Schoolteachers and the Nordic Model

Abstract

Schoolteachers and the Nordic Model examines the cultural distinctiveness of the Nordic teaching profession and teacher training compared to examples fromEurope and North America.The book explores the concept of these 'teacher cultures' as various dimensions of professional identities, recruitment patterns, teachers' social status, values and knowledge. It considers how Nordic teachers' socio-cultural backgrounds and their shifting societal roles compare with continental European examples, analysing the societal consequences of teacher cultures for the current Nordic welfare states. Offering a unique focus on teachers, the book uses a shared comparative and historical approach to add new knowledge to the analysis of global convergence and divergence in educational systems.The book will be of great interest to researchers, scholars and post-graduate students in the fields of comparative education, educational policy, the sociology of education and the history of education. It will also be of interest to policymakers, teacher educators and school leaders.

Making Rural Areas Attractive for Teachers and Principals:Putting Rural Educational Settings on the Agenda

“…According to Imsen et al (2017), the so-called 'Nordic model of education' was initiated during the decade after World War II to rebuild society and create a safe welfare state with reduced social differences. The Nordic model did not have any distinct point of departure, but rather grew as a political discourse (Eckhardt Larsen & Thue, 2022). The Nordic model consisted of public, comprehensive schooling for all children between the ages of seven to sixteen years.…”

“…The Nordic model of education is built on either local or global and general values, and an 'attempt to construct a national education system on the foundation of specific local values and practices, but at the same time subject to international conditions and influences…' (Antikainen, 2006 p. 230). Some people also argue that the Nordic model never existed as more than a discourse to keep the countries together (Thue et al, 2022). Antikainen (2006) problematized this and proposed that 'instead of one model, there are models or just patterns ' (p. 240).…”