Swedish Adult Education Research Articles

The Transformation of Teachers’ Subjectivities in Swedish Municipal Adult Education: An Autoethnographic Perspective

Within the specific cultural and historical context of Swedish adult education, this article employs autoethnography to explore teachers’ complex experiences during the era of neoliberalism. Its aim is to illuminate teachers’ multifaceted realities within this dynamic and shed light on the diverse challenges and struggles they encounter. Drawing on personal experiences and Stephen Ball's conceptual framework, the article asserts that neoliberal ideologies prompt significant shifts in education, emphasizing market-oriented practices, individualization, and flexibility. Consequently, these influences have a profound impact on teachers’ work, belief systems, values, behaviors, and pedagogical approaches. The narrative offers insights into the emotional, professional, and ethical challenges prompted by these reforms. It captures the interplay between policy changes, teachers’ responses, and broader implications for education quality and teachers’ wellbeing. This process becomes interwoven with teachers’ negotiations amid tensions between neoliberal policies and their professional ideals, evoking a range of emotions—from subjective alienation to ontological uncertainty.

Fast delivery, on demand: how flexibility and individualization policy are enacted in Swedish municipal adult education

ABSTRACT National policy states that Swedish adult education should be flexible and individualized, based on students’ needs. However, adult education in Sweden is a municipal responsibility with a high level of decentralization. Drawing on national policies, this study focuses on how the concepts of flexibility and individualization are enacted locally and what consequences this has for teaching and learning. Starting from a teacher perspective and based on qualitative interviews with 50 teachers, the article analyses how policy requirements for offering flexible and individualized adult education are being enacted, and what the consequences of this are for teaching and learning. The findings show how flexibility and individualization are put into practice through measures such as a fast study pace, continuous admission of students, and pressure on municipalities to maintain a broad course offer, often by turning to distance education. This enactment makes it easier for adult learners to fit education into their lives, but it also has consequences for the quality of teaching and learning. It is causing fragmentation, a learning environment where interactions mainly occur on an individual basis, an instrumental view of education, and teachers experiencing high workloads and low autonomy in making pedagogical decisions.

Study and career counsellors: the hub of Swedish adult education

ABSTRACT This article explores how the Swedish policy of municipal adult education (MAE) is interpreted, translated, and enacted in study and career counselling. The data consists of semi-structured interviews with adult education leaders and study and career counsellors. Swedish MAE is characterised by extensive marketisation, with many different providers, which makes the education system complex. The findings show that a study and career counsellor is characterised as a key person for both the students and the organisation, with a role as a marketer and ‘map reader’ for applicants, in addition to responsibilities in admissions, the validation and mapping of students’ knowledge, and quality work. The counsellor becomes a hub in a system that applicants and students find difficult to navigate and fulfils a vital function in the marketing of adult education and quality work. Thus, this complex system requires more resources for counselling to function to the benefit of the individual student. However, there is no clear regulation for how counselling should be organised, which means that counselling is organised in different ways in different municipalities with different providers. This in turn means that the availability of adequate counselling may depend on the municipality in which you live.

How the concept of the “chain of command” is construed through problematizations in Swedish adult education policy

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on how the chain of command is construed in Swedish municipal adult education. With a qualitative research approach and by drawing on the theoretical and methodological framework ‘What’s the “problem” represented to be?’ (WPR) approach, the aim is directed at identifying, interrogating, and reconstructing problem representations. The empirical material consists of contemporary key adult education policy that focuses on the chain of command and was analyzed in NVivo. Ethical considerations as well as data credibility, validity and reliability reflections were made in the form of WPR-guided self-reflexivity. The results indicate that both heads of education and principals are held responsible for the ‘weaknesses’ of the chain of command. Different solutions are also construed to solve the ‘problem’ that calls for increased trust between the actors in the chain of command. However, this trust seems to be underpinned by a request for more follow-ups, rather than a trust in the principal’s pedagogical leadership. The way that these issues are construed as specific kinds of ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’ has effects on the individuals that are involved in adult education. Based on the analysis, the need for policymakers to work on understanding the unintentional consequences of policies is stressed.

