Education in a period of economic austerity:

experiences in northern Europe

Kjell Eide

The economic background

Austerity is a relative concept. In global terms, it appears rather artificial to speak of austerity in the small countries of northern Europe which all belong to the richest in the world. But after a long period of steady and relatively rapid economic growth, these countries, are also going through a period of austerity. It would be more correct, however, to speak of a high, but rela- tively stagnant level of economic performance.

The five countries in question, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, have many features in common. Their economic situations, however, differ considerably. Den- mark and Sweden have been particularly hard hit by the economic recession of recent years, struggling with major deficits in their inter- national balance of payments, and also deficits

Kjell Eide (Norway). Science Adviser to the Minister of Cultural and Scientific Affairs. Previously, Director General of the Department for Research and Planning, Ministry of Education. Extensive experience as board or committee member with the Nordic Ministerial Council, OECD, Unesco, the Council of Europe and the European Cultural Foundation. Author of numerous publications in the fields of economics, planning, research and policy in education.

in public budgets. Finland has managed better, being able to sustain a certain economic growth, partly because of its close economic relations with the USSR. Norway has benefited greatly from the exploitation of North Sea oil, and although this has called for enormous invest- ments, a surplus in the international balance of payment has provided some freedom of action. Finally, Iceland has suffered from a decline in its all-important fishing resources, causing severe problems for the Icelandic economy.

Yet, it is quite significant that the five countries, all heavily dependent upon inter- national trade, have been forced to follow the general trends of economic policies in the Western world. Industrial competitiveness has been a main concern for all of them, which has meant anti-inflationary policies and con- siderable stringency in public spending. Full employment policies have been difficult to maintain, and especially Denmark has suffered considerable unemployment.

A common feature of all Western industri- alized countries are the problems connected with the transition from industrial societies to societies with economies dominated by the ser- vice industries. The long-term trend is to place the manufacturing industry in a similar pos- ition to that currently held by agriculture in which enormous quantities of goods are pro-

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duced with large inputs of capital and tech- nology, but with a steadily decreasing input of manpower. This means, in fact, that the power structure of industrialized societies, based upon or related to manufacturing industries, tends to became eroded. When only a small proportion of the population is directly involved in manu- facturing, this structure cannot be maintained

"in its present form. There are several strategies to counteract

this trend. Partly, manufacturing industries may be exported to developing countries still in the process of industrialization. Partly, the expansion of the services may be halted, in order to maintain a privileged position for manufacturing industries in the labour market. And, finally, industrial capital and technology may invade the service industries. However, in order to achieve the latter, the public involve- ment in this part of the economy must be restricted or even reduced. Policies of this nature, vigorously pursued by a number of Western countries, are logically bound to cause unemployment on a major scale.

The effects of large-scale unemployment are clear enough. Firstly, they change basically the power relationship between employers and em- ployees, in favour of the former. Secondly, it leads to an equally strong change in the power relationship between established adults and the young, again in favour of the former. This may have major educational implications. Finally, it provides opportunities for existing power struc- tures to adjust to the transformation to a service society.

The Nordic countries have not been in the forefront in promoting policies of this kind, although they find a certain sympathy in con- servative circles. But by and large, even those countries have more or less unwillingly been forced to pursue similar policies. Among other things, this implies the halting of the expansion of the public sector in the economy, and in certain cases even encouraging private enter- prise to fill the gap. Education is one of the sectors feeling the impact of such policies.

Yet, the picture is not a clear-cnt one. The socialist governments of Finland and Sweden

have fought unemployment, and especially youth unemployment, with considerable suc- cess. Even the conservative governments of Norway and Denmark have met substantial resistance in pursuing more radical conservative policies, based as they are on alliances with smaller parties in the middle of the political spectrum.

Restrictions on education

It may be true for all those countries that educational policies have lost priority compared to other public spending objectives. Since demo- graphic trends have led to more of the popu- lation in the older age-groupc, public spending for pensions and health care has increased. Fewer young people proportionally speaking has eased the pressure on educational insti- tutions, at least at the compulsory level. Yet, one can hardly speak of drastic reductions in public spending for educational purposes.

Old ideas about planning education on the basis of manpower forecasting have tended to pop up again, mainly in terms o f expanding the educational capacity in technological and economic fields. Whether this expansion cor- responds to a real need is still an open question, except for the specific need for data specialists and, in the case of Norway, high-level personnel for the oil industry. The training capacity in some other fields has been reduced, the official reason being ascribed to fear of over-production. This argument has particularly hit teacher train- ing, although with the exception of Denmark, no teacher surplus has occurred. Cuts have also been made in the field of medical training, although the underlying forecasts have already become obsolete due to the blossoming private activities in the health sector.

