The Swedish Sámi boarding school reforms in the era of educational democratisation, 1956 to 1969

ABSTRACT This comparative curricular study examines the educational functions of the Swedish Sámi nomad school curricula before and after a central school reform in the 1960s. Due to the reform, the nomad school, a boarding school system for the Indigenous Sámi people in Sweden, was formed to bring about systemic changes in the education of Sámi children, to be more inclusive, and to meet new democratic educational demands. This study presents an in-depth examination of the written curricula through a thematic analysis by scrutinising the nomad School syllabi of 1956 (UP56) and 1969 (Lgr69), with an emphasis on aspects of continuity and change. In theoretical terms, the study is inspired by Biesta’s educational functions. This study identified the continued importance of reindeer husbandry (RH), while the reform transformed the traditional RH context towards adaptation to the needs of the Swedish meat industry, in a period marked by intrusion into traditional Sámi lands. The study also found that although the education system set out to protect the Sámi language after the reform, the Sámi language was consistently given a low degree of importance in the curricula. Another source of tension concerns the explicit policy to open the Sámi education for all Sámi children at the same time, educating differentiation among Sámi.


Introduction
The Swedish education reforms during the decades after the Second World War established a common nine-year compulsory school for all Swedish citizens and are often perceived as a high mark in the development of a national democratic education system.The Swedish educational progress was a part of the Nordic school model that was seen as ideal for school development in a western society. 1 These reforms are also central for the understanding of the Swedish Sámi education system, as the reforms also applied to Sámi children and established a new framework for their schooling.The Sámi people have historically held, and continue to hold, a minority position in Swedish society.Swedish Sámi education has traditionally been organised by the state and, until the 1960s, education was delivered institutionally through a boarding school system called the nomad school.This school, which was established in 1913, was mandatory schooling for Sámi children in reindeer-herding families.The nomad school system was frequently called into question from the 1950s up to 1962, and the system was under threat of closure due to the perception that it was too rudimentary, marked by segregation, and outdated in terms of the educational content. 2 Part of the criticism from a Sámi perspective was the lack of influence by Sámi representatives over Sámi education. 3Because educational goals, content, and performance are expressions of power, and curricula regulate access to knowledge and skills for different social-class groups in society, 4 the question of Sámi influence over Sámi education has been, and continues to be, a highly relevant issue.Telhaug et al. indicate this means that minority groups like the Sámi were powerless in the question of influence of education during this period. 5Instead of closing down, the nomad school became integrated as part of the major, parallel reforms that were being made to the Swedish elementary school system, where new political ideas of conformity and equality guided the changes.These reforms of the majority schooling system resulted in new curricula aimed at creating a more uniform educational system with small disparities on the compulsory level. 6Therefore, the nomad school also needed to be structurally changed to fit within the framework of the Swedish elementary school system, but, at the same time, the school was to convey specific knowledge that was deemed necessary only for the Sámi population and Sámi children. 7Another major change for the nomad school was the shift of its target group from exclusively educating children of mountain-dwelling reindeer husbandry families to educating all Sámi children. 8Hence, the reform period studied here opened the door to the renegotiation of Sámi education.
This paper aims to analyse and discuss the actual outcome of the nomad school curricular reform from the perspective of the educational functions according to Biesta,9 with a focus on the aspects of continuity and change during the reform process in the 1960s.This is done by examining the last written nomad school curricula before the reform (UP56) and the first after the reform (Lgr69) to answer the following questions: What was the content of the two curricula?What was retained and what was changed?What educational functions can be traced?The answers to these questions form the basis for an overall analysis of the content, goal, and possible sources of tension arising within Sámi education during this period.
The examination of the formal curricula for Sámi education before and after the school reform of the 1960s, a period when the entire elementary school system in Sweden was in the midst of reforms intended to create uniformity and ensure equality in education, regardless of social status, is relevant for at least three reasons.First, the empirical data presented in this paper provide important knowledge regarding what educational content was seen as relevant for Sámi pupils before and after the reform and these data have not been examined in previous research.Second, comparative perspectives regarding continuity and change in the content of UP56 and Lgr69 have the potential to shed further light on standardised (non-changeable curricular content) knowledge in Sámi education.Third, the period marks an inflection point between the differentiated school system and the cohesive school system,10 which has the potential to reveal curricular tensions regarding an exclusive education for the reindeer herders and for all Sámi pupils.
To provide a framework for the study of these two curricula, this paper provides a contextualisation of Sámi education up to the 1960s followed by an introduction of the theory of educational functions and a thematic analysis method.The results are presented according to the identified themes and accompanied by concluding remarks.

