Nordic Model Research Articles

Epilogue: towards a more comprehensive understanding of inclusive and special education

ABSTRACT This epilogue to the special issue entitled ‘The Nordic experience of inclusive and special education’ reflects on the eight articles included in the special issue. The analysis is centred around two specific questions 1) can distinctive Nordic conceptualisationHs of inclusive and special education be identified? 2) what insights can be gained from this special issue for research and practice in the field of inclusive and special education beyond the Nordic community? The findings indicate a degree of consistency across the Nordic countries, yet also highlight significant variations at the national, regional, and local levels, which contrasts with the perception of a distinctive Nordic model of inclusive and special education. The greatest commonality is that all Nordic countries (like other European countries) are striving to advance inclusive education and still have a lengthy journey ahead of them in reducing educational inequalities. However, the definition of special educational needs, the implementation of inclusive and special education, and the professionalisation of teachers, could not be characterised by a universal, uniform Nordic approach.

Confronting the idealised ‘Nordic model’ in education with contemporary realities of special education in Sweden

ABSTRACT For decades, the Nordic countries have been admired for their inclusive education systems within egalitarian societies, bolstered by PISA studies and global calls to ensure inclusive education as a human right. This paper contrasts idealised perspectives on Nordic education with internal experiences, exploring recent challenges to the relationship between special and inclusive education. Using Sweden as a case study, it highlights internal diversity within the Nordic region, showing differing paths and gaps between research, policy and school realities. The risks of idealising past educational models are discussed, noting that Sweden, once known for its egalitarian education and low special education needs classification rates, now faces higher classification rates and more separate provision due to policy changes. Recent trends have shown a shift towards increased diagnosis and classification, influenced by marketisation and decentralisation policies. The paper focuses on neurodivergence, analysing shifts in government priorities, teacher education, school practices and research agendas. Analysis of recent policies, reports and educational data reveals winners and losers in school participation, providing insights into the implications for educational discourse, the future of the ‘Nordic model’, and Swedish education in a global context.

(Re)configurations of public education: marketisation, teacher professionalism, and individual rights of students and educators in Norway and Sweden

ABSTRACT This article studies the (re)configurations of ‘public education’ in Norway and Sweden by empirically unpacking connections between marketisation, teacher professionalism and schools’ mandate to secure the individual rights of students and teachers. These countries share considerable common cultural and political history; however, they display varying trajectories and configurations in both educational policy and practice. This makes these cases particularly useful for comparing how ‘publicness’ and ‘public education’ are (re)configured in the two Nordic welfare states. This comparative exploration is framed by four dimensions of public schooling regarding national policy set-ups expressed through control, access, funding, and teaching. The data includes official policy documents, such as legislation and government reports. We unpack and discuss commonalities and differences by relating them to multiple issues of (re)configured ‘publicness’ and its implications. Moreover, we argue that the differences in the degrees to which inflows have shaped the Norwegian and Swedish education systems (despite their similarities) offer valuable opportunities for exploring (re)configurations of the notion of publicness.

The new Norwegian Education Act as arrangements for inclusive education practices for students with SEN: the vanishing concept of the Nordic model?

ABSTRACT Despite commitment to the values of one school for all in Norway, there has been an increasing number of segregated units for students with special educational needs (SEN) over the years, highlighting a discrepancy between legislative intentions and the practical implementation of inclusive education. Barriers to inclusion can emerge in any setting, especially when there is a lack of a shared understanding of inclusion and inclusive education within legislative frameworks. This study investigates how the new Norwegian Education Act (EA) could constrain and facilitate inclusive education practices for students with SEN by analysing the EA and its preparatory documents through the lens of Theory of Practice Architectures (TPA). The findings indicate that the EA promotes a discourse consistent with a broad definition of inclusion. The enhanced focus on students’ democratic rights to be involved in decision-making aligns with the values of the Nordic model of education. However, the broad definition of inclusion, the ambiguous concept of students with SEN, the reduced emphasis on SEN in legislation and the endorsement of alternative educational settings in preparatory work could exacerbate the segregation of students with SEN, thus undermining the fundamental values of the Nordic educational model.

