The Future of Nordic Bildung, NORDFORSK

NORDBILD is an explorative project encompassing 4 research groups in Sweden, Denmark and Norway with a unique expertise in educational philosophy. Although some of the groups have worked together on a different topic, this is the first research project that initiates cooperation between our tour groups together. We aim to explore and critically discuss the possibilities and obstacles that lie in our common pedagogical-philosophical heritage of Nordic Bildung when facing epochal key challenges of sustainability and inclusion. The project thus aims at rethinking the foundations of Nordic Bildung through a problem-oriented philosophical approach. Our common research question is: How can we rethink Nordic Bildung as an educational response to the societal problems of sustainability and inclusion? The project can only be carried out in the Nordic region as it is based on expertise and strengths of the four research groups. NORBILD addresses educational features that are unique to the Nordic countries in light of our similar educational structures and culture, and shared pedagogical heritage. The originality of the project lies in rethinking the foundations of Nordic Bildung as a response to the problems of sustainability and inclusion. This dialectical move between societal key problems and our common pedagogical-philosophical tradition of Nordic Bildung is mirrored in the organization of workshops. The first workshop will be organized by University of Malmø in may 2023 and aims to explore the topical issues of inclusion, equality, and diversity from a Bildung-theoretical standpoint. The second workshop will be organized in February 2024 by Danish School of Education in Aarhus and aims to deliberate on educational responses to the problem of sustainability. The third workshop will be organized by University of Bergen and University of Tromsø together and is to be located at University of Bergen in September 2024. This workshop aims to rethink Nordic Bildung and general didactics for the future. We will focus on the kind of values and knowledge that will be important in Nordic curriculum making, as a response to the epochal key problems of inclusion and sustainability. All workshops will be organized as face-to-face meetings. Conference-participations, an international special issue and a Nordic anthology is planned as outcome, and we plan to
initiale further research-cooperation post-workshops


The project is funded by NORDFORSK (430000 NKr.)