In this paper, we draw on policy sociology and democratic theory to illustrate how evidence-based practice not only limits teachers' capacities to exercise professional discretion and authority, but also jeopardises the democratic project of schooling more broadly. Using theoretical concepts from Foucault's discipline with Connolly's…

This paper examines the introduction of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) in Denmark and its potential as a pedagogical tool used throughout Danish education culture and particularly in Danish primary schools. The first active Danish users of and trainers in VTS in the country provide purposive qualitative interview data through structured e-mail…

It is well-known that digital learning materials influence the classroom curriculum and didactics. At the same time, few studies examine the role of the data visualizations offered by digital learning materials. Data visualizations signpost the emergence of students as data subjects who can be observed and compared on a computer screen. They thus…

The proposal to turn the so-called Cartoon Crisis into the obligatory history curriculum of the primary school system has been debated publicly over the years. Pros and cons regarding its integration into a teaching environment have been put forward. Since 2021, the proposal has also been formally debated as a bill and put to vote in the Danish…

This article explores the affective and situated aspects of enacting public schooling within a burgeoning economy of digital platforms. Drawing on a series of conversations with two teachers and two school leaders at a Danish primary school, the article examines how the increasing involvement of educational platforms in schools reshapes who and…

This article analyses the introduction of a mandatory learning management system (LMS) in Danish primary and lower secondary education. By thinking with Bourdieu's concepts of field, capital and habitus, the study analyses key policy texts to identify the embedded logics that structure the field of education, reflecting relationships of domination…

Despite the progress that has been made over the 25 years since the Salamanca Statement, there is still room for improvements in order that schools can be developed that include all students. Drawing on a programme of research carried out over a period of 20 years in various European countries, this paper argues that children and young people…

Amid the increasing reliance on digital tools and services in education, this article examines the datafication and commodification of student life in Denmark. We analyse the web and app (iOS and Android) versions of 45 tools and services that teachers in Danish public primary schools use as part of their teaching, the types of data generated by…

In most of the Western world, high expectations of educational leadership exist. School leaders are regarded as important actors in the implementation of reforms, which are occurring at an increasing pace. Furthermore, they are regarded as professionals who can make judgments on behalf of their pupils, teachers, and schools. However, becoming a…

In recent years, digital technologies for creating, curating, selling, and buying teaching materials have become a valuable part of many teachers' lives within and outside schools. Rather than apply textbook contents imposed from above, researchers and tech-pioneers have promoted digital teacher-to-teacher services as pathways to increase teacher…

In this article, taking three selected works by the Danish artist Julie Nord as my point of departure, I will analyse and discuss the role of art in educational theory and practice. In this analysis and discussion I present two concepts, 'resistance' and 'undecidability', which are rooted in the theories of Dutch professor of education and…

This paper explores policy related to digital competence and the digitalisation of Nordic K-12 schools. Anchored in some key transnational policies on digital competence, it describes some current Nordic movements in the national policies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The concept of boundary objects is used as an analytical lens, for…

The article is based on reforms in the Danish educational system, encouraging a new focus on learning goals. The use of learning goals is investigated with a teacher in one mathematics class. Inspired by categories from goal theory, different types of students are described regarding their understanding of the usefulness of visible learning goals…

The Danish MINK (Mathematics and Inclusion) project explored inclusive mathematics teaching in regular classes in ordinary public schools, with a focus on teacher professional development and classroom experiments as the main elements. The project started as a reaction to the challenges for practice arising from a political reform. The MINK…

RE in Russia has been recently introduced as a compulsory regular school subject during the last year of elementary school. The present study offers a critical analysis of the current practice of Russian RE by comparing it with RE in Sweden, Denmark and Britain. This analysis shows that Russian RE is ambivalent. Although it is based on a…