This paper highlights Denmark as a case among Nordic countries, where school policies have turned increasingly transnational. The paper finds that the OECD, EU and IEA have been important drivers for school reform in all five countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (Blossing, Imsen, & Moos, 2016; Krejsler & Moos, 2021b; Telhaug, Mediås, & Aasen, 2006). In addition, transnational collaboration has transformed Nordic collaboration as the new format by which inter-Nordic comparisons are made. In these processes neo-liberal discourse, in particular, has been instrumental in driving school to become an entity on a competitive market for students opening up for increasing commercialization, although welfare state ideals of equity still offer a strong counter-force to this development (Hultqvist, Lindblad, & Popkewitz, 2018). Danish school used to be admired internationally as an example of Scandinavian progressive and equity-oriented educational thinking. From around the millennium shift, however, Danish school turned around towards a strong NPM-inspired accountability model where standards-based education with an output focus to be controlled by testing was increasingly enforced (Imsen, Blossing, & Moos, 2017). This development drew strongly on Anglo-American NPM, school effectiveness and evidence models (most explicitly from England, New Zealand and Ontario) as opposed to previous more German-inspired didactics- and Bildung-models (Krejsler & Moos, 2021a). More recently, a turn towards more national(ist) solutions offer increasing resistance to transnational solutions: Accountability, testing, standards-based education are questioned by some. Simultaneously, increasing focus on ‘Danish values’ is required by others. Similar developments are observed in the neighboring Nordic countries, albeit with considerable differences according to different contextual backgrounds (Bergmann, 2017; Uljens & Ylimaki, 2017). The paper a post-Foucauldian governmentality research approach in particular in analyses that focus upon education policy research and Danish national as well as Nordic and transnational government reports, national media debate and other material that is relevant for the scrutiny of school reform policies (Dean, 2007; Pereyra & Franklin, 2014; Popkewitz, 2015)

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