The Sixth Annual Nordic Educational Conversation
Thursday October 23rd 14.00 – 16.00 CET.
The 6th Annual Nordic Educational Conversation will be held October 23rd 2025. As usual The Conversation will be held digitally in ZOOM and registered participants will receive a ZOOM-link the day before the conversation. Please, click here to register for the conversation.
Topic for this year’s conversation:
In this 6th Annual Nordic Educational Conversation we will discuss the role of education facing a considerable back-lash of civil society’s structures today under the title:
Reclaiming education as a critical, reflecting and liberating praxis of renewal
Presenter:
Birgit Schaffar-Kronqvist, Senior University Lecturer at University of Helsinki and convener of NERA network 16, The Nordic Society for Philosophy of Education.
Abstract:
Those who read Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism” (1948) cannot avoid seeing parallels between her analysis of the raise of fascism 100 years ago and today. During the last weeks and months, the US shows in fast-forward-modus how well market liberalism goes together with right-wing extremists. For a long time, the Western public was told that these two are each other’s opposite that would never (or lately: only very reluctantly) cooperate (Fraser & Jaeggi 2018; Latour 2017; Giroux 2004). But, reading Arendt, an ideology that promotes the privatization of fiscal power was always in need of extremists who distract by inciting people’s rage against each other and against minorities.
Still, what is happening in the USA lately in front of our eyes is of course not distinct from the European or Nordic political context and development. The dismantling of the civil society and welfare-state systems on one hand and the tax breaks for co-operations and superrich on the other has been the agenda of Nordic neoliberal and right-wing governments for decades. But, in contrast to the recent developments in the US, these policies are still evolving slowly enough to remain hidden in the blind spots of the daily media-reporting that are rather covering seemingly isolated events, and less explaining larger developments (e.g. Zerilli 2020).
These developments have a profound impact on education as a professional praxis, as an academic field, and as a political administrative discourse is challenged (Løvlie 2023; Brunila & Nehring 2023; Amaral et al 2019; Dovemark et al 2018; Ball 2012). On one hand educational institutions are increasingly following logics of private enterprises. It has been widely documented how these structures in situations of conflict undermine education’s democratic civil task (Pyyry et al 2023; Kornhall 2022; Ideland et al 2021; Allais 2014; Bunar 2009). As educators, we therefore have to look self-critical in the mirror and ask how education has contributed to the raise of anti-democratic movements (Strand 2020; Lindblad et al 2018). On the other hand it is precisely by means of education that democratic structures and civil communities have been build and it is education that should prepare the next generation in a way that democracy can maintain (Säfström 2023; Bergdahl & Langmann 2022; Bostad 2021).
Facing this dilemma, at this Educational Conversation, we want to ask
How can we reclaim education as a critical, reflecting and liberating praxis of renewal against the increasing instrumentalization by neoliberal and right-wing politics?
With research from both Nordic scholars and insights from philosophers and (black) feminists Birgit Schaffar introduces the discussion and asks
- i) what critique could mean in an educational relation between generations (Tyson 2023; Vetlesen & Willig 2018; hooks 2003; 2009) and
- ii) how educational resistance against instrumentalization could be possible (Bergdahl & Langmann 2024; von Redecker 2023; Machado de Oliveira 2021; Tiainen et al 2019)
References
Allais, Stephanie (2014). Selling Out Education. National Qualification Frameworks and the Neglect of Knowledge. Rotterdam: SensePublishers.
Amaral, Marcelo Parreira do; Steiner-Khamsi, Gita & Thompson, Christiane (2019). Researching the Global Education Industry: Commodification, the Market and Business Involvement. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Arendt, Hannah (1948/2018). Totalitarismens ursprung. Andra uppl. Översättning Jim Jakobsson. Göteborg: Daidalos.
