Still Social and Democratic? Inclusive Education Policies in the Nordic Welfare States

Abstract In this article, education policy is analysed from a welfare state perspective. The aim is to analyse the significance attributed to social‐inclusive aspects of education in contemporary education policies of the Nordic countries, and the extent to which education is regarded as an element in welfare policies. Four aspects are addressed: (1) access to education and measures to prevent social exclusion of young people, (2) comprehensiveness of education in terms of public/private, integration/segregation of e.g. minority children and children with special needs, (3) emphasis on democratic values and participation, (4) the importance of community and equality versus a focus on the individual. It is concluded that it is still justified to speak of the five Nordic countries as a rather distinct group. However, social‐inclusive policies have also clearly been reformulated and delimited, related to a strengthening of the economic‐utilitarian functions of education and a weakening of central education governance. Keywords: InclusionEducation politicsNordic countriesWelfare state Notes 1. Norway (1), Iceland (2), Sweden (6), Finland (13) and Denmark (14). The so‐called Human Development Index is based on measures of life expectancy, adult literacy, enrolment at primary, secondary and tertiary education levels, and GDP. 2. Finland (1), Sweden (3), Denmark (4), Iceland (7) and Norway (9). 3. Access to good childcare and early childhood education is a crucial question, which we do not address in this article. 4. In addition, there is a comprehensive system of economic support for students at higher levels, Finland being an exception (European Commission, Citation2005). 5. No figures were available for Iceland. 6. Denmark has a long tradition of allowing choice of private schools, starting with the Free School Act 1855. In 1980/81 approximately 7% of compulsory schools were private, 12% in the 1990s (Klitgaard, Citation2005). 7. Denmark: from 1.5 to 2.3%, Finland: from 3 to 3.7%, Sweden: from 0.9 to 1.5%, Norway: 0.6 to 0.4%, Iceland: from 0.9 to 0.7%. It may be added that Finland differs from the other Nordic countries in having a relatively high proportion of children educated separately—above 3%. Of the 30 European countries in the statistics, only 10 fall within this group. 8. However the extent to which the Nordic countries and schools are multicultural today varies considerably. In 2002/03 the percentage of pupils with an immigrant background was 7% in Denmark, 2% in Finland, 12% in Sweden, 1% in Iceland and 6% in Norway (European Commission, Citation2005). 9. Iceland was not included in the study. Almost half of the 14‐year‐olds in Sweden, Denmark and Norway had participated in student councils, but less than 25% in Finland (Torney‐Purta & Henry Barber, Citation2004).