Purpose: The purpose of this article is to investigate attempts to safeguard classical humanism in secondary schools by appealing to a cultural-historical link with Antiquity, voiced in the face of educational reforms in Sweden between 1865 and 1971. Design/methodology/approach: By focusing on the content of the pedagogical journal…

This article centers on a theoretical discussion of how use of history can be addressed as a distinct concept, analytically and pedagogically. The point of departure is the field of history education research in the Nordic countries where the concept has become a term to denote the space of action between historical consciousness and historical…

The act of teaching is constituted by tensions between contradictory influences of national educational systems, teachers' professional/personal identity, cultural and social values. Qualitative research methods can explore this complex situation. Indeed, narrative methods have explored teachers' "life histories". This article provides a…

Citizenship education played a crucial role in the 19th century transition from royal sovereignty to democracy in the Nordic region, with folk high schools (FHS) playing an important role. While established to empower the people ("folk") for active participation in society, the contemporary folk high schools have reoriented from their…

"Bildung" is a complex educational concept that emerged in Germany in the mid eighteenth century. Especially in Germany and Scandinavia conceptions of "Bildung" became the general philosophical framework to guide both formal and informal education. "Bildung" concerns the whole range of education from setting…

This article is the first of four articles exploring democratic schools co-founded by teenage students in Norway and Sweden. Our larger project explores the relationship between democracy in education and educational dialogism. Both democracy in education and educational dialogism are partially rooted in the idea that education should be a…

This article presents a brief analysis of teacher education in five European countries: Italy, Germany, England, Sweden and Finland. In the post-industrial world, the sense of teaching has profoundly changed, influenced by a rapidly evolving socio-economic context. The responses given by each country are different, but two tendencies emerge: on…

The history of the Swedish universities and their roots in various traditions are traced. Attention is directed to the historico-sociological theory concerning the development and transformation of the Swedish universities from a traditional cultural institution to a rational educational institution. Six themes are covered: a general historical…

In which ways do curricula recognize existential questions of compulsory school students, and what direction is given regarding how to address them? By asking these two questions, this study analyses syllabi for the school subject of religion education and its equivalents in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and in the two German regions of Bavaria and…

Modern definitions of professions connect professional knowledge to scientific studies and higher education. In the present article we examine the changing nature of this relationship in initial teacher education in two European countries: Sweden and England. The article is based on policy analyses from recent decades of teacher education reforms.…

The purpose of this article is to analyse three case study examples of musical "folkbildning" in Sweden. The first case study is from the establishment of the state-funded Framnas Folk High Music School in the middle of the last century. The second case study, Hagstrom's music education, is from the same time but describes a music school…

Issues pertaining to knowledge traditions that are important to the reform of higher education in Sweden are considered. While nonacademic parts of higher education (e.g., vocational/technical, nursing) account for more than half of its admissions, it is suggested that thinking regarding higher education in recent years has used the ideals of the…

Martina Bergman-Osterberg came to London from Sweden versed in the theory and practice of Swedish gymnastics as taught by Per Henrik Ling (1776-1881), and introduced his system into British schools, first while working for the London School Board and subsequently by establishing the Dartford College of Physical Training. This paper examines the…