Ball, Stephen J. (2012). Global Education Inc. New Policy Networks and the Neo-Liberal Imaginary. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Bergdahl, Lovisa & Langmann, Elisabeth (2022). Pedagogical publics. Creating sustainable educational environments in times of climate change. European Educational Research Journal, 21(3), s. 405-418. https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041211005618
Bergdahl, Lovisa & Langmann Elisabeth (2024). Att synliggöra skolkultur. I Bergdahl, L. & Langmann, E. (Red.). Synliggjord skolkultur. Att forma en inkluderande och hållbar skolvardag för ungdomar i socialt utsatta områden (s. 9-18). Huddinge: Södertörns Studies in education 4.
Bostad, Inga (2021). Å kjenne seg hjemme og å være hjemme – i verden. I Bostad, I. (Red.). Å høre hjemme i verden. Introduksjon til en pedagogisk hjemstedsfilosofi (s. 19–38). Oslo: Spartacus.
Brunila, Kristiina & Nehring, Daniel (2023). Precision Education Governance and the High Risks of Fabrication of Future-oriented Learning Human Kinds. Research Papers in Education, 38(5), s. 727–742. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2023.2212688
Bunar, Nihad (2009). När marknaden kom till förorten. Valfrihet, konkurrens och symboliskt kapital i mångkulturella områdens skolor. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Dovemark, Marianne; Kosunen, Sonja; Kauko, Jaakko; Magnúsdottír, Berglind; Hansen, Petteri & Rasmussen, Palle (2018). Deregulation, Privatisation and Marketisation of Nordic Comprehensive Education. Social Changes Reflected in Schooling. Education Inquiry, 9(1), s. 122-141. https://doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2018.1429768
Fraser, Nancy & Jaeggi, Rahel (2018). Capitalism. A Conversation in Critical Theory. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Giroux, Henry. A. (2004). Terror of Neoliberalism. Authoritarianism and the Eclipse of Democracy. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.
hooks, bell (2003). Teaching Community. A Pedagogy of Hope. New York, London: Routledge.
hooks, bell (2009). Teaching Critical Thinking. New York, London: Routledge.
Ideland, Malin; Jobér, Anna & Alexsson, Thom (2021). Problem solved! How edupreneurs enact a school crisis as business possibilities. European Educational Research Journal, 20(1), s. 83-101. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904120952
Kornhall, Per; Svensson, Sten; Allelin, Majsa; Karlsson, Bo (Red.). (2022). När skolan blev en marknad. Trettio år med friskolor. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.
Latour, Bruno (2017). Europe as refuge. I Geiselberger, H. (Red.). The Great Regression (s. 78-87). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Lindblad, Sverker; Pettersson, Daniel & Popkewitz, Thomas S. (2018). Education by the Numbers and the Making of Society. The Expertise of International Assessments. New York, NY: Routledge.
Løvlie, Lars (2020). Politisering og pedagogisk motstand. Veien til en barneorientert praksis. Oslo: Fagbokförlaget.
Machado de Oliveira, Vanessa (2021). Hospicing Modernity. Facing Humanity’s Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.
Pyyry, Noora & Sirviö, Heikki (2023) Landscape of Competition. Education, economization and young people’s wellbeing. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 56(2), s. 491-507. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X231197
Säfström, Carl Anders (2023). Education for Everyday Life. A Sophistical Practice of Teaching. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-4109-4
Strand, Torill (Red.). (2020). Rethinking Ethical-Political Education. London, Berlin: Springer Nature.
Tiainen, Katariina; Leiviskä, Anniina & Brunila, Kristiina (2019). Democratic Education for Hope. Contesting the Neoliberal Common Sense. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 38, s. 641–655. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-019-09647-2
Tyson, Ruhi (2023). Bildning, fantasi, revolt. Åtta essäer om pedagogik. Balders förlag.
Vetlesen, Arne J. & Willig, Rasmus (2018). Hva skal vi svare våre barn? Oslo: Dreyers forlag.
von Redecker, Eva (2023). Bleibefreiheit. Frankfurt: S. Fischer Verlage.
Zerilli, Linda M.G. Fact-Checking and Truth-Telling in an Age of Alternative Facts. Le foucaldien 6, no. 1 (2020): 1–22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16995/lefou.68
Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday October 23rd.
Best,
Herner Sæverot, Anette Olin Almqvist and, Michael Dal.