A maligned educational system conforms through reform
Directed education for Sámi children in Sweden has been governed and guided by curricula and syllabi set by Swedish institutions and the government of Sweden.The first institutionalised education system for Sámi was organised by the Church of Sweden in the seventeenth century.11Different forms of education existed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with both stationary schooling and ambulatory teaching. 12The concept of the nomad school was established in 1913 and was a compulsory form of education and boarding school for reindeer herders in the Fennoscandian mountain region.The Sámi outside this context were, in general, to attend regular Swedish schooling.The division was due to the perception that the Sámi were essentially nomadic reindeer herders. 13At the time of its establishment, the nomad school was criticised by representatives of the Sámi society because of the substandard accommodation and deficient education, 14 which did not match the standard of national compulsory education and closed the doors to higher education.Norlin and Sjögren (2016) argue that this school system can be seen as the most important contemporary symbol of the government's failure in the area of Sámi education. 15In the 1930s and 1940s, accommodation at the boarding school improved somewhat, and the length of the education provided was increased. 16In the 1950s, the need for the nomad school was debated in terms of modernisation and the rationalisation of reindeer husbandry (RH), which meant that an entire family did not have to move with the reindeer and the need for a boarding school thereby diminished. 17Also, the post-war ideals of democratisation and equality in Sweden implied that special schooling was no longer appropriate. 18The nomad school system was renewed through the 1960s reform.Even if this reform was aligned with the Swedish elementary reforms and guided by ideals of conformity, it was also designed to provide for a culture-specific Sámi education and to provide space for Sámi ethnic distinctivenesssomething that Swedish compulsory schooling was seen as unable to provide. 19The modern Swedish educational system, with a written curriculum, has its start in 1919. 20In the 1940s the questioning of the differentiated school system started, 21 and in 1962 a common obligatorily nine years elementary school was created in Sweden. 22

Sámi education up until the 1960s
The existing research on Swedish elementary school reforms provides vital insights into the evolvement of the curricula after the mid-twentieth century and describes the reform and politics of conformity and democratisation of education in western society, including the Swedish educational system. 23However, few historical studies have investigated how this process relates to the transformation of Sámi education in Sweden during the same period.Historical research targeting Sámi education in Sweden has highlighted the educational differentiation of Sámi children from the seventeenth century until the school reform of 1962. 24The education provided to the Sámi population in Sweden between the 1850s and 1950s is examined from different perspectives.One perspective is the nationalistic impact on minority education, where differentiation is explained as being part of a nationalistic idea where ethnic anomalies were to be extinguished. 25Other research perspectives include a variety of colonial discourse angles, which critically explore historical minority or Indigenous education in relation to Swedish Sámi politics. 26Yet another approach examines Sámi education from a reform pedagogical angle with a focus on the specificity of the child and raising children using pedagogical methods fitting the true nature of the child. 27These different research perspectives are unequivocal in that, until the 1950s, education for minorities in Sweden was created with Swedishness as a norm, where ethnic minorities had an unquestioned subordinate status.One example is provided by Kortekangas, who argues that the subordination of Sámi meant that their inclusion in society was limited and the education system was used as a tool to keep them at a certain level of education. 28Curricular research regarding historical Sámi education in Norway is well documented. 29Olsen and Andreassen (2018) examined the Norwegian written curricula from the 1970s until today and found that Sámi issues have been marginalised, and, in the cases where explicit groups are mentioned in curricula, these groups are related to legislative rights. 30Gjerpe showed that the Sámi content in Norwegian curricula has diminished since the Sámi curriculum was introduced in 1997. 31 Keskitalo et al. (2012) provide a summary of the development of Sámi education in Finland . 32Recent educational historical research with a focus on the experiences of Sámi education has provided perspectives of competing state narratives and counter-narratives in a variety of historical periods and political contexts. 33For example, Kotljarchuk (2019) looks at Sámi education in Russia in the twentieth century and shows that the number of native language speakers has decreased due to educational policy. 34Except from loss of language by education in boarding schools, Allemann (2019) has shown that cultural assimilation came about due to Russian educational policy in the twentieth century. 35ther perspectives on boarding schools with Indigenous education, as was the nomad school, have been presented in US and Canadian literature, showing that the Indigenous residential schools resulted in the separation of children from their families and that educational knowledge was aimed at vocational work. 36Research has also looked at the Sámi language curricula of 2011, which has shown that there are unequal opportunities to develop the Sámi language in comparison with the Swedish language and that the Sámi language was perceived to be a language for the home environment. 37A study of the elementary national written curricula of 2011 has shown that there is a marginalisation of Sámi themes. 38However, there is an obvious lack of research regarding historical developments from the reform in the 1960s up to the contemporary Sámi school curriculum, which is crucial for gaining a deeper understanding of the Sámi educational content of today.