Study and career counselling in Swedish adult education

ABSTRACT This article presents and discusses findings from a qualitative study of Swedish adult education, with focus on meetings between counsellors and students and how counsellors translate and enact different expectations from policies and ethical guidelines, as well as from adult students. The results show that counsellors have an important role in the marketised and complex system of adult education in Sweden, both to guide people during the encounter with adult education and to guide and support them as students. A policy enactment emerges where counsellors are in conflict between different guidelines and are forced to compromise between the ethical ideal that they, as counsellors should always start from individual needs, and policy requirements concerning e.g. skills supply and labour-market integration.

Perceptions of Assessment: An Interview Study of Participants’ Perceptions of Being Assessed in Swedish Adult Education Colleges

Assessments have been shown to influence students’ learning and motivation. To avoid negative consequences, different strategies have been proposed, such as making a more distinct separation between assessments for summative and formative purposes. In this way, situations are created that are exclusively formative, where students may focus on learning without worrying about test scores or grades. This study has investigated perceptions of such a context, where grading is kept apart from assessment for formative purposes. Semi-structured interviews have been performed with 19 participants at five so called “adult education colleges.” At these colleges, students’ “grades” are determined as a joint decision by all the teachers together at the end of the academic year, and no grades are communicated to the participants beforehand. Data from the interviews was analyzed with qualitative thematic analysis, identifying four themes relating to participants’ perceptions of assessment. Findings suggest that participants perceive that there is a lack of feedback on overall progress, limiting their possibilities to regulate their learning. Findings also suggest that the participants do not always know when, or on what grounds, they are being summatively assessed, leading to less productive study strategies. The consequences of this particular assessment context thereby seem similar in several respects, as compared to those reported from the ordinary Swedish school system, even though the latter is greatly influenced by numerous summative assessment events.

Marketisation of adult education in Sweden

The aim of this study is to analyse how formal adult education in Sweden is enacted locally. For this analysis, the data consist of a nationwide survey sent to Swedish municipalities, background data on municipalities from public statistics and interviews with representatives of 20 municipalities. Swedish formal adult education, which includes general, vocational and Swedish for immigrants courses, is a responsibility of the municipality, but courses are not necessarily organised internally by the municipality. The results show how adult education is enacted in different ways. There are systems for outsourcing courses to various other providers, typically private training companies. There are thus both private and public providers, but courses are paid for by the municipality, which is also responsible of quality assurance. The quality assurance is typically enacted with a focus on students, via surveys and statistics on outcomes, but quality measures also target providers. Swedish adult education is characterised by extensive marketisation with many private providers and a broad supply of courses, but the municipalities are experiencing quality problems among providers, and some municipalities are considering extending their internal provision. There is also a labour-market focus where training programmes to improve adults’ employability are prioritised.

A cry, a clash and a parting: a French pragmatic sociology approach to ‘the struggle over the teacher’s soul’

ABSTRACT This article argues for using French pragmatic sociology to explore tensions regarding teachers’ work, by studying critique formulated by teachers themselves. Based on interviews with teachers in Swedish adult education it shows how teachers labour to reconcile ‘what is’ with ‘what should be’ by voicing critique. The findings suggest that, while some critique echoes institutionalised conventions without questioning them, formulating critique is also a way of resisting, where teachers tap into alternative conventions, or disengage from established practices. Some choose to ignore institutional rules, while others change jobs. These findings establish that some critique can serve to maintain the status quo and its institutionalised truths. However, pushing at reality through acts of critique can also fracture reality, which in turn allows other conventions to take root in the cracks. Identifying the various types of critique employed to question institutionalised conventions highlights the work that teachers do to shape reality.