The most severe budgetary cuts have hit adult education especially in Denmark and Norway. In the Nordic countries, this sector of the educational system is mainly run by country-wide adult education organizations. A percentage of 2o to 95 of the grown-up popu- lation has usually taken part in some sort of

Education in a period of economic austerity: experiences in northern Europe 351

adult education every year. In terms of equality, both with respect to social class and sex, this is undoubtedly the best functioning part of the system of voluntary education. The substantial budgetary cuts for such education in some of the countries may be a reflection of its frequent association with left-wing political groupings. However, even in industrial circles there have been negative reactions to the cuts, as adult education is seen as an important component of a programme for increased mobility and flexi- bility in the economy. Yet, such economic interests have supported preferential treatment for occupationally oriented adult education, a policy breaking with an old Nordic tradition of equal weight for all participant wishes in adult education. There can be no doubt that the economic cuts in this sector have caused greater inequality in educational services in some of the countries, and with the broad popular support for such education in those countries, such restrictive policies can probably not be maintained in the long run.

Even the restrictions in higher education may have had negative consequences in terms of the participation of different social groups. Yet, probably the less promising employment pros- pects of graduates in recent years have played a more important role in frightening away groups who traditionally have been relatively foreign to higher education. Social recruitment to higher education in the Nordic countries has been more equal than in many others, but recent years have probably shown a trend towards a less desirable social distribution of higher edu- cation opportunities.

Education and employment

While restrictions have hit higher education and adult education, the picture is different in upper secondary education. At this level, the use of training as a means to combat youth unemployment has run counter to manpower considerations, and most of the countries have in fact greatly expanded upper secondary edu- cation. In a situation in which traditional man-

power forecasting probably will show that a large proportion of youngsters are not needed in the economy, the question remains as to the superfluous ones. To provide them with no training what to do with is probably not the right solution, and the result has been educational expansion after all. Even in higher education, some expansion has been accepted on the basis of employment considerations.

Strategies to meet youth unemployment vary somewhat from country to country. The idea of a youth guarantee, in the form of possibilities for work or education for all youngsters, has strong political support in the Nordic countries. Conservative governments, mainly in Denmark and Norway, have emphasized offering edu- cation to youngsters, while Sweden and Fin- land have tried to achieve more of a balance through greater efforts in terms of labour market measures, thus providing a real choice between work or training.

There are also differences in terms of the role assigned to the educational system. Sweden has gone very far in assuming that the edu- cational system shall have a predominant role in taking care of the young, even far beyond the traditional confines of educational activities. Denmark has relied much more on training offered by manpower authorities, leaving the school to its more traditional functions. Norway and Finland have followed a middle road in this respect. Compared to the rest of Europe, the Nordic countries as a whole have been more reluctant to develop large size training activities run by manpower authorities, and more willing to expand the general responsi- bilities of the school towards the younger gen- erations as a whole.

This willingness may reflect a somewhat dif- ferent attitude towards the young than that a held in other European countries. Educational policies in the Western world have undoubtedly been influenced by back-lash effects following the youth revolt of the late 196o% which has sometimes been used to legitimize giving lower priority to educational spending. In the eyes of established adults, the youth revolt proved the failure of the family in keeping youngsters

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' i n their place', and the schools also seemed to fail in their socializing role to accept estab- lished values. The interest in the I97OS for a closer connection between school and work may be seen as an attempt to use work as a disci- plining mechanism towards the young. Youth unemplo3nnent, however, proves much more effective in this respect and, typically, the kind of training offered by manpower authorities seems to emphasize the socialization of young people into the predominant values of the busi- ness world. On the whole, such training pro- rides no new job opportunities at all; it only secures a better place in the queue for young people most willing to conform to such values.

In this respect most of the Nordic countries have followed a softer line, assuming that edu- cational institutions still offer the best place for training youngsters, even if their socialization process is not absolutely in line with the estab- lished values of the business world.

Central control and decentralization

When money is short, there is usually a tend- ency towards stricter control. For some reasons, a stringent financial situation is supposed to increase the wisdom of central authorities and decrease that of local institutions, with ideas about 'accountability' and 'evaluation' as a consequence. The result is regularly stricter central control.

The Nordic countries have had their share of this tendency in recent years, strangely enough particularly in the countries with conservative governments, in spite of their official liberal ideology. Their strong belief in the greatest possible freedom for private enterprise is matched by their suspicion towards corre- sponding freedom for public institutions.

Such tendencies are not, however, uncon- tested in the Nordic countries. As a legacy from the I97OS, there is also a strong preference for decentralization, and for participation in decisions at the local level. Such sentiments may be seen to fit in with wishes at the central

level--based on quite different premises--to avoid full responsibility for public austerity. As a consequence, most of the Nordic countries have also experienced trends towards delegating responsibilities from the central level to local political authorities. In the case of Norway, this has taken the form of a shift from ear- marked financial transfers from the state to local authorities for the running of primary and secondary schools, towards a system of lump- sum subsidies to local authorities to be spent according to their priorities. At the same time, the tightening of the public purse leaves local authorities with little leeway in terms of money to spend.

