This study has investigated how the Swedish Christian Democratic Party (KDS) argued for the right of private actors to operate tax-funded schools outside of the public sector – charter schools. The hypothesis of this study was that KDS were openly positive to such a reform and saw it as a chance to run state-funded confessional schools.The study examined political texts produced by the party during a ten-year period, ranging from 1984 to 1994. The study’s methodological approach was one of a qualitative textual analysis, aided by a theoretical framework adapted from Samuel Moyn’s thesis in his book Christian Human Rights.The study concluded that there is empirical support to the thesis, and that KDS were very positive to a reform of the public school system in order to enable publicly funded private schools. There is less evidence to conclude that KDS intended for these schools to be confessional, although this study proposes that there is evidence to suggest as much.

During the last two decades, the elementary, - secondary-, and upper secondary schools of especially Europe and USA have gone through a change. From being formed in the post war time and, in Europe, very influenced by the ideas of social democracy, the school today has more and more come under the influences of neo liberalism, entrepreneurship and the political and economical situations during the late 1980´s. This undergraduate work brings up the changed discourses of education and knowledge in relation to the traditional free school system for adults in Sweden, the popular education, and especially in relation to folk high schools (folkhögskolor). By using, first and foremost, the idea of Norman Faircloughs critical discourse analysis (CDA) the rules and documents concerning the folk high schools are analyzed. The purpose of the paper is to identify and recognize the movement in the discourse to reach an understanding about the political situation for folk high schools in Sweden. In the end you can see that it is possible to define a similar development in discourse surrounding the popular education, as has been in the case with the elementary, - secondary-, and upper secondary schools.

This thesis presents a study on different school actors’ narratives about how they have experienced a participation in a school development collaboration called PBS, problem based school development. A school development and research project based at Karlstad University. The analysis is inspired by a narrative approach and a critical perspective on policy, were policy is understood as both text and discourse. The aim of the study is to show how the carrying through of this new policy (PBS) is received and reconstructed in three Swedish municipal settings. In the analysis the participant’s narratives are also related to the reconstructions of the field of education politics that has been carried out the last decades, here in Sweden as well as in other countries around the world. In this study 46 interviews were carried out. Official texts from each of the three school organizations have also been studied. As analytical tools parts of a model called the zoom-model and three different concepts, taken from the field of organization studies have been used. The overall result shows that those who work in schools today are engaged in a large amount of development works, claims and ways of working that they themselves choose to enact. The results also show how the interviewees receive and charge these ideas with their own previous experiences and how this is done in discursive contexts that shape what is considered normal and evident. One conclusion is that further attention ought to be made to the significance of the local context when it comes to carry through a new idea on development and change. A conclusion drawn from how interpretations and reconstructions of both development models prior to PBS and of the national steering model came to play important roles in how PBS was received and reconstructed in the studied municipalities. But different interpretations of the PBS model also led to tensions within and between the different areas of the organizations. Tensions that can be described as dilemmas, implicated by an ongoing cacophony of policy voices, whose prescriptions pull on different directions. When the PBS-policy arrives in this discursive room the results show how this policy can become a tool in line with new discursive narratives of education, regardless the intensions formulated in the context of policy text construction. / PBS-Problembaserad skolutveckling

In Sweden, an egalitarian ethos has long rendered it impossible even to consider the needs of gifted and talented (G&T) children. By interviewing English and Swedish educators and Swedish governmental officials, I compare the developments in the two countries and make recommenda-tions as to how Sweden could improve its provision. Over the last ten years, following a House of Commons report in 1997, a number of measures have been implemented in England. In Sweden, some changes have taken place, notably the establishment of the focus classes [spetsutbildningar] in 2008. Although there is official support for G&T children and signs of changing attitudes in Sweden, there are still concerns about the general acceptance of G&T students' need for support and help. Their social situation is often difficult and they do not always get challenged. One recommendation is that Sweden, in line with many other countries, should investigate the option of setting a clear, national policy for gifted and talented children.

