Swedish School System Research Articles

Governance of Swedish school mathematics — where and how did it happen? A study of different modes of governance in Swedish school mathematics, 1910-1980

The aim of this paper is to revise a standard narrative about governance of the Swedish school system in the period of 1910-1908. According to this narrative, the Swedish school system was centralized during this period. However, this narrative does not fit the history of Swedish mathematics education (years 7-9). The research questions are: where in the school system was change initiated and how was change enforced? On the basis of studies of syllabi, textbooks, teaching literature, teacher journals and reports from investigations and development projects, different modes of governance of school mathematics are identified. The main results are that textbook producers rather than national syllabi and exams were drivers of change in the period 1910-1960. Moreover, the centralized attempts to change school mathematics, prepared in the 1960s, were soon abandoned in the early 1970s. Thus, centralized governance of Swedish school mathematics, with the ambition to achieve change, was something that took effect relatively late and during a very short period of time.

The shared principalship: invitation at the top

A school principal’s workload is recognised as being heavy, with an imbalance between demands and resources. This paper contributes to the development of collective leadership. The principalship constellations of six schools in Sweden were studied with the aim of strengthening the current knowledge about structures and experiences of shared principalship. The empirical basis is qualitative data from interviews with principals and vice-principals. The analytical focus was on how the sharing structures were organised and how the shared principalship was experienced. The results point to a considerable variation in the organisational structures of shared principalship. Despite the type of model, form and constellation, the principals and vice-principals voiced a striking sense of relief in not feeling alone in their duties, as problems and troubles became manageable. An intensified interaction level in the principalship constellation created opportunities to develop competence. Theoretically, this study broadens the invited leadership concept to include horizontal invitations across unit boundaries between principals in different units within the same school. The knowledge contribution of this study is useful in discussing the legal possibilities for shared principalship, which may be especially relevant in times when the Swedish school system is being criticised for not delivering good student outcomes.

Responsibilising the next generation: Fostering the enterprising self through de-mobilising gender

In this article, our interest is in what subjectivities are fostered among schoolchildren through the recent introduction of entrepreneurship initiatives in primary and secondary school. The educational terrain is but one example where entrepreneurship has been discursively transformed during recent decades from the notion of starting businesses into a general approach to life itself in the advancement of neoliberal societies. The inherently elitist and excluding position of the entrepreneurial subject is now offered to all and sundry. While entrepreneurship pedagogy is explicitly intended to be gender neutral and inclusive of all such identities traditionally suppressed in the entrepreneurship discourse, we ask what kind of enterprising selves are mobilised and de-mobilised here. Second, in what way are these seemingly ‘gender-neutral’ enterprising selves gendered? Our analysis of three recent and dominating entrepreneurial initiatives in the Swedish school system emphasises the need for activation, performativity and responsibility. The analysis also shows that gender is indeed silenced in these initiatives but is at the same time productive through being subtly present in the promotion of a ‘neo-masculine’, active, technology-oriented and responsible subject. Entrepreneurship is presented as being equally available for all and something everyone should aspire to, yet the initiatives still sustain the suppression and marginalisation of women and femininities. The initiatives specifically promote a responsible and adaptive masculine subject position while notions of rebellious entrepreneurship and non-entrepreneurial domestic positions are mobilised out of the picture.

Offering research education for in-service language teachers

Since 2008, the Swedish government has launched occasional offers of funding for graduate schools aimed at practising teachers. The fundamental purpose of this initiative is to enhance quality in the Swedish school system by implementing what is stated in the Education Act, namely that education at all levels should be based upon scientific knowledge and evidence-based experience.

