Education and its effects from the 18th century onwards

Enhetsskolen group


Project group pages are still under development.

The project group seeks to investigate the long-term effects of the enhetsskole (unified school) in Denmark and Norway on important societal outcomes such as social mobility and equal oppurtunities.

The project consists of five distinct but complementary elements.

  1. Scandinavian education database Completing (a) individual-level Scandinavian secondary school enrolment and graduate lists, (b) selected cohorts of graduate biographies from technical school anniversary books and high school yearboks, (c) lists with individual exam grades. This part of the project is led by Hilde Leikny Sommerseth.

  2. Providing the historical context of the graduate biographies and grade lists. Analysis of the proces of making the yearbooks and anniversary books (how information was collected, how the books were made, etc.). This gives insights into the extent to which we can rely on information provided in the biographies and better understand why the tradition of creating yearbooks existed and persisted for so long. This part is led by Kristin Ranestad and a draft paper with co-authors Nick Ford and Paul Sharp is completed (see the Not the best at filling in forms research project for more information).

  3. Equal access. Investigating requirements for admittance to secondary and tertiary-level educational institutions before and after different reforms. Did this change how educational attainment was passed on from one generation to the next? This part is led by Nina Boberg-Fazlic and Kristin Ranestad.

  4. Equal opportunities. Investigating if the accessibility of education translates into higher occupational status. Specifically if educated individuals with “elite” backgrounds have higher occupational status than educated individuals with “lower-class” backgrounds, and if so, how this gap closes or persists over time. This part is led by Nina Boberg-Fazlic and Kristin Ranestad.

  5. Persistance or change Lastly, the project groups seeks to understand where and for whom change did NOT occur despite reforms. This part is led by Nina Boberg-Fazlic.

  • Hilde Leikny Sommerseth
    • Professor
    • University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway
  • Kristin Ranestad
    • Associate Professor
    • University of Oslo
  • Nina Boberg-Fazlic
    • Junior Professor
    • TU Dortmund University