This chapter concerns knowledge and culture transfers between families, local society, Sami children, and schools in Norway, Finland, and Sweden in the twentieth century.

The rule in these countries has been that all children attend a publicly financed elementary school; until quite recently, schools were organised according to the principle that the schools and the families of the children attending them shared the same values and culture.

The societal position of the Sami changed dramatically over the twentieth century, as did the accepted ways of dealing with linguistic and cultural differences. Most importantly, the Sami is recognised as an indigenous people. Norway has ratified ILO Convention 169 on the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples, while the decision on ratification is still pending in Finland and Sweden. Sami parliaments are in place in all three countries, however, and the Sami people have gained some influence over the teaching of their children.2 By contrast, no international conventions on indigenous populations existed in the first part of the twentieth century; in official politics, the Sami did not have any particular linguistic or cultural rights. Formally, they had political and social rights similar to others, but in practice, the authorities did not conceive of the Sami as true equals. Formal equality, however, makes the Sami different from many other indigenous peoples, while their subordinate position in practice and their lack of cultural and linguistic rights are similar to those of other native peoples. I include some references to Native American school experiences in this chapter to illuminate Sami experiences and some common traits. A recent comparison of indigenous education in Norway and the US, for example, demonstrates that it has typically evolved from being a tool of assimilation to being potentially transformative (Ngai, Karlsen B?k, and Paulgaard 2015, 78–119).