Swedish School System Research Articles

Controversial issues in social study subjects: conveying values and facilitating critical thinking

ABSTRACT This study explores the practical implications of the paradox of moral education, focusing on how Swedish social study teachers (civics, geography, history, and religious education) navigate conflicting responsibilities to convey values and facilitate critical thinking when addressing controversial issues in their classrooms. Through qualitative interviews and observations, teachers were found to often lead by example, maintaining neutrality and presenting diverse perspectives. This approach appears to foster students towards embracing liberal values, promoting independent decision-making and personal responsibility, but it may come at the cost of critically evaluating these very ideals, norms, and values. The absence of official guidelines in the Swedish school system underscores the significance of understanding how teachers balance these conflicting responsibilities in their pedagogical practices. The study sheds light on the practical strategies employed by teachers, contributing valuable insights to a discourse traditionally centred on theoretical solutions to the paradox of moral education.

Narrating the Client: How stories of parental influence impact teacher professionalism

Abstract This article examines how teachers engage in symbolic institutional work to address client influence, and how this impacts teacher professionalism. The study delves into an intriguing empirical field, using the Swedish school system as an illustrative case for studying the development of professionalism within a highly marketized context. The research employed interviews, observations, and shadowing, enabling a deeper understanding of the symbolic institutional work in a complex institutional environment where market and professional logic collide. The findings demonstrate how teachers utilize a narrative of a threatening and demanding client, which helps them distance themselves from market logic and resist adapting to it in their professionalism. However, there are also indications of a different narrative, where some teachers embrace and integrate client influence as a natural part of their professionalism. Additionally, there is also a form of ambivalence, where teachers are moving between different narratives. By investigating how professionals engage in these narratives, the article provides insights into understudied dimensions within the concept of professionalism. While the existence of different narratives highlights the complexity and fragility of institutional work, the inclination towards distancing from clients illustrates a preservation of traditional professionalism rather than a shift towards the ‘new professionalism’ described in previous literature.

Teachers’ Facebook rebellion groups: sites for professional collegial deliberation?

ABSTRACT This study examines conversations in a Swedish teachers’ School Rebellion (SR) group on Facebook, a group that attracts members who wish to engage in activism for a different and better Swedish school system and improved conditions for teachers. The phenomenon of teachers’ Rebellion Facebook groups is relatively new. It has emerged in several countries over the past decade and clearly differs from traditional online teacher collaboration and professional development groups. Placing the Swedish SR initiative in the context of discussions on changing teacher professionalism over the last decade, the aim of this study is to examine what content is given presence in SR posts and how it is discussed by members, and to determine the extent to which the communication between the participating teachers has the potential to strengthen collective professionalism. To this end, curriculum theory and the concept of deliberative communication are combined to address questions of content and various relations between actors and levels, such as power and responsibility issues. The analysis shows that many topics related to teaching and education appear in the conversations, deliberative approaches vary from what is termed pre-deliberative to deliberative and even counter-deliberative. Although all participants have a voice, the administrators’ role is shown to be of special interest. Based on these findings, the administrators’ responsibility to maintain professional collegial deliberation is discussed as a complex mission of deliberation over political, pedagogical, and practical issues.

The Profit Motive in the Classroom—Friend or Foe?

ABSTRACT This study critically evaluates the Swedish school system’s shift toward marketization since the early 1990s, noting that the anticipated educational gains from increased competition and innovation have not materialized significantly. We attribute major barriers to innovation in the school quasi-market to systemic institutional flaws. These include a national curriculum that lacks a clear mission for knowledge promotion, a grading system that undermines reliable measures of student knowledge, and insufficient, complicated information obstructing user choice. If these problems were remedied, the Swedish school system could harness the potential benefits of competition and the profit motive, ushering in substantial educational gains.