Swedish technology teachers\u2019 views on assessing student understandings of technological systems

Technology education is a new school subject in comparison with other subjects within the Swedish compulsory school system. Research in technology education shows that technology teachers lack experience of and support for assessment in comparison with the long-term experiences that other teachers use in their subjects. This becomes especially apparent when technology teachers assess students’ knowledge in and about technological systems. This study thematically analysed the assessment views of eleven technology teachers in a Swedish context. Through the use of in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews, their elaborated thoughts on assessing knowledge about technological systems within the technology subject (for ages 13–16) were analysed. The aim was to describe the teachers’ assessment views in terms of types of knowledge, and essential knowledge in relation to a progression from basic to advanced understanding of technological systems. The results showed three main themes that the interviewed teachers said they consider when performing their assessment of technological systems; understanding (a) a system’s structure, (b) its relations outside the system boundary and (c) its historical context and technological change. Each theme included several underlying items that the teachers said they use in a progressive manner when they assess their students’ basic, intermediate and advanced level of understanding technological systems. In conclusion, the results suggest that the analysed themes can provide a basis for further discussion about defining a progression for assessing students’ understanding about technological systems. However, the findings also need to be examined critically as the interviewed teachers’ views on required assessment levels showed an imbalance; few students were said to reach beyond the basic level, but at the same time most assessment items lay on the intermediate and advanced levels.

Enactment processes in the implementation of European and national foreign language proficiency policies

This article presents an analysis of the implementation of EU policies for foreign language proficiency, focusing on Spanish as an optional school subject at the Swedish school system. It analyses frame factors that constrain such implementation and enactment processes in local interpretation of policy. European and national education policy documents, national statistics and interviews with teachers and stakeholders are analysed. Spanish is popular among pupils, but nonetheless pupil achievement is poor and dropout rates are high. The lack of qualified teachers of Spanish accounts for a large proportion of this, and teacher education seems to be a decisive curricular factor for a successful implementation of EU policies. In-service training strategies for teachers of Spanish are a low priority among local educational authorities. There is a mismatch between state responsibility for teacher education on one side and local needs of teacher supply and responsibility for in-service training on the other.

A Left/Right Convergence on the New Public Management? The Unintended Power of Diverse Ideas

ABSTRACTWhile it might appear self-evident that the trend toward the New Public Management (NPM) in the public administration systems of many Western countries is an outgrowth of neoliberalism, the case of Swedish education suggests that such policies can have widely different and counterintuitive sources. Ideas about education from both sides of the political spectrum appear to have paved the way for NPM in the Swedish school system. This possibility casts the ideological basis for NPM reforms in a new light, at least in the context of the Swedish school system.

A Left / Right Convergence on the New Public Management? The Unintended Power of Diverse Ideas

While it might appear self-evident that the trend toward the New Public Management (NPM) in the public administration systems of many Western countries is an outgrowth of neoliberalism, the case of Swedish education suggests that policies can have widely different and counterintuitive sources. Ideas about education from both sides of the political spectrum appear to have paved the way for NPM in the Swedish school system. This possibility casts the ideological basis for NPM reforms in a new light, at least in the context of the Swedish school system.

Ways of dealing with science learning: a study based on Swedish early childhood education practice

ABSTRACTThe Swedish school system offers curriculum-based early childhood education (ECE) organised as preschool (for 0–5-year-olds) and preschool class (for 6-year-olds). The intention to create a playful and educational environment based on children’s perspectives, interests, and questions is strongly based on historical and cultural traditions. This article develops knowledge of ECE teachers’ approaches to science-learning situations. The study applies a phenomenographic approach. The analysis is based on approximately 9.5 hours of video documentation of teacher-led and child-initiated Swedish ECE science activities. We identified two descriptive categories and four subcategories dealing with science-learning situations: (A) making anything visible, containing the three subcategories (Aa) addressing everyone, (Ab) addressing everything, and (Ac) addressing play and fantasy; and (B) creating a shared space for learning (Ba) addressing common content. These categories are related to how efforts to take advantage of children’s perspectives are interpreted and addressed in educational practice. The article discusses and exemplifies the use of various categories and their potential implications for ECE learning practice.