Studien handlar om statlig påverkan på skolans läromedel. Här studeras såväl de politiska besluten om, som det konkreta genomförandet av, den svenska statliga förhandsgranskningen av läromedel, från starten 1938 till avskaffandet 1991. De politiska besluten och genomförandet sker på skilda arenor. Med hjälp av teoretiska begrepp från såväl läroplansteori som statsvetenskaplig implemen-teringsteori synliggörs och analyseras de olika arenorna samt relationerna mellan dem. Den politiska debatten studeras genom det offentliga trycket. Studien visar att granskningen infördes i politisk enighet och avskaffades helt utan politisk debatt. De politiska argumenten för granskning har varit att hålla priserna på läroböcker nere samt säkra läromedlens kvalitet. Vad som avsågs med kvalitet har dock varierat mellan olika aktörer och över tid. När det gäller genomförandet av granskningen studeras både Läroboks-/Läromedelsnämndens instruktioner till granskarna, och granskarnas utlåtanden om läromedel i samhällskunskap för gymnasieskolan. Den reella granskningen hade ofta fokus på att söka sakfel i läromedlen. Under 1970-talet fick objektivitetsfrågor genomslag i granskningen. Läroplanen, som betonades på den politiska arenan, användes dock i mindre utsträckning i det reella genomförandet av granskningen. Styrningsresultatet var beroende av aktörerna på realiseringsarenan och deras förståelse, vilja och kunnande. Styrningen kunde dock, i vissa fall, nå ända fram och påverka lärobokstexten. I dessa fall fanns en fungerande styrning från politisk debatt, via lagtext och granskning till en förändrad läromedelstext. / This thesis focuses on the state's influence on Swedish textbooks. From 1938 to 1991 the Swedish state had an official approval scheme for examining books before they could be used as textbooks in Swedish schools. The aim of this thesis is to examine both the political discussion about, and the actual implementation of, the approval scheme in Sweden between 1938-1991. The political decision making and the implementation of the reforms took place in different contexts. With the help of curriculum theory, in combination with concepts of implementation from political science, these two different contexts and the relation between them are analyzed. The study shows that, in the 1930s, there was a political consensus to have an official approval scheme. In the 1990s the approval scheme was repealed without any political debate. When it comes to the implementation of the approval scheme the approval committee's guidelines and the examiners' statements about civic textbooks for upper secondary school are studied. It is found that the reviews often focused on finding factual faults. During the 1970s a focus on objectivity became common in the reviewers' statements. The national curriculum, a product of a political compromise often referred to by the politicians, was, however, less used in the implementation of the approval. The study shows that the implementation of the approval scheme was dependent on the actors understanding, willingness and ability to implement. But the study also shows that in certain cases the approval scheme could result in major changes in the textbooks.

Today the Swedish education system faces major challenges. This research deals with school segregation and the differences in and among Swedish municipalities, more specifically between Kalmar and Karlskrona. There are well-established national goals with the aim to reduce and counteract school segregation, however we tend to find huge differences in the system and performance of schools. All schools have different grounds, conditions and needs and it forces the local government, principals and teachers to act according to factors as resources, priorities, goals and expected behavior within institutions. Deficiencies create the prerequisites for conducting, completing and maintaining the business to the extent that it can be based on the design of the requirements on national level. That brings a great decentralized responsibility and gives room for maneuver and freedom of action for street-level bureaucrats, that may not maintain national standards. The purpose of this research is to analyse how enforcement of national goals in each municipality, at local schools,  that either are segregated or may become and then compare them to see the difference. In conclusion the analysis show that national goals are used as guidelines in municipalities, but all municipalities establish their own goals according to the conditions and needs of the school. The difference that exist between schools depends on local circumstances.

This dissertation deals with the changing conditions for schools and the teaching profession from a teachers’ perspective. The process of the global restructuring of national educational systems that gained momentum in Sweden in the 1990s, involved the introduction of a school voucher system, competition mechanisms and the decentralization of responsibilities to schools and teachers.  The aim of this dissertation is to examine teachers’ professional identities in relation to changes in local and global conditions for schools and the teaching profession.     Empirically, this study is anchored in 15 life history interviews conducted with eight teachers who have been working at the same secondary school in a Swedish mid-sized town. The school opened in 1965 in a residential area and closed down 2007 facing difficulties in attracting students. The teachers’ professional identities are analyzed in terms of identity performances, that is, the socially situated actions embedded in the stories and the interviews, in which they express and negotiate who they are or would like to be as a teacher. Methodologically this study contributes to a new way of investigating the relation between local school contexts and teacher identities by analyzing the institutional memories of a school.     Results show that educational restructuring in this local school context entailed shifts in the meanings of previously known social relationships and phenomena, such as the school’s mixed student base, reputation and forms of cooperation, and that the local press became an important actor when market mechanisms were introduced. The study highlights the complexity and variability when professional identities take shape in the teachers’ stories. Some features of the professional identities focused on in this study appear to be relatively stable, while others appear to be more varying. Self biographical factors, culturally available narratives of the teaching profession, as well as local factors tend to have a stabilizing effect on the identities shaped in the stories. However, diverse professional aims, life events and changing working conditions contribute to changes in the identity constructions. In the analysis of the institutional memories presented in the thesis, it is evident that identity performances are shaped in the teachers’ retellings of those memories. In different teachers’ versions of institutional memories, identity performances that stress e.g. the importance of discipline in school and opposition to women’s subordination are shaped.