Educational functions in Sámi curricula
Gert Biesta suggests that education can be viewed as an instrument to achieve predefined goals and advocates for the study of the explicit content of education in order to avoid the "common sense" view of the purpose of education, as this view often serves the interests of privileged groups. 39Against this background, this study of the explicit content of the nomad school curricula of 1956 and 1969 uses Biesta's three educational functions for systematically evaluating the aims and ends of education.These educational functions are qualification, socialisation and subjectification of education; these functions overlap and are part of every educational dimension.In Biesta's later work, he acknowledges that the relationships between these domains are more complicated and interconnected than he earlier proposed. 40However, to be able to trace the motives for an educational system, the functions need to be analysed as separate domains. 41These three functions are used in this work to detect and analyse educational functions and how they change in the nomad school curricula of 1956 and 1969.The qualification function has to do with knowledge, skills, and comprehension.It is connected to learning to "do something", which can be training for a particular job, such as car mechanic, or more generally as an introduction to western civilisation and life skills.According to Biesta, education always represents something and is never neutral; therefore, socialisation is a great part of education and is connected with becoming a member of particular social, cultural, and political orders.Values and norms are transmitted as particular traditions and cultures, which effects an individual's doing and being and has a crucial role in the continuation of cultures and traditions.The last function has to do with individualisation, namely, to become a subject who is independent of social orders and autonomous in thinking and acting, which is called the subjectification function. 42Biesta's work is not without its critics.Aspelin argues for complementing the three functions with existentialisation to enable an analysis of social life. 43This is not significant in this study, since the focus is on the steering documents used in education and not the actual educational situation.However, the three functions of education are well suited for use as an analytical tool to illuminate the multiple domains of education and to acquire an in-depth understanding of the purpose of Sámi education in a historical context.The theoretical framework regarding the purpose of Sámi education is woven together with theoretical aspects regarding Sámi culture and tradition, because these are central in the nomad school curricula.According to Porsanger, culture and tradition have often been placed in a binary opposition of tradition and modernity.Porsanger argues that this is hostile to Indigenous epistemologies, since it draws attention away from Indigenous ways of thinking, 44 for example a Sámi perspective that history, now and in the future, is existing at the same time and as a continuum.
Materials used in this study primarily consist of the curricular content specific to the nomad school, specifically, the nomad school curricula of 1956 (UP56) and nomad school curricula of 1969 (Lgr69).This content was not included in the Swedish elementary curriculum.The syllabi in UP56 included Lappish (Sámi) language, local geography and history, 45 nomadic knowledge, and Lappish (Sámi) handicraft.Local geography and history were interconnected with nomadic knowledge, hence, both will be referred to as nomadic knowledge. 46In Lgr69, the syllabi included Sámi language, social science with a focus on Sámi culture, and Sámi handicraft and art, which was organised as an elective subject. 47In addition to the syllabi, data such as legislation and regulations have been examined in relation to the overall aims of the education provided in the nomad school in 1956 and 1969. 48he analysis of curricula before and after the school reform is done as a thematic analysis of qualitative data inspired by Braun and Clarke. 49To enable a comparative thematic analysis of two curricula with four and three syllabi, respectively, all syllabi in each curriculum were bundled together and treated as one text.The next step was coding the data set (both curricula) in relation to the research questions, which was followed by a search for themes by collating codes into themes.The themes were reviewed against the codes and the other themes, as well as the data set.Then followed defining and naming of the themes as well as refining the specifics for each theme.The last step was to analyse the identified themes according to educational functions and compare both content and functions according to aspects of continuity and change. 50The curricula of UP56 and Lgr69 were organised differently; however, they are comparable due to the highly similar overall scope of the educational content.For the purposes of this paper, the terms Sámi and Lappish are used interchangeably, with the distinction that Lappish refers to an older definition of the mountain reindeer-herding Sámi.

The curricular reforms of 1956 and 1969
The results consist of the identified themes in the nomad school curricula before and after the reform in the 1960s.The themes were "Reindeer husbandry", "Categorisation of people", and "Sámi culture"; but first a brief presentation follows of the two curricula included in the study.
Nomad education was regulated by two curricula, both written by the National Agency for Education, 51 and contained all the general school subjects that existed in compulsory education (see Table 1). 52he scheduled curricular space for the Sámi syllabi was consistently around 20% of the total scheduled time (see Table 1). 53This means that 80% of the educational content in the nomad school was the same as in compulsory elementary education.Sámi handicraft was allotted four hours per week in UP56, which diminished to an average of 2.6 hours per week in Lgr69.Sámi language was between zero and two hours hour per week.Nomadic knowledge was part of local geography and history, and the duration of instruction time was decided by the nomad school inspector.The inspector not only carried out inspections of the school but also had a role as a principal of the schools. 54The nomad school was regulated both by the Folkskol statute of 1955 and the Nomad school statute of 1938.The latter made school compulsory for "the children of the Lappish folk" in nomad schools. 53The B1-form means that different grades were taught in the same classroom, for example, classes three and four combined and classes five and six combined. 54Svonni, "Samisk utbildning i förändring".