At the bridging point: tutoring newly arrived students in Sweden

ABSTRACTIn Sweden, tutoring in the mother tongue is a special support measure primarily intended for newly arrived students to facilitate their transition into the Swedish school system. Tutoring is premised on the collaboration between the class teacher, responsible for subject-related expertise, and the tutor, who contributes with knowledge of the student’s mother tongue and previous context of studies. In this case study of class teachers’ and mother tongue tutors’ conditions for collaboration at a multi-ethnic primary school, six mother tongue tutors and six class teachers were asked about the purpose of their work, how it was organised, and what could be done to improve working conditions. Interviews with head teachers, and data on work organisation from observations, document study, and participation in meetings for a period of one and a half years supplemented the teacher interviews. The analysis focuses on whether tutors and teachers belong to the same or different Communities of Practice, based on shared concerns and opportunities for collaboration, as well as looking at the relative positioning of languages and teaching roles. Findings suggest that the degree of collaboration between tutors and teachers was not sufficient to allow tutoring to function in the way it is envisaged by national steering documents. Tutoring was instead based on the tutors’ own knowledge of the subjects they taught. Recruitment of suitable tutors was difficult. However, conditions for collaboration and more effective tutoring in the schools could be improved with relatively simple support structures at the level of the municipality.

Student's Second-Language Grade May Depend on Classroom Listening Position.

The purpose of this experiment was to explore whether listening positions (close or distant location from the sound source) in the classroom, and classroom reverberation, influence students’ score on a test for second-language (L2) listening comprehension (i.e., comprehension of English in Swedish speaking participants). The listening comprehension test administered was part of a standardized national test of English used in the Swedish school system. A total of 125 high school pupils, 15 years old, participated. Listening position was manipulated within subjects, classroom reverberation between subjects. The results showed that L2 listening comprehension decreased as distance from the sound source increased. The effect of reverberation was qualified by the participants’ baseline L2 proficiency. A shorter reverberation was beneficial to participants with high L2 proficiency, while the opposite pattern was found among the participants with low L2 proficiency. The results indicate that listening comprehension scores—and hence students’ grade in English—may depend on students’ classroom listening position.

Struggles over human rights in local government – the case of access to education for undocumented youth in Malmö, Sweden

ABSTRACTThe present article elaborates on struggles over the inclusion and exclusion of undocumented children and young people in the Swedish school system. Through conducting an in-depth case study on the issue of access to school in the city of Malmö in Sweden, our analysis demonstrates how the right to education for undocumented migrant children is subject to a process of struggle between divergent discourses on children’s human rights. Internal debates at the city level of governance are identified around, for example, whether the police could be denied access to schools or if contradictory messages from various authorities might lead to a legitimacy problem. Other questions are the registration of grades when the children concerned are reluctant to be put into a register due to the risks involved; and if fictitious names could be used on class lists that police officers can request. As the article shows, these local struggles are an expression of tensions between different levels of governance that are also affected by the migration control regime, as regards rights for children who are residing irregularly. In that respect, there is a struggle over the appropriate legalistic discourse – as in, to which level should it make reference. However, actors contesting a restrictive interpretation of the right to education also make substantial use of, what we call here, an ‘experiential’ discourse – that is, drawing upon the everyday experiences and feelings of those whose rights are in question. Struggles at the local governance level also have relevance for exploring substantial parts of the broader political context in which the human rights of undocumented migrants are (de)contested.

The antithesis of inclusion? The emergence and functioning of ADHD special education classes in the Swedish school system

ABSTRACTThe neuropsychiatric paradigm has substantial impact on schools. The increase in the number of pupils being diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an expression of the medicalisation of deviance. There is also an increase in educational classes specially designed to meet the needs of children with ADHD. This is contrary to the notion of inclusion and in conflict with the Swedish school law. Thus, it is important to obtain knowledge about Swedish ADHD classes. A questionnaire was sent to all Swedish municipalities (290, response rate 76%) regarding schooling for pupils with ADHD. As many as 40 Swedish municipalities have classes specifically designed for pupils with ADHD. Although the classes are said to be specifically designed for ADHD problems, they are not properly evaluated. Municipalities with ADHD classes also exhibit ambivalence towards these classes. The emergence, prevalence and functioning of the ADHD classes are discussed in light of the notion of inclusive education.

