a common core of subjects aligned with a so-called ‘Bildung’ approach and an ideal of nurturing social responsibility democratic values among students (Imsen, Blossing & Moos, 2017; Telhaug, Mediås & Aasen, 2006). 

Thus, in all three countries, education was part of a wider-reaching social democratic project of establishing a welfare state (cf. Esping Andersen, 1990; Telhaug, Mediås & Aasen, 2004). The idea of a ‘Nordic model’ of education was therefore integral to the self-image of educational policymakers, researchers, educators and teachers in Scandinavia for much of the second half of the 20th century (Esping Andersen, 1990). 

Furthermore, the classical German 'Bildung' tradition, especially as it was developed in romanticism and Weimar classicism, played and indirectly still plays a crucial role in education, mostly in Denmark but also in the other Scandinavian countries. 

However, the Nordic welfare model, and the accompanying educational systems in the Scandinavian countries have been challenged by global issues such as migration flows, the erosion of the welfare state and global rise of neoliberal education policy.

Historically, Denmark, Norway and Sweden share parallel migration histories, primarily dominated by emigration from the mid-19th century until the mid-20^th century. After the Second World War, all three countries experienced a large influx of migrants to meet a heavy labour shortage within industry, which was followed by an increase in immigration of refugees and migrants.  A short period of relatively liberal and open immigration policy has since been replaced by restrictions of varying strictness in all three countries, making immigration from outside the EU nearly impossible. Nevertheless, the Nordic countries have undergone huge changes demographically in the form of an increasingly diverse population and have responded with a range of integration and assimilation strategies, representing, to varying degrees, nationalism, anxiety or even xenophobia, cultural conflict, racism and segregation. 

Furthermore, since the 1990s, education in Scandinavia has been drawn into a new kind of educational governance, based on the logic of a global marketplace, that advocates and promotes strategies such as the introduction of efficiency benchmarks, increased competition, decentralisation, management by objectives, etc. (Imsen, Blossing & Moos, 2017). From a focus on the welfare state, ‘Bildung’, democracy and the welfare of its citizens, the Scandinavian countries like most other countries around the world, have witnessed a shift in education policy towards a neoliberal education policy (Ball, 2006; Dovemark, Kosunen, Kauko, Magnasdottir, Hansen & Rasmussen, 2018).

These developments are associated with the accelerating globalization of national and international cultural, economic, and political structures negotiated in local settings in order to adapt these changes to conditions in individual countries. The four papers in this symposium deal with these interrelated global issues and relate them to current debates and policy initiatives.

Ball, S. (2005). Education Policy and the Social Class. The selected works of Stephen J. Ball. London: Routledge. Dovemark, M., S. Kosunen, J. Kauko, B. Magnasdottir, P. Hansen & P. Rasmussen (2018) Deregulation, privatisation and marketisation of Nordic comprehensive education: social changes reflected in schooling, Education Inquiry, 9:1, 122-141, DOI: 10.1080/20004508.2018.1429768 Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Imsen, G. Blossing, U. & Moos, L. (2017) Reshaping the Nordic education model in an era of efficiency. Changes in the comprehensive school project in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden since the millennium. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 61:5, 568-583, DOI: 10.1080/00313831.2016.1172502 Telhaug, A. O., Mediås, O. A. & Aasen, P. (2004) From collectivism to individualism? education as nation building in a Scandinavian perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 48:2, 141-158, DOI: 10.1080/0031383042000198558. Telhaug, A. O., Mediås, O. A. & Aasen, P. (2006) The Nordic Model in Education: Education as part of the political system in the last 50 years. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 50(3), 245-283, DOI: 10.1080/00313830600743274.