This contribution investigates the role of privatisation in the public education sector in Scandinavia in the post war period. These countries have, like most other European countries, experienced a shift in education policy along neo-liberal lines over the last thirty years. Even though Denmark, Norway and Sweden still maintain a comprehensive school system, they have, nevertheless, adopted market-oriented policies in the belief that explicit measures for performance, decentralization, private-sector styles of management, out-sourcing, and privatization would enhance the quality and efficiency of education provision. Firstly, we will argue that neo-liberal policies on education, and privatisation in particular, have been adopted to a lesser degree than in Anglo-Saxon Countries, and secondly, that there are significant differences among the Scandinavian countries to the extent these policies have been pursued. Finally, we discuss whether privatisation is currently undermining the comprehensive school system.