Educational rearmament in times of crisis and uncertainty – Bildung, security interests, and political discourse in Denmark

• In Event: Education and security: Global learning for sustainable development

Proposal

The geopolitical landscape globally is undergoing significant transformations. In Denmark this has manifested in accelerated shifts in both foreign policy and in defence policy. In late January 2025, the Danish minister of Education, Mattias Tesfaye, called for a rearmament within Danish schools that should be aimed at supporting and run parallel with the current and future rearmament in martial initiatives in Denmark. This has re-actualized a humanist tradition of 'Bildung' in Danish educational thinking -- a tradition that counters Neoliberal profit focused discourses and policy developments. However, in Tesfaye’s remarks, Bildung is in a current national security discourse and political agenda appreciated for its supposed capacity for creating social cohesion and cultural resistance to hostile foreign forces.

This chapter examines Tesfaye’s coupling between matters of national security and the Danish educational tradition of Bildung. The paper is structured as follows. First, a short introduction to the concept of Bildung and how it has shaped Danish educational thinking and practice historically and recently is presented. Next, how the concept of Bildung is utilised by Tesfaye in relation to the national security agenda is described. The method used for this exmaiantion consists of media reviews and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), to analyse statements by Tesfaye and how the coupling of Bildung and national security is presented in public discourses. The critical media analysis is here used for constructing a critically informed description of the themes of education and security, and how education is put into the service of national security by the Danish minister of education.

The aim of the media analysis is to understand both the arguments employed in linking Bildung with national security issues and geopolitical instability, as well as to understand what the encroachment of a national security discourse upon educational thinking and practice entails and which problems arise from such a coupling. On the backdrop of these empirical examinations, the chapter will therefore conclude with a theoretical discussion and evaluation of Tesfaye’s thinking and arguments. This discussion will be informed by Klafki and Benner’s underlining of the critical and non-affirmative dimensions of Bildung. In Klafki’s educational theory, Bildung should to some extent centre around several current key problems (e.g. climate change, social inequalities, and war) thereby giving children familiarity with key problems and practical experiences that can be instructive for addressing them in the future. As such, it can be understood as an educational theory that aims towards democratic citizenship. Also emphasising the importance of education in relation to democratic citizenship, Benner’s theory of education underlines the necessity of a non-affirmative principle in education, as education should not seek to affirm any particular answer to current societal questions but rather engage with them non-affirmatively as vested interests. The concluding discussion elaborates on how Tesfaye’s political statement aligns and how it clashes with the concept of Bildung.

The discussion elaborates further on the ways in which educational discourses and national security discourses in this contemporary case from Denmark both challenge and support education as a common good.

Author

• Simon Nørgaard Iversen, VIA University College