‘Lack of quality’ in Swedish adult education: a policy study

ABSTRACT This article focuses on how ‘problems’ regarding quality in adult education are constituted as particular sorts of ‘problems’. The analysis takes its point of departure in a poststructural analytic strategy called ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’. The material analysed consists of various policy documents concerning contemporary Swedish adult education. The results indicate that the concept of quality is described as being deficient and failing to address perceived challenges in adult education, namely the ‘heterogenous student group’ and ‘varying pre-conditions for the organisation of education’. Thus, the concepts of flexibility and individualisation are introduced as a ‘solution’. But at the same time, it is suggested in policy that the implementation of them has failed. In effect, representatives of the municipal authority and principals are held responsible and the need for more strict regulations and increased accountability in order to implement flexibility and individualisation in the adult education system are stressed in policy. Finally, the analysis of the policy documents leads to questions about the consequences for both school personnel and the students enrolled in adult education as the quality of the education seems to be assessed in relation to goal attainment and throughflow of students.

Individualisation in Swedish Adult Education and the Shaping of Neo-liberal Subjectivities

ABSTRACTIn this article we have analysed the ways a discourse on individualisation is taking shape within adult education in Sweden, how it operates, and what effects it has in terms of shaping student subjectivity. Drawing on a post-structural theorisation we analyse interviews with teachers and students in municipal adult education and folk high schools (FHS). The analysis illustrates how both institutions contribute to the shaping of individualised subjectivities, although differently. At the end, a general question is raised about what happens with the democratic function of adult education in general when a discourse on individualisation operates in the ways described and, more specifically, asks what is happening to FHS as an educational practice that upholds its self-image as a last bastion of a collective notion of learning and subjectivity and nurturing an educational practice of learning democracy?

Swedish Adult Education: An Undeveloped Road toward an Extended Working Life: Table 1.

Swedish Adult Education: An Undeveloped Road toward an Extended Working Life: Table 1.

Swedish Adult Education in Transition? Implications of the Work First Principle

The Swedish government recently launched a number of short-term initiatives within the framework of formal adult education. These initiatives are: vocational adult education, education for commercial drivers and apprenticeship education for adults. The new initiatives can be seen as education for the short-term needs of the world of work and we will argue that they can be understood in the light of a changing labour market policy, the so called work first principle’. In the late 1990s, when the Adult Education Initiative was launched, the government stressed that a person needs a general education of at least three years at upper secondary level in order to be employable. The new initiatives illustrate another view of reasoning, i.e. that specific vocational knowledge and contact with the workplaces are crucial for getting a job. The work first principle is reflected in the idea of adult education as a way to satisfy the short-term needs of the labour market having been squeezed into the larger aim of formal adult education as a way to upgrade formal qualifications for the long-term needs of society as a whole. The article identifies and analyses tensions and conflicting interests concerning adult education on a systemic level.

Mathematical identity in women: The concept, its components and relationship to educative ability, achievement and family support

Mathematical identity and its relationship to mathematical achievement, educative ability and study support were studied among 133 women enrolled in the Swedish adult education system. A model of mathematical identity was constructed including self‐perceived mathematical knowledge, ability, motivation and anxiety. This model was transformed into a statistical factor model, tested using Lisrel. An acceptable fit was obtained. The first three factors were strongly negatively related to mathematical anxiety. The mathematical identity components correlated most strongly with earlier school grades in mathematics and, to a lesser extent, with the result of a diagnostic test. Unexpectedly, the relationships to educative ability and study support were weak. Using a person‐oriented approach, three typical patterns were found: one with extremely positive, and two with extremely negative, mathematical identity. The implications for further research are to investigate stability and change in the mathematical identity of women taking part in recurrent education.

The aggregate labor market effects of the Swedish Knowledge Lift program

The Swedish adult education program known as the Knowledge Lift (1997–2002) was unprecedented in its size and scope, aiming to raise the skill level of large numbers of low-skill workers. This paper evaluates the potential effects of this program on aggregate labor market outcomes. This is done by calibrating an equilibrium search model with heterogeneous worker skills using pre-program data and then forecasting the program impacts. We compare the forecasts to observed aggregate labor market outcomes after termination of the program.