Beyond academics: Links from teaching practices in Swedish schools to students’ achievements and mental health complaints

BackgroundDespite extensive research on the relationship between teaching practices and learning outcomes, limited attention has been given to their potential links with students’ mental health. AimsThis study investigates the relationships between three teaching practice types – teacher-centered, student-centered, and student-dominated – and both student mental health complaints and academic achievement. It furthers explores variations in these associations based on students’ socioeconomic status (SES). SampleThe analysis includes 4573 grade 9 students (aged 15–16 years) in the Swedish comprehensive school system. MethodsEmploying structural equation modelling techniques, we analyze a dataset comprising students’ cognitive test scores, their perceptions of classroom processes, self-reported mental health complaints, as well as register data on teacher-assigned grades and parental education. ResultsTeacher-centered practices are positively associated with academic achievements but lack robust links with mental health complaints. Conversely, student-centered practices are positively associated with academic achievements and correlate with lower mental health complaint frequencies. However, student-dominated practices demonstrate poor relationships with both mental health and academic achievements. Limited variations based on students’ social background reveal only two differing associations between low and high SES students: teacher-centered teaching shows stronger academic achievement associations for low SES students, while student-dominated teaching is more adversely linked to low SES students' mental health. ConclusionsThe results affirm the benefits of both teacher- and student-centered teaching practices for academic achievement while cautioning against excessive self-directed teaching. Importantly, the study highlights the role of instructional approaches in shaping not only academic outcomes but also students’ mental health.

Organizing for deputy principalship in Swedish school organizations: The triggers and factors shaping the process

Although constituting a significant position in the daily practices and development of many school organizations, little is known regarding how the position of the deputy principal is organized. The purpose of this paper is to explore how Swedish principals organize for the deputy principal position by focusing on the triggers and factors constituting their sensemaking of the division of responsibilities. The paper provides an additional perspective by focusing on the interpretive aspects comprising the organizing processes. The paper draws from qualitative interview data from a larger study on deputy principals’ position in the Swedish school system. The results show how principals’ sensemaking is triggered by contextual cues and reform-driven factors that together create spaces of ambiguity in relation to the organizing of the deputy principals’ position. Principals make sense of these events based on personal- and identity-oriented beliefs, as well as frameworks and perceived expectations from municipal organizers.

Structure, agency and change: early careers of novice principals in Sweden

ABSTRACT The importance of school leaders’ work for the development of schools is often highlighted in the research literature. However, school leadership is enacted in a social setting influenced by political, cultural, historical, and economic factors across societal as well as national settings. In Sweden, the turnover rates of school principals are high specifically among novice principals. This empirical study aims to contribute to our understanding of turnover related to structures and principal agency in the Swedish context by exploring the early stages of school principals’ careers, their work environments, and their ideas about careers and motives for action. The study is based on interviews with 14 novice principals, situated at the site of their school leader education and their workplace. The findings show a constant movement among novice principals regarding their work location, work responsibilities, and positioning within their current status, during their first years of duty as a principal. The findings reveal how structures and career agency consolidate ongoing movements, making it challenging to develop professional agency and situated concerns. The career movements of novice principals within the Swedish market-oriented school system revealed the educational sector to be positioned as a marketplace and the principal as a wear-and-tear item.

Factors influencing Swedish grades 4–6 technology teachers’ choice of teaching and learning material in programming education

There is a recognized need to understand the current state of programming implementation in the Swedish compulsory school system. This study focused specifically on the implementation of programming in the school subject of technology for grades 4–6. In Sweden, the responsibility for choosing teaching and learning material lies with individual teachers. Recent studies have indicated the prevalence of visual programming languages (VPLs) in classrooms. However, no empirical research has specifically investigated why teachers select particular programming learning environments (PLEs) and the challenges they have overcome in this process. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the PLEs used by teachers and the factors influencing their choices. In addition, this study explored the role of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and the influence of systemic and situational amplifiers and filters in shaping the programming education landscape, highlighting the importance of understanding these factors for effective implementation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 experienced programming teachers in grades 4–6 to gather insights. The results revealed that VPLs, particularly Scratch, have been widely adopted, but the study also identified three textual programming languages being utilized. Furthermore, the findings indicate that teachers’ previous education plays a significant role in shaping their PLE preferences. This suggests that programming education in both professional development and preservice teacher training is crucial for effective implementation. By investigating PLE choices and the factors influencing them, this study contributes to a better understanding of the current landscape of programming education in Sweden’s compulsory school system.