Reindeer husbandry remains central in the nomad school
Education concerning reindeer husbandry (RH) was a central theme in both curricula, and the content was associated with reindeer, work, nature, and natural resources. 55he content regarding reindeer was similar in both curricula, but the pedagogical angle differed.In UP56, the reindeer content was to be taught from the perspective of the experience of the child and covered reindeer living conditions and range, as well as different kinds of food, habits, characteristics, and use of the reindeer.It included vivid examples of plants and geography relevant to the reindeer. 56Lgr69 included a more extensive study of reindeer anatomy than UP56, such as the stomach, rumination, antler growth, and variations in antler formation, fur, and the condition of the reindeer during different seasons. 57A clear change between the curricula was that the reindeer were viewed as a provider of products for the meat industry in Lgr69.Thhis included knowledge about slaughter for subsistence, sale to commercial meat distributors, slaughter at approved slaughterhouses, inspections, classification, and prices of meat, as well as closed pastures and transport of reindeer by vehicle. 58ven though both curricula contain qualifying knowledge about anatomy, behaviour, and reindeer products, UP56 was characterised by content geared towards socialisation.Hence, the connection to the RH community and knowledge of reindeer were to be related to the children's experience of working with reindeer. 59In Lgr69, this shifted to the extent that it aligned better with Biesta's educational function, qualification, with a focus on the skills needed for vocational work and understanding the meat industry. 60The shift in educational content may have been the result of the new politics of rationalisation of RH. 61 The second part of RH concerned work with reindeer.This consisted of knowledge based on the annual work and was part of both curricula.The RH year includes, for example, the birth of calves in the spring, followed by the branding of calves in the summer grazing lands in the mountain region, slaughter in the autumn, and division into siida groups (smaller groups within the RH compound) during the winter.This meant knowledge of grazing sites as well as reindeer movement patterns and included length and direction along with the reasons for movement during the different seasons.The annual work included caretaking, which included protection of the reindeer herd from predators as well as knowledge of the tools used for RH. 62A clear change was that this knowledge was to be taught through excursions and discussions concerning the pupils' own experiences according to UP56, while this was removed in Lgr69 and replaced with current and past working methods. 63In both cases it was qualifying, but it changed from skills and knowledge to perform RH in the former, to introducing general knowledge about RH in the latter.
The third aspect of RH was nature and natural resources, with comprehensive content in both curricula.The geographic area was defined as the arctic and subarctic regions and was the stipulated area for RH and Sámi people.It included in-depth knowledge concerning geology, ecology, and biology and related to knowledge of why, where, and when the reindeer graze in the different regions throughout the year.It was striking how highly detailed the content was in this knowledge area, as was the high degree of geological, biological, and ecological knowledge, such as an understanding of the relationships between reindeer and plants and the effects of reindeer grazing on plants, bedrock, and soil. 64The inclusion of a consistent amount and depth of geological, ecological, and biological knowledge suggests that this was viewed as central and important qualifying knowledge, both before and after the reform.
In the Sámi ancestral lands, inhabitants have made their livelihoods in a variety of ways.This is visible in both curricula since they contained knowledge regarding conflicts of interest within RH areas.The conflicts of interest centred on nature and natural resources. 65In that context, it is worth mentioning how the traditional Sámi land was depicted in the two curricula.In UP56, the focus lay on "how the isolation of the wastelands was broken". 66The description of the Sámi areas as "wasteland" can be interpreted to mean that traditional Sámi land was free to discover and colonise.This reasoning stems from the times when majority-population Europeans took over lands as they were "discovered". 67The wasteland formulation was removed in Lgr69 in favour of a historical exposition on how the area became "Lappmark" and was settled by institutions like churches and administrative bodies. 68The two curricula had similar content on ways to control conflicts of interest.The former advocated relational management, while the latter suggested that the RH people should adapt to other industries and Swedish society. 69The industries referred to in UP56 were hydropower plants and modern forestry.In Lgr69, the industries had expanded to include mining companies, tourism, national parks, and hobbies.Even though both curricula had a similar approach between RH and Swedish industries, the change of wording indicates a slight change where a relational approach suggests a mutual approach while adapting RH to Swedish industries and society indicates an asymmetrical relationship at the same time as encroachment increased into RH lands.