From Giving Birth to Paid Labor: The Effects of Adult Education for Prime-Aged Mothers

Women without work after childbirth are at risk of losing their connection to the labor market. However, they may participate in adult education programs. We analyze the effect of this on the duration to work and on the wage rate, by applying conditional difference-in-differences approaches. We use Swedish matched longitudinal register data sets covering the full population. The Swedish adult education program is unprecedented in its size, and enrollment is universally available at virtually no cost. We focus on low-skilled women who have recently given birth. We take account of program accessibility, selection issues, course heterogeneity, the income received during adult education, parental leave, and child care fees. To understand the enrollment decision from the mothers' point of view, we use the estimates to calibrate a job search model.

The Aggregate Labor Market Effects of the Swedish Knowledge Lift Program

The Swedish adult education program known as the Knowledge Lift (1997-2002) was unprecedented in its size and scope, aiming to raise the skill level of large numbers of low-skill workers. This paper evaluates the potential effects of this program on aggregate labour market outcomes. This is done by calibrating an equilibrium search model with heterogeneous worker skills using pre-program data and then forecasting the program impacts. We compare the forecasts to observed aggregate labour market outcomes after termination of the program.

Message posting Or dialogue?: On the dialectics of on-line practice in adult education


 This paper examines on-line communication in liberal adult education. It highlights the problematic space between message posting and the promotion of dialogue. Conference software in Swedish adult education is widely based on message posting. But can message posting also foster the democratic practices associated with reasoned discussion or dialogue?

Recognition of prior learning as a technique for fabricating the adult learner: a genealogical analysis on Swedish adult education policy

This article focuses on the recognition of prior learning and the figure of thought it represents in Swedish policy on adult education. It can be seen as a technique for governing the adult learner and a way of fabricating the subject. We are tracing this thought back in time to see how it has changed and what it consists of. The material analysed consists of Swedish official documents published between 1948 and 2004. We draw on two concepts from the Foucauldian toolbox: genealogy and governmentality. The result shows that this technique for governing and fabricating the adult subject is not new. It has been present during all periods analysed. However, there is a difference in how the ideas of competence and knowledge are stressed. Today the focus is on the subject's specific experience, which means competence. You are constructed as an adult with experiences that are to be evaluated. During the 1960s and 1970s the focus was rather on general experience. There was also discussion concerning the subject's ability to study. During the 1950s this figure of thought focused on ability was dominant. Those with the talent/ability to study were to be accepted for adult education.

The Knowledge Lift: The Swedish Adult Education Program that Aimed to Eliminate Low Worker Skill Levels

The Swedish adult education program known as the Knowledge Lift is unprecedented in its size and scope, aiming to raise the skill level of all low-skilled workers towards the medium level. This paper evaluates the effects of program participation on individual labor market outcomes, notably employment and annual income, as well as on the labor market equilibrium. For the effects at the individual level, we apply fixed effect methods allowing for treatment effect heterogeneity. The data are based on a number of matched longitudinal administrative data sets covering the full population of Sweden. For the equilibrium effects, we analyze an equilibrium search model with heterogeneous worker skills. This model is calibrated using pre-program observations.

Estimation in a Duration Model for Evaluating Educational Programs

The paper proposes two estimation approaches for duration models that are subject to right censored observations and selection effects. Main focus is on accelerated duration models and the estimators that are of the limited information type, i.e. they are not based on a fully specified selection model. The estimators are instrumental variable adaptations to the Powell symmetrically trimmed least squares and the Buckley-James estimators for right censored data. In a small Monte Carlo study they are found to perform well. Empirical results are presented for total time outside the unemployment state for participants in the Swedish Adult Education Initiative and labour market training. The latter ones are included as controls and are found to have significantly longer times outside the unemployment state. There are strong indications of selection effects.