Educational and spatial justice in rural and urban areas in three Nordic countries: A meta-ethnographic analysis

This article is based on a meta-ethnographic analysis of educational
research from rural and urban areas in Finland, Norway and
Sweden following the reorganisation of educational supply there
in line with market policies. Edward Soja’s concept of spatial
justice shapes the analysis. Using meta-ethnography, we try to
present a contextualising narrative account of spatial justice and
injustice in the education systems in the three countries. Thirtyone
Nordic ethnographic publications (a mix of monographs, book
chapters and articles) have been used in the meta-analysis. Just
over half of them come from Sweden, and most are from urban
education studies. The other half are relatively evenly divided
between Norway and Finland. All were published between 2000
and 2017. Sweden represents an extreme position in relation to
the new politics of education markets. Its promotion of school
choice and schools-for-profit has attracted significant attention
from ethnographic researchers in recent decades and is given
particular attention in the article.