School principals’ perceptions of autonomy and control in low-SES communities - navigating local school administration on the front line

ABSTRACT In the decentralized Swedish school system, the local education authority (LEA) level has an important position when it comes to school governance. This article takes a micro-level perspective on principals’ perceptions of autonomy and control as they navigate local school administration in their front-line work in low – socio-economic status (SES) communities. The point of departure is taken in a multidimensional understanding of principal autonomy and street level bureaucracy. Empirical data consist of group conversations among principals, all of them working in a highly segregated Swedish city. The analysis shows that the principals perceive local school administration to be dominated by uniformity expressed through digitalization and specialization lacking contextual adaption. This orientation gives the principals a sense of local school administration being controlling and non-supportive. In addition, lack of adaption to the specific conditions of the low-SES community context tend to increase the principals’ workload and further restrict their autonomy. To cope with the situation and still deliver the education the students are entitled to, the principals act pragmatically in an innovative way. Based on contextual awareness they delay demands, deviate from routines and come up with alternative solutions, hence expanding their autonomy and intensifying their professional judgement.

Att öka samiskt inflytande och återaktualisera traditionella kunskaper – Sák96 och den samiska utbildningsambitionen i relation till Lpo94

To increase Sámi influence and re-actualize traditional knowledge. Sák96 and the Sámi educational ambition in relation to Lpo94. Throughout history, Sámi education has been governed by a Swedish state perspective through legislation and curricula. On one single occasion, an education directive has been published in Sweden based on a Sámi perspective, namely the Sámi syllabi 1996 (Sák96). Sák96 was formed for Sámi education and worked as a complement to the curriculum for the compulsory Swedish school system in 1994 (Lpo94). This study is based on thematic analysis of Sák96 and Lpo94. The purpose is to analyse the educational ambitions in Sák96 in relation to Lpo94 as well as in relation to Sámi identities expressed in the educational ambitions. The analysis is anchored in Gert Biesta’s theories about educational domains and ambitions of education as well as concepts about identification and imagined communities. The study shows that the main ambition with Sák96 was to protect and develop Sámi culture and language in a more detailed way than Lpo94. Sák96 also included additional historical perspectives on the Swedish society’s encroachment on traditional Sámi land, more detailed knowledge of Sámi society and Sámi knowledge traditions, and a desire to create conditions for increased Sámi influence. The Sámi community appears to be closely connected to reindeer husbandry communities according to Sák96. The Sámi communities are also presented as a people divided in four countries (northern Norway, Sweden, Finland as well as Kola Peninsula, Russia) with differentiated livelihood and conditions.

Teachers’ experience of the breakdown of infrastructures during the pandemic

This article reports on teachers’ experience of working during the Covid-19 pandemic. The analysis is based on a thematic analysis of group interviews with 76 teachers working throughout the Swedish school system, i.e., preschools, primary, secondary school, and municipal adult education. The interviews were conducted during autumn 2021. Conceptualizing teaching and working during the pandemic as a breakdown of infrastructures, the article focuses on how teachers talk about changes in institutional, social, technological, and pedagogical aspects of teaching and learning. The results show that changes in institutional aspects mainly concern teachers’ communication with colleagues, custodians, and school leadership. Social and pedagogical aspects are emphasized, while technological aspects are not as prominent in the teachers’ accounts. Commonly taken-for-granted aspects are brought to the fore, and their importance for teaching and learning has implications for the new normal and for what is of importance when creating future infrastructures for teaching and learning.

Screens, teens and their brains. Discourses about digital media, learning and cognitive development in popular science neuroeducation

ABSTRACT Contemporary education in Sweden is characterized by two parallel processes: the implementation of digital tools in the classroom, on the one hand, and an increased emphasis on brain-based learning, on the other. Proponents of the latter strand of ‘neuroeducation’ claim that digital media might have harmful effects on learning and cognitive development. How do they then deal with school digitalization? By examining popular science books by influential neuroscience actors in the Swedish educational context, this study identifies two diverging discourses where digital technologies are discussed both as distractions in the classroom and as promising tools for personalized and self-optimizing learning. This ambiguity reflects a cautious criticism against school digitalization as overhastly, a critique that is also emphasized in recent policy changes in the Swedish school system. The article concludes that the impact of brain-based perspectives on educational digitalization policy have positioned neuroscience actors as a new kind of digital experts.