Big bang in the middle of a storm: Lessons from implementing health system reform in Finland

Abstract Introduction Finland is often defined as a Nordic welfare state, characterised by universal access to healthcare and an emphasis on national and local politics in the governance of the system. In 2023, the Finnish health system was reformed by centralising organisation (purchasing and service delivery) to regional entities, as well as funding and overall governance to the state from 200 local organisations. The aims of the reform were to improve accessibility, decrease inequities, promote population health and curb growing costs. In the Finnish health system, as in other fields of society, we “find a huge number of very small changes, and a very small number of huge changes” (Cairney 2016). This makes the Finnish health system reform a rare opportunity to use a large-scale reform as a context for a study on reform implementation. Methods This research is based on document analysis and interview data collected from top regional managers. The data was analysed using a political determinants of health framework and thematic analysis. Findings The Finnish reforms were introduced by a left-centre government but implemented by a right-wing government with strong opposition to the reforms, which made full implementation challenging. The results highlight the importance of political commitment to implementation, demonstrate that reforms shape power relations at all levels of the health system and highlight how health system reforms are essentially about redistributions of power between different actors. The results also highlight the importance of contextual factors and suggest that large-scale reform should be treated as a system shock for which health systems need to prepare. Conclusions Understanding the political determinants of health and political commitment to reform is essential to implementation, as is the importance of resilience and preparedness to unexpected circumstances either due to reform-related factors or to external and contextual factors.

Shifting the gaze on welfare-state sustainability in Norway: a proposal for a relational global view

Norway is an excellent case for studying the ambiguities and competing interests attached to climate change and global sustainability. The country is at the forefront in the use of “clean energy,” yet has long been one of the world’s largest oil exporters and its dominant ideas have been challenged given the climate-change crisis. The article offers a preliminary review of the historical and current connections that exist between the development of national welfare states in Europe (and Norway in particular) and the long-standing practice of extractivist efforts that have harmed nature in indigenous lands within Norwegian borders and colonized, or previously colonized lands, outside Europe). As a comparative exercise, this article mobilizes the idea of social imaginaries to conceptualize and explore how the Norwegian welfare state has, in the social policy literature and in public discourse, been linked to the notion of sustainability, given the context of rapid climate change. By drawing on three illustrative cases, the article demonstrates how such imaginaries are present in current discussions. It suggests that unpacking such imaginaries within a historical and relational global view may contribute to understanding the role of nationalism and colonialism in Norway’s sustainability narratives, to potentially trigger change in the way we conceptualize welfare-state sustainability.

“I don't think I can help you anymore.” Sex workers' experiences of accessing mental health services in Ireland

AbstractThis paper is based on a study funded by the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP), exploring sex worker mental health through a qualitative study of eighteen sex workers living and working in the Republic of Ireland and with participants from service provider organizations. This paper utilizes and adapts the concept of minority stress to explain how it is the social world that contributes to difficulties in managing mental health, not just for the LGBTQ+ community but explicitly for sex workers, through intersectional stigma and discrimination. Ireland introduced the Criminal Law Amendment Act (2017) based on the Nordic model of client criminalization, which sought to prosecute those that purchase sex while reducing the legal culpability of sex workers. The paper explores how the mental health of sex workers living and working under the law is impacted and the difficulties negotiating access to mental health services once participants disclose their sex work.

Effectiveness and Equity in Primary Science and Mathematics Education in the Nordic Countries: A Review of the Book by Teig et al. (2024)

How effective is science and mathematics teaching in the Nordic countries? And how equitable is it? These are central questions of the book Effective and equitable teacher practice in mathematics and science education: A Nordic perspective across time and groups of students by Nani Teig, Trude Nilsen, and Kajsa Yang Hansen. In a collection of articles, the TIMSS data from 2011 to 2019 from the Nordic countries except Iceland are analysed using a quasi-longitudinal approach. The analyses show that equity in science and mathematics education is increasingly challenged, thereby endangering the Nordic model in education. It is a must read for policy makers and researchers who seek to make the education systems of the Nordic countries resilient in face of present and future challenges, to ensure equity and quality education.

