Introduction

‘Knowledge mobilisation’ is not only a new expression in a Danish context, it is also an interesting concept to introduce and discuss. For doesn't modern knowledge mobilisation have to do with a new political will to mobilise the population by creating a connection between educational research and education (R&E)? On the basis of this chapter on the Danish efforts with respect to ‘knowledge mobilisation’, these questions can be answered affirmatively. The extent of knowledge mobilisation in relation to educational research depends on the political will for it. To what extent is it present in Denmark? On the one hand, it is wholeheartedly present in Denmark, where national competitive ability is formulated from an ideal of the population's competitive ability – a sort of popular competition state – that is to be realised by fulfilling the ambitions for comprehensive knowledge mobilisation through education. On the other hand, Denmark is having a hard time finding a broad consensus when what is, in principle, supposed to be a common political will is to be translated into knowledge mobilisation. This lack of consensus can be traced to the political/administrative level and to the relationship between representatives of educational research and representatives of the education system. So, if the concept of knowledge mobilisation is not exploited in Denmark, it can be seen as a sign that until now the will for knowledge mobilisation has not been strong enough, in reality, to deserve the use of the term mobilisation. The other possibility is that what is conceptualised as mobilisation in other countries is conceptualised in Denmark by the use of terms such as transfer of communication and knowledge sharing. At any rate, the analysis in this chapter of the relationship between educational research and the education system during the period from 2000 to 2010 shows that a change has, in fact, taken place; a change from stressing transfer of knowledge, understood as one-way communication, to emphasising two-way communication, as in knowledge exchange, and knowledge sharing. I have chosen to use the concept of knowledge mobilisation to summarise these changes.