Teaching Religion in a Secular Swedish School System

Following my two-month research as an international Ugandan researcher in Sweden, I present an argument that the introduction of a non-confessional Religious Education in Sweden in 1919 and an objective and neutral education since 1962 had a key intention of de-linking teaching of religion from religious foundation bodies, in particular, the dominant Church of Sweden (Lutheran) and rendering it educational instead of confessional. In this paper, I will argue that, despite the subsequent birth of a secular Swedish society and the onset of a multicultural society, there was - and there continues to be a justification for the teaching of religion in schools. In my interview with two experts on Religious Education from the National Agency of Education, two teachers of Religious Education and eight students, they all responded positively to the question of the continued teaching of religion in secular Swedish society. However, in the paper, I will argue that there was or there is an inability of the curriculum and the teachers in some respects to do justice to the integrity of different religions. Based on earlier research and interviews, I’ll argue that despite the good intentions of having a neutral and objective multi-faith Religious Education (RE) curriculum in place, some textbooks and teachers’ approaches raise questions on fairness to all religions. In particular, the interviews indicate that there are signs of “Immigrophobia” among some students, teachers and sections of the community. Notwithstanding, I will argue that since the findings reveal an overwhelming support for multi-faith RE by a secular population and being mindful of the increased multi-cultural society and signs of Immigrophobia6, it is imperative that a careful choice of text-books, especially on religions, other than Christianity, is done and special attention given to RE teachers to address the concept of fairness to all religions.

Why Do Associations Run Independent Schools in Sweden, and Why Does It Matter?

The Swedish school system was radically reformed in the 1990s, and went from one of the world’s most uniform and egalitarian, to one of the world’s most deregulated and marketized. In recent years, the political controversy has heated over the for-profit corporations that operate independent schools and allegedly make major profits off the public purse. A majority of independent schools in Sweden are operated by limited liability companies, but hundreds of schools are also operated by non-profit foundations and associations. The latter category are of interest in this article. With the help of a thorough legal historical analysis of the corporate law on associations in Sweden, and how the two forms of associations – economic associations and non-profit associations – are defined in the law, we discuss how well the law matches the purposes and needs of elementary schools in Sweden. The article concludes that the ambiguities and confusion around the law on economic associations in this specific case, and the essential lack of legislation for nonprofit associations, warrants a fundamental questioning of whether it is at all appropriate for independent schools in Sweden to be operated by economic and nonprofit associations.

Recognizing LEA Officials’ Translator Competences When Implementing New Policy Directives for Documentation of Schools’ Systematic Quality Work

ABSTRACT This article aims to deepen our knowledge about the work and competences of local education authority (LEA) officials when implementing new policy directives for documentation in the decentralized Swedish school system. The results show that the LEA officials used strategies and actions that improved relevance for principals and schools through changes in what was documented and how they understood results, supported by continuing professional development. In their brokering position the LEA officials proved to be key actors, contributing to empowerment, confidence and trust. Hence, the results indicate the importance of LEAs finding balance between steering and supporting in policy implementation.

Delays and Dropouts: Identifying Risks of Suboptimal Post-Compulsory Educational Pathways in Sweden

Successful completion of upper secondary education is increasingly vital for participation in the labor market. Rates of school dropout in Sweden are below the EU average but remain a concern for policymakers. This quantitative study used the Swedish register covering 22 birth cohorts to establish the pathways available for students following compulsory school graduation and to identify the socio-demographic risks of taking a suboptimal pathway. The results showed that immigrant students arriving after the beginning of compulsory schooling and students from low-education households had the most elevated risks of engaging with upper secondary school in a suboptimal way, indicating sustained inequalities in the Swedish school system.

