Formulation and realization of social justice: the compulsory school for all in Sweden and Norway

ABSTRACT The compulsory primary ‘school for all’, or the inclusive school, is very important, both in Norway and Sweden ‐ at least rhetorically. Children with special educational needs shall attend the same school and have the same education as all other children. This paper presents and analyses the formulation and the realization of this educational policy in Sweden and Norway, from the perspective of social justice. There is a gap between the formulation of and the realization of this policy in both countries. What is said to be the intention is not always what is realized in practice. The formulations of social justice are, perhaps, more ambitious in Sweden than in Norway. When it comes to the realization of the school for all, the systems differ ‐ but the practice within these systems seems relatively to be similar. Some tentative explanations of these results are offered.