Project Description
This interdisciplinary project brought together scholars to study institutionalized childhoods of the Nordic countries. Through the lens of the “Nordic childhoods” and its institutions, the aim was to understand the history, present challenges and future sustainability of the lived Nordic model by contrastive and comparative research on the “Nordic institutionalized childhoods.”
By “Nordic institutionalised childhoods” we mean both the values (ideals) of the Nordic model as related to upbringing and formation of future citizens, but also the perception and the lived implementation of these values by families and formal institutions (i.e. kindergartens, schools, other state institutions and media—increasingly digital technologies).
Understanding the ideals and describing the processes of socialisation of the Nordic model citizen require a critical focus on the individual practices that take place within significant welfare institutions of the Nordic countries, within the family, and in the relations between them.
The project was divided into four pillars:
Pillar I: The parenting paradox-children’s autonomy under pressure
Pillar II: Normative values under pressure of globalization – rights and participation
Pillar III: New technology, old norms? Autonomy, self-reflexivity and discipline
Pillar IV: Blind spots – the flip side of the normative child
About the group
Living the Nordic Model was a project led by Elisabeth Staksrud.
It was also a research network involving researchers from the Faculty of Humanities (Department of Media and Communication and Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas ), the Faculty of Educational Sciences (Department of Education), the Faculty of Social Science (Department of Psychology) and the Centre for Gender Research.
Events
2020
Children's Digital Lives During Corona Times
Living the Nordic Model researchers discuss how the Corona Crisis has influenced Children's Digital Lives
Time and place: Dec. 15, 2020 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM, Litteraturhuset, Oslo and Zoom
s part of a series of Norwegian-language conversations entitled 'UiO:Norden-Samtalen' researchers from Living the Nordic Model will discuss how the Corona crisis has influenced children's digital lives.
The 'conversation' is planned as a hybrid event both at the Litteraturhuset in Oslo and on Zoom.
Living the Nordic Model researchers Elisabeth Staksrud and Kristinn Hegna will join the Director of UiO:Norden, Tore Rem, as well as the former Norwegian Children's Ombudsman Trond-Viggo Torgersen and Pål Suren, researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Public Health to discuss this topic.
More information about the event (in Norwegian).
2019
Nordic Modes of Bildung, Schooling, and Upbringing - The interplay between individualism, collectivism, and institutionalised lives
This conference will be organised in collaboration between two UiO:Nordic projects “The Nordic Education Model” and “Living the Nordic Model”.
Time: Apr. 23, 2020 9:00 AM – Apr. 24, 2020 4:00 PM
Images of modern Nordic societies are often paradoxical: Strongly socially cohesive but renowned for their liberal social values; Equal rights and opportunities for all blended with collective demands and duties; Strong trust and solidarity but less responsibility for helping your neighbour.
The Nordic countries have historically shown both strong collectivist traits epitomised in social democratic concepts like “folkhemmet” (S) or expressions like “raising a building together” (DK) as well as strong individualist traits of universalised individual rights to social goods and services. In the Nordic model of education ideals of a common “folkskola” and of “folkeoplysning/folkbildning” have included both more communitarian as well as more individualistic conceptualisations of “dannelse” (Bildung).
In the field of education individuals are currently urged to optimise their contribution to society. Lifelong learning under the banner of employability is no longer just a possibility but has almost turned into a duty. The strong “welfare states” make equality more possible – but does the turn to strong “competition states” also indicate a new more coercive collectivism?
In the light of these tensions, we aim in this conference at examining historical and current ideals, practices, and institutions related to the formative aspects of Nordic citizens’ lives—their childhoods, parenting values, schooling, education, and lifelong learning. We invite researchers that are engaged in the study of the institutions and arenas in which children and youth are brought up and educated. How have aims and expectations changed over time both in the Nordic settings and worldwide? Are there specific Nordic traditions in Bildung, education, and upbringing? Are they more rooted in common ideals of equality and communitarianism than in other Western and global societies? How are these ideals expressed, justified, and institutionalised in a more globalised era?
Organizer
Living the Nordic Model and The Nordic Education Model
2018
Opening Seminar
In June 2018, Living the Nordic Model held its Opening Seminar on the theme of 'Nordic Childhoods Under Pressure'.
Time and place: June 14, 2018 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM, Georg Sverdrups Hus, Seminarrom 2
Nordic educational systems vary. At the same time they build on shared ideas about what characterises good childhoods, what should be emphasised in the education and socialisation of children and what role school should play in society.
At our opening seminar, we invited Ning de Coninck-Smith and Espen Schaanning to present research on Nordic School systems and the Nordic Model.