Educational Evaluation in Scandinavian Countries: Converging or Diverging Practices?

Current educational evaluation is institutionalized as an element in national educational policy in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. This article analyses how higher education and primary and lower secondary education have adopted and institutionalized educational evaluation. The analysis shows similarities and differences in organizing and practicing evaluation both across educational levels and across countries. Sweden was an early adaptor, Denmark and Norway later ones. Educational evaluation was institutionalized in higher education prior to primary and secondary education. In both cases international dynamics have played an important role.