The subject of natural resources also aimed to educate the Sámi pupils in terms of conventions and legislation regarding RH and natural resources. 70The legislative content concerned restrictions and regulations on grazing areas among the different RH groups, between the RH groups and Swedish residents, and border grazing regulations between Sweden and Norway. 71The legislative content was essentially the same in both curricula and addressed the 1919 Reindeer Grazing Convention and legislation enacted in 1928.The shift lay in how the content was organised in the curricula.In UP56, the "status" of the Sámi and the "special status of the nomad" were highlighted and connected to the current situation. 72In Lgr69, RH rights were separated into the current situation and history.The legislative content, plus national and international law, taken together with RH foundation, was organised as the current status of societal knowledge, where it also was stated that the Sámi population was a minority. 73The content regarding "Sámi right to the RH areas" 74 was placed under the history section and included Sámi rights, Sámi special rights, customary law and privileges, as well as Sámi's rights in Finland and Norway. 75he continued inclusion of legislative content in the curricula indicates its importance.This content was most likely aimed at prohibiting future conflicts of interest in relation to natural recourse between RH and other industries, by teaching nomad school pupils about all legislative boundaries.Surprisingly, Lgr69 highlighted the differences in rights between reindeer herders and "non-reindeer herders", 76 pointing out differences in rights and status among pupils within the same classroom, a situation that sent an implicit message of category division amongst Sámi people with different livelihoods.
Sámi that did not belong to the RH community.To avoid the negative connotation of being cast into a "non-being" group, the "non-reindeer herders" are hereinafter referred to as the "general Sámi population" in this paper.The content concerning the general Sámi population in UP56 was formulated in the sentence: "Sámi in Sweden and other Nordic countries, their number and livelihood". 78In Lgr69, the general Sámi population were described as "Residential Sámi.Reindeer husbandry in combination with other work.Different kinds of work among the non-RH Sámi." 79 This shows that several Sámi livelihoods were included in Lgr69, indicating a broader definition of Sáminess.The obvious focus on RH suggests a continuous view of RH as the norm for the Sámi population.
Another level of social grouping was the division between RH groups belonging to different geographical areas.In both UP56 and Lgr69, RH was divided into mountain and forest RH, while concession (consent to graze with Swedish reindeer in Norway and Norwegian reindeer in Sweden at certain periods of the year) RH was found only in UP56. 80Forest RH was part of the content in both curricula, but this was marginalised in comparison with the amount of content dedicated to mountain RH. 81 Notably, the focus was on the geographic areas and the borders between areas, which indicates that knowledge of geographical boundaries was consistently seen as important knowledge for the nomad school pupils to attain.The categorisation according to geographical areas had both a qualifying and a socialising function. 82The qualifying knowledge regarded where and when to graze the reindeer and contained knowledge of different grazing areas.An example of the socialising function was the implicit understanding of which geographic areas and compound different RH groups belonged to. 83In this context, the pupils were to learn that the RH compounds were controlled by the Swedish administration. 84he second categorisation of people was according to gender and was found in the handicraft and nomadic knowledge syllabi in UP56.Handicraft was divided into girls' and boys' handicrafts.The girls were to learn weaving, leatherwork, tin wire handicraft, and how to make Sámi clothes, while the boys were to learn how to make knives, fishing tools, tools for RH, and tools for baking. 85This division remained in Lgr69 but was renamed "weaving and tin wire handicraft" and "wood, antlers, root, and metal handicraft", respectively. 86Another gender differentiation was found in nomadic knowledge in UP56.The boys were to learn accounting and drawing, while the girls were to learn domestic science and household duties. 87The gender divisions were removed in Lgr69, 88 most likely a result of the overall change in the Swedish school system, with ideals of equality and increased uniformity in education. 89he third categorisation regarded ethnicity, which denoted a relatively explicit division between the Sámi population and the majority population of the Nordic countries.In both UP56 and Lgr69, ethnicity was visible in content relating to the differences in languages.This knowledge was to be gained by comparisons between Sámi and Swedish language, as well as between Sámi and other Nordic languages. 90A more implicit categorisation based on ethnicity regarded the Sámi population's relationship to Swedish society.According to UP56, "The children are to be brought to the attention of social welfare and society's ability to help the individual". 91Viewed in the context of the era of equality ideals, this quote points to an interpretation based on a function of inclusion, whereby the Sámi become part of Swedish society.At the same time, it can be interpreted as the inclusion of individuals only, not social inclusion on a group level.In Lgr69, the content regarding help from social welfare was removed, while new content included the "integration of Sámi" into Swedish society. 92The message was ambiguous because the school was for Sámi education but the curriculum pushed for integration into Swedish society.The change reflected the prevailing political climate, whereby the politics of the 1960s had moved towards a policy of integrating Sámi into Swedish society.The earlier "Lappish-should-be-Lappish" politics, 93 with its derogatory view of Sámi and the definition of Sámi as reindeer herders, had already faded somewhat in UP56, since other potential livelihoods for the Sámi were presented, for example, farming, forestry, and automotive repair. 94Professions with requirements for higher education or academic work were not mentioned in the curricula, and this might be seen as an indication that the curricula guided pupils to believe they had limited opportunities and overall capacity in their working lives.This would mean that the educational function in the aspects of Sámi ethnicity guided pupils towards vocational work.At the same time, the general school reform aimed at finding "gifted reserves, to supply the increasing need for qualified labour". 95

From cultural skills to knowledge of Sámi culture
Sámi culture is the third identified theme and encompasses four aspects of culture. 96The first aspect concerns culture as it is generally expressed in the two curricula.The second and third are culture in the aspects of Sámi handicraft and language.The fourth aspect is culture as part of history.
