Abstract
The Danish educational system is described within general, societal and political frames. Both structures and discourses of education are changing, as all sectors of society are affected by an economic move towards a global marketplace. From 1980 and onwards the Nordic welfare state, created after the Second World War, has been gradually transforming into a competitive state. Parallel to this trend, and partly as a consequence of it, we see thorough restructurings of the public sector and educational politics. New public management trends like decentralisation, privatisation, top-down management and focus on outcome are accompanied by new accountability technologies like social contracts, quality reports and national testing. Furthermore, considerable effort is put into shifting the general discourse of education from a vision of participatory, democratic Bildung to a focus on academic knowledge and basic skills, because of the need to educate all students for employability on a competitive labour market in a competitive state.
Different fields of education (preschool, primary and lower secondary school and upper secondary school) are influenced by this trend at slightly different points in history, but general trends are the same. One of the contemporary trends is to appoint a person who will be responsible and accountable to the authorities for the management and leadership of the organisation and, at the same time, responsible for translating external expectations into internal sense and direction.
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Moos, L., Kofod, K.K., Hjort, K., Raae, P.H. (2013). Denmark: New Links Between Education and Economics. In: Moos, L. (eds) Transnational Influences on Values and Practices in Nordic Educational Leadership. Studies in Educational Leadership, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6226-8_2
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