This is happening to a school system in which traditional state financing has strong elements of positive discrimination, which have led to a degree of equality in local educational services unparalldled in other parts of the world. In the case of Norway, for instance, the actual spending per pupil in compulsory edu- cation is nearly twice as high in poor, peripheral localities with a scattered population than the national average. As a corollary, for nearly a century the general assumption in those counties has been that the nearest school is as good as any other. Such agreement has saved them from the plague of quality ranking of schools, with the built-in vicious circle creating increasing inequalities between schools, as can be found in most other Western countries.

There is some danger that the development away from categorical government grants for educational purposes may threaten this high level of equality in the school system. Legal measures may still maintain reasonable mini- mum standards everywhere, but the small schools, the high costs of which have largely been paid by the government, may be in danger. Furthermore, the rather generous provisions for the education of handicapped children, largely paid for by extra governmental subsidies, may be in danger of suffering from economic austerity in the poorer local authorities.

What actually will happen is still too early to say. Politically, equality of educational ser- vices wherever a pupil may live, is a principle

Education in a period of economic austerity: experiences in northern Europe 353

with strong historical traditions in the Nordic countries, and severe deviations from this prin- ciple are certain to raise major political up- heavals. In terms of public opinion, there is no way in which central authorities in those countries can avoid being regarded as respon- sible for the main features of education policy, whatever formal arrangements are made in terms of educational financing. I f the decen- tralization of financial responsibilities to local authorities is seen to threaten such values, political counteractions are bound to be forth- coming.

i i

Effects on public salaries and the public/private relationship

In some of the countries, public austerity has also influenced the salary levels of public em- ployees, including that of teachers. This has caused a certain amount of teacher union mili- tancy, and some serious tendencies towards exodus from the teaching profession to other types of jobs. The recruitment to teacher train- ing has traditionally been at a very high- quality level in those countries. But more recently the attraction of such training seems to have fallen substantially, leading to lower quality levels among the students in teacher training. This, too, is seen as a serious threat to the quality of teaching.

Lack of expansion tends to cause an ageing of the teacher group, especially in higher edu- cation. Special remedies in order to secure new blood for education and research at this level have only had limited effects so far. Further- more, capacity restrictions in public institutions for higher education have caused the mush- rooming of private institutions at this level. Such institutions have traditionally not played a major role in the educational systems of the Nordic countries. Their role now seems to be rapidly increasing, which leads to pressure for public subsidies, competing with the budgets of public institutions. The conservative govern- ments in Norway and Denmark have tended to encourage such a development. It does mean,

however, that public institutions in many fields may risk losing qualified personnel because of tempting salary levels offered by private in- stitutions.

The growth of private education at this level also brings stronger market forces into the edu- cational field. As queues at the gates of higher education institutions increase, the private in- stitutions may introduce an element of rationing by the purse, thereby breaking the Nordic tra- dition of free education for all. Such tendencies are not yet very strong, but the danger signals are clear enough.

Changing content

Even the Nordic countries have had ripples of the fashionable international complaints about 'declining standards in education'. Such slogans have been used by conservative parties, at least in order to justify restricted budgets, and to strengthen traditional academic demands for knowledge-oriented education. This is some- what paradoxical in a situation in which the revolution in information technology has greatly reduced the role of educational institutions in controlling information flows throughout so- ciety. The competitive strength of educational institutions does not lie in their traditional role of providing authoritative knowledge, but rather in offering creative social environments for learning. The quest for 'quality' in terms of traditional cognitive requirements is dearly at odds with what will have to be the future roles of educational institutions in information affluent societies.

Tendencies of this kind have not, however, become deeply rooted in the Nordic countries. No empirical evidence has been produced to demonstrate the assumed decline in edu- cational standards. On the contrary, whatever evidence exists seem to indicate the opposite. In the last two to three decades, there has been an enormous growth in the number of youngsters participating in education at higher levels, and their performance in cognitive terms shows no sign of decline. In fact, comparisons

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of current student performance with that of students at similar levels some time ago, actually indicate gains in achievement.

Yet, there has been some pressure towards more strictly defining a core curriculum, and there is some danger that this may again orient the schools towards primarily serving the highest achievers at the expense of the less able students. However, such tendencies are heavily and widely contested especially by the large majority of teachers, and the changes so far have been quite moderate.

To sum up, the wave of distrust of education, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries, during the last decade, never reached the northern Euro- pean countries with the same strength. There is still a profound belief in education as good for t h e individual and for society. There is also a clear resurgence of the sentiment of the I96OS, when a well-qualified population was seen as a major condition for further growth i n economic and Societal terms. Attempts to cut educational expenditures significantly have largely been prevented, and in some of the countries, educational expenditures have still shown a steady, although moderate growth. Cor- respondingly, attempts to steer more strongly limited educational expenditures towards the wealthier part of the population have largely been resisted, although previous efforts towards equalization could be said to have been halted. At present, educational policies appear once more at the forefront of national policies, caus, ing some renewed political priority for this field. How far this trend will go is dependent upon the development of general politics in those countries, and predicting such develop- ments is beyond the scope of this article. []