Norwegian Board Research Articles

The Situation in Primary Education in the Saami Area: Two Cases1

Abstract H⊘gmo, A. 1983. The Situation in Primary Education in the Saami Area: Two Cases. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 27, 15‐34. Schools in the Norwegian Saami area and the Saami Board of Education in Norway are at present trying to develop various models of Saami primary education. By means of two Saami school cases this article demonstrates the problem of developing a general education within an area of cultural variation. On the one hand, the Saami school is facing fairly similar problems across the cultural variation: teaching and learning problems associated with the shortage of Saami teaching plans and teaching aids. On the other hand, the school is facing cultural variation within the area. The presented cases are also seen in the light of a general theory of ethnicity. 1 This article is from a research project on education in the Saami area sponsored by The Norwegian Board of Education.