The Nordic model of Lifelong Learning

Abstract

This article explores how the so called Nordic welfare state, with its specific institutional make up, handles Lifelong Learning in a time characterised by the challenges of economic globalisation and the hegemonic impact of the neo‐liberal agenda. The analysis reveals a high participation in the Nordic countries in Lifelong Learning and, in comparison to other countries, low inequalities. This can be directly linked to a state that sets a very demanding equity standard and has developed an institutional framework to support this ambition. This model explicitly recognises market failures in contributing to a system of Lifelong Learning for all. The findings support the growing awareness in the literature that those forecasting the end of the welfare state had misunderstood and/or undervalued the important impact of the specific institutions that constitute the welfare state itself.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 129 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.