and stagnation in relation to Sámi culture. 99The expression of culture in relation to something else shows the implicit character of Sámi culture.In UP56, cultural knowledge was intended to "arouse interest and reverence for the Lappish traditions and Sámi cultural heritage". 100Since references to the Lappish people referred to mountain reindeer herders, this content concerned those communities.In specific terms, Sámi culture was expressed as RH, which was seen as an "important part of Sámi culture". 101Sámi culture was also expressed as traditions and cultural heritage.In Lgr69, on the other hand, cultural heritage shifted from an RH heritage towards "Sámi and Swedish cultural heritage". 102According to Biesta's theory of educational function, both cases had socialising functions, but the change lay in what community they were being socialised into.In UP56, pupils were socialised into RH society, whereas in Lgr69, they were socialised into both Sámi and Swedish society, 103 which also was in line with Swedish general politics where freedom of choice in education had become more important. 104ne way of including Sámi cultural heritage in the education was through Sámi handicraft. 105Both curricula stressed the importance of keeping handicraft patterns from different regions separated.The motivation for this shifted from preserving Sámi cultural heritage before the reform to developing the children's sense of geographical belonging after the reform. 106In both cases, the effect was to socialise pupils into different geographic regions.
UP56 provided instruction on how handicraft was to be performed; for example, traditional materials were to be used and were to be kept unrefined and in their natural forms, while polished, shiny surfaces were to be avoided. 107It also pointed out that reindeer hides should be prepared traditionally, and sinew from animals was to be used for sewing leather. 108The pupils were also to learn "respect and interest in the work of the hand". 109Those specific instructions were removed in Lgr69.Instead, the focus was put on the learning process, stimulation, and spontaneity.It included learning how to make drawings for designs and composing specific patterns, as well as the use of a wide selection of materials, pictures, and items to create varied handicrafts. 110This shows that the attitude of cultural preservation was fading in favour of pedagogical ideas, such as stimulation and spontaneity, which was in line with contemporary pedagogical ideals. 111In this way, the educational content in the Sámi handicraft syllabi shifted slightly towards qualifying in the sense of gaining knowledge about Sámi culture, as well as process-oriented skills, unlike UP56, where the content aimed to educate pupils in the qualifying traditional handicraft skills that seemed necessary for their livelihood and socialisation into RH community. 112t is worth noting that independent work was encouraged in both handicraft syllabi. 113ence, this was one of the few formulations that implied a subjectification function in the sense of evolvement of a child's thinking and doing. 114However, the subjectification function is debatable, since it was embedded by strict instructions regarding patterns, material, and norms for the quality of the work.
Sámi language was another part of Sámi culture included in curricula, and the content was in many ways the same in UP56 and Lgr69. 115An example of these similarities concerns the knowledge of loan words from Nordic languages to the Sámi language, not the other way around. 116In Lgr69, this content expanded to include the Nordic influence over the Sámi culture. 117This content signals a one-way linguistic and cultural influence, from the Nordic or Swedish to the Sámi, and most likely mirrored what was perceived to be true at the time and most likely seen as desirable.
The linguistic skills to be learned in UP56 were theoretical knowledge of grammar, reading, and writing.The fundamentals of learning increased in Lgr69 to include listening and speaking. 118Other content emphasised the requirement to "enrich the vocabulary, vary and specify the way of expression and provide fullness, vibrancy and context for oral and written presentation". 119Both curricula contained language skills with a great focus on grammar. 120Sámi vocabulary in UP56 included words on RH, names of Sámi places, and well-known grazing regions, as well as words for weather and snow conditions. 121In Lgr69, vocabulary had shifted towards "professional terms within reindeer husbandry and in work-life", 122 as well as "culture and heritage words". 123ther themes included in Lgr69 were the Sámi economic situation, history, and religion.Hence, the contextual change was from a RH lifestyle towards professional work and cultural heritage.
An obvious change was that the language changed from Lappish ("Lappska") in UP56 to Sámi in Lgr69. 124Additional change concerns the role of the Sámi language.In UP56, it had a role as a "cohesive link between different Sámi groups", 125 while it in Lgre69 changed to "develop a positive attitude towards Sámi language and Sámi culture". 126This suggests that the role of Sámi language changed from being viewed as some kind of common ground for Sámi people towards a way for individuals to respond to a particular culture.