Road-traffic noise exposure and coronary atherosclerosis in the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study (SCAPIS).

Road-traffic noise may influence the development of cardiovascular events such as stroke and myocardial infarction, but etiological mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to assess the relationship between long-term road-traffic noise exposure and coronary atherosclerosis in Sweden. In the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study (SCAPIS) cohort, including 30,154 subjects aged 50-65 years, recruited between 2013 and 2018, coronary atherosclerosis was measured based on computer tomography (CT) scans as coronary artery calcium score, segment involvement score (SIS), and non-calcified plaques (NCP) at enrollment. Based on modified Nordic model, road-traffic noise exposure was modeled for 2000, 2013, and 2018 with interpolation for intermediate years. We investigated the association between time-weighted long-term exposure to road-traffic noise (Lden) and the prevalence of atherosclerosis using ordinal logistic regression models adjusting for potential socioeconomic, behavioral, and environmental confounders, including air pollution. No clear associations were found between road-traffic noise and coronary atherosclerosis. The odds ratio for coronary artery calcium score was 1.00 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.96, 1.04), SIS 0.99 (0.96, 1.03), and NCP 0.98 (0.90, 1.03) per interquartile range (9.4 dB Lden) for road-traffic noise exposure during 10 years before enrollment. No consistent associations were observed in site-specific analyses or using shorter exposure periods. Furthermore, exposure-response analyses revealed no clear trends, and there were no strong interactions between road-traffic noise and cardiovascular risk factors in relation to the atherosclerosis markers. Long-term exposure to road-traffic noise was not linked to coronary atherosclerosis or calcification in relatively healthy, middle-aged populations in Sweden.

Teenage childbearing and the welfare state

Abstract Teenage childbearing is a common incident in developed countries. However, teenage births are much more likely in the USA than in any other industrialized country. Most of these births are delivered by female teenagers from low-income families. The hypothesis put forward here is that the welfare state (a set of redistributive institutions) has a significant influence on teenage childbearing behavior. We develop an economic theory of parental investments and the risky sexual behavior of teenagers. The model is estimated to fit stylized facts about income inequality, intergenerational mobility, and the sexual behavior of teenagers in the USA. The welfare state institutions are introduced via tax and public education expenditure functions derived from US data. In a quantitative experiment, we impose Norwegian taxes and education spending in the economic environment. The Norwegian welfare state institutions go a long way in explaining the differences in teenage birth rates between the USA and Norway.

Gendered Relationship of Childbearing with Earnings Accumulated by Midlife in Two Nordic Welfare States

AbstractThe Nordic welfare states are considered advanced in terms of gender equality, but even in these countries women still take longer family leave and have lower earnings than men. This study provides new insights by assessing the differences in accumulated midlife earnings associated with childbearing between women and men in Finland and Sweden. We pay particular attention to the size of the gender gap in accumulated earnings across groups. We hypothesize that the gender gap will be larger among those with a larger number of children, among those with a lower level of education, and overall in Finland. The study is based on complete population register data, with highly accurate measures of earnings over decades. Our results show that by the age of 44, women born in 1974–1975 in Finland and Sweden had earned on average 32% and 29% less than men, respectively. Childbearing strongly modifies the gender gap, especially in Finland, and the highly educated have moderately smaller gaps in both countries. Our results show that, even the Nordic welfare states, despite their strong policy emphasis on gender equality and their success in achieving high levels of female labor force participation, are far from closing the gender gap in earnings accumulated over the first half of the life course. Our results also suggest that governments seeking to achieve gender equality should be cautious about providing long family-related leave with flat-rate compensation.

