Chaiklin, Seth. Can There Be Multicultural Science Education Policy in a Country That Does Not Recognize Multicultural Science Education?: The Case of Denmark and the Folkeskole. In M. M. Atwater (Ed.), International Handbook of Research on Multicultural Science Education, 2021 (pp. 1–45). Springer International Publishing.
In Denmark, the concept of multicultural science education is absent from educational research, policy, and practice. Nonetheless, this chapter uses this concept as an analytic lens to describe science education policy and practice for primary and lower-secondary school in Denmark. The introduction discusses why it can be meaningful to analyze a country’s science education policy from a multicultural science education perspective, even when the concept is not part of the existing societal discourse. The main body of the chapter is organized into four major sections. The first section introduces the idea of multicultural science education as used in this chapter, followed by sections that give a general introduction to the sociohistorical context of Denmark and a general overview of the organization, governance, and curricular content of the educational system in Denmark. The fourth section gives a narrative account that discusses and interprets how Danish school policy can be understood from a multicultural science education perspective. The conclusion discusses what this case study provides in terms of understanding multicultural science education in Denmark. The main conclusions are (a) there is a confluence between the ideals of Danish school law and policy and many of the ideals expressed within multicultural science education perspectives; (b) some aspects of Danish practice (e.g., dannelse, democratic citizenship) may provide interesting ideas for advancing the study of multicultural science education more generally; and (c) there are possibilities and challenges (e.g., a strong monocultural focus in educational policy) for working further with a multicultural science education perspective in Denmark.