29 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 J. B. Krejsler, L. Moos (eds.), What Works in Nordic School Policies?, Educational Governance Research 15, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66629-3_2 Chapter 2 Denmark: Contracts and Evidence-Based Best Practice Lejf Moos and John Benedicto Krejsler Abstract Foundations for national education governance can be found in history and context. Cultures and policies emerge historically in collaboration and interac- tions with other states and transnational alliances. In the case of Denmark, we see historical relations with Nordic countries and contemporary relations with transna- tional agencies like the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). We also see the emergence of diverse soci- etal and educational paradigms like a welfare state with democratic education and a competitive state with aims- and outcomes-based education. Beginning with a short walk over Nordic relations from the Middle Ages till contemporary times, the chapter focuses on fundamental societal change in the post-World War II era. Through an analysis of Danish cultural history, formation of the welfare state and education discourse of general non-affrmative education/Democratic Bildung, we fnd strong common trends in values and – although less so – in practices that char- acterise the core of Danish society, governance and education: believing in and striving for democracy and local autonomy with self-activity, and the struggle to make all levels of society develop into less unequal communities that respect other people and communities. Another line of analysis looks into globalization, transnational agencies, forma- tion of the competition state and education policy. Here we also fnd identical trends. The market-place logics are found in the transnational thinking and initiatives, in the move of states from a welfare state to a state competing for success in the global marketplace. New conceptions of government in nation states change into concep- tions of governance on the basis of policy networks. One of the social technologies used for this movement is the contract, which is very commonly used in Denmark as well as management by objective and management by outcomes (The concepts used here: neo-liberal globalization as marketplace, globalization and marketplace L. Moos (*) · J. B. Krejsler Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark e-mail: moos@edu.au.dk; jok@edu.au.dk