Alþingi og framkvæmdarvaldið

Samskipti og staða Alþingis gagnvart framkvæmdarvaldinu kemur oft til umræðu. Hér er rannsakað með eigindlegum aðferðum hvernig þingmenn og ráðherrar upplifa aðstöðu þessara þátta ríkisvaldsins við lagasetningu. Fram kemur að Alþingis hefur virkt neitunarvald. Það er hjá mismörgum aðilum eftir fjölda ríkisstjórnarflokka; hjá þingflokki ráðherrans, samstarfsflokki/samstarfsflokkum hans og hjá stjórnarandstöðunni. Allir beita þeir því valdi í einhverjum mæli eftir aðstæðum bæði fyrir og í þinglegri meðferð mála. Flestir viðmælendur telja sig meðvitaða um mikið vald Alþingis í lagasetningunni. Þingið ætti að geta aukið það enn frekar með upptöku norræna módelsins til fulls (samningalýðræði), sú breyting eykur líka samfélagsleg gæði; það getur líka bætt vinnubrögð stjórnkerfisins sem heildar við lagasetningu með breytingum á staðsetningu verkefna (fært þau fyrr í feril mála), sem ætti ekki að hafa áhrif á völd þess - og styrkt stöðu sína varðandi dagskrá mála.

The welfare state as a child of the growth economy and a troubled midwife of an eco-social transformation: a commentary on ‘Postgrowth welfare systems: a view from the Nordic context’ by Riya Raphael et al

In Raphael et al (2024) the authors discuss very well how encompassing (Nordic) welfare states can both facilitate a transition to sustainable, post-growth societies, yet are also fundamentally challenged by such a transition. However, I emphasise room for better elaboration in terms of: 1. Emphasising the structural challenges induced by ‘the new politics of the welfare state’ rather than ascribing inequality to the privatisation of public services. 2. Better elaboration of the ‘synergy hypothesis’ from other literature on potential intersections between welfare regimes, varieties of capitalism, and sustainability transformations. 3. Discussing the specific economic, monetary and fiscal policies needed to aid societal transformations and abolish the growth dependencies of established welfare states.

Varieties of central banking: the Nordic Model beyond a fiscal-centric approach

ABSTRACT Since policymakers and scholars coined the term in the 1930s, the Nordic Model has often been considered to denote a homogeneous political entity in which the constituent countries are ostensibly interchangeable. As a result, seldom attention has been afforded to what fundamentally differentiates Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. By going beyond traditional ‘fiscal-centric’ accounts of the Nordic model, and instead focusing on the role of central banks and monetary policy, we show that each country bares far less similarities than has often been assumed in the literature. We trace this heterogeneity back to variegated responses to the 1970s crises of Fordist capitalism and draw on growth model theory to explain this divergent trajectory. We show how these differences shaped how each country responded to the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, where a variegated array of monetary measures was employed to uphold their own distinct growth model. By accounting for the role of central banks within the Nordic Model, we propose that it is better understood as a series of models, drawing attention to the function of monetary policy within the growth models perspective in the political economy literature.

Multidimensional Care Poverty Among East Asian and Nordic Older Adults.

This study uses the care poverty framework, focusing on both individuals and structures. In this context, structures are represented by 2 welfare states: Taiwan, an East Asian welfare system and Finland, a Nordic welfare state. This study explores multidimensional care poverty rates and examines 3 realms of individual factors (health status, sociodemographic factors, and care support availability) among older adults in these long-term care (LTC) models. We analyzed data from the 2019 Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Ageing Survey and the 2020 Daily Life and Care in Old Age Survey in Finland to compare the rates and factors of care poverty in these 2 culturally and structurally different countries. Our analysis revealed different rates of care poverty in personal, practical, and socioemotional care needs in the 2 countries. Under a familistic welfare regime, Taiwanese older adults had higher personal care poverty rates than their Finnish counterparts. Those living alone faced more personal and practical care poverty. Conversely, Finnish older adults, under the Nordic welfare model, experienced more practical and socioemotional care poverty. Those with high care needs and disadvantaged social status and support were more likely to experience personal and practical care poverty. Socioemotional care poverty varied with the availability of support and health status in both countries. The study highlights the impact of 2 LTC policies and cultures on older adults' multidimensional care poverty, identifying disadvantaged older adults under different welfare-transforming LTC models. Taiwan's budget-constrained LTC policies and high family reliance contrast with Finland's inadequate attention to the practical and socioemotional needs of its aging population. This study suggests that holistic LTC policies are needed in both countries to improve the well-being of older adults with limited support and health issues.