Naturvetenskapernas karaktär som redskap för inkluderande undervisning i biologi

This article presents experiences of using selected aspects of Nature of Science as guidelines for inclusive science education in biology at the upper-secondary level in the Swedish school system. First, the purpose and background of the project is described, along with a discussion on inclusive science education and the specific interpretation of Nature of Science used. Then, some concrete examples of tasks and teaching strategies used are provided. Finally, an evaluation of the project is presented, based on students’ experiences and findings from a questionnaire, and the experiences are discussed in relation to the purpose of the project. As no comparisons have been made, it is not possible to claim that this teaching is more inclusive, or better in any other regard, as compared to any other teaching. Hopefully, however, the text can provide inspiration and a basis for further development work with a similar focus.

Controlling the “Wilderness” Through a Rationalised Reindeer Husbandry: The Establishment of the Sámi Nomad School in Sweden, 1906–1917

This article discusses the Swedish nomad school system (nomadskola, 1913–1962), targeting the children of the reindeer herding Sámi, in an environmental history perspective. Earlier research has highlighted demographics (especially social Darwinism), national economy, and reform pedagogy as the ideological foundation of the nomad school system. This article shows that the fixing of a frontier between society and wilderness was at the confluence of all of these ideas. Reindeer as a vehicle for domesticating Arctic “wilderness,” furthering economic goals in peripheries, and modernising indigenous livelihoods has been noted in the North American and Russian/Soviet contexts, as well as in Scandinavia for the second half of the 20th century. This connection has not been explicitly made in the research concerning the early years of the nomad school system. The article concludes that the Swedish government did not have the expertise to control and economically exploit the “wilderness” of the high Scandes, but the reindeer-herding Sámi did. Swedish educational authorities launched the nomad school system in order to harness this expertise and make the reindeer herding livelihood more suitable to the needs of the Swedish economy.

Even in preschools: analysing the preschool and neighbourhood segregation gap in Swedish municipalities

Abstract Preschool segregation has not been the focus of research efforts to the same extent as compulsory school segregation. This is at least in part a consequence of the lack of large-scale, registry-based data sources on where children live and where they attend preschool. This paper presents a full-population account of discrepancies between preschool segregation and neighbourhood segregation covering the Swedish population. Data includes preschool children as well as their parents’ income, education, ethnic background, and place of residence. Findings indicate that while preschool segregation does not differ from neighbourhood segregation to the same extent as previous research has shown for school segregation, there are systematic differences affecting the level of segregation across Sweden and in various types of municipalities. Studies on school level show segregation by foreign background and income to be most prominent, whilst preschool segregation mostly concerns parents’ educational attainment. Furthermore, the findings show that the geographical distribution of private and public preschools affects levels of segregation. This conclusion supports the general argument that the free-choice reform in the Swedish school system tends to raise levels of school segregation above the levels of residential segregation—even in preschools.

Child-perceived parental support and knowledge in shared physical custody and other living arrangements for children

Objective: The aim of this paper is to develop an understanding of how child-perceived parental support and knowledge among children in Sweden differ across ten forms of residential arrangement. Background: Shared physical custody has become an increasingly common arrangement for children in separated families in many European countries. In an international comparison, Sweden has a high rate of parental union dissolution but also the highest prevalence of shared physical custody arrangements following divorce or separation. Over a third of all children with divorced or separated parents spend an equal amount of time living in both parental households. Method: We used data from the Swedish HBSC survey from 2013/14, which are focused on children in grades 5, 7 and 9 in the Swedish comprehensive school system (n=7360) and used perceived parental support and perceived parental knowledge scales as dependent variables in multiple ordered logistic regressions conducted separately by the sex of the parent. Results: The results show that children in shared physical custody report higher levels of parental support and knowledge than children in sole physical custody and equally high as those who live in a two-parent family. Children living in non-symmetrical physical custody arrangements report lower levels of paternal support and knowledge than children whose parents share physical custody equally. Maternal support and knowledge does not differ between children living in symmetrical and non-symmetrical shared physical custody arrangements, whereas paternal support and knowledge is lower in families where the child lives in an unequal residential sharing arrangement with the mother as the main co-residential parent. Conclusion: Post-divorce living arrangements are clearly associated with the relationship between parents and children, with children in shared physical custody reporting stronger relationships than children in sole physical custody. The cross-sectional nature of the data prevents us from drawing conclusions on causality, however.