Art and Design Curriculum in the N ordic Countries

• Main Author: Kallio‐Tavin, Mira
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2019
• Subjects: Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118978061.ead106; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2F9781118978061.ead106; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118978061.ead106

This chapter provides an overview of art and design education in the Nordic countries: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. The cultural, educational, political, and historical similarities and differences, traditions and ideologies, and their effects on art and design education in each country are discussed. For example, these ideologies are attached to broad ideas about social justice, democracy, and equality, and at the same time identified with small countries with specific art, architecture, and design profiles. The discussion on ideologies includes a critique of the idealization of Nordic life, focusing on myths and truths about social welfare, democracy, and economic competitiveness. While the chapter's emphasis is on curricular issues and current and past situations in each country, it discusses Finnish art education and its response to artistic, social, cultural, design, and educational conditions in depth.