Ghosts in the machine: Black feminist and queer critiques of reproductive justice in Finland

We discuss reproductive justice in the context of Finland, a Nordic welfare state often considered as having achieved exceptionally high ethical standards in reproductive health and overall justice. Every now and then, however, this reproduction is interrupted by ghosts in the machine: the problems, past and present, of marginalised, racialised, and/or otherwise non-normative people whose presences provoke specific Finnish hauntings, seething presences of reproductive injustice that suggest something is to be done. Instead of offering data analysis, this article aims to envision transformative reproductive justice futures through processual, collaborative theory development. This study uses an intersectional lens to understand how interlocking systems of oppression shape our lived experiences through an interdisciplinary, ethical analysis that suggests that what is required to resolve such hauntings is moral vigilance and care for a consistent reproductive justice orientation in global solidarity. Specifically in Finland, it requires the willingness to disavow the imperative to protect Finnish whiteness and active and meaningful solidarity across differences. Building on Black feminist and queer thought, we urge queer white people who may be tempted to become enfolded by homonationalism to take a more encompassing view of reproductive justice for a more sustainable welfare state ethic.

Prison places, foreign prisoners and the Danish welfare state: Towards a conceptualization of prison space as a welfare resource

In December 2021, the government of Denmark entered into a rental agreement with Kosovo whereby 300 non-EU foreign nationals convicted by the Danish criminal justice system would be sent to Kosovo to serve their sentence of imprisonment and await their subsequent deportation. Based on an analysis of the wording of the Agreements on the finances of the Danish Prison Service, the article argues that a conceptualization of prison space as a welfare state's scarce resource makes it possible to explain such rental agreement through the theories of welfare and penal nationalism. In doing so, the article contributes to the growing body of literature that exposes the inherently dual harsh-but-mild nature of the penal regimes of Nordic welfare states. The article concludes with a brief outline of the future challenges that can potentially arise once the Denmark–Kosovo rental agreement enters into force.

Making and Unmaking Migrants’ Family Relationships in Finland: A Study of Nordic Welfare State Population Registration and Statistics Production

Making and Unmaking Migrants’ Family Relationships in Finland: A Study of Nordic Welfare State Population Registration and Statistics Production

“My child is my job now” – Care, work and careers of mothers with disabled children in the Norwegian welfare state

In this article, we investigate how mothers of disabled children in Norway experience the work–family conflict and its impact on their careers, highlighting the role of provision of health and welfare services. We use a qualitative multiple case study of 11 mothers with disabled children. Although Norway is characterized by high labor market participation for women and an emphasis on care policies that support working mothers, we show that mothers of disabled children still experience considerable work–family conflict, creating ill-health and income-related struggles. This conflict is heavily influenced by inadequate support from health and welfare services. However, some of the mothers also highlighted how caring for their disabled children led to growth and new career paths, using their care experiences to craft new careers. Drawing on Fraser's (2022) concept of the care crunch and a relational perspective on disability, we demonstrate how the social organization of care for disabled children undervalues the care work mothers do and puts disabled children at risk of receiving insufficient and unequal services.

Fairness predispositions towards the rich and the poor and support for redistribution in the Nordic welfare state

The impact of individuals’ fairness predispositions on public support for the welfare state receives less attention than the effect of economic self-interest on this support. Amid growing income differences even in previously egalitarian Nordic countries, predispositions about what is fair in society are rapidly becoming more politically salient. We examine how fairness predispositions towards the rich and the poor are linked to the support for three dimensions regarding how redistribution ought to be organised: access, conditionality and contribution. We then disaggregate these links for different income brackets and between elites who hold leadership positions and the rest of society (citizens). Using data pertaining to Finnish citizens and elites in 2018 and 2020, respectively, we show that the two fairness predispositions are related in various ways to the support for these three dimensions, with differences across income brackets and tentative differences between elites and citizens. These findings underline the importance of considering fairness predispositions even in welfare states emphasising economic equality.