Introduction

This chapter investigates the historical and contemporaneous development paths and conceptual dimensions of the Nordic model, both generally and in the field of education. While the ‘Nordic model’ as a specific term primarily emerged in the last two decades, the Nordic countries can look back upon a longer history of Nordic (self-)representation, reaching to the nineteenth century. For a comparative analysis of the Nordic model as it relates to education and the teaching profession within and beyond the Nordic region, this chapter suggests four different dimensions. First, the social and empirical reality as experienced by, among others, students, parents, teachers, educational authorities and policymakers, and educational researchers; second, as a domestic tool for defining a Nordic (Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish) cultural identity that is both nationally distinctive and regionally unifying; third, as a marketing instrument to brand the Nordic region internationally; and fourth, as a projection surface or a sort of utopia (at times dystopia), for peoples and countries outside the Nordic region. Finally, the chapter discusses challenges regarding Nordic teacher education and teacher professionalism, and ends with an outline of the volume’s individual chapters.