Aims of Citizenship Education Across Nordic Countries: Comparing School Principals’ Priorities in Citizenship Education 2009–2016

Abstract

The Nordic welfare state has been associated with certain ideas of citizenship, the highlights of which are equal rights, social mobility, democracy, and participation. To better understand how these ideas are interpreted in the educational system, this chapter compares school principals’ prioritization of the aims of civic and citizenship education in four Nordic countries as they are expressed in IEA’s International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS). We discuss our findings in relation to the Nordic model of education, meaning the governance of education epitomizing the Nordic welfare state. When comparing data from the survey of school principals in ICCS 2009 with ICCS 2016, we find a consistent prioritization of promoting students’ critical thinking, while items concerning democratic participation are the lowest priority. While these results are similar to the international sample, the Nordic principals’ support for promoting critical thinking is consistently stronger. In the Nordic welfare state, a shift toward neoliberal policies is seen as an adaption to economic challenges with an emphasis on development of human capital through knowledge, skills, and abilities. However, as critical thinking represents such abilities, this may also be seen as a prerequisite for social critique and political mobilization. We review these possibilities as representations of a break in or a continuation of the traditional ideas of citizenship associated with the Nordic welfare state. We conclude that, for Nordic principals, critical thinking may align with the recent international emphasis on competence while also relating to the concept of Bildung, an 18th-century emancipation ideal with deep roots in the Nordic model of education.

Contexts and Prevalence of Classroom Discussion in Nordic Social Science Teaching: A Large N Observational Study

“…Apart from its ability to foster educational outcomes, classroom discussion is also cherished because it provides an opportunity for students to engage in deliberative discourse and to practice deliberative skills (Aashamar et al, 2018; Andersson, 2012; Avery et al, 2013; McAvoy & Hess, 2013; McDevitt & Kiousis, 2006; Parker, 2010; Sætra, 2018; Samuelsson, 2016; Samuelsson & Bøyum, 2015; Tammi & Rajala, 2018; Teglbjærg, 2023). Deliberative skills and virtues are not only valued by educational researchers and theorists but are also endorsed in the Social Science curricula of various Nordic and European countries, including those of Sweden, Denmark, Germany (Berlin-Brandenburg; e.g., Christensen, 2015), Norway, Finland (Seland et al, 2021), Britain (Peterson, 2009), and France (Audigier, 2002). Though it is worth emphasizing that classroom discussion does not by itself engender deliberation and might even turn into a display of social dominance, discussion constitutes a necessary (yet insufficient) condition for the emergence of deliberative forms of classroom discourse.…”

“…One such factor is the school management’s support for teachers who wish to engage their students in discussion (Hess & McAvoy, 2015, p. 209). Though the support of school principals potentially promotes classroom discussion, research has shown that Nordic school principals tend to prioritize aspects of social science education that do not necessarily require students to engage in classroom discussions, such as critical thinking and the acquisition of knowledge about social, political, and civic institutions (Seland et al, 2021). In the US context, another changeable school factor is the absence of school-level tracking practices (Hess, 2009, p. 164).…”