Based on a meta-ethnographic analysis this article discusses education justice, equity and inclusion in education systems that have often been claimed to be more just, equal, inclusive than most, specifically those of the Nordic countries. It finds these claims to be questionable and describes the education systems as ones that have promised justice, inclusion and equity for all in formal policy but in practice actually fail to do so. A turn in recent years to market politics as a means of appeasement is given attention and critiqued for having worsened the situation.