In a changing world, Nordic societies face the challenge of maintaining a just and inclusive society while undergoing rapid ideological, economic and social changes. In this development, basic education as well as teacher education play a key role but also faces new challenges related to increasing diversity among students’ backgrounds. On-going digitalisation and hybrid sociality made possible by mobile phones and computers have contributed to increased individualisation and to weakening of the classroom as a shared space where students from different backgrounds meet. These are challenges that education systems at large, including teacher education, has to prepare for in relation to a future we know little about. This presentation is part of a Nordic research project that examines how the ideals and practices of “One school for all” as a core of the Nordic welfare state has developed from the 70’s until today. Through multidisciplinary studies of four different Nordic schools, we explore their changing role for inclusion and exclusion over a time-span of approximately 50 years, attempting to shed light also on future challenges related inclusive and knowledge based education. The research material consists of policy documents and archive material from the selected schools, interviews with former students about their life histories, small projects carried out collaboratively with students, video material, field notes, and interviews from the schools today. Taking the Swedish school as our case, this presentation mainly draws on some initial data from interviews and observation studies with former and present students attending the same school, but 50 years apart. Based on these preliminary findings, we aim to discuss possible contributions from our project and what could be implications for teaching and teacher education.