This dissertation focuses on the municipality (the local authority) as a participant in Swedish educational policy. The reform of school governance in the 1990s, gave municipality wider authority in the educational field and a greater responsibility for education. Discussions about the equivalence of education were a key aspect in decentralising school governance and responsibility for education, and questions were raised about how equivalence would be affected by increased local influence on education. Since the meaning of equivalence had become contested in educational policy, the answer differed. In the dissertation, political discussions about the municipality and about equivalent education are merged, and together form a base for the main question: In what different ways are the municipality constructed as a participant in educational policy? The analysis is undertaken within a curriculum theory tradition and from a discourse theory perspective that focuses school and education as situated in a field of tension determined by social and political struggle. The research interest is directed to the world as constructed in language and communication. The empirical material studied in the dissertation consists of national political texts, texts from the National Agency for Education and interviews with local politicians (local authority committee members). From the analysis, three discourses about the municipality as a participant in educational policy are identified. These are: The municipality as responsible for performance, which centres the construction of the municipality on a responsibility for educational performance. All actions undertaken by the municipality are in the discourse defined within a framework of goal achievement and results. The municipality as a non-participant, where the municipality has no place in educational policy or realisation of the educational system. Education is considered as a matter between the state, the professionals and the families. The municipality as a political-ideological actor, where the municipality is constructed as a participant with scope to organise school on the basis of certain political and ideological principles. The ideological stance adopted by the political majority guides the municipality’s actions in the educational field. The discourses have tangible consequences for the shape which school education assumes on a day-to-day basis in municipalities. Depending on which discourse that dominates a municipality’s understanding of its own role, the actions undertaken by that municipality will be more or less directed towards education performance, and more or less ideologically based. / Avhandlingen fokuserar kommunen som en part i Svensk utbildningspolitik. När styrningen av skolan reformerades i 1990-talets början fick kommunerna ett ökat ansvar för skolan, och större möjligheter och befogenheter att fatta beslut om hur den egna skolan ska organiseras. Diskussioner om utbildningens likvärdighet utgjorde en nyckelaspekt för den decentraliserade styrningen av och ansvaret för skolan, och frågan restes om hur likvärdigheten skulle påver-kas av ett ökat lokalt inflytande över utbildningsområdet. Eftersom betydelsen av likvärdighet hade blivit omstridd i den utbildningspolitiska debatten, fick frågan olika svar beroende på vilken innebörd som gavs begreppet likvärdighet. I avhandlingen förs de politiska diskussio-nerna om kommunens ansvar för skolan och om likvärdig utbildning samman, och dessa te-man utgör en helhet som ligger till grund för avhandlingens huvudfråga: På vilka olika sätt framträder kommunen som en part i utbildningspolitiken? Avhandlingens ansluter sig till en läroplansteoretisk tradition, och till ett diskursteoretiskt perspektiv där utbildningen och dess innehåll betraktas befinna sig i ett spänningsfält ytterst bestämt av sociala och politiska krafter i kamp. Forskningsintresset riktas mot världen som konstruerad i språk och kommunikation. Avhandlingens empiriska material består av natio-nella politiska texter, Skolverkstexter, kommunalpolitiska texter och intervjuer med kommu-nala skolpolitiker. Utifrån analysen kan tre diskurser om kommunen som en part i utbildningspolitiken identifie-ras. Dessa är: Kommunen som resultatansvarig, där konstruktionen av kommunen centreras kring ett ansvar för utbildningens resultat. Alla kommunens handlingar definieras i diskursen inom detta ram-verk av måluppnående och utbildningsresultat. Kommunen som icke-part, där kommunen inte ses ha någon uppgift i utbildningspolitiken eller skolans genomförande. Utbildning betraktas i diskursen som en angelägenhet mellan staten, skolans professionella och familjerna. Kommunen som politisk-ideologiskt handlande, där kommunen konstrueras som en part med utrymme att organisera skolan utifrån specifika politiska och ideologiska principer. De ideo-logiska ställningstaganden som görs av kommunens politiska majoritet är kraftigt vägledande för kommunens handlingar på utbildningsområdet och påverkar hur utbildning organiseras i kommunen. De olika diskurserna får påtagliga konsekvenser för hur den konkreta skolverksamheten tar form i en kommun. Beroende på vilken av diskurserna som dominerar en kommuns uppfatt-ning om sin egen roll, så kommer kommunens handlingar att vara mer eller mindre inriktade mot utbildningsresultat, och mer eller mindre politiskt-ideologiskt präglade.

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More than 200 years have passed since Haiti cut loose from the French colonial empire. A lot has happened since, both to Haiti as a state and to the society as a whole. This study investigates the critiqued relevance of postcolonialism in the 21th century, taking stance in the question of language of instruction in the Haitian school system. Through a qualitative interview based method of data gathering and a comparison with a postcolonialistic theoretical framework, this study first examines the reasons why the recommended use of Haitian creole as language of instruction, rather than French, has been sparsely implemented with the supposed effect of keeping the majority of Haitians in poverty. Secondly it discusses the conclusions drawn on the issue and what they say about the role of colonial societal structures globally. After establishing proof for the prevalence of colonial societal structures as reasons for the dominance of the French language in Haiti, this report suggests further studies on the subject of the relevance of postcolonialism as a model of explanation for contemporary societal phenomena.