Amid increasing global and national interest in the built educational environment, this editorial considers developments within the Nordic countries that are investigated and discussed within the articles in this special issue. We discuss commonalities and divergences in the experiences of transition and change in the schools, located in a range…

Historically, art education has focused mainly on individual learning processes. Today, poststructuralist theories of subjectivity and subjectivation are challenging these modernist discourses by proposing more dynamic models of multiple and instable learning selves, always in the making. In this commentary, the author turns her attention away…

In a recent commentary in "Studies in Art Education," Helene Illeris (2013) discussed the idea of "performative experimental communities" via a critique of visual culture pedagogy and the romanticism of community-oriented art education in Nordic countries. Illeris underpinned her arguments with Jean-Luc Nancy's (1997)…

This chapter takes into account and discusses innovative learning in the 21st digital and communicative century based on life-world-phenomenology and Hannah Arendt's view of democracy. From this point of view, the authors address and discuss how democratic practices can offer innovative musical learning in relation to what is taking place in…

In this article, education policy is analyzed from a welfare state perspective. The aim is to Analise 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)…

Contained in this collection of presentations from the third Afro-Nordic Library Conference are a foreword describing the objectives of the meeting and 14 papers: "From Oral Tradition to Literary Writing: The Awakening of National Awareness," by Heikki Kirkinen; "African Library Systems," by L. E. Samarasinghe; "Planning…

Publishing in the Sami languages has always been difficult. The Sami are currently spread across four countries, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. There are nine different Sami languages, some of them with only a few speakers. The Sami publishing industry is entirely dependent on government funding as it does not have its own funds nor is there…

Includes "Difficult Metamorphosis of the Social 'Models' of the Nordic Countries" (Goetschy); "Swedish Training System" (Ottersten); "Features of Vocational Education in Finland" (Kyro); "Boom in Apprenticeship Training in Finland" (Vartiainen); "Vocational Training in Austria" (Riemer);…

In the Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland), as well as in the rest of the world, it is a constant challenge to match education and training to the rapid pace of change. In order to meet the demands of the future, major changes in both the structure and content of vocational education and training have taken place…

Describes the "Nordic model" of small-scale, child-centered, equal education found in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. Discusses challenges to this model from growing unemployment, increasing institutionalization of children's lives, and economic integration with the rest of Europe. Outlines Nordic hopes for future European…

Educational cooperation in the Nordic countries is described. Specifically discussed are elementary, secondary, and higher education, special education; adult education; research emphases; and exchange of information. (RM)

Compares folk high schools in the Nordic countries with Myles Horton's Highlander Folk School in terms of philosophy, instructional approaches, social and integrated education, staff and students, and administration and finance. (SK)

Although women in the Nordic countries have a longer history of participation in politics and participation in greater numbers than the women of many other countries, there are still barriers of discrimination to surmount. The basic societal structures are still patriarchal, and women face continuing discrimination in economics and politics. (IS)

Interrogates the prevailing concept of the state as a regulative idea. Introduces Michel Foucault's notion of "governmentality" and investigates how it has historically been linked to education and to the Scandinavian "Caring State." Explores changing tasks of education and the nature of social contracts that could correspond…

The author's comments and questions about an earlier study by NORDINFO (Nordic Council for Scientific Information) of databases and data banks in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden are organized into four sections: (1) surveying databases and data banks, (2) approaches to computerized information services, (3) the present state of development in…