Self-reported food safety knowledge and behaviour among Home and Consumer Studies students

Home and Consumer Studies (HCS) should be a suitable place for food safety education as it includes plenty of practical cooking and is compulsory for all students in the Swedish school system. A study among HCS teachers however reveals shortcomings in food safety teaching. A survey regarding food safety knowledge and behaviour among HCS students in school Year 9 was performed at different schools with a new system to collect questionnaire data. A Student Response System was used at the participating schools. The students were to answer the questions by using a small handheld wireless control, a clicker, in the response program Turning Point 2008. The questionnaire included a total of 26 questions and all questions were shown at PowerPoint slides and read out loud to the students. Some trivial questions were asked at the beginning to ensure the method. A total of 529 students from 18 different schools in different parts of Sweden participated in the survey conducted between September 2013 and January 2014. The survey results were evaluated and analysed using SPSS by performing cross-tabulation and chi-square tests. This study reveals that the students' self-reported food safety knowledge and behaviour are inadequate. Important risk areas need to be highlighted in HCS teaching. Boys reported to be significantly more at risk in terms of food safety regarding the handling of risk foods, reheating and cleaning. Especially for boys who reported seldom cook at home HCS would be extra valuable. This study also indicates the importance of reflection in relation to the hygiene routines which are common in the HCS context. The outcome of this study is that students might leave school without even basic food safety knowledge.

Från mobboffer till brottsoffer. Diskurser kring kränkande behandling i den svenska skolan

There is a strong case for stating that, during the past decades, there has been a shift in perspective when addressing questions of how to handle and preserve social order in schools. As an institution that focuses on social order and education, since the 1990s the Swedish school system has also become an institution that focuses on social order in terms of law and legal issues. The overall purpose of the present article is to explore in which contexts and in what ways degrading treatment is articulated in policy documents that relate to social order in Swedish schools. Methodologically, we use a discourse analytical approach. We study how contexts and articulations identified in policy documents relate to discourses of degrading treatment and thus contribute to an understanding of how degrading treatment as a concept is constituted. Articulated in different contexts and in different ways, the results show that degrading treatment is constituted as a somewhat ambiguous concept. For example, social psychological perspectives are sometimes articulated within a legal discourse. Articulations of degrading treatment in policy documents cannot be comprehended as totally mutually dependent events, but rather as multiple and partly mutually independent events. Accordingly, we believe that the significance of degrading treatment is best understood as a conjunction of different articulations, contexts and interests. Additionally, the tendency of schools to increasingly treat degrading treatment as crimes has resulted in changing subject positions. The previous position of the bullied pupil is now instead increasingly interpellated and moulded as a victim of crime.

The changing nature of autonomy: Transformations of the late Swedish teaching profession

ABSTRACTThis article discusses teacher autonomy in the case of the Swedish teaching profession since the 1980s. It is argued that deregulation, decentralization, and marketization reforms of the 1990s have indeed increased teacher autonomy, but in some respects also led to a increase of complexity in the Swedish school system. In order to handle this complexity, the state intensified a standardization of schooling, which restricts teacher autonomy today. Relevant the paper's understanding is that teacher autonomy is always about control, exerted internally by the profession itself and facilitated externally by state standards. The article argues that the restriction of teacher autonomy in recent times is also related to a simplified understanding of the phenomenon in the reforms of the 1990s.