Another interesting finding was that mother tongue changed from Swedish in UP56 to Sámi in Lgr69.This could be interpreted as an increase in status of the Sámi language. 127owever, an increased status is disputable, since Sámi language learning was allotted a maximum of two hours per week and could even be excluded. 128Swedish-language education, on the other hand, was to be taught on average seven hours per week in UP56 and increased to nine hours in Lgr69. 129The Sámi language remained a language for the home environment under the reform, 130 while the Swedish language was to be used in all other school subjects and society as a whole.There is a contradictory message about the function of Sámi education in Lgr69; on one hand, the curriculum fosters an interest in both the language and the culture, but on the other hand, it allocates a modest amount of study time to Sámi language education.This can be a consequence of the general problem of negotiating curricular content, where the subjects that are perceived to be the most valuable are given the most time.
Culture as part of history education was new in Lgr69.It covered Sámi customs and traditions and topics such as Sámi inheritance rights, owners' rights, branding of possessions, and Sámi naming of family and relatives.This topic included play, games, and stories as well as weddings and funerals.Cultural topics were also related to the aspects of stagnation and evolvement, for example, Sámi traditional and modern clothing, which was formulated as an adaptation to a "wilderness livelihood". 131Another example was Sámi housing and storage, the historical construction of these objects and contemporary Sámi settlements within the reindeer-grazing regions. 132This way of framing Sámi culture, that is, as stagnation and evolvement dichotomies, would mean that stagnation or tradition belongs to the past and is thus outside modern society, while evolvement belongs to modern society.According to Porsanger, concepts of tradition and modernity are not viewed as opposite dichotomies in the Sámi world-view, 133 which means that educational content which emphasised these concepts as opposite dichotomies in the curricula may have contributed to a changed Sámi world-view through the nomad school education.
In addition to the new cultural-historic content, the content concerning Sámi history was significantly more extensive in Lgr69 compared with UP56.In the former, Sámi history was mentioned in a few sentences and included "important parts of the history of the Lapps", 134 the Sámi taxable regions, memories in connection with the home villages of the children, and old stories about "Lappish legends". 135Also, the "Sámi situation" was to be covered when teaching Swedish history. 136Which "situation" was addressed is not clear.The history content in Lgr69 covered different periods and topics.The first topic considered the origin of the Sámi, cave paintings, and the hunting of wild reindeer.5 Ibid. 136Ibid. 137Lgr69, 14. Lappmark is the specific Sámi territory and administrative unit. 138Ibid.
borders and legislation, such as the Swedish-Norwegian border in 1751, along with the Lappkodicillen treaty. 139Furthermore, there was also a topic concerning the spread of the northern Sámi population at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century, along with reasons for relocation. 140he growth of the subject of history within the curricula might have been an attempt to provide a common Sámi background and narrative and thus an opening for all Sámi to be socialised into a Sámi ethnicity.However, presenting a common Sámi history, and thus a Sámi ethnicity, also led to a stereotypical narrative of Sámi ethnicity.Sámi were presented as cave people before the "origin of the Lappmark", which implies that the start of civilisation in the area was the period when Swedish governors and churches settled in Sámi traditional land.In addition to Christian churches and their educational role, the history of Sámi religion was depicted as a "pre-Christian religion", 141 with Sámi gods, holy places, and the shaman drum, followed by its collision with the Christian religion and ending with Sámi's incorporation into the Christian religion.This shows that the Sámi religion was presented as a pre-Christian religion without a name. 142

Conclusions
This study aimed to examine the educational functions, according to Biesta, in the Sámi educational (nomad school) curricula during a period when democratisation and equality ideals had started to manifest in Sweden and contributed to a process of reform within the Swedish educational system.The reform of the nomad school, the segregated education for nomads in the early 1900s, was included in the compulsory school reform of 1962 which had a main goal, according to Telhaug et al., to be a democratic education with social intrinsic values such as equal opportunity, adaptation, solidarity, and cooperation. 143Even though this was a school system for Sámi children and Sámi politicians stressed the importance of maintaining influence over their education, 144 the nomad school was continuously regulated by Swedish policy and legislation and was reformed according to the Swedish educational framework and the Sámi people were without real power to influence Sámi education.The parts of the Sámi written curricula that differed from the compulsory curricula related to the syllabi of nomadic knowledge, Sámi language, and Sámi handicraft.
The in-depth study of the nomad school curricula has shown that reindeer husbandry (RH) continued to be important content pre-and post-reform, as it was comprehensive and stressed to be taught.The changes between the two curricula related to the intended application of the qualifying content.In the former, it aimed to qualify the pupils for traditional RH work and livelihood, while in the latter, the content shifted to be 139 Lappkodicillen is a treaty between Norway and Sweden regarding reindeer husbandry grazing. 140Lgr69 p. 14.The reason for the spread was forced movement caused first by the closed borders between Russia and Finland in 1809, then a closed border to Finland for Sámi living in Sweden in 1889.This resulted in crowded grazing lands in Norway, and a convention was stipulated in 1919, which resulted in the forced reduction of the number of reindeer in four reindeer husbandry compounds or forced movement of about 80 families to other areas.This was problematic, since the more southerly region had a more intensive kind of reindeer husbandry, and the Sámi from the north had large herds and a more extensive kind of reindeer husbandry. 141Lgr69, 14. 142 Ibid. 143Telhaug, "The Nordic Model in Education". 144Svonni, "Samisk utbildning i förändring," 225-6; Lantto, Tiden börjar på nytt," 245; Lantto, Att göra sin stämma hörd, 77.
