Comparing the Organization of Durable Inequalities in Childhood: Inequality in childhoods, schools and associated welfare systems

CODIC has two project goals: (1) a comparative study of schools and related welfare systems for analyzing social inclusion and student well-being in three Nordic cities, Trondheim, Norrköping, Tampere and Berkeley in California, and (2) research collaboration and Ph.D. courses with a focus on social inequality in childhood, school and education. The project studies schools in light of specific local, institutional and organizational framework conditions, where we are particularly concerned with tensions and challenges in the ways in which schools and related welfare systems work with social inclusion. The project is based on register data, policy documents, interviews with teachers, special education teachers, municipal administrators and local leadership, as well as qualitative data on children's self-perception, social integration and psychosocial well-being. The project opens up for investigations of how actors across different levels of the school system work with and relate to social inclusion in practice. In the project, we are particularly concerned with how socio-demographic differences within the four cities shape school organization and work related to social inclusion. This also includes an analysis of school inclusion before, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic in the four cities and school systems.