Marketized Education: How Regulatory Failure Undermined the Swedish School System

In a radical school choice reform in 1992, Sweden’s education system was opened to private competition from independent for-profit and non-profit schools funded by vouchers. Competition was expected to produce higher-quality education at lower cost, in both independent and public schools. This article analyzes whether the school choice reform was institutionally secured against school competition based on phenomena that are unrelated with educational quality. Interviews with senior policy makers reveal that the architects of the reform overemphasized the virtues of market reforms and therefore did not deem it necessary to establish appropriate rules and institutions for school competition. Instead, ill-conceived grading and curriculum reforms paved the way for moral hazard resulting in grade inflation and other forms of unintended school competition. The lesson from Sweden’s experience is that market reforms of public services production, particularly those that introduce for-profit producers, must account for how institutions and incentive structures affect behavior.

The school as crime scene: Discourses on degrading treatment in Swedish schools

There is a strong case for stating that during the past decades there has been a shift in perspective when addressing questions of how to handle and preserve social order in Swedish schools. As an institution that has focused on social order and education since the 1990s, the Swedish school system has also become an institution that focuses on social order in terms of law and legal issues. The overall purpose of the article is to explore in which contexts and in what ways degrading treatment is articulated in policy documents that relate to social order in Swedish schools. Methodologically, the authors use a discourse analytical approach. They study how contexts and articulations identified in policy documents relate to discourses of degrading treatment, and thus contribute to an understanding of how degrading treatment as a concept is constituted. Articulated in different contexts and in different ways, the results show that degrading treatment is constituted as a somewhat ambiguous concept – for example, social psychological perspectives are sometimes articulated within a legal discourse. Articulations of degrading treatment in policy documents cannot be comprehended as totally mutually dependent events, but rather as multiple and partly mutually independent events. Accordingly, the authors believe that the significance of degrading treatment is best understood as a conjunction of different articulations, contexts and interests. Additionally, the tendency of schools to treat degrading treatment increasingly as a crime has resulted in changing subject positions. The previous position of ‘the bullied pupil’ is now instead increasingly interpellated and moulded as ‘a victim of crime’.

The narrative of special education in Sweden: History and trends in policy and practice

ABSTRACTAccess to public education that provides equal opportunities for all is a democratic right for every person living in Sweden. In addition, every child should as far as possible be included in the mainstream school. An official story that is taken for granted in Sweden is that an extremely low proportion of children are in need of special support, since there is no categorisation system in the official statistics. However, the results from the interviews of a number of key informants in the Swedish school system and several research studies show the opposite; the proportion of children categorised in practice as being in need of special support has increased dramatically, especially the group of children assigned with neuropsychiatric diagnoses for example Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This paper explores the implications of growing segregation of children with special educational needs for the idea of an inclusive education system.

FACING THE PEDAGOGICAL CHALLENGE OF TEACHING UNACCOMPANIED REFUGEE CHILDREN IN THE SWEDISH SCHOOL SYSTEM

The social inclusion of refugee children is an important issue in Sweden and many other European countries. Sweden accepts more than 20% of all unaccompanied immigrant children in the EU. Logically, effective schooling is needed for these children to create the necessary pre-conditions for their successful integration into society. However, political interest and state funding concentrates instead on assuring good quality living conditions and legal support for incoming minors, leaving the responsibility for their education to underfunded municipal schools. Accordingly, a study conducted in a municipal secondary school and a university teacher education in Northern Sweden revealed low preparedness to meet the educational needs of immigrant children. Sociocultural and socio-political theoretical lenses were used in the study to understand the situation. Pedagogical action was taken on the teacher education programme in Umeå to improve the situation and issues concerning the integration of unaccompanied immigrant minors in the Swedish school system were explored in an interdisciplinary course at the end of the students’ teacher training. In group interviews and guided discussions during the course, student teachers recognised existing systemic problems in the education of immigrant children and expressed a feeling of a lack of practical intercultural competence to meet such children. Key words: intercultural education, refugees, minors, teacher education.