To Örebro University

In 1682, Charles XI of Sweden issued a royal decree concerning the Finnish-speaking population’s poor catechetical knowledge of the provinces of Gästrikland and Hälsingland. According to the decree, the inadequate knowledge resulted from a lack of understanding of the Swedish language. Thus, only Swedish was to be used in popular education. How did popular education address linguistic diversity? Were Finnish-speaking parish members forced to use Swedish? Traces in historical records show that Finnish was used in popular education. By studying examination records, decrees, letters and other materials concerning popular education in the parishes of Färila, Alfta and Järvsö parish in Hälsingland c. 1680–1730, this article examines which strategies were used, developed and implemented. The results show that popular education could accept linguistic diversity and could thus adapt to local needs.

In our joint project, we investigate what different interpretations and meanings (e.g., economic, ecological, cultural, recreational) school textbooks have presented about forests in Sweden and Finland (1972–today). Our paper for Nordic Educational History is inspired by the conference themes “The role of the state and/or private companies”. We will especially look at which actors in Swedish and Finnish forests and forestry are singled out in the textbooks studied. Given that the Swedish and Finnish states are large owners of forests and state-owned companies are large actors in forest economy, is the role of the state explicated in the books in terms of forestry, economy but also forest destruction, climate change and nature loss? What about the big non-state-owned forest companies? Moreover, the curricula in both countries emphasize that pupils should get knowledge and skills about how our way of life affect nature and biodiversity locally and globally. We pose the critical question whether our educational systems are up to this task.

In our project, we investigate what different meanings (e.g., economic, ecological, cultural, recreational) school textbooks have presented about forests in Sweden and Finland (1972–today). Our ENIUGH paper will especially look at how the textbooks portray Swedish and Finnish forests and forestry in relation to forests and forestry in the Global South: whereas forestry in the Nordic countries is often described as “renewable” and “sustainable”, forest and biodiversity loss are conventionally portrayed as something taking place in the forests of the Global South (where Nordic forest companies are also active). This paper builds on a sample of textbooks from the subjects of biology, geography, social studies and history, asking how the binary “renewable” Nordic forests / “unsustainable” forests of the Global South relates to what we know of the sustainability of forests from other sources. The different textbooks offer conflicting and competing narratives over several decades that enable a critical discussion of this theme related to the conference themes “Nordic (post)colonialism” and “global environmental history”.      

In 1682, Charles XI of Sweden issued a royal decree concerning the Finnish-speaking population in the provinces of Gästrikland and Hälsingland. According to the decree, the Finnish-speaking population had failed to learn Swedish. Thus, their knowledge of the Catechism had suffered. The solution was that only Swedish was to be used in popular education. Does the decree reflect how popular education was organised? Which strategies were used in popular education to address the lack of adequate knowledge? Traces in the historical records tell us that Finnish was used in popular education despite efforts to favour Swedish. By focusing on Färila, Alfta, and Järvsö parish in Hälsingland c. 1680–1730, this paper studies which strategies were used when teaching Finnish-speaking parish members, who were behind them and how they were implemented.

In our joint project, we investigate what different interpretations and meanings (e.g., economic, ecological, cultural, recreational) school textbooks have presented about forests in Sweden and Finland (1972–today). Our ESEH paper is inspired by the conference themes “storytelling in terms of the historical and present experience of living with climate uncertainty, biodiversity loss, or rapid landscape change”, and “didactics and themes for teaching climate history with practical examples of approaches and pedagogics”. We will especially look at how Swedish and Finnish forests and forestry are portrayed in the textbooks studied and what meanings of forests are highlighted. We will use a sample of textbooks from the subjects of biology, geography, social studies (samhällskunskap/yhteiskuntaoppi) and investigate how the meanings of forests as ecology, biodiversity and more recently carbon sink intertwine, compete and conflict with stubborn ideas of forests as resources of national economy. We will also investigate the relationship between Nordic forests and forestry practices and the ideas of forest destruction in the Global South and pose the critical question whether our educational systems are up to the task of teaching our young citizens about past, current and future cases of climate uncertainty, biodiversity loss and landscape change.

This article studies the role of the village teacher in three rural parishes in eighteenth-century western Sweden. Earlier research has shown that the clergy and parents were important in reaching high literacy rates in early modern Sweden. However, many parishes were sparsely populated, and many villages were far from the church, affecting teaching access. The Church of Sweden also had to use other educational strategies in these parishes. By studying traces in church accounts, visitation protocols and other handwritten sources, this article helps us better understand the village teacher’s role and the different sources of income this role could provide. It becomes clear that popular education had different strategies and was much more developed than existing research has shown. The role of the village teacher is part of the explanation of why Sweden successfully spread literacy.

The Swedish school has undergone massive change during the last decades. Going from one of the most centralized school systems to a system dominated by marketization. This change has not come rapidly. Several scholars have argued that if we want to understand this transformation, we must study this over time. In the research project The Open Parliament Laboratory (OPaL) we aim to study this change in policy by looking at parliamentary data. By using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and discourse analysis, we shall study the political debate from the last decades, to better understand how Sweden ended up with one of the most unregulated educational systems in the world.

I vårt projekt studerar vi skogsnarrativ i svenska och finska läroböcker från början av grundskoleperioden fram till idag (1972-). I vår förstudie konstaterade vi att läroböckerna ger skogen motstridiga betydelser. Ett exempel är biologiböckerna där man ser en betydande kritik mot skogsbolagens och statens ensidiga skogsbruk redan på 1970-talet. Tanken om skogen som Finlands och Sveriges “gröna guld” är å andra sidan stark ända in i våra dagar och den tenderar att överskugga andra betydelser av skogen.

Med tanke på skogsbrukets nationalekonomiska betydelse är det förståeligt att det ekonomiska narrativet varit och är starkt. Samtidigt är en av grundskolans huvudsakliga uppgifter att uppfostra kritiska samhällsmedborgare som är kapabla att handskas med dagens och framtidens samhälleliga utmaningar. Våra skolor kan lyckas med detta uppdrag bara om läromedlen öppet diskuterar problemen med skogsbruket i Norden och erbjuder perspektiv som utmanar tanken om skogen som en primärt ekonomisk resurs. Om skolorna ska lyckas med detta uppdrag bör åtminstone läroböckerna, som fortfarande spelar en stark roll i undervisningen, öppet diskutera problemen med skogsbruket i Norden. Det är viktigt att erbjuda perspektiv som utmanar tanken om skogen som en primärt ekonomisk resurs.

In our project, we study the ways school textbooks in Finland and Sweden have portrayed the forests of each country during the comprehensive school period (1972–today). We place a special focus on the meanings these books give to forests: do they portray forests primarily in terms of economy and productivity, cultural recreation, ecology, or climate change mitigation (carbon sinks)?

Already in the pilot study for our project we discovered that the national economic narrative is strong in the textbooks, and up to the present day: forests are still seen as the “green gold” of the Nordic region. At the same time, even a single textbook often includes conflicting meanings and narratives. Especially in biology textbooks, we see an important ecological criticism toward the one-sided way forestry has been carried out in Finland and Sweden. This critique is already present in the textbooks from the 1970s even though the discussion of more sustainable forestry has gained ground in the public sphere in Finland and Sweden only quite recently.

Given that forest economy is an important part of the national economies of both countries, it is in many ways understandable that the national economic narrative of forests has received considerable attention in the textbooks. One of the principal goals and purposes of the Nordic comprehensive schools is to foster citizens who can face current and future societal challenges. To meet this goal, the schools and textbooks will need to talk critically about environmental destruction in our forests and challenge the idea of forests as primarily an economic resource.