National testing and accountability in the Scandinavian welfare states: Education policy translations in Norway, Denmark and Sweden

This chapter explores how global education policy and accountability trends are variously translated and adapted in three Scandinavian countries, focusing in particular on the links between national standardized testing and accountability. Norway, Denmark and Sweden are used as empirical cases to reflect on the importance of national trajectories and translations of global ideas and policy. While reference is often made to the ‘universal Scandinavian welfare states’ or the ‘Nordic model’ of education (Antikainen, 2010; Blossing et al., 2014; Telhaug et al., 2006), there are also many differences between the Nordic countries, as for instance in their diverging responses to neoliberal policy developments (Dovemark et al., 2018; Lundahl, 2016; Wiborg, 2013). Our analysis investigates how national testing as an instrument of accountability is linked to translations and enactments in decentralized school systems – including re-centralization processes – under the auspices of a universal welfare state. In particular, we examine how global policy is translated and adapted to serve different purposes and functions within these distinct national contexts.