Executive summary

School achievement has increasingly come into focus during the last decades. The overall aim of this report is to highlight the need for knowledge for promoting health and development among schoolage children in the Nordic countries. Learning in school and for life is a key element for future well-being and quality of life.

This analysis did not have the resources nor time for a systematic review. Therefore, a more selective approach was taken based on previous reviews, and the report also partly serves as a scoping review. The different sections of the report conclude with a list of knowledge gaps and concerns.

The research methodologies in the relevant disciplinary fields are diverse. Different researchers also have different paradigms: not only do they differ in scientific approaches, but they also do not share basic assumptions, research procedures, and analytical methods. Therefore, an introductory section deals with this challenge. What is needed in this field is scientific knowledge as well as practical knowledge and practical wisdom to guide the further development of the school system.

The school systems in the Nordic countries are both similar and different. We can learn from each other’s successes and failures, which merits a brief overview of the Nordic school systems. The school for all has been a joint characteristic of the Nordic school model, but it has been challenged by neoliberal policies such as school choice and privatisation.

School achievement is a major focus in this report. However, in order to do multi-country comparisons, the development of international large-scale assessments has been crucial as a research infrastructure. The report gives some recent results from the 2018 PISA study. This study discusses mainly three different aspects of inequality in school achievement. (i) Gender differences in school achievement are a universal finding. Boys are falling behind girls. What do we know about this, what impact does it have, and what can we do to make a school where the children can grow and reach their full potential? (ii) Socioeconomic differences in school achievement are among the findings in most countries, and so also in the Nordic welfare states. This may seem paradoxical. (iii) Health development is also associated with school achievement. We have learnt from

longitudinal studies that there is a reciprocal relationship between mental health and learning.

The report discusses a series of concerns regarding methodology, theoretical perspective, policy aspects, and ethical and political aspects. There is a need for scientific knowledge, practical knowledge, and practical wisdom to guide the further development of the Nordic school systems. This can be achieved by bridging different knowledge gaps through studies of different educational practice, interventions, and measures; by using systematic reviews to summarise what is already known; by doing original comparative research; by using the potential of the unique infrastructure and competence in registry-based research as well as the best available evaluative research designs and practice-based designs; and by increasing research collaboration between Nordic researchers in relevant fields such as educational science, cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology (developmental science), sociology of education, child public health, and policy science. Moreover, the research should be concerned with ethical and political issues of the selected approaches.

Research to bridge knowledge gaps in five different regards is suggested:

(1) Trends: How is the situation; (2) Consequences: How important; (3) Mechanisms: Why; (4) Interventions: What can we do; and (5) Policy and implementation: What can we do on a national level?

The following measures are suggested to support Nordic research in this field:

(1) Collaboration grants for Nordic researchers that can pool data and resources for in-depth analyses of trends, mechanisms, consequences, interventions, and policy/implementation.

(2) Support to infrastructure for Nordic comparative research. (3) Research grants to researchers that plan, supported by systematic reviews of previous research, and conduct original research on such issues as:

• School for all in the Nordic countries: trends, challenges, and remedies in the neoliberal era

• Mechanisms behind the socioeconomic, gender, and health inequalities in school achievement • Controlled studies of measures taken to improve socioeconomic, gender, and health equality in school achievement • Studies aiming at improving the working environment in schools, including children, parents, and school staff in research and development • Studies of physical and mental health, and school achievement: educational trajectory for children in the Nordic countries • Health promotion in schools in the Nordic countries: studies of educational practice, programmes, and whole-school approach.

(4) A research school in this field could be a measure to facilitate the training of the next generation of researchers in the Nordic countries. This could be an important link between senior Nordic researchers that jointly manage the research school.

It has been a real challenge to try to scope these extensive fields of research. As I’m working in Sweden, the perspectives of the other Nordic countries may be less covered in this report, but my interest in the Nordic countries has been with me since I became professor in community health at the Nordic School of Public Health in 1987. Constructive comments are welcome at charli.eriksson48@gmail.com.