Forty Years of Research into the History of Education in Denmark

Abstract

Although the history of formal education in the Nordic countries has relatively long roots, its broader and more systematic study started early in our century then gained momentum during the second half. But the formal educational systems in the Nordic countries vary to a high degree due to geographical, political and economical circumstances, and so do their histories. The three articles in this section survey studies of the history of education in Denmark, Finland and Norway, particularly during the last four decades and they tell rather different stories. The Danish contribution shows how studies have been motivated by higher educational needs for readings about the history of education and by researchers' curiosity to detect causes of occurrences and developments as well as their consequences. The second article outlines the Finnish development by means of a chronological (1940‐1960, 1960‐1980, 1980‐1990) and thematic division. Finland was influenced in this research area by Germany, but this influence lay dormant after the Second World War until the 1970s. Naturally the study of the Finnish history of education has a particular interest because of this nation's turbulent historical past and special current geographical and political position. The Norwegian article starts with a pessimistic confession that Norwegian historical pedagogy today seems to be on the defensive and marginalized, but it finds comfort in the fact that a new generation of researchers have entered the scene. The contrast between the older and the new generation in their views about research topics, trends and thematic orientations is then followed and documented throughout the article. Thus the firm documentation shows that there is a trend within the new generation to study recent history at the sacrifice of the ancient, to prefer the study of history from below instead of history from above, to choose more enthusiastically the study of social powers and structures instead of the history of ideas and persons, and to focus on the study of foreign pedagogic in order to establish a kind of standard to measure Norwegian developmental excellence against, instead of focusing on the study of foreign pedagogic per se. The article ends with viewpoints on the role that theoretical scientific reflections could play in educational history research, and it presents the contemporary scene with it's problems and promises.