Governing Students’ Access to Knowledge: A Critical Discourse Analysis of General Subjects in the Swedish Upper Secondary School Reforms Between 1990 and 2011

Abstract

In the knowledge society, the populations’ acquisition to education and knowledge has become of crucial importance for democratic and economic development, but also for each and everyone’s life chances. One sign of such societal process is the introduction of certain general subject courses in Swedish upper secondary education (Swedish, Mathematics, English etc.). At the core of this chapter’s descriptions and interpretations are the readings of four Governmental Bills between 1990 and 2011. This chapter’s point of departure is the changing policy rhetoric regarding what kind of general knowledge different categories of upper secondary school students need in order to meet various demands in society. It will be shown how such policy initiatives come to play an active part in the structuring of young people’s acquisition of knowledge. The ways in which the upper secondary education curriculum is organized predefine who will gain admittance to such knowledge and who will not.KeywordsKnowledge societyEducational policyUpper secondary educationNeo-liberalismCritical discourse analysis