Convergence and Divergence: A Comparison between the Nordic School Curricula

Abstract

The aim of this article is to compare ethics and morality in the school systems in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. What similarities and differences on ethical issues and values are to be found in the five countries? With a background knowledge in the Swedish curriculum, we want to study democracy, multiculturalism and human rights based on other countries’ curricula. Traditional theories and frameworks from literature on ethics and morality, for instance Begley’s frame of theory, and educational policy documents have been studied to understand the concepts in the school system. By using document analysis we have put this together to reach the aim of the study, which has a Nordic perspective, not only a Scandinavian one, which is the most usual ones. The main results are that there are both similarities and differences between the countries, but the Nordic countries regarding ethics and morality have especially to consider the main concepts democracy, multiculturalism and human rights in the school systems. Even if there are many similarities between the Nordic countries when it comes to democracy, multiculturalism and human rights there are differences between the Nordic countries how related concepts have been expressed.