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While previous research has characterised the Swedish author and educator Ellen Key's (1849–1926) concept of bildning as holistic, democratic, egalitarian, and as a process of individual self-formation, this study revisits these features and expands upon her well-known but less examined eugenicist ideas. The aim is to explore and contextualise Key's notions of bildning in relation to her eugenic visions of human development. This connection was made possible by Key's monistic worldview, which is analysed through her critique of dichotomous thinking. Four dichotomies are examined: body/soul, individual/society, nature/nurture, and reason/emotion. The analysis provides a detailed account of how Key's critique of these four dichotomies shaped her ideas on bildning and eugenics. The study concludes that Key's support for eugenics was not merely a peripheral interest reflecting the prevailing zeitgeist at the turn of the century but rather a central aspect of her conceptualisation of bildning and educational thought, which she saw as holding the promise of a new humanity.

This chapter examines the emergence, circulation, and institutionalisation of IQ testing and conceptions of intelligence in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark during the interwar period. Drawing on prosopographic methods and historical source criticism, it analyses exchanges among key educators, psychologists, psychiatrists, and medical doctors who helped shape a transnational Scandinavian arena for special education. Using the Nordic Special School Association and its journal (1923–1940) as a central point of departure—along with archival correspondence, policy documents, and contemporary newspaper articles—the chapter shows how Scandinavian actors used one another as reference societies when developing new practices of educational differentiation. Through Bruno Latour’s concept of the "centre of calculation," the chapter conceptualises this inter-Scandinavian arena as a hub that accumulated, codified, and redistributed knowledge across national boundaries. It concludes that the interwar Scandinavian experience illuminates enduring dilemmas in inclusive education: balancing universal provision with targeted differentiation, managing professional boundaries, and governing the politics of measurement in the service of social reform.

The Swedish author and educator Ellen Key (1849–1926) became one of the most prominent writers on educational matters in Europe at the turn of the 20th century following the publication of The Century of the Child in 1900. It is less widely known, however, that the pioneer of progressive education and children’s rights also advocated the improvement of humanity through eugenics, and publicly endorsed the foundation of the Swedish Institute for Racial Biology in 1921. In previous research, Key’s stance on eugenics has been explained by her evolutionist worldview, influenced by her reading of scientists and philosophers such as Francis Galton (1822–1911) and Herbert Spencer (1820–1903). But can her support for eugenics solely be reduced to the influence of these and other authors? And what role did eugenics play in her educational thinking?

These issues are addressed in this thesis, which aims to show how Key strived to create a new kind of human being by consolidating eugenics and education in her work. The analysis identifies several dichotomies that were vital to Key’s knowledge production on eugenics and education: evolution/degeneration; nature/nurture; body/soul; sense/sensibility; and individual/society. These concepts form the thematic structure of the thesis and point to a central finding; namely, that Key’s desire to dissolve such dichotomous thinking is a crucial component in understanding how she combined eugenics and education, as two means to the end of creating a new kind of human. The analysis also demonstrates that Key did not merely adopt the knowledge of others but developed her own ideas on eugenics that even induced two British eugenicists to consider the importance of love in human betterment. Finally, this study illustrates how eugenics was integrated into Key’s pedagogy as part of her educational aim, proposed learning content and ideas about socialisation. In conclusion, the thesis contributes to a discussion of the aim of the educational endeavour to create a better human and the use of pioneers in educational sciences today.