Bright Nordic Lights: a revitalised interdisciplinary history of education in the massified higher education of the Nordics

• Published in: History of education (Tavistock) Vol. 52; no. 2-3; pp. 330 - 354
• Main Author: Westberg, Johannes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 04-05-2023; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Academic disciplines; Brightness; Child Development; Coordination; Education history; Education policy; Educational History; Educational Policy; Educational Research; Educational Sociology; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Historiography; History; History of education; Interdisciplinary Approach; Interdisciplinary aspects; Interdisciplinary education; Nordic countries; Universities; Denmark; Sweden; Norway; Scandinavia
• ISSN: 0046-760X; 1464-5130
• DOI: 10.1080/0046760X.2022.2127003

The history of education is, and can be, many things. In this article, I argue that the history of education in the Nordic countries is marked by three phases, based on its institutional setting. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the history of education was written by schoolmen for schoolmen. In the post-war era, the discipline of education took increasing responsibility for the field. Since the 1980s, it has been a multidisciplinary research field based on the disciplines of education and history where history of education was combined with research in history education, sociology of education, child studies and educational policy. While the development of the history of education varied across the Nordics, this setting proved to be fertile. In terms of active researchers, output and coordination, the Nordic history of education clearly stands stronger now than it did 20 years ago.