qualifying for the Swedish meat industry.It was also qualifying knowledge about the dichotomous aspect of traditional and contemporary RH.Applying Biesta's theory of educational functions, it was apparent that the focus of nomadic education shifted after the reform towards the skills and knowledge relevant under the Swedish economic and institutional system.At the same time, the Sámi-directed education continuously aimed at qualifying pupils for vocational work, even though compulsory schooling in Sweden in general was formed to decrees the differences between social classes. 145This shows that education for Sámi and Indigenous people in Canadian and US boarding school had similarities. 146n overall change was that the view of Sáminess had shifted from educating only the mountain RH Sámi towards the inclusion of Sámi from all livelihoods.This inclusion was possible through curricula that covered knowledge of Sámi handicraft, language, and history and was perhaps a solution aimed at creating a wider perception of Sámi ethnicity.One consequence of defining Sámi culture in curricula, where it became skills and knowledge to learn, was that Sámi culture thus entered the qualifying domain, even though, according to Biesta, culture in itself is often implicit and has a socialising function since it contains norms and values. 147In this way, the curricula continuously defined what Sámi culture was and should be and, at the same time, helped define what it was not.The former curriculum aimed to preserve Sámi culture, and by extension, socialisation into the traditional RH society, while the latter changed and aimed to create interest in Sámi culture, but was at the same time a tool for socialisation into the Swedish culture, thus guiding pupils towards assimilation to the Swedish society.While the qualifying and socialising functions were obvious, the subjectification function was barely noticeable in Sámi education.The formulations concerning independent work in handicraft and independently creating sentences in the Sámi language could be interpreted as belonging to the subjectification domain, but since they were in a context of strict rules in terms of how and what to perform, this is highly disputable.Nonetheless, Biesta argues that education does not always contribute to subjectification, and all education has a subjectification function, since the individual is always affected by the education. 148he comparative and functional analysis of curricula also reveals certain tensions in Sámi education.One source of tension concerns the distribution of educational time to achieve the educational target, where the revised goal, post-reform, was to create interest and support in Sámi culture and Sámi language.However, the Sámi-language education continued to be limited to a maximum of two hours per week and could even be excluded.Another source of tension relates to the differentiation of Sámi groups and the contradictory message that promoted the concept of Sáminess, but at the same time emphasised the differences among Sámi by continuing to highlight the differences in rights and status in the curricula.Also, the post-war equality ideals aimed to provide a more inclusive education for the Sámi, while the implicit continuation of the Swedish legislative demarcation among the Sámi continued to promote an us-and-them point of view, both amongst Sámi and between Sámi and Swedes.Finally, Mörkenstam (1999), 145 Lindensjö, "From Liberal Common School"; Telahaug, "The Nordic Model in Education". 146Milloy, A National Crime; Jacobs, Indian Boarding Schools in Comparative Perspective. 147Biesta, God utbildning i mätningens tidevarv, 28. 148Biesta, God utbildning i mätningens tidevarv, 29.Lantto (2000, 2003) and Sjögren (2010) have shown that the educational political aim was to protect the Sámi language and culture. 149This study has complemented earlier findings through the scrutiny of the written curricula, which has shown that the Sámi language was marginalised in relation to other subjects in Sámi education, such as the Swedish language, and that the focus of Sámi education was on the allocation of natural resources, staying within designated boundaries and adapting to new intrusions by extractive industries.
44Jelena Porsanger, "The Problematisation of the Dichotomy of Modernity and Tradition in Indigenous and Sami contexts," Dieđut 1 (Sámi allaskuvla/Sámi University College, 2011): 225.45Local geography and history contained: history, social science, geography, natural science, and drawing.46UP1956p.17,localgeography and history were taught in years one to four and included nomadic knowledge.In years four to six, nomadic knowledge becomes its own syllabus and includes local geography and history.47Läroplanförgrundskolan1969(Lgr69)[Curricula for the elementary school 1969], Supplement Sameskolor (Skolöverstyrelsen 1970), 21-2.
God utbildning i mätningens tidevarv, 27-9.51Thenomad school in 1956 was governed by the Nomad school statute of 1938 and the Folkskol statute of 1955 as well as the curricula for the nomad school (Undervisningsplan för rikets Nomadskolor).In 1962, new school legislation for the nomad school replaced the Folkskol statute of 1955, and the statute of 1938 was replaced by the Nomad school statute of 1967.