Norwegian Educational Reform and the Enhetsskole Idea

Abstract

THE POST-WAR era in the Scandinavian countries has been one of intense preoccupation with fundamental questions of educational policies and practices, a concern reflected in extensive reform legislation on the one hand and large-scale research work and practical experimentation on the other. As a major aspect of the general social policy of the welfare state, this concern with educational matters has deep roots in the political history of these countries, having challenged the conscience and practical imagination of statesmen and educators alike for at least one hundred years. However, the accelerating rate of social and economic change in the post-war period as well as the inspiration of other European countries struggling with related problems have contributed to a well-nigh unprecedented interest in educational problems in Scandinavia today. Although a good deal of parallelism is apparent among the Scandinavian countries in the underlying educational and social-political philosophy as well as in the resulting practical efforts to evolve an educational system more consonant with the demands of a rapidly changing society, significant differences between them remain. Partly for this reason, and also in the interest of greater specificity of presentation, this article focuses on developments in Norway. It aims at sketching, against the background of the significant historical-social setting, the outline of the Norwegian educational system as it is now clearly emerging from the post-war process of fundamental educational reform. The idea of a unified or unitary educational system, symbolized by the term and ideal of the enhetsskole, to replace the dualistic character typical of most European educational systems until recently is a key concept and the dominant theme in Norwegian educational history since the latter part of the nineteenth century. And while this ideal generally has inspired educational reform movements in Europe for generations, as evidenced by the Einheitsschule idea, the 6cole unique movement, the drive for comprehensive schools, and the like, the general societal setting of Norway posed a special set of circumstances leading to somewhat unique practical interpretations and achievements. If it is assumed that a high degree of cultural-social homogeneity within a nation tends to encourage the development of a unified rather than a stratified type of educational system, Norway would seem to have been in a rather favored position. The fact that nearly the entire population belongs to the EvangelicalLutheran state church, the basic tenets and traditions of which form the core of