Progressive education and new governance in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden

Abstract

Progressive education has been an important, educational philosophy that has given inspiration to practical, pedagogical renewal, and school-based development in the Scandinavian countries since the middle of the twentieth century. The ideology has spread to teaching practices along with the structural development of “A School for All.” The question discussed in this chapter concerns whether the progressive ideology is a necessary basis for pedagogical thinking that aims at cultivating democracy and offering a meaningful education to all kinds of students, regardless of diverse abilities, interests, social background, and ethnicity. What happens to progressive educational practices when confronted with transnational, neoliberal management ideologies? This chapter discusses in what ways progressive education such as had been developed in Europe and the USA in the twentieth century has been implemented in the Scandinavian countries, what the competing ideologies have been, and what status progressive education in the Scandinavian countries has today. We show how in all three countries progressive ideas have been toned down in the latest school reforms for the benefit of basic skills, outcomes, national standards and tests, streaming, competition, and free school choice. The progress emphasis on individualization is gaining ground in schools, while more complex and developed forms of group work and pedagogic communication are declining. It seems that the dominant test-based conception of educational quality entails a backlash for proactive progressivism and a reduction in curriculum variation. This variation is paramount to the inclusion of all students in a School for All.