| Summary: | In this edited volume key Nordic educational researchers provide detailed insight into how a Nordic dimension in education may be understood and practiced. With a focus on school, pedagogy, and education a rich introduction guides the reader into the complex of historical, societal, cultural, and linguistic contexts that have over time created the small Nordic nations of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden; as well as the entanglements between them that have made a Nordic dimension meaningful in discourse and practice. In the first part of the book -‘Reflections upon the Nordic as a dimension’- four chapters problematize the Nordic dimension as a methodological metaspace to amass critical mass from the particularities of five nations; surveys the plethora of formal and informal Nordic collaborations in education; explores how the Nordic dimension can inspire beyond (e.g. Scotland); and captures Nordic pedagogy vis à vis Anglo-Saxon approaches with action research as an example. In the second part of the book - ‘Comparative cases in Nordic education policies and practice’ – seven chapters focus sharply on what empirical comparative studies of national education policies and practice can tell us about the emergence of a Nordic dimension, be it as myth or realities: How did universal compulsory schooling evolve? Can a Nordic welfare dimension prevail as quasi-market approaches to organization and documentation invade early childhood education and care? What happens to ‘the Nordic Model’ when it becomes an education export commodity? How do Nordic welfare and equity ideals fare when largely homogeneous Nordic countries face the challenge of inclusion of immigrant children from other ethnic backgrounds in education? And can quality education in sparsely populated vast geographies be distributed equally among urban centres as well as rural settings? A discussion chapter synthesizes findings about the Nordic dimension in education and concludes about its status between myth and reality. It reflects upon the ...
|
|---|